438: Talmudic Matthew — Truly(?) I Say to You

Summary

The BEMA Podcast – Episode 438: Talmudic Matthew — Truly(?) I Say to You

Release Date: February 20, 2025

Summary

In Episode 438 of The BEMA Podcast, hosted by BEMA Discipleship, Marty Solomon and Brent Billings, alongside guest L. Grover Fricks, embark on an in-depth exploration of two pivotal verses from the Sermon on the Mount. This episode, titled "Talmudic Matthew — Truly(?) I Say to You," delves into the intricate relationship between Jesus' teachings and Jewish traditions, unraveling the profound layers of historical and linguistic context that shape our understanding of these scriptures.

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1. Exploring "Law and Prophets"

The episode opens with Brent Billings prompting a discussion on the phrase “law and the prophets” from the selected verses. Marty Solomon introduces the components of the Hebrew Bible—Torah (Law), Nevi'im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings)—highlighting that Jesus focuses on the Torah and Nevi'im, thereby omitting the Ketuvim. This omission sparks curiosity about Jesus' intent and the authority attributed to these sections within Jewish tradition.

Notable Quote:

Brent Billings [03:01]: "We have Torah and Nevi'im, but Jesus specifically mentions them, not the Ketuvim. Why?"

This selective mention underscores Jesus' emphasis on the foundational laws and prophetic teachings, suggesting a direct continuity and fulfillment rather than a dismissal of Jewish scripture.

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2. Abolish vs. Fulfill

Transitioning to the theme of abolishing versus fulfilling the Law, Marty Solomon reflects on historical Talmudic interpretations. He recalls a discussion where abolishing the Law was met with severe consequences, emphasizing the enduring nature of divine commandments.

Notable Quote:

Brent Billings [07:36]: "Abolishing and fulfilling isn't about canceling or finishing it. It's more like the conversation Americans have about what is freed."

This segment clarifies that Jesus' mission was not to nullify the Law but to bring it to its intended completion. The hosts draw parallels with modern political dialogues, illustrating the timeless relevance of these theological concepts.

Additionally, Brent introduces a Talmudic story about a Christian philosopher, highlighting early Jewish-Christian interactions and misconceptions. This narrative serves to illuminate the challenges faced in accurately interpreting Jesus' role and the foundational shifts his teachings introduced.

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3. Decoding "Truly" – The Power of "Amen"

One of the episode's focal points is the translation and significance of the word "truly," rendered as "aletheia" in Greek but more accurately represented by "Amen" in the original context. Brent Billings offers a profound analysis of "Amen," tracing its Hebrew roots to Emunah (faithfulness) and Emet (truth).

Notable Quote:

Brent Billings [11:12]: "Amen means something that is solid and durable and capable of undertaking weight. It's the underlying picture that translates over to our idea of truth."

This exploration reveals that when Jesus uses "Amen," he is not merely emphasizing truth but also asserting divine authority and reliability. Unlike traditional uses where the congregation affirms the speaker's words, Jesus employs "Amen" to validate his own statements, signifying his unique authority and divinity.

Notable Quote:

Brent Billings [17:22]: "Jesus amends himself. We continually miss Jesus's claims of authority and ultimately divinity because we don't know the culture and because we translate stuff away."

This shift from communal affirmation to self-affirmation marks a pivotal moment in the sermon, highlighting Jesus' role as the ultimate authority in interpreting and fulfilling the Law.

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4. Understanding "Iota" and "Dash"

The discussion progresses to the terms "iota" and "dash," symbols of the smallest components of the Law. Marty Solomon identifies "iota" with the Hebrew letter Yud, the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, emphasizing its foundational significance.

Notable Quote:

Brent Billings [24:04]: "Yud is the smallest Hebrew character indeed. It's homophonic with I, which reinforces its symbolic meaning in the text."

Brent further delves into the grammatical functions of the Yud, outlining its roles in indicating future tense, causality, and possession within Hebrew grammar. This linguistic deep dive underscores the meticulous precision of the original scripture and its thematic implications.

Notable Quote:

Brent Billings [33:14]: "The future orientation is also in God's name. Torah is an arm of God, like his commandments aren't going to pass away, no part of God will pass away either."

The term "dash," translated from the Greek "kiraia," is interpreted as a symbol of both thorns and crowns, representing the dual nature of Jesus' mission—suffering and glory. This metaphor encapsulates the paradoxical essence of the Christian faith, where sacrifice leads to ultimate triumph.

