Down an Unfamiliar Road

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Part XVI

In the Jewish Mishnah, we read the following law concerning those accused of blasphemy, such as Jesus was: “The blasphemer is liable only if he utters [the Divine] Name. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Karhah says: The entire day [of the trial,] the witnesses are examined by means of a substitute for the Divine Name. When the trial is finished, however, the accused must not be executed by [a testimony given using] a substitution. Rather, all persons [who were not absolutely necessary to the case] are removed [from the courtroom], and the chief witness was told, state exactly what you heard. Thereupon, he did so [using the Divine Name]. The judges then stood up and rent their garments, which were not resewn [in a manner so that the tear is no longer noticeable].” Thus the veil, like the garment of the ordinary priest, was torn from top to bottom. And while the blood of a lamb was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies, in this case, the blood of the Lamb of God was sprinkled on God’s Mercy Seat – the cross, for all the world to see.

The term, “Divine Name,” was a reference to what God said to Moses who asked Him to identify Himself. God replied: “I AM WHO I AM.”¹ In order not to disrespect God’s name, in Jewish literature it is referred to as “Ha-Shem,” which means, “The Name.”In Judaism 101 it is explained this way: “The most important of God’s Names is the four-letter Name represented by the Hebrew letters Yod-Hei-Vav-Hei (YHVH). It is often referred to as the Ineffable Name, the Unutterable Name, or the Distinctive Name. Linguistically, it is related to the Hebrew root Hei-Yod-Hei (to be), and reflects the fact that God’s existence is eternal. In scripture, this Name is used when discussing God’s relation with human beings, and when emphasizing his qualities of lovingkindness and mercy. It is frequently shortened to Yah (Yod-Hei), Yahu or Yeho (Yod-Hei-Vav), especially when used in combination with names or phrases, as in Yehoshua (Joshua, meaning ‘the Lord is my Salvation’), Eliyahu (Elijah, meaning ‘my God is the Lord’), and Halleluyah (‘praise the Lord’).”² When you see the name of God in most Jewish literature, it is always printed as, “G-d.”

Verses 51b-53: Also, the earth shook and rocks shattered. The graves were unsealed, and many of God’s people who were sleeping were raised from death. They walked out of the graves. And after Jesus was raised from death, they went into the holy city, and many people saw them.

It is worthy to note that Matthew says, “they who were sleeping,” arose. The Aramaic Version puts it the same way. They came out of their tombs and were seen walking around in Jerusalem. There is no record that any of them stayed for long, or went back to their families as Lazarus did. It also points out that all the graves were outside the walls of the city, that’s why they had to enter the city.

A great Jewish teacher makes this very clear, “Every city is given a cemetery outside these boundaries, for they do not bury their dead within their cities: as [implied by Numbers 31:3]: ‘The residential area will be for their animals, their property, and all their vital needs.’ [This land] was given ‘for their vital needs’ and not for burial.”³

But Matthew makes something quite plain in this verse that many fail to see. It is accepted by Bible scholars that v. 52 tells us that upon the initial quake, the graves split open and the dead saints rose to walk the streets. But here in v. 53, Matthew clearly points out that these saints did not rise until after Christ had risen Himself. These two verses, then, should have been combined as one, not two. This then preserves Christ’s position as the first fruit of the resurrection.

The early church bishop of Laodicea has this to say about these resurrected saints: “The raising up of the saints’ bodies was announcing that the death of Christ was actually the cause of life. They certainly were not made visible prior to the Lord’s resurrection, since it was necessary that the resurrection of the Savior first be made known. Then those raised through Him were seen. It is plain that they have died again, having risen from the dead in order to be a sign. For it was not possible for only some of the firstborn from the dead to be raised to the life of the age to come, but the remainder [must be raised] in the same manner. Now, Luke says that the crowd passing by ‘beat their breasts and went away.’⁴ Thus the divine superiority did not escape the notice of the Jews, either in the Passion itself or in the obscurity of the Savior. But habitual human forgetfulness held them fast, and the deceit of the teachers led many astray.”⁵

Verse 54: The army officer and the soldiers guarding Jesus felt this earthquake and saw everything that happened. They were very afraid and said, “He really was the Son of God!”

This earthquake proved to be a wake-up call for those soldiers guarding the scene around the cross. There is something in the response of the officer in charge and his detail that makes me think that somewhere and somehow the fact that Jesus was being called the Son of God had reached his ears. Of course, there are some critics who would say that since the Romans believed in their gods having sons who came to earth, that they were, in fact, saying, “Truly, He is the son of one of the gods,” such as Romulus and Remus. But such thinking is severely flawed because no such circumstances as a crucifixion ever accompanied the revelation of these gods. The centurion and his soldier’s reaction was one of awe and respect, not fear and anxiety.

Jerome puts it this way: “Another Gospel⁶ demonstrates more clearly the cause of the centurion’s astonishment after the shaking of the earth. It wasn’t until after he had seen Christ give up the spirit that he said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God,’ for no one has the power to give up the spirit except He who is the Creator of souls. Here we can understand ‘soul’ for ‘spirit’ because the soul animates the body and makes it spiritual and because the spirit is the substance of the soul itself, as it is written: ‘You take away their spirits and they cease to be.’⁷”⁸

Verses 55-56: Many women were standing some distance from the cross, watching. These were the women who had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for Him. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of James and John were there.

