Exodus - The Shadow of our Redemption

Are we Dead to the Law or Dead to Sin?

Are You the Messiah? - The Festival of Hanukkah

David Danced Before the LORD - Part 1

The Mark of the Beast - It's a Matter of Worship

Beit She'an - The Portals of Eden

He Came by Water and by Blood - Part 2

He Came by Water and by Blood - Part 1

Shiloh - The City of God's Name

Yeshua and the Time of the Olive Harvest

The Seven Blessings of Revelation

Woe to You: The Cursed Cities of the Galilee

The Priestly Blessing: Numbers 6:24-26

The Identity of the Antichrist - Part 3

The Identity of the Antichrist - Part 2

The Identity of the Antichrist - Part 1

Megiddo - The Final Battlefield

Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Beit She'arim and the Jewish Burial Practices at the time of Yeshua

Israel’s Beit She’arim National Park is the site of a small Jewish town in the lower Galilee dating from the second temple period. After the Bar-Kochba revolt in 135 C.E., the Sanhedrin, the Jewish authoritative body, moved from Jerusalem wandering around the Galilee region eventually settling in Beit She’arim. Beit She’arim became the center of Jewish learning in the land up through the early part of the fourth century. It also became the favored burial place; Jerusalem was closed to the Jewish people, so this site, favored by the rabbinic leaders of the time, drew the people for both learning and as the ultimate resting place.

Ancient synagogue at Beit She'arim

The caves, dating back to the second temple period, reflect the changing Jewish habits and customs. As the centuries passed, the uniquely Jewish embellishments became mixed with Roman and Hellenistic symbols with the greatest mix of symbols in the caves of the Rabbis. Given the history and practice of the Jewish people to separate themselves from the gentile population, it raises an interesting question: Does this practice represent the ever-present danger of assimilating into the broader culture or does it show the ability to glean nuggets from other cultures without losing one’s own identity? This is an interesting question to ponder!

Large burial chamber with Jewish and pagan symbols

What intrigued me most about the tombs in Beit She’arim was that each cave held places for many bodies to be interred. The simplest burial cave had shelves cut out of the wall with recessed places to place the body. Bodies could be placed side by side with only a small raised section between each body.

Side by side burial shelves

Most caves had small rectangular doors sealed by one or more stone doors pivoting on hinges. The larger caves had larger openings, but again the openings were shaped into a traditional door shape with larger hinged stone doors. The stone doors were embellished with decorations and symbols sometimes including information about who was interred in the cave. One cave was designated as that of the Itzak Zaira son of Shimon. Most caves had several different chambers of various sizes. Some chambers held burial shelves; others held large stone coffins intricately carved and inscribed with the name of the person interred within. One cave with three large chambers was designated as the cave of Rabbe Yehuda Hanassi, one of the leading Rabbis of the time.

The stone coffins were a relatively new custom picked up from the Romans. The bodies would have been anointed with burial spices, wrapped in linen cloth, and placed either on the burial shelf or in the stone coffin. The bodies placed on the burial shelf would decay quickly. And when the flesh had fully decayed, leaving only the bones, the bones would be placed in a stone ossuary in another part of the tomb. The shelf would, then, be available for another body. A cave used for multi generations of the same family would contain many such ossuaries.

Why did I bother to relate all this? For the simple reason to illustrate the burial practices that would have been in place at the time of Yeshua’s death, burial, and resurrection. We read that Yeshua was laid in the tomb of a man named Joseph of Arimethea.

Luke 23:50-54 NKJV 50 Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man. 51 He had not consented to their decision and deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God. 52 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before. 54 That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near.

There are several pertinent facts in this short passage. First, Joseph was not from Jerusalem. Scholars differ on where they believe Arimathea was located placing it as far away as Dan in the North to within 10 miles of Jerusalem. But the point is that even though Joseph was not from Jerusalem, he wanted to be buried near Jerusalem. The sages believe that the resurrection of the dead would begin with the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then, after the patriarchs, the resurrection of the dead would begin at Jerusalem. To this day, burial plots near Jerusalem are coveted and expensive to aquire. A cemetery on the Mount of Olives just east of Jerusalem is a popular site even today. Instead of burial caves, the graves are dug in the ground very much as you would see in any typical western cemetery.

