NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER THREE

Part V

So what John the Baptizer saw was not all that unexpected when Jesus the Messiah appeared. What upset the Jews is that their expectations for the man of their choice were not fulfilled, and they got a little known prophet from Galilee. But why were they so disappointed? Didn’t Isaiah say: “He was always close to the Lord. He grew up like a young tree, putting down roots in dry ground. There was nothing special or impressive about the way he looked, nothing we could see that would cause us to like him. People made fun of him, and even his friends left him . . . We treated him like someone of no importance, like someone people will not even look at but turn away from in disgust.”¹

But doesn’t their own commentary in the Book of Light also say: “Humans will perceive wondrous, precious wisdom never experienced by them before, as it is written: “The Spirit of Adonai will rest on Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and power, the Spirit of knowledge and fearing Adonai² — All these are destined to light upon King Messiah so that he may judge the world, as it is written: ‘He will judge the impoverished justly.’³”⁴

Here is an interesting passage in this same Book of Light related to the dove and the Messiah: On his death bed, one Rabbi says, “I believe I hear the fluttering of angel wings. Ah! what do I see’? The tree of life radiating a perfume that fills the sky-blue vault of heaven itself. I see descending and landing the mystic heavenly dove, so I can recognize the King Messiah.”⁵ Also, John Gill comments on another passage from the Book of Light that goes: “…a door will be opened, and out of it will come the dove which Noah sent out in the days of the flood, as it is written, ‘and he sent out the dove’, that famous dove; but the ancients do not speak about it, for they did not know exactly what it was, only from where it came, and announced its message; as it is written, ‘…it did not return again to Noah anymore’: no man knows where it went, but it returned to its original place, and was hidden behind this door; and it will take a crown in its mouth, and put it on the head of the King Messiah.‘”⁶

All pious Jews were awaiting the magical moment when Messiah would be pointed out, they just weren’t ready for it to be a carpenter’s son who grew up in rural Nazareth of Galilee. Furthermore, what about this voice that spoke from heaven? What were the Jews waiting on with regard to such an announcement concerning the identity of Messiah? There is an interesting story about several Rabbis meeting in the upper chamber of a house in Jericho, when suddenly a voice from heaven spoke and said: “There is one among you who is worthy for the Shekinah glory to rest on him as it did on Moses, but his generation does not merit it.”⁷ All the Sages who were present turned and looked at Hillel the Elder, but he quickly died. It happened again when they met at another Rabbi’s house, and this time they all turned and looked at Samuel the Little. But he too died shortly thereafter. Before he died, Samuel the Little said the same would happen to two other great Rabbis, Simeon ben Gamaliel and and Ishmael ben Elisha, the high priest. Therefore we can see why a voice from heaven announcing an anointing was not looked on with great anticipation. It would not be long after the voice that spoke from heaven when Jesus was baptized that He too would die. But His death would be far more important than that of the other Rabbis mentioned.

Perhaps when it was told about this voice speaking about Jesus of Nazareth and calling Him His Son, some of them would not have grieved had He too would immediately meet the same fate. So when He suddenly disappeared for 40 days, it’s possible some of those who were there for the baptism thought it did. So a voice out of heaven was not that bizarre to the Jews, for they believe in it themselves. In fact, Rabbis say that such a voice even spoke to the wicked King Herod. Therefore they could not reject the voice speaking to Jesus who was by far more righteous and pure than Herod could ever dream of being.

It’s also amazing that many refused to accept Jesus’ words when He said He was speaking on behalf of His Father in heaven, yet we find this teaching by the Rabbis: “This principle that one who follows the School of Shammaite’s view endangers himself only after the heavenly voice went forth to decree that the law follows the view of the School of Hillel. But before the Heavenly voice went forth anyone who wished to adopt for himself a stringency in the law and act according to the stringent rulings of both the Houses of Shammai and Hillel ― they permitted him to do so but concerning him it was said, “The fool walks in darkness.”⁸

It is obvious that even according to Jewish tradition and their verbal laws, Jesus should have been considered as a serious candidate to be Messiah. But just as their own Rabbis had said, anyone who fails to listen to the heavenly voice will be seen as a fool who walks in darkness. There is a faulty reasoning alive in our world today, that when tragedy occurs and innocent lives are lost as a consequence, the first reaction is to attack the cause and the causer. It does not require a genius IQ to comprehend this truth: guns, knives, blunt instruments, and other objects used as weapons don’t kill, it’s the people who use them. Yet politicians and pundits want to get rid of these objects that can be used for keeping peace and peaceful purposes.

The same can be said for sinners. God does not send people to hell, they go there of their own choice. And God does not force people into heaven, they must want to go there and seek the way to get there. For those who came out to poke fun at John the Baptizer, and then later turn their mockery on Jesus, did not understand that they were throwing God’s lifeline back into His face. They were more or less saying, they didn’t need God’s help in securing salvation, they could achieve that on their own. It is painful, yet unfortunately true of many today, to describe them as they were in Jesus’ day: “Fools who walk in darkness.”