But there were other witnesses that Matthew names, and they were all women. Of course, we know about Mary Magdelene. Mary the mother of James and Jose (Joseph) is identified with the Mary we read about earlier.⁹ And of course Mary to mother to the sons of Zebedee, James and John. In reading this list of names in several commentaries, it is clear that all of them agree that Mary Magdalene, was the one from the village of Magdala up in Galilee on the southwestern coast of the Sea of Galilee. Several also point to her as the one out of whom Jesus cast seven demons. Philip Schaff and C. J. Ellicott in their commentaries point out that some have confused her with the sinful woman who anointed our Lord’s feet in the house of Simon the Pharisee,¹⁰ and others with Mary, the sister of Lazarus (who anointed our Lord in Bethany).¹¹

The next Mary is identified as the mother of James and Jose, which is short for Joseph. There is quite a bit of uncertainty about her identity. Perhaps the clearest reference is where she is standing near the cross with Mary, the mother Jesus, and identified as Mary’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas or Cleopas or Cleophas.¹² One thing you learn about the names of people and places that are translated from Hebrew to Greek and Greek to English, there are always numerable differences in spelling. Since Cleopas was one of those Jesus walked with on the road to Emmaus, which has been identified as the brother of Joseph, the husband of Mary the mother of Jesus, then instead of sister it should read “sister-in-law.”

Cindy Lew, who became disabled due to medical issues after being a high school teacher and who now feels extremely blessed and inspired to work with students teaching Graphic Design, wrote this line: “Remember, the greatest gift is not found in a store nor under a tree, but in the hearts of true friends.”

On this special day when we celebrate the greatest gift from heaven, God’s only Son who came to be our Lord and Savior, those presents under the tree only represent the idea of celebrating such a wonderful event. When we look back over the past year, I’m sure we all can see many gifts that God gave us, without which we would not have made it this far. So, ask yourself what is my gift for Him on this day? – Dr. Robert R Seyda

Christmas Reunion

True Story – by Pastor Rob Reid

A young pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time so they could celebrate their first service on Christmas Eve. They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc., and on December 8 were ahead of schedule and just about finished. On December 19 a terrible rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.

On the December 21st, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet directly behind the pulpit to fall off the front wall. The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do headed home. On the way, he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted table linen with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole on the church wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.

By this time it had started to snow. An elderly lady running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait inside the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later.

She sat in a pew and watched the pastor as he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area. Then he noticed the woman slowly walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet. “Pastor,” she asked, “where did you get that tablecloth?”

The pastor told her. The woman then asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of this woman who had made this tablecloth years ago when she lived in Austria. The woman explained that before the WWII she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Germans came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. She was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again.

The pastor was so touched by her story that he wanted to give her the tablecloth, but she told him to keep it for the church. So then the pastor insisted on driving her home, that was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.

What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return. One old man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood, continued to sit in the pew and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn’t leaving. The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war. How could there be two tablecloths that looked so much alike?

He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety, and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home again. The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where he had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman’s apartment, knocked on the door. When the lady opened the door, as soon as their eyes met he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could have ever imagine. God does work in ways mysterious to us but not to Him.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Part XV

In the mean time, Matthew tells us that some soldiers apparently thought the pain was too much for this suffering king, so they went and fetched a sponge and dipped it in a sedative-ladened sour wine to give Him some relief from the agony. The object they used may have resembled the one we find described here: “Regarding the usage of a sponge to wipe off the table; if it has a leather handle so that by handling it he will not necessarily squeeze water out of it, one may wipe the table with it; if not and one would definitely squeeze out the water, one may not wipe the table with it. The Sages maintain that when dry; in either case, whether or not it has a leather handle it may be handled on the Sabbath since it is definitely a vessel and not set aside and even so it is not susceptible to defilement since it is not a vessel of wood, garment, sack or a metal utensil¹.”² However, there is no reason to believe that the soldiers would have taken such care.

Verses 50-51a: Again Jesus cried out loudly and then died. When Jesus died, the curtain in the Temple was torn into two pieces. The tear started at the top and went all the way to the bottom.

Matthew does not give us the words that Jesus spoke with His last breath. However, John records that this is when our Lord cried out: “It is finished!”³ Luke tells us that Jesus was then heard saying: “Father, into Your hands I surrender my spirit.”⁴ Also, when it comes to certifying that Jesus was dead, the Ethiopic Version adds that one soldier took a spear and pierced His side with it, and blood and water flowed out: but this circumstance is only recorded by the Evangelist John,⁵ although Beza says the same is read here in two ancient copies of Matthew.