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5. Synthesis and Theological Implications

Brent and Marty synthesize their discussions, presenting an amplified interpretation of the verses:

Amplified Version:

"Think not that I have come to do away with the authority of God's commandments. I have not come to walk them out poorly, but to walk them out the way they were intended. Amen. I am the divine authority. I will bear the thorn in the crown until heaven and earth pass away. The future, God wrote, will not pass away. He will bring all things to pass. And because we are his, he may do with this world as he chooses."

This rendition encapsulates Jesus' fulfillment of the Law, his divine authority, and the enduring nature of God's commandments, offering listeners a profound and nuanced understanding of the scripture.

Notable Quote:

Marty Solomon [31:11]: "And totally feels like the kind of thing that could happen. And yet Jesus is not even close to done with this sermon."

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6. Conclusion and Reflection

In wrapping up, the hosts reflect on the depth and richness of the Sermon on the Mount, acknowledging the complexities that arise from a surface-level reading. They encourage listeners to engage deeply with the text, emphasizing the value of historical and cultural contextualization in interpreting Jesus' teachings.

Notable Quote:

Brent Billings [35:03]: "Unbelievable. The accent's getting worse. Okay. But honestly, I'm so excited to be in the series. I'm so excited to spend deep time in the Sermon on the Mount."

The episode concludes with an invitation to revisit earlier episodes for a comprehensive understanding and a heartfelt thank you to their supporters, reinforcing the community-driven nature of BEMA Discipleship.

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Key Takeaways:

1. Historical Context Matters: Understanding Jewish traditions and Talmudic interpretations is crucial for comprehending Jesus' teachings.

2. Fulfilling the Law: Jesus' mission was to fulfill, not abolish, the Torah and the Prophets, emphasizing the continuity of divine commandments.

3. The Power of "Amen": Jesus' use of "Amen" signifies his divine authority and the unassailable truth of his statements.

4. Linguistic Insights: Detailed analysis of Hebrew terms like "Yud" and "kiraia" reveals deeper theological meanings embedded in the text.

5. Enduring Relevance: The Sermon on the Mount continues to offer profound insights into living out faith authentically and faithfully.

Final Thoughts:

Episode 438 of The BEMA Podcast serves as a compelling exploration of the Sermon on the Mount, blending rigorous scholarly analysis with accessible discussion. By unpacking the layers of historical context, linguistic nuance, and theological significance, Marty Solomon, Brent Billings, and L. Grover Fricks provide listeners with a richer, more informed appreciation of Jesus' teachings and their enduring impact.

For those eager to delve deeper, the hosts recommend starting from episode 0 or -1 and progressing through episode 204 to fully grasp the extensive work contained within Seasons 1–5 of the podcast series. Additional resources, including Wikipedia articles on Halacha and the Book of Tobit, are available in the show notes at baymondisabembership.com.

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Connect with BEMA Discipleship:

• Website: baymondisabembership.com
• Support: The ministry is entirely supported by listeners. Contributions sustain their mission to deconstruct and reconstruct biblical texts through historical lenses.

Thank you for engaging with The BEMA Podcast. Join Marty, Brent, and their community in this enlightening journey through scripture and history.

Transcript

[Marty Solomon]

Foreign. This is the Bama podcast with Marty Solomon. I'm his co host, Brent Billings. Today I'm joining L. Grover Fricks to search out what life can be found in two short verses from the Sermon on the Mount.

[Brent Billings]

I'm so excited. Why don't you jump straight on in to that verse or set of verses, okay.

[Marty Solomon]

In the rsv Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have come not to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

[Brent Billings]

Okay, so where have we been? What have we been up to? We took a break, right, between sessions. So if you recall, we ended our last series in this line of Talmudic Matthew talking about salt and light. And one of the main things we came away from that passage with is the idea that both salt and light are talking about how we walk out Torah. If you don't remember what I'm talking about, feel free, go back, listen again. It's still good stuff in my extremely biased opinion, but it's talking about how do we walk out the path of God, right? How do we. How do we walk just like Avraham did and follow in the footsteps of Jesus?

[Marty Solomon]

Is that what that means? That's the title of a parasha coming up for me in a couple weeks as I'm studying. Well, it'll be a while ago by the time this episode comes out.

