SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/5/2020
9:19 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: “Teaching”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 4:23a
Message of the
verses: “23
And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues,”
MacArthur begins this section: “Was going about’ (from periago) is the imperfect tense, indicating repeated and continuous
action. This verse summarizes Jesus’
entire Galilean ministry. His going ‘about
in all Galilee’ is given in detail in chapters 5-7 (the Sermon on the Mount),
and His works are the focus of chapters 8-9.”
The region of Galilee was about
thirty miles by sixty miles and at the time of Jesus there were many, many
towns and villages in this area. Matthew
does not imply that Jesus visited each and every town or village, but he
emphasizes that He ministered throughout the region. Jesus ministered in this area to as many
people as He possibly could.
We looked earlier from a quotation
that came from Isaiah 9:1 which Matthew quoted in 4:15 showing the name “Galilee
of the Gentiles.” Now this does not mean
that Jesus ministered to Gentiles at this time in His Galilean ministry. We see in our verse today that He was
ministering in “their synagogues,” and it is believed this synagogue was
developed during the Babylonian exile, and its use was greatly expanded during
the interestamental period. MacArthur
adds “By New Testament times it had become the most important institution in
Jewish life. Although the Temple
remained by far the holiest shrine of Judaism, many Jews lived thousands of
miles from Jerusalem and could never expect to visit there. But synagogues could be established anywhere
in Israel or beyond, and around them virtually all Jewish religious and social
life centered.”
Synagogues were places where people
worshiped and where they studied however it also was a community fellowship
that happened there, and even legal activity.
When we studied the gospel of John we saw that the blind man parents did
not want to be kicked out of the Synagogue and so they even went against their
son to make sure this did not happen. On
the other hand the blind man was kicked out of the Synagogue and after that
Jesus came and ministered to him as He told him that He was indeed the Messiah,
and the blind man believed as became a believer. He cared more about being a believer that
being a member of the synagogue. This
would not be the only time when a person cared more about belonging to a
synagogue than to be a born again Jewish person.
John MacArthur writes more about the
synagogue worship: “Worship was held
every Sabbath, which began at sundown on Friday and ended at sundown on
Saturday. The Jews had special services
on the second and fifth days of every week and observed the festivals
prescribed in the law as well as numerous others that had developed by
tradition. During the Sabbath services,
sections of the Torah (law) and the prophets were read. That was followed by various prayers,
singing, and responses. Then a text of
Scripture would be expounded, and possibly following the pattern begun by Ezra
after the return from Babylon (see Neh. 8:1-8).
Often visiting dignitaries or rabbis would be given the honor of
expounding the Scripture, a practice of which both Jesus and Paul took
advantage on numerous occasions (see Luke 4:16-17; Acts 13:15-16).”
I have written in earlier SD’s that
there had to be at least ten elders to form a synagogue and these ten elders
usually administered from the congregation.
Three were called rules and the rulers decided whether or not to admit a
proselyte come into the fellowship, and the also settled disputes of all
sorts. MacArthur goes on to write “A
fourth ruler, called the angel, served as chairman of the synagogue. Some of the elders functioned as servers, carrying
out the decisions of the four rulers.
One elder interpreted the ancient Hebrew into the vernacular, one headed
the theological school, which every synagogue had, and one served as a popular
instructor, teaching one a level that the average member could understand.”
Synagogues also were schools for
boys as they studied the Talmud and they also learned to read and write and to
do basic arithmetic. The synagogue was
also a place for men of advanced theological study.
Now we come to the synagogue of
Galilee, and this provided Jesus with His first platforms for Him to
teach. In every community of any size that
had a synagogue He would have taught in the early days of His ministry as He
moved around the region of Galilee. He
would have been welcomed in these synagogues to teach. Jesus would find believing Jews in these
different synagogues.
MacArthur concludes this section
with the following paragraph: “Teaching’
is from didasko, from which we get
didactic and which refers to the passing on of information—often, but not
necessarily, in a formal setting. It
focused on content, with the purpose of discovering the truth—contrary to the
forums so popular among Greeks, where discussion and the bantering about of
various ideas and opinions was the primary concern (see Acts 17:21). Synagogue teaching, as illustrated by that of
Jesus, was basically expository.
Scripture was read and explained section by section, often verse by
verse.”
Lord willing in our next SD we will
begin to look at “Preaching and this will probably take more than one day to
complete.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I have
found this section on the synagogues very enlighten to me. I see that there are similar things that
happen in a synagogue that happen in our church service, especially the
teaching of the Word of God, something I like to sit under.
My Steps of Faith For today: In re-reading again the book “Strategy of
Satan” by Warren Wiersbe last night I came across some things that I believe
will help me in my walk with the Lord.
He talks about humility for one thing:
“When God’s Spirit is at work in us, he produces humility and not pride.
Humility is not thinking meanly of yourself (‘I’m not worth anything! I
can’t do anything!’); humility is simply not thinking of yourself at all! The Christian must be honest with himself and
with God. That is why Romans 12:3 is in the
Bible.
For through the grace given to me I
say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to
think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a
measure of faith.’” Lord willing we will
look more from what Dr. Wiersbe has to say.
3/5/2020 10:27
AM
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