Early church preacher Chrysostom, had this to say: “If giving up the spirit or (according to John) handing over the spirit were simply tantamount to dying, it would be easy to understand the passage which states ‘He gave up His spirit.’ However, since discerning minds define death to be nothing other than the separation of the soul from the body, we can see that yielding up one’s spirit is something more than simply dying physically. It is quite something else to ‘cry out with a loud voice and give up the spirit’ (as in Matthew) or to commit one’s spirit to the hand of God (as in Luke) or to bow one’s head and hand over his spirit (as in John). It is for all people to die, including the evil, because the soul of every person, including the unrighteous, will be separated from the body.”⁶

Chrysostom then continues: “If therefore we now understand what it means to cry out with a loud voice and thus to give up the spirit, that is, to commit oneself to the hand of God (as we have explained above in accordance with Luke’s Gospel), and if we understand what it means to bow the head and hand over the spirit, let us hasten to guard the conduct of our lives so that, upon our deaths, we also, like Jesus, might be able to cry out with a loud voice and thus to give up our spirit to the Father.”⁷

Some critics point out that this event is recorded nowhere else in non-Christian sources. Some simple logic may explain why. As far as the Romans are concerned, an earthquake could be responsible for more destruction than just rending a curtain in two in a temple, especially a Jewish one. So they had no need to make note of this. In the case of the Jews, the last thing they needed was for Jesus’ death to be connected to the sudden exposure of the Holy of Holies for people to see other than the High Priest. This would certainly lend authenticity or our Lord’s death as the Lamb of God and the Messiah. So they would make sure that none of this was known to the outside world, just as they would cover up His resurrection. However, with the apostle John, Jesus’ mother, and others standing on Golgotha at the time this happened, that’s why the Holy Spirit made sure it was recorded.

Nonetheless, I’m sure that when the Jewish leaders heard Jesus follower’s talking about it, they were quick to dismiss it as an unfounded rumor. In any case, it must have been known well enough to appear in one of the Apocryphal Gospels.⁸ I like the way one Jewish writer put it: “The fate of crucifixion, however, did not end the career of Jesus, as it had that of many other claimants to the Messiahship in those turbulent times. His personality had impressed itself so deeply upon His followers that they could not admit that He had gone from them forever…This was but the starting point of that remarkable religious movement which grew first among the lower classes in northern Palestine and Syria, then gradually throughout the entire Roman Empire, shaking the whole of heathendom until all its deities gave way to the God of Israel, the divine Father of the crucified Messiah. The Jewish tidings of salvation for the poor and lowly offered by the Nazarene became the death-knell to the proud might of paganism.”⁹

Meantime, those standing around the cross heard our Lord’s last cry just before He died. But what they didn’t see was what was happening over at the Temple. Matthew says that the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place, was ripped down the middle from top to bottom. There is an interesting comparison between the veil and what Jewish verbal teachings say about the high priest’s garments: “Rabbi ‘Inyani ben Sason said: Why are the sections on sacrifices and the priestly garments similar? To teach you: as sacrifices make atonement, so do the priestly garments make atonement.”¹⁰ It then goes on to say that the robe atones for slander. In this case, Jesus had been accused and convicted of slander by claiming to be the Son of God, the Messiah. Quite amazingly, when the high priest was permitted to tear his garments upon hearing blasphemy,¹¹ it was also from top to bottom.

The veil in the Temple was a beautiful piece of woven linen. We read where Moses was told: “Use fine linen and make a special curtain for the inside of the Holy Tent. Use blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and sew pictures of Cherub angels into the curtain.”¹² When Solomon was building the Temple he was told to use “expensive linen.”¹³ This is significant because as one revered Rabbi explains: “Whenever the Torah uses the term sheish or ‘spun sheish,’ it is necessary that the strand is sixfold. Where the term bad is used, it is valid, if one strand alone is used. Even in such situations, the most desirable manner of performing the mitzvah¹⁴ is that it be sixfold. Whenever the term meshizar¹⁵ is used alone, the intent is a thread that is eightfold.”¹⁶

The Rabbis tell us, “The veil was three and one-half inches thick, and was woven on a loom of seventy-two cords, and each cord was made up of twenty-four threads. It was forty cubits high, and twenty cubits wide. It was made up of eighty-two times ten thousand threads.”¹⁷ A cubit was somewhere between 17 to 21 inches. On a conservative basis, this veil was 60 feet high and 30 feet wide and 4 inches thick. Also, the Rabbis say that this curtain had to be immersed in order to sanctify it for temple use, and that immersion took some 300 priests.¹⁸ This made the ripping of the veil even that more impressive. But that was not all. In the words of David: “In my trouble, I called to the Lord. Yes, I cried out to my God for help. There in His temple He heard my voice. He heard my cry for help. The earth shook and shivered. The foundations of the mountains trembled.”¹⁹ Not only did the veil rip, but so did the ground. Metaphorically, we could also see the veil as representing the sky opening when Jesus returns to gather the saints, and the ground opening to let them free to meet Him in the air.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Part XIV

Another thing to consider was how far this darkness extended beyond Jerusalem. In other words, did it become dark as far away as Antioch or Damascus? There was a Greek author named Phlegon of Tralles, born about 80 AD, who was a secular historian, and who lived into the second century. There are two books credited to his name: Chronicles and the Olympiads. Little is known about Phlegon, but he made several references to Jesus Christ. Some of those statements were recorded by other writers. For instance, this reference: “And with regard to the eclipse in the time of Tiberius Caesar, in whose reign Jesus appears to have been crucified, and the great earthquakes which then took place . . . ”¹ And another quote from Philopon is found where he mentions the eclipse which took place during the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus and no other eclipse; it is clear that he did not know from his sources about any similar eclipse of previous times . . . and this is shown by the historical account of Tiberius Caesar.²

