There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. (Matthew 26:7)
In one of my Bible readings this week, I came across an account of a woman anointing Jesus. All four Gospels record such an event. A detached, casual reading of the event can make the reader conclude that all four accounts are the same. Indeed, if we check the cross-references in our Bibles, they all seem to point to the other accounts leading the reader to assume they are all the same account. However, a close and careful examination of the four accounts will reveal a different story.
We have two, arguably three, different accounts of Jesus’ anointing. Luke’s account places the anointing long before the transfiguration while He was still in Capernaum (Luke 7:36-50).
Luke 7:36-39 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. (37) And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, (38) And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. (39) Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.
Matthew 26:6-9 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, (7) There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. (8) But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? (9) For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.
Mark 14:1-5After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread … (3) And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. (4) And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? (5) For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.
John 12:1-6 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. (2) There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. (3)Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. (4) Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him, (5) Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? (6) This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.
Matthew and Mark place the anointing after the Triumphal Entry (Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11) and two days before the Passover. John places the anointing the day before the Triumphal Entry (John 12:12). Matthew and Mark place the anointing in the “house of Simon the Leper.” John seems to place the anointing in the house of Lazarus following the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Neither Matthew nor Mark names the woman who anointed Jesus. Had she been Mary, they certainly would have known who she was. John names Lazarus, Martha, and Mary who anointed Jesus. Matthew records that the “disciples” were indignant about the waste. Mark only records that “there were some that had indignation within themselves.” The difference and precision in detail between Matthew and Mark’s account and the account of John are too distinct to be an error in recording. Therefore, these are two separate anointings. Luke’s account came too early to be confused with these that took place just before the crucifixion. Luke records that the anointing took place in the house of a Pharisee named Simon – not a leper – and the woman that anointed Jesus was “a sinner.” Surely, Mary, named by John, would not have been identified as a “sinner.” She is the one that “sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard His word” (Luke 10:39). Also, Luke’s account records nothing said about the cost of the ointment being used.
In all, we have three separate accounts of Jesus being anointed by women. Even though there are some similarities, the differences are too great to conflate them as one or two. The lesson here is to let the Bible speak for itself. The experts, while we can learn much from them, are also fallen men after all; they can make mistakes too.
Matthew and Mark describe the same anointing. John records a second anointing by Mary, Lazarus’ sister (Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead, John 11). Both accounts take place before the Passover when Jesus would be crucified. In both instances, Jesus commented that the anointing was for His burial (Matthew 26:12; John 12:7). Jesus knew that the cross lay before Him, and He went willingly to take our sin upon Himself. He paid a debt He did not owe to cancel the debt we could never pay. Reader, our sin debt was paid by Jesus who bought our pardon with His blood. All we have to do is accept that pardon. Have you done that? If not please read my page on “Securing Eternal Life.”
But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. (Isaiah 43:1)
One cannot escape the flood of wars and rumors of wars coming from the Middle East. More than two weeks ago, at the climax of the Feast of Tabernacles in Israel, Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel. They killed many innocent civilians and took away many captives. They raped women and tortured and killed children and babies. Their atrocities left the world in shock. Not since ISIS have such horrors been on full display for the world to see.
As expected, the “free” world denounced the heinous acts and pledged to stand with Israel. After shaking off the shock, Israel took the offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Typical of Israel’s approach, the IDF took great measures to warn the civilians in the Gaza Strip to flee to the southern border for their own safety. Then the relentless bombing of Gaza City by the IDF started striking strategic targets of known Hamas strongholds. Unlike Israel and the IDF who value innocent human life, Hamas hunkers down in schools, mosques, hospitals, and civilian housing buildings. They use their own people as human shields knowing that Israel will not attack where innocents may be harmed. However, this time Israel took off the gloves. With sufficient warning to the civilian population, all Hamas targets were attacked.
It did not take long for the “friends” of Israel to start pressuring Israel for restraint in sympathy for the poor Palestinians. Certainly, a (very) small percentage of Palestinians do not agree with the actions of Hamas against innocent Israeli citizens. However, a great majority of them voted for Hamas leadership. In their schools, they teach their children to hate Jews and encourage them from a very young age to kill Jews. When Palestinian terrorists kill Jews in Israel, there are celebrations in the streets of Gaza. So, we should not be so quick to feel sorry for their sufferings; it is not totally undeserved.
