Here is this weeks installment of Don’s great study of the Sermon on the Mount. Blessings and enjoy!

Sitting at the Feet of Yeshua

We continue our quest to explore what I have been calling the Eternal Torah.  In this post, will begin to take a closer look at what Yeshua himself says about the first of six important topics contained in the Torah ~ do not murder and be reconciled.

Do Not Murder

“You have heard that our fathers were told: ‘Do not murder,’ and that anyone who commits murder will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who nurses anger against his brother will be subject to judgment; that whoever calls his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing!’ will be brought before the Sanhedrin; that whoever says, ‘Fool!’ incurs the penalty of burning in the fire of Gei-Hinnom!” (Matthew 5:21-22)

Statistically, murders are “crimes of passion” caused by anger among friends or relatives.  Yeshua did not say that anger leads to murder; He said that anger is murder.

In this passage Yeshua is arguing as any Rabbi might argue.  He is showing that he was skillful in using the debating methods that the wise men of His time were in the habit of using.  There is in this passage a different shade of anger and an increase in consequences.

Here is a person who nurses anger against his brother.  In Greek there are two words for anger.  One is described as being like the flame that comes from dried straw or flash paper.  It is the anger that quickly blazes up and just as quickly is extinguished.   The second type of anger is the anger of the person who nurses wrath to keep it warm; it is the anger over which a person broods, and which he will not allow to die.  This anger is liable to the judgment court.  The judgment court is the local village council that dispensed justice.  That court was composed of the local village elders…..read the rest of the post here: The Eternal Torah-Part 4