Then we have the third quote by Sextus Julius Africanus,³ “Phlegon records that, in the time of Tiberius Cæsar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour to the ninth – manifestly that one of which we speak. But what has an eclipse in common with an earthquake, the rending rocks, and the resurrection of the dead, and so great a perturbation throughout the universe? . . . And calculation makes out that the period of 70 weeks, as noted in Daniel, is completed at this time.”⁴ And finally a quote from St. Jerome. “In the fourth year, however, of Olympiad 202, an eclipse of the sun happened, greater and more excellent than any that had happened before it; at the sixth hour, day turned into dark night, so that the stars were seen in the sky, and an earthquake in Bithynia toppled many buildings of the city of Nicaea.”⁵

As mentioned before, Phlegon’s comment that an eclipse of the sun occurred during Jesus’ death was impossible since the Jewish Passover occurs during a full moon. It is important to note that 1) an eclipse of the sun cannot occur during a full moon since the moon would be on the opposite side of the earth and 2) that Jesus died on Passover during a full moon. It is important to read Thallus’ history of the Mediterranean world to completely understand the issue.⁶ But the obvious point here is this, with Phlegon and Thallus writing so close to the event and being quoted by so many authors as valid, surely that should give any historian cause to take what happened according to Matthew’s account seriously.

I like what one of the earliest church scholars had to say about examining the facts concerning the validity of Jesus being the Messiah. He wrote: “If the Jews object, we answer that Moses, who was but a man, taught them their religion; against the Greeks we urge that Orpheus at Pieria, Musæus at Athens, Melampus at Argos, Trophonius in Bœotia, imposed religious rites; turning to yourselves, who exercise sway over the nations, it was the man Numa Pompilius who laid on the Romans a heavy load of costly superstitions. Surely Christ, then, had a right to reveal Deity, which was, in fact, His own essential possession, not with the object of bringing peasants and savages by the fear of multitudinous gods, whose favor must be won into some civilization, as was the case with Numa; but as one who aimed to enlighten men already civilized, and under illusions from their very culture, that they might come to the knowledge of the truth. Search, then, and see if that divinity of Christ is true. If it be of such a nature that the acceptance of it transforms a man, and makes him truly good, there is implied in that the duty of renouncing what is opposed to it as false; especially and on every ground that which, hiding itself under the names and images of dead, that labors to convince men of its divinity by certain signs, and miracles, and oracles.”⁷

Furthermore, in the Suda (or Souda),⁸ Dionysius the Areopagite, who was a judge of the Areopagus as chronicled by Luke,⁹ and was converted to Christianity by the preaching of the Apostle Paul during his sermon before the Areopagus council, while he was still a heathen, observed this midday darkening of the sun as far away as Egypt. In the Suda¹⁰ we read: “So such a report has descended to us, transmitted from father to son from above, concerning the holy Dionysius, that at the time of the Savior’s passion, when the sun at midday was hidden, being very much astounded at the marvel and surpassing his human understanding, perceiving the event, he said, ‘An unknown god is suffering, through whom everything is darkened and shaken.‘”¹¹ Add to this the fact that it lasted three hours; whereas a natural eclipse of the sun is but of a short duration: “The Lord God also said, ‘At that time I will make the sun set at noon and make the land dark on a clear day.‘”¹²

In an interesting passage in the Jewish Zohar on “The Coming of the Messiah,” based on the Book of Exodus (Shemot) we read: “After twelve months, the Messiah will be raised inside that pillar into the firmament, where he will receive strength and the crown of kingship. And when he descends to the earth, that pillar of fire will be seen again as before, in the eyes of the whole world. Afterward, the Messiah will appear and many nations will gather to him, and he will make wars throughout the world. At that time, the Creator will awaken all the peoples of the world with His might, the Messiah King will be known throughout the world, and all the kings in the world will awaken and unite to wage war against him. Several rulers in Israel will revert and return to the gentiles and will come with them to wage war against the Messiah King. Then, the whole world will darken for fifteen days and many from the people of Israel will die in that darkness. This is why it is written, “For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth.”¹³

If they will believe that about the future, then it should not be hard to believe that God darkened the skies for just three hours by His own divine hand. Not only that, but the time for our Lord to complete His mission had arrived. According to the earliest Jewish verbal traditions, this was the hour for the slaying and offering of the daily sacrifice. This time frame is confirmed by Rabbi Joshua ben Levi who said, “The idiom ‘twilight’ is made up of two words that yield ‘between the evenings.’ How is this to be understood? Divide ‘between the evenings’ in the sense of the two periods in which the day becomes darker; hence, divide between the post-noon period, when the day grows darker, and the post-afternoon period, when the day becomes even darker with the onset of night and assign two-and-one-half hours before the sacrifice and two-and-one-half hours after it and one hour for involvement with the planning and preparation of the Daily Whole Offering offering. You may say that the Daily Whole Offering offering is offered at the ninth-and-one-half hour and the time of the Passover sacrifice is derived from that of the Daily Whole Offering offering. Therefore it should be fit to offer a Passover sacrifice from the sixth hour and on.¹⁴

To put it simply, anytime after 3 pm and before it got dark, the Passover Lamb was to be sacrificed. Perhaps that is why the Lamb of God who was being sacrificed at this moment suddenly cries out! Did not Isaiah say: “But the Lord was pleased with this humble servant who suffered such pain.”¹⁵ Also what Jeremiah said may have crossed our Savior’s mind at this moment, “All you who pass by on the road, you don’t seem to care. But look at me and see. Is there any pain like my pain? Is there any pain like the pain that has come to me? Is there any pain like the pain that the Lord has punished me with?
He has punished me on the day of His great anger.”¹⁶

1 Origen, “Against Celsus”, Book 2.33

2 Phiopon: De opificio mundi libri

3 A Christian historian, who lived c. 160-240 AD, and composed a five-volume chronology of world history from creation up to 221 AD, which had great influence upon Eusebius and on many writers of Church history.