It was not long before the US visited Israel to publicly profess solidarity with Israel in this war against terror, while behind the scenes pressuring Israel to allow for “humanitarian” aid for the poor suffering Palestinians. The US threatened to withhold munitions, support parts for Israeli fighters (F-16s and others), and money for the war effort. In the meanwhile, the US continues to send money to Iran which funds its proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, etc.) to do its dirty work. Money also continues to flow to the Palestinians from the US, which Hamas diverts for its own purposes. They do not care for the Palestinian people.
As Israel continues to prosecute this war, world support for her effort will quickly wane. Even now protests in favor of the poor Palestinians are rising all over the world, including here in the US, Israel’s “friend.” The world has a perverted idea that somehow the Palestinians have some kind of claim to the land of “Palestine.” Without going into great detail, the “Palestinian State” was established in 1965 by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and Yasser Arafat, an Egyptian. Before then, there were no “Palestinian” people. The land was called Palestine because the Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed Judea to Syria Palestina and Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina in order to remove Judah and Jerusalem from the memory of rebellious Jews. Thus, even our Bible maps continue to name the land Palestine. However, the land never belonged to Palestinians, nor did Palestinians ever exist.
The land belongs to God and He says so in so many words. In fact, He begins by asserting ownership of the entire planet. “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine” (Exodus 19:5, emphasis mine). Notice that while making this claim, He also identifies the children of Israel as His “peculiar treasure … above all people,” not Arabs, Palestinians, or any other nation. Furthermore, God claims the land of Israel as His own. “The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me” (Leviticus 25:23, emphasis mine). God “gave” the land to Israel for their stewardship, not to be sold to anyone else, because it belongs to God, not to them. Through the psalmist, David, God names some of the parcels of land. “Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver” (Psalm 108:8). See the following (linked) passages where God makes claim to the land: 2 Chronicles 7:19-20; Isaiah 14:24-25; Jeremiah 2:7; 16:17-18; Ezekiel 38:16; Joel 1:6; 3:2.
Before the children of Israel inhabited the land, it was possessed by the cursed line of Canaan, son of Noah’s son Ham (Genesis 9:25). For reasons known only to God, He called Abram (Abraham) out of the land of the Chaldees (Genesis 11:28) and promised to give him the land (Genesis 12:7). The land God promised extended beyond the current boundaries of Israel including the Sinai Peninsula, parts of Jordan, all of Syria and Lebanon, to the Euphrates River and up to the southern border of Turkey (Genesis 13:14-15). The land was promised to Abraham and his descendants unconditionally with no strings attached (Genesis 15:7, 9-21). “In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18, emphasis mine). The promise has no term limits; it is an eternal promise. “For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever” (Genesis 13:15, emphasis mine).
The promise did not remain with Abraham. It was passed on to his son Isaac (Genesis 26:3, 5) and his grandson, Jacob (later renamed Israel – Genesis 28:3-4, 13-15). Time and again, the promise of the land to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel) is repeated in Scripture: Genesis 17:8; Exodus 6:8; 12:25; 13:5, 11; 33:1; Deuteronomy 1:8; 8:1; 10:11; 11:9, 21; 19:8; 28:11; 30:20, 21, 23; 34:4; Joshua 1:6; 21:43; Judges 2:1; Nehemiah 9:15, 23. God swore upon Himself to uphold His promise. “For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee” (Hebrews 6:13-14). God promised the land to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob), not for a certain timeframe but forever. “Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations; Even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac; And hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance” (1 Chronicles 16:15-18, emphasis mine). “Everlasting” means that it will never end.
