I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together like sheep of the fold, Like a flock in the midst of their pasture; They shall make a loud noise because of so many people.
Micah 2:12
The one who breaks open will come up before them; They will break out, Pass through the gate, And go out by it; Their king will pass before them, With the LORD at their head.” Micah 2:13.
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the violent take heaven by force! Matthew 11.
Who are the violent?
Why does the New Testament seem to encourage
violence and being forceful?
What did Messiah mean?
Why was He seemingly advocating violence?
Wasn’t His mission here to bring shalom – peace?
Doesn’t it seem contrary to all He taught?
Here is another example of the need to comprehend, not only the Old Testament, but to give some attention to Hebrew/Jewish understanding in reference to their mindset/concepts, oral teaching and traditions. Another example below from Micah 4:1-2.
Why do we need to do that?
Because although the people in Messiahs’ day, did not all have access to scrolls, rabbis/teachers in synagogues, they understood references made to Torah, the Writings and the Prophets more than we do, as we sadly don’t read or study the Tanakh as we should.
The word for
violent
in this passage is:
biastes
which gives the idea of:
breaking forth.
The Aramaic word used is:
qetira
which has the meaning of:
breaking away from restraint.
The semitic origin has the idea of:
a circle
and later of:
being surrounded
or encircled like a fence or wall enclosure.
In some Jewish literature, the word is further taken to mean:
being fenced into the law
and
breaking away from the law.
InMicah 2:12,13these two verses are full of Hebraic imagery.
There was a common teaching in the oral tradition, explaining that this is a picture of:
a shepherd calling his sheep for overnight hours.
As they were always on the move looking for pasture to feed the flock;
a shepherd would take whatever stones were right there at his location and construct a temporary rock fence/wall on the hillside.
Some pictures show the shepherd as the door, others show that the stones were all the way around.
The next morning, the shepherd would make a break in the wall, by removing some of the stones/rocks and he would then go through the gate/opening; followed closely by the sheep.
Because the sheep were ready to exit the pen/enclosure and the exit would have been small, narrow and restrictive, the sheep were often pressing and pushing one another in order to get through the narrow way/break/door.
As they continued to eagerly jostle one another to get to the food in the pasture beyond, they would cause the door to be widened as they pressed against the rocks, dislodging them..
The picture given is of the sheep finally breaking through into the open pasture hurrying after their shepherd.
In the passage in Micah:
the breaker
that is come before them
and
the king that shall pass before them.
Are these one and the same?
Interestingly the rabbis apparently teach that
the breaker is to be interpreted as Elijah
and the Messiah is the King.
This common teaching is that
Elijah comes first as the breaker:
the one who would make the initial hole/break in the rock wall.
He goes before the Messiah to prepare the way for Him. (Sounding familiar? In the spirit of Elijah …Matthew 11:14)
The Messiah is the King who follows, the One Who comes after Elijah and leads the sheep through the gate/door/dalet, in the Way to the Kingdom of God.
Those who are following Messiah, the sheep of His pasture, are so ready and excited to go through the gate/door that they will cause the gate to extend wider just as the sheep getting out of their pen did pushing to get into the pasture beyond.
Because this teaching was so well known to the listeners, it’s a great possibility that Messiah was pointing to this particular scripture in Micah when He said in Matthew 11:12
taking the kingdom by force or violence or
by breaking out or removing any restraints of the law!!
In translating the Greek word:
biastes,
and the Aramaic word:
qetira
as violent,
can be a little misleading.
It’s really rather an inappropriate rendering, as it is suggesting a negative, aggressive attitude, instead of an excited desire to leave the incorrect restraints of the law and follow the One who came to fulfill/complete the law.
This is what Messiah came to do, by teaching us how to follow Him and the commandments correctly by applying it to our lives; embracing all that He is, and fulfilling all that our Heavenly Father has planned, leaving behind the added doctrines, traditions and laws of men.
‘THEY WORSHIP ME IN VAIN [their worship is meaningless and worthless, a pretense], TEACHING THE PRECEPTS OF MEN AS DOCTRINES [giving their traditions equal weight with the Scriptures].’You disregard and neglect the commandment of God, and cling [faithfully] to the tradition of men.”He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside and nullifying the commandment of God in order to keep your [man-made] tradition and regulations. Mark 7:7-9.
For this is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’ Matthew 11:10-15
“Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will prepare and clear the way before Me. And the Lord [the Messiah], whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of hosts.
In the Old Testament/Tanakh, referred to here, Malachi 3:1introduces a passage that clearly states that Eliyahu /Elijah the prophet will precede the coming of the Day of the Lord, that is, the Day of Judgment. Malachi 3:23.Judaism expects Eliyahu/Elijah, who never died but was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot, to precede the Messiah. 2 kings 2:11.