Jewish cemetery on the Mt. of Olives

So, Joseph of Arimathea had purchased a rocky area and had a tomb hewn from the its face. We tend to think that the tomb would be large enough for just one body, but the tomb may have been fairly large. If Joseph had a family, he would want it large enough to provide burial space for the whole family. It might even have had several chambers or at least room for the construction of several chambers! It did have had a fairly small doorway, like those found at Beit She’Arim, instead of the huge cave-like opening usually thought of when picturing Yeshua’s tomb. When Peter and John went to the tomb the third morning after Yeshua’s death, they had to stoop to look into the tomb.

John 20:4-5 NKJV 4 So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. 5 And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in.

This doesn’t necessarily mean the tomb was small; many of the tombs in Beit She’arim had small doors but room for many bodies, and even more than one chamber.

Showing both small and large stone doors of burial chambers

Finally, this tomb had never been used! No dead body had ever been placed on the burial shelf which Yeshua’s body occupied for three days. No ossuaries containing the bones from previous occupant! This is an important point. The ground where he lay, the chamber where he was interred had never been unclean because of the presence of a dead body. No body except Yeshua’s had ever been placed in that burial cave. Also, it was so new that apparently the stone door that would seal the cave and allow it to be opened for further use had not yet been prepared. Joseph had to roll a large stone in front of the opening. Instead of having an ornate door intricately carved and attached with hinges, a simple stone was rolled across the opening. This stone may have been put there, near the opening, in preparation to be carved into the stone door which would have had hinges for opening.

But instead this stone was not yet hewn and had no ornamentation. Stone that had any connection with God was to be unhewn stone, from the stone used to build an altar to the stone that Daniel describes as crushing the kingdoms of the earth.

Daniel 2:32-34 NKJV 32 "This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 "its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34 "You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.

Even in death, Yeshua had a special tomb prepared for the three days of His death. The tomb was new; no body but Yeshua’s was put into it. I wonder if Joseph of Arimathea ever did use that tomb for himself or his family. The tomb was sealed with an unhewn stone.

Yeshua’s tomb was not the only one that was left empty. Through an interesting play on the name “Joseph,” we find another empty tomb. Yeshua’s burial tomb belonged to a man named Joseph, and Yeshua’s earthly father was named Joseph. At the first Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread during the Exodus, the children of Israel took Joseph son of Jacob’s, bones with them when they left Egypt.

Exodus 13:19 NKJV 19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you."

This left Joseph’s tomb in Egypt empty foreshadowing Yeshua’s resurrection.

Shalom and be blessed
Dan and Brenda Cathcart

The Burial Tomb of Yeshua

Reflections on Jerusalem

Dan and I took the bus into Jerusalem from the city of Zichron Ya’akov on the coast. As we approached Jerusalem, I watched avidly out the window looking for my first glimpse of God’s chosen city. The road began to wind higher and higher up and away from the coast. The traffic got heavier, the bus went slower, horns honked, drivers boldly elbowed their way from lane to lane. We experienced a loud, crowded, vibrant modern city with all the brashness characteristic of European and East Coast cities. Those of us on the west coast tend to be a little more laid back!

We finally arrived at the Central Bus Station and made our way out to the street. We had arrived! We were in Jerusalem! Our thoughts were totally focused on finding our way to our hostel. But as we started walking, the hostel was a short 15 minute walk away, it began to sink in; we were in Jerusalem. What a mixture of old and new. The sounds of construction were everywhere. The evidence of an ancient city next door to a new high-rise going up!

After we checked in, we headed out for the Old City, once again walking; it was only another 15 minute walk down Jaffa or Yaffo Street. We walked past small cafes with tables out front, shops with their wares displayed outside their doors, people hurrying here and there. We kept watching for our first glimpse of Jaffa Gate, but first, we walked by the City Hall, and the New Jaffa Gate, then around a slight corner and down the stairs, Jaffa Gate and the Old City!

As we entered through the gate and stopped to look around, I’m sure we looked like just what we were, first time tourists looking in awe at all we saw. Sucker written all over us! A shop keeper approached lured us, me especially, into his shop for a session of “Can I make you buy?” We survived, barely, and

continued our walk; we weren’t going anywhere in particular, just looking at what was there. We decided we had better head straight so we could find our way back out! So, into the bazaar we went. Small crowded street, people elbow to elbow, pushing one way and the other; shop keepers calling out to buy their goods! The cacophony overwhelmed the senses. Dan got grouchy! He did not like being in those small spaces with all the people crowded around and shop keepers looking for their next prey, er… customer!