The land belongs to Israel and more land than they currently occupy. The Bible describes the boundaries of the promised land. God showed Abraham the extent of the land promised (Genesis 13:14-15). God repeated the boundaries to Moses (Exodus 23:31) and again to Joshua upon entering the Promised Land (Joshua 1:4). The land on which the Nation of Israel exists today is only a small part of what God has given them, and yet, wrongheaded people want to take away what little they possess now. God will not have it! It is His land, and He will not allow it to be parceled out by outsiders. “Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel” (Numbers 35:34, emphasis mine). God also has a special affinity for Jerusalem. “Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build an house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be a ruler over my people Israel: But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel” (2 Chronicles 6:5-6, emphasis mine)
God did drive the Jews out of their land for their rejection of their Messiah, but that was only a temporary measure. God has not permanently disinherited His people. There has always been the promise of restoration in the latter days. “And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers” (Jeremiah 24:10). “For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it … Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid … For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after. Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof” (Jeremiah 30:3, 10, 17-18, emphasis mine).
Even though Israel has sinned and remains in sin even now, God in His mercy will restore His people. “Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished” (Jeremiah 46:28, emphasis mine). The full restoration of Israel will happen when the nation, as a whole, recognizes and turns to their Messiah. “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon ME whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10, emphasis mine).
The land of Israel belongs to God. He has allotted it to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, i.e., Israel. No one else has any right to that land, and there will be no peace in the Middle East until those who would divide the land, or who would exterminate the Jews from the land acknowledge that the land belongs to them.
Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 18:10)
The verse above was part of my daily Bible reading this week. It is a very familiar verse that I have read hundreds of times perhaps, heard sermons preached on it, and participated in Bible studies that covered it. When read out of context, it seems that Jesus refers to children – “little ones” – in this discourse, and that is the way it has been presented, or at least the way I have understood it, in the past.
However, as I read the assigned Bible passage (Matthew 18:7-35), it occurred to me that “little ones” did not refer to children. That made me stop and dig a little deeper. In order to understand the complete meaning of a passage, it is advisable always to read a single verse in its full context. In this case, we need to go back to the beginning of the chapter to get a clear picture of what was taking place.
As the chapter opens, we find Jesus’ disciples wondering and questioning Jesus as to who (among them, supposedly) would be the greatest in the “kingdom of heaven” (18:1). Matthew does not name the participants in the discussion nor do the other two synoptic Gospels.[1] Interestingly, all three record this event as having taken place shortly after the Transfiguration.[2] Mark records that the discussion took place on the return trip from Caesarea Philippi, the location of the “Mount of the Transfiguration,” to Capernaum. Three of the twelve, Peter, James, and John, were the only witnesses to the Transfiguration. Surely these three, because the special privilege afforded them, felt that they should be chiefest among them. Moreover, all of the disciples discounted what Jesus told them a short time before. “And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry” (Matthew 17:22-23).[3] The idea was unthinkable, so they quickly eliminated it from memory.
As an object lesson, Jesus took a small child and set him before them. “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me” (Matthew 18:3-5, emphasis mine). The Greek word translated as “converted” is strephō. The word, as defined by Strong’s,[4] means “to twist, that is, turn quite around or reverse,” which is similar to “repent.” Obviously, Jesus identified the problem as pride manifested as misguided ambition for greatness. The solution requires repentance, conversion, or transformation from a position of pride to that of humility, like that of a child. Those who make the transformation will achieve greatness in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus then adds that one who receives “one such little child,” i.e., one that has made the “conversion,” in “My name, receives Me.” Jesus was not speaking of a child, but rather one who becomes “like a little child” in humility. The child in their midst was just the “prop” for the object lesson.
As He continued the object lesson, He added, “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6, emphasis mine). At this point, we need to examine the language closer to understand what Jesus was actually saying. At the beginning, Jesus used a child as a prop for the object lesson. The Greek word translated “little child” (18:2) is paidion, which, according to Strong’s means “a childling (of either sex), that is, (properly) an infant, or (by extension) a half grown boy or girl; figuratively an immature Christian” (emphasis mine). Notice that Jesus switches from “little child” to “little ones.” That is a different word in the Greek: mikros. Strong’s defines that word as “small (in size, quantity, number or (figuratively) dignity)” (emphasis mine). This agrees with Strong’s definition of “paidon” being “figuratively an immature Christian” who would also be “figuratively small in dignity.”