4 Sextus Julius Africanus, Chronography, Fragment 18.1

5 Phlegon’s 13th book quoted in Jerome’s translation of Eusebius’ Chronicle, 202 Olympiad.

6 Thallus was a Greek historian who in 52 AD wrote a three-volume history of the Mediterranean world from approximately 112-109 BC.

7 Tertullian, Apology, Ch. 21

8 The Suda or Souda (meaning “Stronghold”), is a massive 10th-century Byzantine Greek historical encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, covering the whole of Greek and Roman antiquity and also including Biblical and Christian material.

9 Acts 17:34

10 Suda: Medieval Greek: is a massive 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Suidas. It is an encyclopedic lexicon, written in Greek, with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often derived from medieval Christian compilers.

11 Suda: Headword: Ἀνέκαθεν, Adler number: alpha, 2231

12 Amos 8:9

13 Jewish Zohar, which means “Splendor” or “Radiance,” and is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah, which loosely means, “Tradition,” pp. 103-104

14 Jerusalem Talmud, Second Division: Tractate Pesahim, Ch. 5:1, [I:1 K]

15 Isaiah 53:10

16 Lamentations 1:12

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Part XIII

It must be appreciated that Jesus was not crying out in disrespect of His heavenly Father or because He had done anything wrong, but that He was standing in God’s courtroom in place of the sinners for whom He was dying. Nor was this cry one of impatience or out of despair, for He was entirely resigned to the will of God, and content to drink the last drop in the bitter cup. But to those Jews listening, they knew it was said in their tradition involving Esther, who, as she stood in the inner court of the King of Persia’s house,¹ Rabbi Levi said: “The Divine Presence left her. She said, My God, My God, why have You forsaken me.’”²

But as to the reason why our Lord chose this Psalm for this particular occasion can easily be seen in the fact that it had always been considered a Psalm about Him. As scholars tell us: “In Judaism, when a Bible verse is cited its entire context is implied, if appropriate. Thus Yeshua refers all of Psalm 22 to Himself.”³ So here was the Messiah calling out for those who may have doubted Him, inspiring them to read this whole Psalm and see how applicable it was to His situation. But Matthew tells us that some standing near the cross did not understand completely why He was quoting it.

Verse 47: When some of the people standing nearby heard this, they said, “He is calling for Elijah.”⁴

In all the darkness and confusion, and with many standing around the crosses no doubt trying to figure out why it had gotten so dark at noontime, especially since there had been no signs of a thunderstorm or heavy clouds, it should not surprise us that the people may have misunderstood what our Lord cried out on the cross. Or, as some scholars have suggested, they were reminded of the words spoken by the prophet Malachi: “Look, I will send Elijah the prophet to you. He will come before that great and terrible time of judgment from the Lord.”⁵

Throughout the writings of the Jews, we find on numerous occasions where it is mentioned that Elijah came and spoke to them, giving instructions and admonishment. For instance, we read where during a trial of a Rabbi suspected of stealing: “Elijah came disguised as one of the dignitaries of Rome and said to that man: As miracles were worked for him in all the other matters, a miracle will also happen in this one, and you will only be exposed as being bad-natured.”⁶

In another place, we read where some Jews decided to send a gift to the emperor. So they chose a man named Nahum of Gamzu who was known to perform miracles. On the way, the bag containing precious stones and pearls were stolen by the staff at the inn where he was staying. So they filled the bag with dirt. Since Nahum was blind, he did not know what had happened until the bag was opened in front of the Emperor. Before he could try and explain, it says: “Elijah appeared in the guise of one of them and remarked, Perhaps this is some of the earth of their father Abraham, for when he [the emperor] threw this earth [against the enemy] it turned into swords and when [he threw] stubble it changed into arrows.”⁷

So we can see why perhaps they were speaking about Elijah as one who could come and miraculously get Jesus out of this predicament. But mostly, they were asking sarcastically, “Let’s see if Elijah will come and save Him.” This was important because Elijah was someone the Jews looked upon to be the forerunner of the Messiah. Therefore, to suggest that should he come and save Jesus they would then believe He was the Messiah, was ludicrous. Yet, even though they did have an acceptable notion of Elijah appearing to persons frequently, and talking, and conversing with them,⁸ they considered these persons being of great note, known for their piety and learning. But they really did not believe Elijah would come and appear to Jesus of Nazareth, as they pretend because they held no such high opinion of Him.

Such sarcasm continued among the Jews for centuries, as we see in the polemic writings of a Jewish Rabbi in the Middle Ages, who imagined that when God said, “Let us make man in our image,”⁹ He was speaking to His Son. However, the Son rebelled and did not wish to help His Father, so that’s why the text then goes on to say: “So God the Father created man in His own image.”¹⁰ The writer continues his diatribe by indicating that God then said to His Son, “If the time should come when you need my assistance, I will not help you just as you have not helped Me.” This sounds more like material constructed out of fairy tales instead of scholarly theological research.

