“God does not simply call Himself Ehyeh (I AM). Instead, God gives Moses a new Hebrew word that appears to be a concatenation of syllables from three other words: Yihyeh – He will be; Hoveh – He was; Hayah – He is.” - P&D
“In theology, such an activity as this—a bush with fire burning within it, but not being consumed—is said to be contra naturam, meaning ‘against nature.’… What Moses saw in this fire was a supernatural, visible manifestation of the glory of God.” - R.C. Sproul
“Straw has little sustenance value. Isiaah 11:7 says that the lion will eat straw like the ox. This translation grates on the nerves of a farmer, for every farmer knows that you do not feed straw to an ox” - Matt Postiff
“This is the fundamental reason we shouldn’t discard the old approach—the Bible itself invites readers to learn from the lives of its characters.” - TGC
“the dispersal of humanity described in Genesis 10–11 need not be considered a fantastic element. The data provide no warrant, scientific or otherwise, to abandon or alter the traditional historical doctrine of biblical inerrancy.” - Hugh Ross
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(Psalm 2:7-9; Psalm 91:1; Matthew 4:5-7, 10)
In the last installment, we began to ponder the temptation of Jesus from the angle of rabbinic debate and midrash, Satan pitted against Jesus. We introduced this subject and looked at the first temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. Today we will discuss Yeshua’s final two temptations. It is probable Jesus and Satan engaged in much more discussion than is recorded. We must remember that the Gospels are brief summaries.
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(Matt. 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13)
Most Christians do not think of Jesus’ wilderness temptation as including extensive debate between two rabbis who were arguing over midrash (appropriate interpretation). The debate between Jesus and Satan could well have been an extensive debate; perhaps many Bible passages were hurled back and forth with only a few summary examples mentioned.
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According to the Talmud, “The Men of the Great Assembly said three things, ‘Be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence for the Torah’” (Avot 1:2). But the bonds between rabbi and disciple varied.
Jesus nicknamed several disciples. Simon was “Peter” (Rocky), James and John the “sons of thunder,” while Thomas was called “Didymus” (twin). This is different from having alternate names, as demonstrated by Nathaniel as Bartholomew or Matthew as Levi.1
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We have previously looked at how Elijah and Elisha set the tone for the relationship of a rabbi to his disciples. We also noted how the miracles Elijah and Elisha performed perhaps set the tone for Jesus’ miracles. In today’s post, we distinguish between the contemporary usage of “discipleship” and actual discipleship as demonstrated in the Gospels.1
