Read Matthew 11 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Chiastic Structure Teaching Tool from yesterday, it turns out, extends backwards and also forwards into Chapter 11:
The A pair can be summarized like this:
1A) 10:1-15 The disciples commissioned to do MESSIAH’S WORKS;
2A) 11:1-24 MESSIAH’S WORKS proclaim who He is.
A disciple is in Greek, Strong’s G3101, μαθητής mathetes. According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, mathetes means, “a learner, a pupil, an adherent.” It is from the primary verb μανθάνω manthano, meaning, “to learn, to understand.”
The Jewish translators of the Septuagint translated the Hebrew lamad, אשור, Strong’s H3925 (for example, in Deu 4:10) into manthano. Lamad is a primitive Hebrew Root Word meaning, “to learn.” The ancient Hebrew pictographs are lamed + mem + dalet.
lamed ל = the shepherd’s staff, thus teach, yoke, to, bind
mem מ , ם = the water, thus chaos, mighty, blood
dalet ד = the door, thus enter, move, hang
The parable the ancient pictographs are telling, is of the shepherd who used his staff (lamed) to guide and direct the sheep to water (mem) and back again through the door (dalet) of the sheepfold. “To learn,” then, is to receive the shepherd’s or teacher’s direction along the path of life. In Hebrew, the concrete noun from the verbal root lamad is a goad, a rod used to urge on an animal.
To be a disciple of Yeshua is to receive His direction along the path of life. So when Yeshua said to Paul,
“I am Yeshua, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” Acts 9:5
We see that Yeshua was trying to direct him to still water, but Paul resisted His direction, which made life harder or more heavily laden for him than it had to be. To be a disciple of Yeshua is to receive His yoke, His lamed, upon our shoulders, which is easy and light, and so find rest for our souls.
When we receive His yoke, then it becomes easy and light, and not burdensome, to do His works, as He has commissioned us to do.
If there are questions, this is a good resource:
Matthew 11, The yoke of Yeshua – Christine Miller
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