Jesus then pronounces a “woe” to the world for the offenses it brings to these “little ones” (mikron, plural). He notes that offences will come, but He issues a warning, “woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” (18:7). By way of hyperbole, Jesus stresses the seriousness of offending a “little one.” He suggested removing any body part that causes offence rather than going to hell completely whole.[5] The obvious exaggeration is a warning to the mature Christian to cast off anything in life that would cause offense to an immature Christian, causing him to stumble. I see this a lot among Christians who, because of the “freedom” in Christ, conduct their lives closely imitating the ways of the world without consideration for their weaker brethren. Jesus says to cast off such things.
Jesus warns, “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 18:10). So, rather than speaking of children having their guardian angels watching over them, as I was taught in the past, Jesus is talking about the mikron (little ones), or immature Christians, who, as mature Christians, we are not to “despise,” i.e., consider lesser than ourselves or count them of low esteem. It is they whose angels watch over them, who stand before the Father. “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost” (Matthew 18:11).
Jesus illustrates His concern for these “little ones” with the “Parable of the Lost Sheep.”[6] In the parable, the Good Shepherd has 100 sheep, analogous to mature Christians, and one, analogous to the immature Christian, wanders away from the flock. Presumably, that one was offended and caused to leave the flock. The Good Shepherd leaves the 99 behind and goes after that one lost sheep. “And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:13-14, emphasis mine). This further strengthens the argument that Jesus was not speaking of children necessarily, although the application could certainly be made in reference to children. Children watch and learn from adults and many come to Jesus at an early age, so it behooves adult, mature Christians to set a good example that they can follow.
The remainder of the chapter (vv. 15-35) deals with the way we should forgive one another. Forgiveness among the brethren goes a long way in maintaining the bond of fellowship and deters the possibility of offending a “little one.” To illustrate this, Jesus offered another parable of a servant who owed his master (God by analogy) an unimaginable amount of money that could never be repaid. When the master comes to collect, the servant throws himself at the mercy of his master. The master moved with compassion, forgives the debtor, and absolves him of all his debt. God, through Jesus’ sacrifice, has forgiven us of a sin debt that cannot be paid in all of eternity.
Continuing with Jesus’ parable, the servant leaves his master free of all debt, but when he finds a fellow servant who owes him a small amount, he refuses to forgive his fellow servant and has him cast into prison. When the master finds out about the servant’s unforgiving actions, he has him cast into prison until all is paid.
What we learn from this lesson is that we should likewise forgive those “little ones” their offenses toward us, because God has also forgiven us from an eternal debt that we can never repay.
We all carry a debt that we can in no way repay. Jesus died in our place to pay the debt due us. However, we need to come to Him and ask that He, in His mercy, will forgive us. Reader, if you have not asked the Master for that forgiveness, please read my page on “Securing Eternal Life.”
[4] All references to “Strong’s” come from the Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries, Dictionaries of Hebrew and Greek Words taken from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance by James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D., (Published in 1890; public domain).
When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, (John 9:6)
Jesus performed many healing miracles during His time of ministry on earth. The miracles were not only an expression of His compassion for the hurting, but they served as evidence of who He was according to predictive prophecy.
John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus, recognized who He was. “And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God” (John 1:32-34, emphasis mine). Later, John was imprisoned by Herod Antipas, and he started having doubts about the authenticity of Jesus. In order to reassure himself that he had baptized the right man, he sent his disciples to verify that Jesus was indeed the expected Messiah. Responding to their questions, “Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them” (Matthew 11:4-5, emphasis mine).
Jesus quoted prophecy with which John would be familiar as proof of who He was. “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert” (Isaiah 35:5-6, emphasis mine). “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead” (Isaiah 26:19, emphasis mine). “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Isaiah 61:1, emphasis mine).
Jesus performed many miracles proving His power and divinity. So many were His miracles that of Him that the Gospel writer, John said, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen” (John 21:25).
Blindness was one of the more common healings Jesus performed. In most cases, Jesus simply spoke the word and the blind were healed. For example, the first restoral of sight recorded by Matthew was of two blind men. “And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it” (Matthew 9:27-30, emphasis mine). On another occasion, Matthew records, “Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw (Matthew 12:22, emphasis mine). In most cases, the healing required faith on the part of the recipient, but in this case, it was the faith of those who brought the demon possessed man to Jesus.