[Brent Billings]

But yes, lechdelcha technically means walk to yourself. And it's the first thing that God tells Avraham when he says, and leave your father's house and the land that you were born. All of that indeed, very, very mystical things to be done with lechecha. But that's for a different. We are here, we're talking about Jesus. We're talking about the text, right? We're talking commandments. So in this particular verse, we're going to see how these verses link up with the last ones. Pretty, pretty obvious, right? But we're going to split this up into four parts. We're going to talk about law and prophets. First, we're going to briefly review abolish versus fulfill. And then we're going to really dig into this word translated truly. And then we're going to spend a minute on iota and dash. So four parts. It might seem like it's only two little verses. How can you get that much out of it? Well, we are going to. And I'm sure, there'll still be stuff that we're missing, and yet it'll be a good time. So thing in number one, the phrase law and prophets, what is missing from that handy little summary, Brent?

[Marty Solomon]

The writings, presumably.

[Brent Billings]

Right, so we've got Torah is the beginning of Tanakh. Right. And then we've got our prophets in Hebrew is Neviim. So there's our N in Tanakh, and then we need our K sound, which is Ketuvim or the writing. So everything which is not the first five books. And then our prophetic section.

[Marty Solomon]

I believe we talked about this to some extent in the initial run because there's various mentions of these things, like a few verses ago at the end of the Beatitudes, the same way they persecuted the prophets at the end of this passage that we're looking at, not anything will pass away from the law until all is accomplished. So not mentioning the prophets in that case.

[Brent Billings]

Right.

[Marty Solomon]

And I feel like there's other parts of scripture where I don't know, I can't remember if I ever looked into it. I don't think writings is ever actually referenced. But there's some areas where they talk about the Psalms which would be part of the writings.

[Brent Billings]

Right.

[Marty Solomon]

So yes, we have many questions lingering about, you know, why, why it is stated the way it is and why some things are not there.

[Brent Billings]

Absolutely. So what do you think could be the binding element between the Torah and the Nevi'im? That leaves out the Ketuvim. What do Torah and Nevi'im have in common?

[Marty Solomon]

I mean, I guess the prophets are calling people to the law to follow the law as God commanded.

[Brent Billings]

So amazing. Yes, excellent. So one is the initial law, Right. It's the original commandments from Mosheh, and it has the full authority, therefore, of God. It's coming from the mouth of God. And in Jewish tradition, again, the Neviim, the prophets also are speaking things that came straight out of the mouth of God. And while in our tradition the Ketuvim are held on the same line as the Torah and the Nevi'im, in Jewish tradition, they have less authority because they're talking about stories, right? They're talking about what did King Ahab do, what did. It's telling stories of what humanity was up to. And so in Jewish tradition, the writings have less authority. So Jesus here is trying to talk about halacha, right? He's trying to talk about authority, the way that we walk out our path. He's reminding the people to come back to the instructions of both Torah and the Prophets do justice, love, mercy, walk humbly. Right. It kind of makes sense. He's not worried about the stories falling away. Everybody loves David and Goliath, Right? Those are like the Sunday school stories that everybody always remembers. But he's concerned about the commandments. How do we care for the migrant, the fatherless, and the widow. Jesus seems to be concerned, or at least making room for the concern that his incredible revelation of this upside down kingdom of God in the midst of that and all the excitement and things being different than they expected, that folks will toss the baby out with the bath water. That's law and the prophets. Now we have part two. Review, Abolish and fulfill. Marty talked about this way back in a session in a episode that Brent can put in the show notes. I remember, I remember. How many years ago? I don't know, 14 years ago now. Marty teaching this to me for the first time and how fascinating and exciting it was. But he talked about it not being like, Jesus fulfilled the video game so we don't have to anymore. He completed the check checkpoints. Autosave kicked in. We're all good. Now we just get to have the final cut scene of heaven. But rather that the rabbinic conversation is always in the setting of no, you abolish the law because you say Shema the wrong time of day. And then somebody else says, no, you do. And then Talmud will go on to say, whoever turns out to be wrong about this must be whipped by his Talmudim, which is pretty dark. But true. True story example. That's not so aggress. Section of Talmud says, whoever fulfills Torah in poverty will eventually fulfill it in riches. Whoever abolishes it in riches will eventually abolish it in poverty. Ooh, wow, that's.

[Marty Solomon]

That's good.

[Brent Billings]

Well, as long as you define riches and we don't get into prosperity gospel. Absolutely.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah, sure.

