My yoke is easy and my burden is light

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Mat 5:43-5:48

Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. but I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you that ye may be sons of your Father who is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. For if ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the Gentiles the same? Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

So who said "Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy?" No where in the body of the Scripture can you find this quote. Where then did Yeshua (Jesus) get his information from?

The quote is from the Jewish oral traditions, known as the Mishnah or the "Tradition of our Fathers". These are the Pharisaical laws, which at the time of Yeshua (Jesus) were not written as they are today. So what was Yeshua (Jesus) doing quoting the Mishnah?

The Mishnah were the Pharisaical additions to the Law of Moses. Many directly contradicted scripture. In fact, in places it was considered a sin to keep the Law of Moses if it contradicted the Mishnah.

Messiah in his "Sermon on the Mount" affirmed the Law, the "It is written" law. He also went on to interpret the Law and explain how it should be lived. In doing so he utterly rejected the Mishnah. The Law of Moses, which Messiah kept perfectly, was the burden that was easy, and learning from Him is His light "Yoke."

Many who are "Chrisitans", Disciples of Messiah, scoff at the Jews for this folly. However we are not so clever as we might think. How many of us have re-interpreted the "It is written" for the allegorical, non literal, interpretation of scripture. More, I suspect, than those who opt for the ordinary meaning of the Word.

Messiah held the Pharisees to account for this folly. Do we expect any less from Him on his return?

God's Word, or Our Words?

God provided us with a Bible, at an incredible cost for its many cast members, many of whom suffered or died so that we can learn from their lives, their mistakes, and their triumphs. Many also suffered and died through history, just for preserving this book, even for translating it into English. It's a precious book, God knows that all serious Christians know that. So to see the many ways it has been mangled, twisted, and re-interpreted by some for their own purposes is just unacceptable. There are enough people who claim to have new revelations and new interpretations and we must learn to recognise when this is happening and reject it. The Bible has only one author, God, and the task we have is to know exactly what is in His heart as we read his words.

So how do we read and interpret the Bible? How can we tell what is in the heart of God as we read His words? We begin with two Greek words, exegesis, and eisegesis. Exegesis is the act of reading the words of the Bible and only receiving the truth that God put there. Eisegsis is the act of reading the Bible and only receiving what agrees with your own ideas. The first technique is, I hope you agree, the way we should approach hte Bible. The other one is the chosen route of our TV preacher and may God forgive him!¹

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Footnotes:

1. Steve Maltz, How the Church Lost the Way, Saffron Planet, pp 72