We walked just a few minutes and decided retreat was a good idea! It was time for lunch and stepping back just a bit. We were scheduled to meet our new/old friend Christine Darg of Exploits Ministries in a coffee shop in a shopping mall just down the street; so we turned our feet away from the ancient and returned to the modern—A modern shopping mall about 10 years old as opposed to a teeming bazaar a couple thousand years old!

What was it like for the average Jewish person of Yeshua’s time to enter Jerusalem for the first time? Chances are the average person only went to Jerusalem at the time of the pilgrimage feasts, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles!

Deuteronomy 16:16-17 NKJV 16 "Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. 17 "Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you.

Josephus tells us that the population of Jerusalem soared to 2.5 million people at these events. Today the population is 800,000 in an area much bigger than that encompassed by the Old City. Imagine the pushing, shoving, and jostling of the crowds of people three times as many as today! Not buses, trucks, cars and taxis; but horses, donkeys, camels, carts, and wagons. People carrying their offerings they were bringing to the LORD; perhaps leading a bull, sheep or goat to be offered to the LORD. Perhaps carrying their offering in a bundle balanced on their heads or over their shoulders, all looking for a place to stay and get settled before bringing their offerings, before seeking out the Temple. So, after that first glimpse of the temple, they might have retreated to their camp, their inn, or relative’s house to rest after their long journey and prepare to enter the House of God.

One of the essential preparations was to undergo the ritual cleansing of the mikvah. Only those who were clean could enter the temple. Any number of activities could make a person unclean including sexual relations, childbirth, touching a dead animal or being in the room with a dead body, walking over a grave, eating the flesh of an unclean animal, as well as sin. The remedy for all of these included a ceremonial washing. Special baths called mikvot were used for this ceremony. They could be found all around the temple as well as in most if not all Jewish homes.

God, through Moses, described the cleansing process necessary to set the Levites aside for His service concluding with the following words.

Numbers 8:7 NKJV 7 "Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purification on them, and let them shave all their body, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean.

Another preparation that many of the Jews would need to make was obtaining an offering to bring before the LORD. Many people brought their offerings with them, but those traveling from afar would have to purchase their offerings in Jerusalem.

Deuteronomy 14:24-26 NKJV 24 "But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the LORD your God has blessed you, 25 "then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses. 26 "And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.

As a result a thriving business dealing in temple offerings sprang up in and around Jerusalem including within the Temple itself! All pilgrims had to bring an offering; God commanded that they not appear before Him empty-handed. The pilgrims, then, were at the mercy of the merchants! The merchants could and did charge exorbitant prices for their goods. This coupled with setting up shop within the Temple itself is why Yeshua drove the moneychangers and merchants out of the temple!

John 2:14-16 NKJV 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"

Are you ready to enter the House of God? Like the pilgrims of Yeshua’s time, we need to get ready; we need to be ritually clean to enter the House. How do we get clean? What do we do? Peter’s words to the Jewish people gathered at the Feast of Weeks when the Holy Spirit empowered them are just as true today.

Acts 2:36-39 NKJV 36 "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" 38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."

Acts 2:41 NKJV 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.

On our first trip to Jerusalem, we toured the city by bus seeing important places and buildings both old and new. We stopped and looked out over the city from Mt. Scopus and Mt. Zion. We met up with old friends and new.

We walked from the top of Mt. Olives down to the gates of the Old City, following a path very like the one Yeshua walked when He came into Jerusalem. We saw the Beautiful Gate, the gate Yeshua entered through, sealed off with a thick stone wall.

We visited the Israel Museum where we learned about the antiquities of Israel discovered by the archeologists who dig into Israel’s past. We saw the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Shrine of the Book Exhibit which verify the integrity of the scriptures as they have come down to us virtually unchanged over two thousand years. We saw the model of the city as it existed in Yeshua’s day, at the time of King Herod and Roman rule.