[Brent Billings]

So therefore, abolishing and fulfilling isn't about canceling or finishing it. It's closer to the conversation that Americans have about, like, what is freed. This political party over here abolishes the concept of freedom, even though they use the word and put it on their banners versus we over here. We actually walk out the idea of freedom. Right. So we have similar conversations in our political sphere, but still important groundwork to lay down before we get into the stuff that I'm really excited about. But during my research, I did come across another one of those fun little sections where the Dharma does mention Jesus and Christianity. Christianity, because Talmud is a huge volume of oral teachings that covers a large span so, yes, some of it is late, some of it is early. But there's this discussion of folks ruining Torah, of course. Makes sense. It'd be one of the places where we Christians make an appearance. It's not super surprising.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah.

[Brent Billings]

But this excerpt I think we might find illuminating and inviting or even challenging. So there's this longer story about this Christian philosopher. He lives in a Jewish neighborhood somewhere in the Diaspora. And at the climax of the story, when the character says, since the day that you were driven out of your country into exile, the Torah of Mosheh was overturned, and the gospel has been given in its place, you have written, son and daughter shall inherit together. End quote. Okay, so two things. One is that that word, gospel, evangelion, they cheekily shortened it to Evan, which means disaster in Hebrew. They've got a lot of punny shade whenever Jesus comes up, so much so that they don't often use this name. And scholars have to try to figure out, well, are they really talking about Jesus there? Trolling isn't. No, basically. But secondly, they're super remarkable to me, to be clear. Right. The condemnation in this quote is that the Gospel has been given in the place of Torah. And the proof of that is the little quote, son and daughter shall inherit together. Jesus never said that men and women have equal inheritance rights, though I would argue the Book of Judges does say that. But when Jesus was asked about inheritance in Luke 12, his response is just like, why are you asking me that? So this could be misinformation, a false rumor about those radical progressive Christians. Or it could be a relic of an actual tradition held by the early church, kind of reflecting that famous Galatians 5 section about there is no male and female. Right. So either way, it's very fun to me because this would mean that the outlandish rumors fermenting in the wind about Christians is that they practice legal reform in the direction of gender equality. So to be curious for a moment and promise we're about to get back on track, what kind of rumors swirl around about the church today? What are we up to in the world? What's the general practice of our business? So that people who are annoyed with us, they're expanding upon and building rumors upon. I think that's a fun little challenge and invitation to chew on that. I'll leave that to folks in community. Think about our reputation in the world.

[Marty Solomon]

Indeed.

[Brent Billings]

But back to the text. Okay, part three. I'm so excited. This is super critical and so much so. That made the title of this very episode. Right. So it's often translated truly. I say to you. So I'm going to double click on that truly word. So if you can check in a Greek interlinear, which we all should do from time to time, we can see that the actual word for truly is aletheia. But if you look again in your inner linear, it doesn't say that. It doesn't say aletheia. It says Amen. And Amen, of course, is our Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word that we put at the end of our prayers. Right. We say Jesus name Amen. Amen shares its roots with Emunah, which ding, ding, ding. That should ring a bell. Teachings on faithfulness. Yeah, it's also in the same family as the word emet. T's and N's are both kind of weak and they fall off. In Hebrew, they're called weak. So emet is closer to the idea of truth. Amen means something that is solid and durable and capable of undertaking weight. And it's in the same word family. It's the underlying picture that translates over to our idea of truth. So truth with that picture then is not just an esoteric correctness which is contrasted against incorrectness. Truth or emet is something capable of shouldering the weight of you and the weight of life. So like live, laugh, laugh, baby. We're all here to have a good time. Well, that doesn't have Amen. You know, when someone you love as cancer, when you've been nailed to the ground by depression, you wake up and your spouse is gone. It's just not capable of holding weight. Therefore, it's not truth. It's not Amen. The truth is that there is a Creator who breathes the stars in your very own soul, who died for you and currently holds you and the whole world into an ends of love and justice. So that's Emmet. That's Amen. All things shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well. Shout out to Reed and St. Julian. That is also. I'm in.

[Marty Solomon]

So this, this statement is like, like Jesus saying, I'm talking about something more substantive than even the Torah itself. Like, I'm talking about the fundamental nature of all rightness and truth.