But we must also examine what was unspoken in this cry of the Master in His agony. As we have noted, the words He uttered here are from the opening lines of Psalm 22. This is accepted by both Jews and Christians as a Messianic Psalm. And just as interesting, is what the Psalmist says about the torture the Messiah would go through. For me, I see this as our Lord’s way of getting the disciples to look at this Psalm once they were alone, to see what it meant. In the text, they would find further confirmation that He was dying as the Messiah, the Lamb of God. The last verse of this Psalm says it all: “Our descendants will serve Him. Those who are not yet born will be told about Him. Each generation will tell their children about the good things the Lord has done.”¹¹

Verses 48-49: Quickly, one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled the sponge with sour wine and tied the sponge to a stick. Then he used the stick to give the sponge to Jesus to get a drink from it. But the others said, “Don’t bother Him. We want to see if Elijah will come to save Him.”

What happens now gets the attention of the whole city of Jerusalem. Matthew was alert enough to give us the time frame involved. Since he notes that it was about 3 pm when our Lord cried out and that it had been dark for some three hours, this suggests that our Lord was led to Calvary and nailed to the cross sometime in the morning, probably around 10 am. With this comes the word given to Isaiah, “I dress the heavens in black to mourn and make their covering sackcloth.”¹² And also, what the prophet Amos heard, “The Lord God also said, ‘At that time I will make the sun set at noon and make the land dark on a clear day.‘”¹³

Some have suggested, that there could have been a full solar eclipse. However, we know from Jewish custom that the Passover was only celebrated at the time of a full moon, which would have made that impossible. This time period of 3 pm is described by the Jews as follows: “The Daily Whole Offering of the afternoon generally was slaughtered at half after the eighth hour [after dawn, about 2:30 pm] and offered up at half after the ninth hour [about 3:30 pm].”¹⁴ So, since their new day would begin at 6 pm, this point in time was considered to be at the end of the day.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Part XII

The heckling and disrespect of those in authority, especially those who God anointed to teach and guide His people was something predicted long ago. This was the theme of the Rabbis who commented on the verbal traditions, quoting from the original document:¹ “In the footsteps of the Messiah insolence will increase and honor dwindle.”² Another renown Rabbi commented: “At the end of the King Messiah, audacity will increase; i.e., at the end of the exile, prior to the advent of the Messiah.”³ This is followed by a tempting dare that Jesus had faced before. Several times He was challenged to do miracles in order to prove His claim as the Son of God,⁴ starting with Satan’s temptations in the wilderness.⁵

In one polemic writing, Jewish writers say that the mockers were actually saying, “If You are the Son of God, why haven’t you delivered Yourself out of our hands?”⁶ The answer, of course, is very simple, because it wouldn’t be long before they would hear this suffering Messiah cry out, “Father, I put my life in your hands!”⁷ Matthew will now give us a glimpse into who was the source of such mocking and taunting.

Verses 41-44: The leading priests, the teachers of the law, and the older Jewish leaders were also there. They made fun of Jesus the same as the other people did. They said, “He saved others, but He can’t save Himself! People say He is the king of Israel. If He is the king, He should come down now from the cross. Then we will believe in Him. He trusted God. So let God save Him now if God really wants Him. He Himself said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ And in the same way, the criminals on the crosses beside Jesus also insulted Him.”

I can’t help but wonder what gave these opponents of Jesus such boldness and sense of invulnerability that they now openly made fun of the man who reportedly healed the sick, cleansed lepers, walked on water, and raised the dead. But I wonder if the words of Job ever crossed their minds: “If God checked you very closely, would He see that you are right? Do you really think you can fool God the same as you fool people?”⁸

But king David would have a different take on them, “Let my enemies be ashamed and embarrassed—all those who were happy about my troubles. Proud of themselves, they treated me as worthless. So let them be covered with shame and disgrace.”⁹ One of their pokes at the Messiah on the cross sounds like what king David had to deal with, “God will not rescue him!”¹⁰ Then they teased our Lord just as they teased His royal ancestor, “Call to the Lord for help. Maybe He will save you. If He likes you so much, surely He will rescue you!”¹¹ They also used the words of the Korahites, “Where is your God?”¹² So they came to the same conclusion as the Psalmist “God has left him, so there is no one to help him.”¹³

Jerome gives us his understanding of why the Jewish leaders were taunting Jesus this way. He writes: “What a deceitful promise! Which is greater: to come down from the cross while still alive or to rise from the tomb while dead? He rose, and you do not believe. Therefore, even if He came down from the cross, you would not believe. Furthermore, it seems to me that this would usher in the evil spirits. As soon as the Lord was crucified, they sensed the power of the cross and realized their own strength was broken. They were acting in this way to get Him to come down from the cross. But the Lord, knowing the snares of His adversaries, remained on the cross that He may destroy the devil.”¹⁴

Even though Luke records that it was one thief that mocked Jesus, and was rebuked him for being so foolish,¹⁵ Matthew says that both thieves on either side of Jesus joined in with the crowd. Some Bible scholars suggest that these thieves may not have ridiculed Jesus themselves, but merely watched without objecting to their derisiveness. But in my opinion, since Matthew does not go on to include the confession of the one thief, he is only reporting what happened up to that point based on the information he had been given.