Many more examples could be cited of Jesus healing the blind simply at His word. However, two cases recorded in the Gospels stand out among the others for the “unorthodox” method Jesus employed in healing the blindness. One is recorded in Mark’s Gospel and the other in John’s.
“And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought” (Mark 8:22-23, emphasis mine). This was not an instantaneous healing as in other cases where Jesus healed with just His word. At first the man’s vision was unclear. “And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.” (Mark 8:24, emphasis mine). Could Jesus not have just spoken the word, as He had on other occasions, and healed the man’s blindness instantly? This has puzzled commentators through the years. Adam Clark suggests, “Our Lord could have restored this man to sight in a moment; but he chose to do it in the way mentioned in the text, to show that he is sovereign of his own graces; and to point out that, however insignificant means may appear in themselves, they are divinely efficacious when he chooses to work by them.”[1] That seems like a reasonable conclusion, but why here and not in all cases?
Albert Barnes is equally puzzled. “Why this was done is not known. It was evidently not intended to perform the cure by any natural effect of the spittle. It was to the man a “sign,” an evidence that it was the power of Jesus. The eyes were probably closed. They were perhaps “gummed” or united together by a secretion that had become hard. To apply spittle to them – to wet them – would be a “sign,” a natural expression of removing the obstruction and opening them. The power was not in the spittle, but it attended the application of it.”[2] This too seems a reasonable explanation, but why spit; why not water or olive oil?
Matthew Henry probably offers the best explanation. “That Christ used a sign; he spat on his eyes (spat into them, so some), and put his hand upon him. He could have cured him, as he did others, with a word speaking, but thus he was pleased to assist his faith which was very weak, and to help him against his unbelief. And this spittle signified the eye-salve wherewith Christ anoints the eyes of those that are spiritually blind.”[3] It is true that Jesus, by the faith of the recipients, healed immediately. But here the blind man was brought to Jesus; he did not come of his volition. Furthermore, Jesus took him by the hand and led him out of the city. This act initiated the man’s trust in the Healer. Spitting into his eyes further convinced the man that Jesus was doing something. At first, he is vision was blurred, but it was better than before. This too served to further increase his faith in Jesus’ healing touch. The second time Jesus touched his eyes, his vision was fully restored.
John records the other vision restoration by spittle in John 9. In this account, Jesus was in Jerusalem, possibly on the Feast of Tabernacles.[4] As he walked in the vicinity of the Temple, He saw a man that was blind from birth.[5] The text implies that Jesus knew that the man was blind from birth, but how the disciple knew is not clear for they asked Him, “Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). They had the common understanding that such tragedies came as a result of sin. Jesus assured them that neither was the case, “but that the works of God should be made manifest in him” (v. 3). With that, Jesus proceeded to restore the man’s vision. “When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing” (John 9:6-7, emphasis mine).
This is another sight restoration that puzzles the commentators. Why would Jesus employ such methods? It could not have been to prove anything to His disciples; they had already seen Him heal blindness. If the purpose was merely to show that sin was not the cause of the man’s blindness, He could have healed him as He had done others. Besides applying mud spitballs to the man’s eyes, Jesus encouraged the man’s faith by sending him to wash in the Pool of Siloam.
Without consulting other commentaries, I suspect I know the reason behind Jesus’ method. (I could be wrong, of course, but I think I have good reason for my conclusion.) Jesus is the Creator. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). “For by him [Jesus] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16).
With that understanding, we can look back to Genesis. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). God “formed” man out of dirt. The Hebrew word translated “formed” is yâtsar, which Strong’s defines as “to mould into a form; especially as a potter.” By implication, it required God (Jesus) to form and shape the human body out of moist clay.
Coming back to the blind man’s condition, John records that he was “born blind.”[6] That leads me to suspect that the man may have been born with a birth defect where his eyeballs did not develop completely or did not develop at all. The fact that Jesus made clay with His spittle harkens back to the original creation account. Here, Jesus created the missing eyeballs out of the clay. In this, Jesus demonstrated to His disciples and to us in a very clear and visual object lesson that He is the Creator God.