We can see that:
the breaker was Yochanan, John the Baptist
who made the hole – breaking the rock wall of religious pharisaical resistance and went forth.
Here we have our answer to our question:
Who Or What was The Breaker?
He was the one who opened the way, made the straight path; and as Messiah confirmed in Matthew 11:14, was the Elijah of Micah whom the rabbis referred to, and who the prophets prophesied concerning.
And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is [the fulfillment of] Elijah [as the messenger] who was to come [before the kingdom]. Matthew 11:14.
If you are willing to accept it he is Eliyahu/Elijah.
This does not suggest that Yochanan/John, was Eliyahu/Elijah reincarnated; on the contraryHebrews 9:27 And just as it is appointed and destined for all men
to die once
and after this [comes certain] judgment;
specifically teaches that
reincarnation does not occur
and when asked Yochanan/John himself denies that he is Elijah. John 1:21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
Rather he comes: in the spirit of Elijah and
precedes the Messiahs first coming;
in the same way that another ‘Elijah-like’ figure,
is to precede His second coming,
Messiah Yeshua/Jesus affirms this understanding
in Matthew 17:10-13.
And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things.
But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.”
Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.
Elijah also appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration with Moshe/Moses right before the Crucifixion and the beginning of the coming of the Kingdom of the heavens.
Matthew 17:2/3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.
Mark 9:2
So it begs the question –
Is Elijah still to come or be seen once more before Messiah returns? According to scripture he has still not died.
It is given unto men once to die and after that …. Those like Lazarus were raised from physical death and would have later died as their bodies did not last forever. Resurrection to eternal life means, no more death either physical or spiritual. Only two men of the Tanakh/Old Testament, Elijah and Enoch, did not physically die, they were taken up alive into heaven. Many scholars believe they are the two witnesses mentioned in the book of Revelation 11:3-12 as they die in the streets of Jerusalem and are then resurrected and ascend to heaven.
When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.
And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified…. 11. Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.
Time will show …..
and it may be sooner than we think!
Messiah Jesus/Yeshua as King leads His people, His sheep through the door/Dalet – Himself, and as they are so excited to go in to His Kingdom of true Shalom and the ‘green pastures of heaven’, like the sheep rushing forward, they break through the gate, leaving behind them the law that bound and restricted them.
They follow Messiah and the eternal life offered through Him, Who is the One Whom the whole of Torah, the Writings and the Prophets point towards.
Messiah Yeshua/Jesus didn’t here refer to Himself as The Shepherd, but, He did so later. John 11:10,14.However, any Israelite who was listening, would have understood to whom He was referring.
We should consider that if He was pointing to Old Testament teaching and oral tradition, He was not advocating or encouraging people to take the Kingdom of Heaven by violence; and certainly not the violence that we think of in our modern understanding and usage of the word.
He is referring to the Tanakh /Old Testament picture, known by all listening that the sheep, and here the people, will be so focused on breaking out of their old traditions to follow Messiah and enter His Kingdom of the Heavens, that they will
biastes or qetira /breakdown the rocks of the narrow gate
and widen it,
so that more and more sheep/people can quickly enter in together.
There is teaching that encourages believers to display an aggressive fighting attitude, which is appropriate in standing against the true enemy of our souls; but as we have seen, not literally against the Kingdom of Heaven.
As His talmidim/disciples, we are not to be violent as in modern terms, but zealous in our faith and on fire; as the disciples were following their Holy Spirit Baptism in the upper room, energizing them to preach the good news of the gospel.
…15 So He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God. 16 The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the gospel of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.…
16.The law and the prophets were until John: from that time the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached, and every man entereth violently into it. ASV.
Luke 16 :15-17
We are to be continually pushing/pressing forward
as Paul said:
I press on towardthe goal to win theprize for … God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. I press on … reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize. Phil.3:14
Pressing toward the prize, as they pressing into Adonai, the Good Shepherd Himself and bringing many with us, following Him as He brings many sons into Glory.
We are in very serious times and we must be
sober and vigilant.
These are days of ‘getting right with the Lord’
and being authentic in our walk
and faithful in obedience
to all that He has asked us personally to do.
Lets be zealous
in being about our Fathers business…
not our own or other peoples!
There is forgiveness of sins and a future to be gained for the truly repentant heart
…don’t wait one more minute, let the Blood of His Son, Messiah Yeshua – Jesus Christ wash you clean and make you wholly ready for eternity in His presence.
Shalom, shalom mishpachah/family
and cheverim/friends!
It’s all about Life and Relationship,
NOT Religion.
You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.
NOT SURE?
YOU CAN BE..
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name. Amen.
We begin this post with some questions.
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