Verses 45-46: At noon the whole country suddenly became dark. The darkness continued for three hours. About three o’clock Jesus cried out loudly, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” This means “My God, my God, why have You left me like this?”¹⁶

To understand this scene, we need to look at the Jewish timetable for the Temple and the daily scheduled burnt offerings.¹⁷ In the first hour of the day, beginning at dawn until 8 AM the priests prepared the altar for the first sacrifice.¹⁸ The first male lamb is brought out and tied to the altar.¹⁹ Then during the third hour (9-10 AM), the incense was offered in the Sanctuary and the first lamb was sacrificed. In the sixth hour (Noon to 1 PM), the second lamb is brought out and tied to the altar at high noon.²⁰ Then, in the ninth hour (3 – 4 PM), the second lamb is sacrificed.²¹

So when we use this timeline to follow what was happening on the cross, at approximately 12 PM, in what was usually the hour when the sun was at high noon, the sky suddenly became pitch black. This was the same moment when in the Temple the second lamb was brought out and tied to the altar. It stayed that way for 3 hours. Then at the same moment when this second lamb was sacrificed, our Lord cried out to His heavenly Father, wanting to know why He was there all alone.

Metaphorically speaking, we could call the first lamb that died earlier as portraying all the lambs that had died over the centuries since the Law was given to Moses. In this case, and on this day, its death represented the truth that this would be the last time God would accept an animal sacrifice for sins. And the second lamb that died is portrayed as the Lamb of God that would die one time for all time to cover the sins of mankind and would never need to die again. This ninth hour was also called the second hour of prayer,²² and was also called the hour of confession. So we can see that the whole drama of our Lord being on the cross at this particular time of day was not happenstance, but orchestrated by God the Father from before the beginning of the world.

Of course, God’s anger was against man’s sin, the sin that made His Son the only one qualified for crucifixion. But what Matthew records is very important for us to understand, not only what Jesus said but why He said it. It is the opening lines of a Messianic Psalm.²³ It is interesting that in the Aramaic Version it reads, “My God, my God, why have You spared me?” This can be best understood when we take the word “spare” as a verb meaning, “to part with.” We also must note that “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,” is a combination of both Hebrew and Aramaic, with the first two words being the Hebrew name for God, and the remaining phrase being Aramaic. As a matter of fact in the Aramaic paraphrase of this verse, we find “azabthani.”²⁴ One Jewish translation renders it: “Eli! Eli! L’mah sh’baktani?” (My God! My God! Why have you deserted me?).²⁵ Although Matthew, no doubt, wrote it this way in his Aramaic notes, in the Greek it was transliterated as “sabachthani.”

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Part XI

On the topic of the soldiers gambling on Jesus’ garments, Origen gives us his commentary: “There are those who to this day do not have the Lord with them but do have his ‘garments’—namely, the words contained in Scripture. They do not have them in full but only in part. Nonetheless, the prophet had spoken that prediction which was now fulfilled.¹ Now, as to whether any of His clothes were torn apart when they divided His garments or whether any of them remained intact and just what those items were, nothing is said by the first three Evangelists. But in John, we read that ‘when the soldiers had crucified Jesus they took His garments and made four parts, one for each soldier; also His tunic. But the tunic was without seam, woven from top to bottom; so they said to one another, ‘Let us not tear it but cast lots for it.’² Therefore, not all but only one of the soldiers who had cast lots received it. Now anyone debating the differences between those who have the Lord’s ‘garments’ will doubtless find some people who, although they do not have the Lord in their teachings, do have the ‘tunic’ that was ‘woven from top to bottom.’³”⁴

Here Origen is speaking about those who claimed to be believers in Jesus as the Christ but did not have the holy grail of being the church Christ built upon the rock, which was the Catholic Church. Like this one soldier, they only had the seamless tunic as an object but did not have the parts of Christ’s other garments which were His teachings. Paul said it this way: Having a form of godliness but denying its power.⁵ Using this same formula today, the Catholic Church would say that Protestants have only the seamless tunic to present as their claim to be of Christ while the Roman Catholic Church has the teachings. I would say, in fact, that the opposite is true. Not only do they have only the tunic, but it has become an object of worship.

Scholars also point out, that the sign placed above Jesus’ head on the cross is given three different translations by the Gospel writers. John calls it a “title;”⁶ Luke says it was the “superscription;”⁷ and Mark note’s it being “superscription of His accusation.”⁸ Here Matthew gives us what he recalled seeing. The title “King of the Jews” was just part of the sign. Also included were the charges against Him. Today the sign might look like this: JESUS OF NAZARETH. FALSELY CLAIMED TO BE KING OF THE JEWS.

Some may think that crucifixions were uncommon and that the one involving Jesus was rare. But from all historical data of that period such thinking is inaccurate. For example, we are told: “Upon this, Varus⁹ sent a part of his army into the country, to seek out those that had been the authors of the revolt; and when they were discovered, he punished some of them that were most guilty, and some he dismissed: now the number of those that were crucified on this account were two thousand.”¹⁰ Furthermore, the scene described here in Matthew involving the two criminals, also tells us that it was an ongoing form of execution there in Jerusalem.