[Brent Billings]

Well, let's see, we're going to get into how it gets used. But this is our foundational, foundational picture and also little fun invitation for those of us who are, you know, wandering through our prayer life. If the concept Amen, the word Amen goes at the end of our prayers, gets sealed with that, that means that whatever we've Proclaimed in our prayer is ought to be something that we can say, yes, this is good. This is true. This has the capability of shouldering weight. Right. I think it's fine. Like in the psalm series, super important that we get to flail like a fish on the dock before God and be like, why? But I think it's good for us, especially if we're going to use the word amen to also ground ourselves and preach to ourselves, even in our. In our prayers, like we also see David do in the Psalms.

[Marty Solomon]

Okay.

[Brent Billings]

But anyway. Okay, so that's what it means hebraically. How is it used culturally? What is Jesus actually? Why is he invoking this amen word here?

[Marty Solomon]

Because he does it a lot. Right.

[Brent Billings]

Well, we'll see.

[Marty Solomon]

Okay. Okay.

[Brent Billings]

I have not read through all of the gospels in the Greek. I don't know if usually it says, like, truly, truly, I say to you. I don't know if that's amen. Amen, I say to you. Or if it's the word alethea. So we'd have to go check.

[Marty Solomon]

Okay.

[Brent Billings]

It's culturally used as something that you say to someone else. So some of us are familiar with this. If we grew up in cultures where the congregation says stuff to the pastor during the sermon. Right. Like, amen, preach, Amen, they say we're in America. Amen.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah. Let's be realistic.

[Brent Billings]

Amen. Talmud says that the word amen serves to receive. Amen means may these words come true. It's used that way to seal oaths, and they actually take this idea straight out of the text. So I have a couple of verses for you to read, Brent. The first one is Jeremiah 11:5 Yirimiyahu for those who like to be annoying and pedantic, like myself, or culturally thoughtful and remembering that this is not our tome written by some guy named Jeremy. Okay. Anyway.

[Marty Solomon]

Culturally thoughtful.

[Brent Billings]

Yeah. I mean, it's important.

[Marty Solomon]

It's the other side of the same coin.

[Brent Billings]

Right. Annoying and pedantic with. Yeah.

[Marty Solomon]

Okay.

[Brent Billings]

So this is God talking to Jeremy, and Jeremy is talking in the first person.

[Marty Solomon]

Well, God is talking in first person.

[Brent Billings]

Absolutely.

[Marty Solomon]

But then Jeremiah comes back and says his own thing. Okay. So that I, meaning God, that I may perform the oath which I swore to your fathers to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day. Then I answered, amen, Lord.

[Brent Billings]

Right. So we have that thing that we might recognize from our own culture. God says something, and we're like, yes. So we slap an amen on it. This thing is true. This thing is trustworthy. It is faithful. It is firm enough for me to place my hope in. Right, okay, first kings, verse 33, and.

[Marty Solomon]

Then 36, the king said to them, take with you the servants of your Lord and cause Solomon, my son, to ride on my own mule. I have appointed him to be ruler of Israel. And over Judah, Benaiah, the son of Yehoah, answered the king. Amen. May the Lord, the God of my Lord the king, say so.

[Brent Billings]

Okay, so first off, we can't just read that and not mention that Jesus also writes on a donkey, right? Like Solomon, a better Solomon. That's not why we're here. Why are we here? Here, a king is giving a command with a promise, right? Make sure you take your servants and you get the prince to be on a mule, because I am appointing him to be king. And Benaiah says, amen. May the Lord, the God of my Lord the king, say so. So again, we have somebody saying something, somebody making a pronouncement, and somebody who's usually on a lower authority scale echo it and say, yes, good. We also know that this isn't just an archaic thing, because in the book of Tobit, which is apocryphal, but it's helpful because it's early 2nd century BC so it's closer to Jesus than kings. And Yirmyahu, Tobit says, let me find grace and grow old with it. And his wife Sarah answers, amen. Which honestly, who hasn't been there with their spouse? Yeah, yeah, I do hope you grow old with grace. No, but the point is that we have another example of somebody saying something which is true and good and something to put your trust in, and somebody else saying, yes, I am with you. Another Talmud quote says, in the answer of Amen, therein lies an oath, therein lies an acceptance of words, and therein lies an affirmation of words. So whatever has been said by another is affirmed by the second party. So it is considered solid, capable of handling great weight. So here's what's so radical and provocative and honestly baller about Jesus. Jesus flips. Flips our script here. We're used to pastor says something, congregation says, Amen. God says something, Jeremiah affirms, amen. The king gives an order, Anaya answers, Amen. And Jesus says Amen about himself, right? We don't have somebody else saying something in the middle of the sermon mount. He is just talking and then he amends himself. So we continually miss Jesus's claims of authority and ultimately divinity because we don't know the culture and because we translate stuff away. Right. Changing it to truly. Jesus makes these incredible claims and reshapes the way that God's people had understood his book, his prophets, his teachings, instead of looking to the community to affirm what he's saying. And the community and the crowd. Right. Who's always so mad at him. Normally that would be their job. Right? But he's saying, nope, actually, I affirm what I'm saying. I know with my divine authority that it is truth, it is faithful, it is capable of handling this great Ruth, this great weight. I am the one with authority in the room. I seal this with my truth. I take this oath, and we all get to walk out this teaching and be a light. And God is the one who seals it and binds it to our conscience. He is the one affirming it for us, which is such a power move.