Next time we visit Jerusalem, we will approach the Western Wall, the only wall of the temple still standing where Jewish pilgrims can approach to worship and pray to God. We will visit the site of the archeological excavations of the ancient city of Jerusalem, the city of David. We will also visit the Holocaust Museum, as we remember those Jews who were slaughtered just because they were Jews, the people set apart by God as His chosen people. God will bring His people back and cleanse them making them ready to enter into His presence.

Ezekiel 36:24-28 NKJV 24 "For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. 28 "Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.

Shalom and be blessed,

Dan and Brenda

I Appeal Unto Caesar! A Chronicle of Paul's Last Journey

Hebron: Reflections About Heritage

Hebron is the site of the burial cave for Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah. Abraham purchased land for an outrageous price to provide for a burial cave for Sarah, himself and his progeny through the ages. Abraham’s friend, Ephron the Hittite, offered to give him the land, but Abraham refused the gift. The sages say that Abraham bought the land because he didn’t want there to be any misunderstanding later about who actually owned the land. If Abraham had accepted it as a gift, it could later be said that Abraham was allowed to use the land, but it was not actually given to him. So, Abraham bought the land, and it has been a center of Jewish life ever since.

When the children of Israel came out of Egypt to take the land God promised to give them, Caleb fought for and conquered Hebron. The city was a special gift to Caleb because he followed the LORD with his whole heart.

Joshua 14:9 NKJV 9 "So Moses swore on that day, saying, 'Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children's forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.'

Ruins of building from the time of Abraham

Later, we learn that King David began his reign in Hebron, ruling there for seven and a half years before moving his capital to Jerusalem. Hebron remained a vital city in Judea even after the destruction of the temple in 70 C.E. In fact, many of the Jews who were exiled from Jerusalem settled in Hebron. In 135 C. E., the Romans exiled all the Jews from Jerusalem but allowed them to settle in a few other places around the land they renamed as Palestina. One of the areas they were allowed to go was to Hebron.

Empires rise and fall, and so did the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empire. They fell to the rising power of the new religious force of Islam. The Muslims drove out the Byzantine Empire and attached Israel to the land that they ruled. Dynasties rose and fell with different Islamic rulers and policies. But through all this time, Jews still lived in Hebron.

In the 1500’s, A new Jewish synagogue was built in Hebron eventually named Avraham Avinu because tradition tells us that Avraham visited the synagogue one year at Yom Kippur to provide the tenth man required for a minyan, to be able to hold a Yom Kippur service.

At this time Hebron was a small town with a good portion of the population Jewish. Altogether there were only a few thousand residents. The residents got along well together; the Jewish people viewed the Arab residents as their friends and neighbors. But the world was changing; the British desire for world dominance had them attacking the Ottoman Empire which in turn joined forces with the Germans in World War I.

Our host, David Wilder, executive director of eretz.org, in front of the tomb of Jesse and Ruth.

Many of the Jewish residents in Israel at this time viewed this strife as an opportunity to throw off centuries of Muslim rule and take back their land. They provided vital strategic information helping the British to defeat the Ottomans. They expected that they would then be able to re-establish their nation. The land of Israel at the time was mostly barren; the population was extremely low. The Ottoman’s placed little value on the land; it was considered nearly uninhabitable fulfilling the prophecies in the word of the LORD.

Ezekiel 33:28-29 NKJV 28 "For I will make the land most desolate, her arrogant strength shall cease, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that no one will pass through. 29 "Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have made the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed."'

But the British, instead of rewarding the Jewish people for their help and keeping their promises to allow the forming of a Jewish homeland, began policies rooted in Anti-Semitism.  They promoted the incitement of hatred by the Arabs against the Jewish people. The centers of this Anti-Semitism were Jerusalem and Hebron. In Hebron, the Jewish people had continued to view their Arab neighbors as their friends and refused to arm themselves against their Arab neighbors. This led to a slaughter of the Jewish people and for the first time since Caleb defeated the Amorites to take the city of Hebron for his inheritance; there was no Jewish presence in the city of Hebron! After centuries of continuous habitation by the Jews, the British accomplished what no other empire had, the removal of the Jewish people from the city!

Since that time, the Jews have repeatedly and courageously returned to Hebron! The current Jewish community in Hebron has been blocked repeatedly from building on the land that the Jewish people own. They have been forbidden to buy any more land. In the meantime, the Arab population, numbering less than 10,000 in 1967 has been allowed to build wherever they want. The Arab population, bolstered by the deliberate moving of Arabs to the area, has soared to nearly 200,000.