There is physical blindness that impairs the victim from seeing the physical world. There is also a spiritual blindness that impairs the sinner from seeing the spiritual world. Jesus heals both kinds of blindness, but of the two, spiritual blindness is the more severe, for it leads the victim to an eternity separated from the only One that can heal. Reader, if you do not know Jesus, you are spiritually blind. Come to Jesus and be forever healed of that blindness. Read my page on “Securing Eternal Life.”
Notes:
[1] Adam Clarke, LL.D., F.S.A., (1715-1832), Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, (Published in 1810-1826; Public Domain).
[2] Albert Barnes, Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, (Published in 1847-1885; Public Domain).
[3] Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, (Published in 1708-1714; Public Domain).
Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; (Matthew 27:9)
Critics of the Bible constantly look for opportunities to find errors in Scripture. However, whenever they find an error in Scripture, eventually, Scripture proves true and the critics are proven wrong.
Recently, I was reading Matthew’s account of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, and I encountered what appeared to be an error by Matthew. In his Gospel, Matthew takes great care to point out all the Old Testament prophecies fulfilled by Jesus, and he usually names the specific prophet.
Matthew’s account of Judas’ betrayal begins with the day on which Passover was to start.[1] “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him” (Matthew 26:14-16, emphasis mine). For some reason, known only to Matthew, he made no mention of the prophecy fulfilled here. The prophet Zechariah predicted this more than four hundred years earlier. “And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver” (Zechariah 11:12, emphasis mine).
Judas regretted his actions as soon as he discovered what the religious leaders planned for Jesus. “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he [Jesus] was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself” (Matthew 27:3-5, emphasis mine).
The religious leaders were troubled as to what to do with the money that Judas returned. “And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day” (Matthew 27:6-8, emphasis mine).
Luke adds a detail that was not revealed until after Christ’s ascension and shortly before the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. At that time, the Apostles were one short, Judas having committed suicide, and his spot needed to be filled. Luke records, “And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,) Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood” (Acts 1:15-19, emphasis mine). Granted, Judas did not purchase the field himself, but it was purchased with his ill-gotten money.
Matthew reports that Judas hanged himself, while Peter, as recorded by Luke, said he fell “headlong” and “burst asunder, and all his bowels gushed out.” I will deal with that apparent discrepancy later.
Returning to Matthew’s Gospel, at this point in his narrative, Matthew points to fulfilled prophecy in this act of Judas. “Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy [i.e., Jeremiah] the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me” (Matthew 27:9-10, emphasis mine). The problem is that Jeremiah never said such a thing. Bible scholars have struggled with this apparent discrepancy over the years without a satisfactory resolution. In fact, my King James Bible gives a cross-reference to Zechariah 11:12, “And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.” However, even though he mentions the thirty pieces of silver, Matthew’s focus is on the field that was purchased with the money. The subsequent verse in Zechariah continues, “And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD” (Zechariah 11:13, emphasis mine). This was Matthew’s focus, but there is one glaring problem. Jeremiah did not prophesy these words.
One of the reference books in my library wrestles with this problem and comes to a resolution, but not to my satisfaction. Their explanation, in part, follows:
The quotation is not entirely a quotation of Zechariah. The majority of the quotation does come from Zechariah 11:13 … there is no field mentioned in Zechariah … Matthew clearly is not quoting Zechariah about the location … Zechariah does not include the phrase “as the Lord commanded me.” Second, Jeremiah is also involved with potters (Jer 17:1-11; 19:1-13 – in this second passage he purchases something from a potter).
When it came to interpreting the Old Testament, it was common to bring passages together based on words they had in common … In this case, it is clear that Jeremiah and Zechariah have several words in common, especially potter and shekel. Probably potter is the key term … the quotation in Matthew is really Zechariah mixed with several phrases taken from Jeremiah.