[Marty Solomon]

I'm trying to think as to what my personal concept of amen and how it would be used and what it would mean. And I think that I'm more on the side of the may it become true.

[Brent Billings]

Yes. I immediately just have May it be by Enya from Fellowship of the Ringster playing in my head. So thank you.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah. Yeah. I don't. I definitely did not consider it as weighty of a statement as it seems to be.

[Brent Billings]

Right. Well, if I think about many of my prayers, especially historically, they're just kind of wailing, you know, like, why is this happening in very Romans 7 rather than Roman 8? And what are we. Right. We're sending this message and we've taken this tradition of putting amen at the end of. Makes me want to change my prayers to be more proclamations of truth and praise and things that do speak life to my being, with also my. My request packaged in there. Although I don't like litigating how people should be praying.

[Marty Solomon]

Well, yeah. The way I'm taking away from it is not that I should stop saying Amen, but that I should adjust my prayers to fit the weightiness of the thing that I'm doing. And not that all of my prayers have to be only that, but just to be able to step back and remember, like, oh, what we're talking about is something way more fundamental and powerful than just a quick, like, oh, God, please help me make it through this green light, you know? Amen.

[Brent Billings]

I don't know. It sounds pretty holy to me.

[Marty Solomon]

I feel like when I do those kinds of prayers, though, I'm not typically saying Amen, it's more like a. Yeah. I don't know.

[Brent Billings]

Pastor growing up called those Arrow prayers, because you draw them real fast from the quiver, shoot them up and keep going, which I love. I think there's room for all sorts of things. I just appreciate that reminder for myself that people should do what's life giving and helpful.

[Marty Solomon]

And now I'm thinking of Lord of the Rings, Legolas.

[Brent Billings]

You're welcome. Aren't you enriched?

[Marty Solomon]

Sure. Yeah. Okay.

[Brent Billings]

Okay. Final element. So we've talked, we've read. Just returning to that verse we've read, think. Not that I've come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly. Amen I say to you. Until heaven and earth pass away, not. Not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until it's all accomplished. So, Part four. Brent Billings. What's an iota?

[Marty Solomon]

Well, I would assume it's a yod, because it kind of sounds like I. Yod.

[Brent Billings]

I like that. Sure. It's homophonic. Love that. Any thoughts on the dash situation?

[Marty Solomon]

I mean, vowel points and all that stuff wouldn't have come until maybe a dagesh.

[Brent Billings]

Okay.

[Marty Solomon]

Okay. Yeah. Was the dagesh back then or was that a later edition as well?

[Brent Billings]

You know, I believe that the dagesh is a later insertion, but I'm gonna say that you're right about the yud, and I'll say a valiant effort on the. On the dash.

[Marty Solomon]

Okay.

[Brent Billings]

Okay. So I'm gonna be with you. Iota. The smallest Hebrew character indeed is a yud. If you're not familiar, it looks like a little apostrophe. And why am I so confident that that would be the case? Because this is apparently a pretty common saying in the rabbinic literature. So lots of places, multiple places, say, a yud from you will not perish forever. Midrash lamentations say, if all those who come into the world would come together to make a wing of the raven white, they would not be able to do so. Likewise, if all who come into the world were to gather to pluck out a yud, the smallest of the letters from Torah, they would not be able to do so, which I love. Pretty. Pretty poetic writing from Midrash. Limitations there indeed, which is great. But what is the function of a yud in Hebrew? Brent? It's okay. Just like to give you some adrenaline, you know, keep you awake. No, Brent.

[Marty Solomon]

It starts God's name.

[Brent Billings]

It does start God's name.

[Marty Solomon]

I don't know. It's probably not his only function, I would imagine.