Who is it that has forbidden Jews from building in Hebron? None other than other Jews backed by the policies of the United States. The United States, who purports to be the friend of Israel, is backing policies that will ultimately lead to the Jews being squeezed out of their own land. Jewish building is restricted by U. S. policy, but Arab building continues unabated! Even other residents of Israel see Hebron not as a Jewish city but as an Arab city. As Dan and I were on the bus returning from Hebron to Zichron Ya’akov where we were staying, we struck up a conversation with an Israeli woman across the aisle. When we said that we had just spent the day in Hebron, her attitude turned frosty. Her response to my statement that the Jewish community was continuing to live hopefully in spite of being threatened on all sides was, “The Jews have no business there. I will never go there.”

No business there? She has forgotten her own history if she ever knew it at all! Israelis and other Jews with this viewpoint have forgotten where they came from! They ignorantly forget that the tomb of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is there! They are throwing away thousands of years of heritage!  They are throwing away their inheritance and their future!

The two of us in front of the memorial at Ma’arat HaMachpela, Abraham’s tomb.

In spite of this opposition, the Jews of Hebron prevail. Their faith that God will grant them the land is unshaken. In the words of one resident, “The reason we continue is not just for us, but for all Jews and non-Jews to be able to visit the tomb of the patriarchs.” They persevere for the millions who visit each year. They do this even for the unfortunate Israeli woman who ignorantly declared, “I will never go there.”

The name Hebron means to associate or to join together. Hebron is a joining of the Jewish people to their roots. It is a joining with the giants of faith, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a joining with Caleb and Joshua who ignored the giants living in Hebron and stated that the land God had given them was a good land and that the children of Israel should go up!

Numbers 13:30 NKJV 30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it."

Hebron is a reminder that God has promised the land to Israel for all generations.

Genesis 13:14-15 NKJV 14 And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: "Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are-northward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 "for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.

The faith of the residents of Hebron is unshakeable. They stand firm on the promises of God.

Ezekiel 36:8-10 NKJV 8 "But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come. 9 "For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. 10 "I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.

God will restore Israel!

Shalom from the land of Israel

Dan & Brenda Cathcart

It's All About Israel!

The Biblical Month of Tammuz

What is the Greatest Commandment?

Whited Sepulchers

The Feast of Firstfruits - Yeshua's Resurrection Day!

The Feast of Unleavened Bread part 1

Passover Part 3: The Reason We Celebrate

The Bread and the Wine: Passover Part 2

Up to Jerusalem: Yeshua's Final Journey

The Festival of Purim, Part 3: The Ten Banquets

He Will Give You Rest

We are all familiar with the passage in Matthew where Yeshua tells us that he will give rest to those who are weary and weighed down. This is a promise and a comfort to us when we are faced with the burdens and responsibilities of this hectic, fast-paced lifestyle of the twenty-first century. But, there is a deeper meaning in this passage and an incredible promise. Let’s dig in a little deeper.

Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV 28 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Yeshua’s words in this passage are actually in a Hebrew poetic form called a chiasm. The individual thoughts lead to an inward central theme and then back out again to end where it began. This passage begins and ends with a burden and breaks down as shown:

A: Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden

            B: I will give you rest

                        C: Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me

                        C: for I am gentle and lowly in heart

            B: you will find rest for your souls

A: For My yoke is easy and My burden is light

Before we get to the central theme, we need to look at the outer layer and work our way in. Those who labor and are heavy laden are to come to Yeshua. The word for labor is the Greek word #2872 kopias which means to feel fatigue, to work hard, to labor with wearisome effort. The phrase “heavy laden” is the Greek word #5412 phortizo meaning to be loaded up. The noun “burden” in the second part of the outer layer is phortion which is the noun form of the same Greek word phortizo. The heavy load in verse 28 becomes the light load in verse 30. But what is this heavy load that wearies us? Let’s go back to the Bible to answer this! The first heavy load that wearied man was the burden placed on Adam when he was expelled from the Garden of Eden!

Genesis 3:17 NKJV 17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.

