THE JEWISH ELDERS IN
MATTHEW’S
GOSPEL
Matthew did not write in a vacuum. He communicated to
and about Israel in a way that is consistent with what is found
throughout the entire Bible. As with the prophets of old,
Yeshua’s rebukes were either directed at individuals, at groups
or at the nation as a whole. And like the prophets of old, some
of His harshest statements were only relevant to His
generation.
In Matthew 23, Jesus criticizes a group of scribes and
Pharisees with a string of rebukes, addressing their heartless
worship and the impact it has on others. We actually have no
reason to believe that Jesus felt this way about all scribes and
Pharisees, which is sometimes assumed by historical Christian
commentators. The last of these rebukes or “Woe!” statements
finds Jesus pointing out the hypocrisy of venerating the
prophets while behaving like the generation that rejected them.
Jesus strongly asserts, “So you testify against yourselves, that you are
sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of
the guilt of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you
escape the sentence of hell?” (Matthew 23:31-33). In the strongest
way possible, Jesus reveals their sin, warns what will happen as
a result, and specifies that the consequences will apply to His
generation (23:36). Again, this passage is not about all Jewish
people—it’s about certain scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’
generation who didn’t recognize the time of God’s visitation.
In Matthew 27, Pilate offered to set Jesus free if the crowd
desired. The people, led by the chief priests and elders (27:12,
20), refused and instead called for his crucifixion, uttering the
words, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!” (27:25).
Indeed, the chief priests and elders—those who had political
and religious power—suffered this very consequence when
the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, with the eventual exile of
the Jewish people from the land of Israel. However, this
passage is not about all Jewish people as the ensuing judgment
fell upon the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ generation. And
unfortunately, as is found true throughout the Bible, the
judgments fell upon the entire nation as the innocent suffered
with the ungodly.
THE FUTURE HOPE OF
1 THESSALONIANS
For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus
that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your
own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus
and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile
to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be
saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But
wrath has come upon them to the utmost. (1 Thessalonians 2:14-16)
Antisemites have used the verses in the above passage throughout
the centuries as a basis for persecuting the Jewish people. These verses
have been interpreted to undergird the belief that the entire Jewish
people are guilty of killing the Messiah and are eternally cursed for
rejecting Him. Yet, this could not be further from the truth, as a deeper
reading of the text will reveal.
The Apostle Paul is Jewish himself, so certainly he understood that
the text does not refer to all Jews at all times or to them allegedly being
under a curse for committing deicide—the crime of killing God.
Actually, the Thessalonians were also suffering at the hands of their
hostile, non-believing Gentile fellow citizens just as the Jewish believers
in Judea were suffering at the hands of those Jewish people who did not
believe that Jesus was the Messiah.
In verse 15, Paul is referring to this group in Judea when he writes
that they “killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out” and who
“are not pleasing to God but hostile to all men.” Paul is describing those
specific individuals who were persecuting the Jewish believers at the
time the letter was being written and not every Jewish man, woman, and
child at any time or place in history.
Understanding the above as a general statement about all Jewish
people would conflict with Romans 9-11, where the Apostle Paul’s
tender heart toward his own Jewish people and future hope for them
is poignantly expressed. Also, and, perhaps, most important to
remember is that the Jewish people did not kill the Messiah! In
John 10:18, Yeshua tells His disciples, “No one has taken my life away
from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative.” It was predicted that the
Messiah would die for the sins of the world and that His own people
would reject Him. This is true. But, clearly there were also many
Jewish people who embraced Him as Messiah. While He was actually
slain by Romans, in the end no human could put Him to death unless
He wanted to die.
Keeping these truths in mind will help us to clearly see that
1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 was never meant to be applied to all Jewish
people.
SPECIAL EDITION | THE CHOSEN PEOPLE | 6
1543
Martin Luther writes a
tract against the Jews
1481
The Spanish
Inquisition is instituted
1835
Oppressive constitution for the Jews
issued by Czar Nicholas I of Russia
1844
Karl Marx’s writings infuse
communism with antisemitism
1915
World War I prompts expulsion of
250,000 Jews from Western Russia