[Brent Billings]

That is a good observation. If Marty was here, which is probably why he's not here. Let's be honest. No. I would have him try to actually come up with these functions and repeat them and everything, but he's off the hook. So I'll just tell you. There's multiple grammatical functions of the yod in Hebrew. I'm going to underline the central ones. And this might feel pretty in the weeds, but hang on. It's going to pay off and it's going to be so good. Okay, so three functions of yud. Yud can be a prefix attached to a verb in order to demark future orientation. So the way Hebrew works is you have a root and then you either add a prefix or suffix to it to change something about it. So in a verb, if you put. Put a yud at the front of it, which is the back, because, you know, English is left to right. Hebrews right to left. That means that it can be translated he will xyz, he will eat would be yahel rather than we can have, which would be he will speak rather than the ver. And that goes across all these different verb types. So prefix at the beginning of a verb says it's future. That's number one.

[Marty Solomon]

Is that just a simple tense, future tense sort of thing, or is there any, like, prophetic or like willing of something to be can be used either.

[Brent Billings]

Way if you really want to make it a blessing instead. Okay, then you also put an H at the end, which makes it cohortative, which means you're expressing desire. So, oh, that it might be. That's something that comes up up in Exodus when Moses is talking about Pharaoh or God, more importantly is talking about Pharaoh. It doesn't say Pharaoh will see my glory. He says, oh, that Pharaoh might behold my glory. Which is very different. Right. It feels much less punitive and more that God is in distress of some kind and frustration. And so desiring that Pharaoh would understand who God is and who he is, but. But he fails to do so. So anyway, that's an important topic for a different time. That was our first function of Yood Dmarc's future orientation. Second function of yud, it can be an addition to the root in something called the he field case. What's important about that is it demarks causality. So number two can be an addition which demarcs causality. Number three, we're going to come back to these. It'll all make sense in just a sec. Number three, the youth can be a suffix attached to a noun to demark possession, specifically Possession of the singular, singular person. So let's bring it all together. Jesus is telling us to walk out Torah. Why? He says it all must be accomplished, and it hasn't yet. In the meantime, not one of these commandments will pass away. So yud is a prefect attached to a verb to demark future orientation. Even if heaven and earth crumble, the yud remains. The future that God has written will not pass away. Yud is in addition to the root and he feel which demarks causality. Even if heaven and earth grumble, the yud remains. It is yet God who brings all of these things to pass, right? Causality. It's God who is the one doing something. He's the one who brings it to pass. He is the ultimate causation, right? And then finally, the yod is a suffix attached to a noun to demark possession. Even if heaven and earth crumble, we are still his. The earth is still his, and he may do with it as he chooses. Good stuff in there. But before we. We sign off from this fourth part, it's not just the oda. There's a dash. So the Greek there, the word that we translate, dash or something else if you have a different translation. The Greek is the word kiraia. In Hebrew, the word that refers to a decoration that goes on top of a word in a manuscript. The word for karayah is either kutz or keter. Kutz means a thorn. Oh, Jesus, alarm bell's going off. Or a keter is a crown, a thorn or a crown. Ah. So both thorns and crowns for Jesus are also inevitable. And as people who write their symbol of our baptism, we both experience his death and his life. If we are people who follow Jesus, we also, it is said, will experience both his thorns and his crowns. So perhaps it's mystical, but if we put all of this together, if we have this verse, it says, think not that I've come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass away from the law until all is accomplished. If we make it our own little amplified version from that original, it might sound something like this. If we glue all of these parts together, marry all these ideas that we've been studying, it sounds something like this. Think not that I have come to do away with the authority of God's commandments. I have not come to walk them out poorly, but to walk them out the way they were intended. Amen. I am the divine authority. I will bear the thorn in the crown until heaven and earth pass away. The future, God wrote, will not pass away. He will bring all things to pass. And because we are his, he may do with this world as he chooses. Okay, I've written here mic drop, disappear into the bushes, because that's my preferred guerrilla teaching style, Right. G U E R G O R. Although, you know, why not?

[Marty Solomon]

But. And totally feels like the kind of thing that could happen. And yet Jesus is not even close to done with this sermon, Right?

[Brent Billings]

Yeah. He could have said this and then been like, boom, and then, you know, walked off the cliff and teleported away, as he does sometimes. But he doesn't. And so I guess I won. Thoughts, reactions, vibes, Brent, what's coming to mind for you?