So from a social and political point of view, putting to death a man being accused of sedition against the occupying power of Rome had been done before. But in a religious and spiritual context, it was “one-of-a-kind.” Secretly, the Jews wanted Him crucified because He blasphemed by openly accepting His title as the Messiah, the Son of God, so they were willing to use whatever means and charges necessary to get that done. But near the same spot where God substituted a ram as a sacrifice for Abraham’s son Isaac, He now allowed His own Son to be sacrificed for all mankind. In so doing, it put an end to the daily sacrifices of animals for the sins of man and replaced it with the one-time sacrifice of the Lamb of God for all time for all sin.

This had never been done before, and it will never be done again. So as in the case of Joseph, what was done that was meant for wrong had turned out to be done for what was right. Also, by the soldiers gambling to see who would win our Lord’s discarded clothes, this signals what would come shortly, since it is found in a Psalm, the text of which has always been applied to the Messiah: “They divide my clothes among themselves, and they throw lots for what I am wearing.”¹¹

Verses 38-40: Two criminals were nailed to crosses beside Jesus—one on the right and the other on the left. People walked by and shouted insults at Jesus. They shook their heads and said, “You said you could destroy the Temple and build it again in three days. So save yourself! Come down from that cross if you really are the Son of God!”

Earlier, James and John, along with their mother, had requested of Jesus that one be on His right and to other on His left when He came into His kingdom,¹² But now we see that it would be two thieves that would be given such privilege because this was the fulfillment of a prophecy: “He was considered a criminal, but the truth is, He carried away the sins of many. Now He will stand before me and speak for those who have sinned.”¹³ In other words, having two of His disciples beside Him on Calvary’s hill might indicate that He was only dying for the righteous. But by having two sinners, it signified that He was dying for those who were hopelessly and helplessly condemned to death. As both sinners looked at the Savior dying between them, only one believed while the other decided to die in his sins. That choice is still with sinners today. How sad, however, that anyone would choose eternal punishment over eternal life.

Here again, we find that the Jews were participants in an event forbidden by their own teachings. We read: “Rab Judah said in Rab’s name: The Holy One, blessed be He, said unto Moses: Divide them into many courts…because two men may not be tried and sentenced on the same day?”¹⁴ Later on, in the same writings, we find: “Rabbi Adda ben Ahabah…‘Two capital cases may not be tried in one day; not even that of an adulterer and his paramour’.”¹⁵ On this occasion, three people were being crucified on the same day at the same hour. But then again, since the Romans were doing the killing, the Jewish leaders took no responsibility for going against their judicial customs and rules.

Emboldened by the attitude of the Jewish leaders and the complicity of the Roman soldiers, many in the crowd were emboldened to join in the mockery of Jesus. Some may have been sincere, while others did it to ingratiate themselves to the authorities. Also, as we see in our own day, some may have been hired hecklers to get the ridiculing started until it could catch on. How accurately the Messianic Psalm describes this scene: “People insult me and look down on me. Everyone who sees me makes fun of me. They shake their heads and stick out their tongues at me. They say, “Call to the Lord for help. Maybe He will save you. If He likes you so much, surely He will rescue you!”¹⁶

Thomas Andrew Lehrer, American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, and mathematician, in his comedy music album: “That Was the Year That Was” (1965), speaking on the subject of a lady named Alma he says (to much applause): “Speaking of love, one problem that recurs more and more frequently these days, in books and plays and movies, is the inability of people to communicate with the people they love: husbands and wives who can’t communicate, children who can’t communicate with their parents, and so on. And the characters in these books and plays and so on, and in real life, I might add, spend hours bemoaning the fact that they can’t communicate. I feel that if a person can’t communicate, the very least he can do is to shut up.”¹

I don’t know which is more difficult to endure, the person who talks and talks about all the things they can’t do, or the one who jabbers on and on about what they can do. I imagine the only thing that can make it worse is when you have two people who are trying to outdo each other on what they can or cannot do. The simplest rule to remember is this: Don’t offer to tell anyone what you can or cannot do until you are asked. – Dr. Robert R Seyda

Not long back I read a story that some years ago on a hot summer day in south Florida, a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went. He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore, but turned around. His mother, in the house, was looking out the window, saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In utter fear, she ran toward the water, yelling to her son as loudly as she could. Hearing her voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his mother. It was too late. Just as he reached her, the alligator reached him.

From the dock, the mother grabbed her little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the mother, but the mother was much too passionate to let go. A farmer happened to drive by, heard her screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator. Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal. And, on his arms, were deep scratches where his mother’s fingernails dug into his flesh in her effort to hang on to the son she loved. The newspaper reporter, who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, “But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my mom wouldn’t let go.”

You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars, too. No, not from an alligator, or anything quite so dramatic, but, the scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are because God refused to let us go. In the midst of our struggle, He was there holding on to us. The Scripture teaches that God loves us. If we have Christ in our lives, we are a child of God. He wants to protect us and provide for us in every way. But sometimes we foolishly wade into dangerous situations. The swimming hole of life is filled with peril – and we forget that the enemy is waiting to attack. That’s when the tug-of-war begins, and if we have the scars of His love on our arms, we should be very, very grateful He did not – and will not – ever let us go. – Dr. Robert R Seyda