The word toil is the Hebrew word #6093 “itstsabon” meaning pain, labor, hardship, sorrow and toil. Instead of eating from the trees of the Garden of Eden, especially the tree of life, which freely gave their fruit for food, Adam had to labor to coax the ground to grow plants to provide physical nourishment. But even that provided only temporary nourishment; without the fruit from the tree of life, Adam was sentenced to death. Our heaviest burden is the one we inherited from Adam; we labor to live from day to day and there is no respite from our labor. Eventually, we will all face death.

The promise of respite is the next layer in; He will give us rest! When God brought the children of Israel into the Promised Land, He said that He was giving them rest.

Joshua 1:13 NKJV 13 "Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, 'The LORD your God is giving you rest and is giving you this land.'

Joshua 21:43-44 NKJV 43 So the LORD gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it. 44 The LORD gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not a man of all their enemies stood against them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand.

Notice that the promised rest is tied to the land! David wrote that there remains the promise of rest as long as we don’t fall into the same rebellion as the children of Israel who all died in the wilderness without receiving the promise.

Psalms 95:7-8 NKJV 7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: 8 "Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,

Psalms 95:11 NKJV 11 So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'"

The writer of the book of Hebrews confirms that rest is tied to more than the Promised Land referring to this same Psalm of David.

Hebrews 4:8-9 NKJV 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.

What is this rest spoken of by David and the write of Hebrews? The word used for rest in Hebrews verse 9 is a word that is used only here in scripture.  In fact, it is #4520 “Sabbatismos,” a Greek transliteration for  “Sabbath rest.” In Judaic writing, the Sabbath foreshadows the world to come; it is a day “which shall be all Sabbath.”

The passage in Hebrews continues to compare our rest with God’s Sabbath rest.

Hebrews 4:10 NKJV 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

The rest we receive from Yeshua is like that of God after He completed creation. We rest in the garden God planted for us. We rest in the completed work of Yeshua our Messiah. The book of Hebrews describes Yeshua’s qualifications and work concluding in chapter 11 that His work in regards to sin is finished, but there remains His return to bring us to safety.

Hebrews 9:28 NKJV 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

Hebrews 10:14 NKJV 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

At that time, we will experience a day that is all Sabbath! All Rest! We who believe have assurance that we enter that rest!

Hebrews 4:3 NKJV 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest,'" although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

This, now, takes us to the center of the passage in Matthew, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.”

When we take on a yoke, we are putting ourselves under the authority of the one who places the yoke. When the children of Israel went into captivity in Babylon, God told them they are under the yoke of Babylon.

Jeremiah 27:8 NKJV 8 'And it shall be, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish,' says the LORD, 'with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

So, we are under the authority of Yeshua and we are to learn from Him! Jeremiah tells us what we are to learn!

Jeremiah 6:16 NKJV 16 Thus says the LORD: "Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'

We are to learn to walk in the old ways and, thus, find rest for our souls.  Jeremiah goes on to tell us what God meant when He said they wouldn’t walk in His ways.

Jeremiah 6:19 NKJV 19 Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people-The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words, Nor My law, but rejected it.

They wouldn’t walk according to God’s Torah! The old ways are the ways of Torah. The Torah is the set of instructions for those who put themselves under the authority of Yeshua on how to love God and each other! David tells us that walking in Torah brings peace.

Psalms 119:165 NKJV 165 Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble.

Now that we are saved, yoked to Yeshua, the Torah tells us how to live a victorious spirit-filled life! The apostle John tells us that loving God is not burdensome.

1 John 5:3 NKJV 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

Our pride gets in the way, though, of submitting to authority. We ask, why we should submit to Yeshua’s authority. He tells us why; because He himself is humble. He is gentle and lowly in heart! We are to submit because He submits

John tells us that those who are in Him, who are yoked together with Him, walk the way He walked.

1 John 2:6 NKJV 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

When we submit to Yeshua’s authority, and learn from Him because He is humble, we find rest for our souls. This is the central theme of this passage in Matthew. Yeshua, our humble messiah, teaches us to walk in humility and submission by His own example. And through His submission to the Father, submission even to death on the cross, we have rest for our souls! And Yeshua’s yoke, His authority is easy to bear.  His burden is not heavy, it is light! Yeshua gives us rest both in this life and in the eternal life to come!

Shalom and be Blessed

Dan & Brenda Cathcart

Visit our web site @  www.MoedMinistries.com

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