[Marty Solomon]

Well, I'm just thinking about all these different uses for the Yud. And, like, I think of Jesus, God being the same yesterday, today, forever kind of phrasing. I don't know if. If the author of Hebrews is working that in somehow. I don't know if we have all of that, but we definitely have the future part of it, with the Yod being the beginning of God's name, which, I mean, it's not a prefix in that case, but, like, it is a prefix. It is a prefix.

[Brent Billings]

Okay, so God's name when he's talking to Moshe in Exodus, we have a heck of a time translating the tetragrammaton because it is future. But the way that Hebrew works is sometimes they do an uno reverse card on the time tenses, so it can also be read as past. And so that's why it'll say I will be as I will be, or it'll be I will be what I have been. Or people throw their hats in the middle on I am. Right. Because it's the verb for being, which we don't really have as much use of that in the English as other Romance languages. Of course, it's not even a Romance language. But so, yes, that future orientation is also in God's name. Okay, so you could say that you could make an illusion about God. Right. Because Torah, the word right, is the revelation of God's character. And so you could fold that into what Jesus is doing, saying, hey, like, if Torah is an arm of God, like, his commandments aren't going to pass away, no part of God will pass away either.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah, well, and I think the idea of causality and, like, God being the Creator and causing the world to be. And yeah, there's lots of stuff in there that I think would work, but I was thinking of you will be my treasured possession. It's like a very you'd heavy statement there with all of the. Well, yeah, I don't know if the causality part is in that phrase, but. But the possession part and the future part is there.

[Brent Billings]

Right? For sure.

[Marty Solomon]

So. Okay.

[Brent Billings]

I love that. An Exodus heavy episode despite being Sermon on Mount. Yeah, well, when are we not Exodus heavy?

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah, A new, better Moses, as they say.

[Brent Billings]

As they say.

[Marty Solomon]

Hebrews heavy episode as well. Book of Hebrews. Okay, well, I think that is all my questions for now. I don't know, there might have been something else. I. I should probably take better notes as we go. Go.

[Brent Billings]

But can you imagine trying to take notes in the actual Sermon on the Mount if it was just one long talk?

[Marty Solomon]

Maybe that's why this wasn't the mic drop moment. Everyone's like, are you kidding me? I got to write that down. Hold on. And then he's like, oh, okay, I guess I'll go on if you guys don't have any.

[Brent Billings]

The scribes in the back are just like, I ran out of ink. My quill broke. It was great.

[Marty Solomon]

It is kind of crazy that the Sermon on the Mount is not the story. I mean, the story of the feeding of the 5,000 or the 4,000, where they're like, hey, they've been here all day. They're hungry. It seems like they could have, you know, it could have been a teaching as long as the Sermon on the Mount. Because, I mean, just in this one little passage, like, there would be a lot of questions, I would imagine.

[Brent Billings]

Two tiny little verses that so often we just skim over and go, yeah, great. Love that. Yeah, I can keep going. Radio.

[Marty Solomon]

Go on, go on.

[Brent Billings]

Unbelievable. The accent's getting worse. Okay. But honestly, I'm so excited to be in the series. I'm so excited to spend deep time in the Sermon on the Mount. And, you know, we read that verse about four times, so maybe we'll do some accidental memorization along the way.

[Marty Solomon]

Oh, I like that.

[Brent Billings]

In the show notes, I have just two little Wikipedia articles. Love Wikipedia. One's on Halacha, which, again, is the concept of walking out the text, and the other one is on the Book of Tobit. If you are intrigued to learn more about the Apocrypha, you can read about it there.

[Marty Solomon]

Perfect. A lovely way to restart this series or re. Enter the series back onto the on ramp. I don't know, whatever. I could.

[Brent Billings]

Go on, get back on the wagon.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah. There's just as we know, an endless level of things to mine in these in these words of Jesus. So thank you for sharing with us today. El yeah, okay. Well, people can go to baymondisabeship.com, check out the show notes if you want to go back and hear our original conversation on this passage. It is episode 95 titled appropriately Abolish or Fulfill. We're just going to keep doing this passage over and over again until we've put the entire verse into the titles.

[Brent Billings]

Of the the episodes, I guess, or until we die. One of the two.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah, whichever comes first. Yep. But you can use the website to get in touch with us and I'll just say thank you to everyone who supports the work that we do. We are entirely supported by listeners like you. So thank you for that and thanks for joining us on the BMO podcast this week. We'll talk to you again soon.