What we have, then, is Matthew pulling together at least two texts in Jeremiah with one text in Zechariah to show that there was a type of biblically prefiguring of Judas’s [SIC] actions, down to the amount of blood money and the fact that it was given to a potter and was used for the purchase of a field … it was normal for Matthew to cite the more important prophet, Jeremiah, despite the fact that most of his material came from Zechariah.[2]
Their assessment is not altogether unreasonable, and certainly, the authors possess a greater knowledge of these things than I. However, I am not fully convinced that Matthew purposefully lumped two prophecies together and attributed the words to one prophet rather than the other. Personally, I often wonder why Zechariah is numbered among the Minor Prophets. His prophecy is equal to that of Daniel in length (12 chapters). Perhaps it is merely because of its placement in the canon. That aside, his importance, in my estimation, is no greater or lesser than that of Jeremiah. I might even argue that Zechariah contains more Messianic and end-times prophecy than Jeremiah, so, I do not see why Matthew would name Jeremiah rather than Zechariah if indeed he was citing the latter.
I have already established that in these verses, Matthew 27:3-10, Matthew’s focus was on the property purchased with the thirty pieces of silver, and not on the money itself. That had already been established in Matthew 26:14-16. The authors of the book I cited above referred to Jeremiah 19:1-13 where God instructs the Prophet to purchase a clay pot from the potter. God instructs him to go to the Valley of Hinnom by the entry of the east gate of the Temple – the Golden Gate that faces the Mount of Olives. The Temple Mount is surrounded by three valleys: Kidron to the east, Tyropoean to the west, and Hinnom to the south and west. The three valleys come together just to the south of the Temple Mount at a place called Tophet. The Hinnom Valley was of ill-repute due to the child sacrifices as well as other atrocities that took place there in the worship of pagan gods, particularly in the area of Tophet.
Through Jeremiah, God pronounces judgment on the people of Judah for their idolatry, particularly their worship of Baal. “Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter” (Jeremiah 19:6). The “valley of slaughter” could also be interpreted “The Field of Blood.” God decrees a great slaughter in that place and the desolation of Jerusalem.
Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee, And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury. Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet: And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods. Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD’S house; and said to all the people, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words. (Jeremiah 19:10-15, emphasis mine).
“Tophet” means a “place of fire.” This prophecy had a two-fold fulfillment: first when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, and the second when it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. This is the place to which Matthew referred that was bought with the thirty pieces of silver and its complete fulfillment had not yet taken place. When the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, the slaughter of Jews was so great that the Romans could not bury them all, so they tossed them into the Field of Blood that was bought with Judas’ blood money. It is possible that in quoting Jeremiah, Matthew looked ahead at the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy.
I recently watched a YouTube video on “Israel MyChannel” that provided some insight into the seeming contradictions between Matthew and Luke (in Acts). According to Timothy, the owner of “Israel MyChannel,”[3] who is a Messianic Jew and well-studied in Jewish history, Judas hanged himself as recorded by Matthew, prior to the crucifixion and the Passover sacrifice. According to Jewish practice, the Passover sacrifice could not be performed with a dead body within the walls of the city. So, they took Judas’ corpse and tossed it over the city wall. The impact of the fall burst his body so that “his bowels gushed out.” So, the records of both Matthew and Luke are correct, and Matthew’s citing Jeremiah fits well, even though he did not quote Jeremiah (or Zechariah) verbatim. I encourage you to watch the video; I have provided the link below. Timothy goes into greater detail than I can provide here.
Reader, do you know the Lord Jesus? If not, please read my page on “Securing Eternal Life.” He is coming soon and you need to be ready. You can read more about that on my “Revelation” page.
Notes:
[1] Passover started at 6 PM in the evening and continued to 6 PM on the following day. Prior to the start of Passover at 6 PM, Judas had already agreed to betray Jesus. The Passover sacrifice was performed at 3 PM on Passover day, at the precise time that Jesus died on the Cross. Jesus was arrested on Passover evening, some time around midnight and was tried throughout the night and into the morning by Caiaphas (the High Priest), Pilate, Herod Antipas, and again by Pilate. Jesus was crucified at 9 AM the morning of Passover. Judas had sufficient time between the time Jesus was arrested and the time He was put on the cross to commit suicide. Tophet was south of the Temple mount. The walls of the city extended south around the City of David, and Tophet was just on the other side of the southern wall of the city.
[2] Walter C Kaiser Jr., Peter H. Davids, F.F. Bruce, Manfred T. Brauch, Hard Sayings of the Bible, (Inter Varsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 1996), pp. 339-400.
Ernie's Musings 