7.14.26 –A Balance Sheet, Part 2

This "accounting" of what it takes to live in the Land of Israel helps us decode some of Yeshua's mysterious statements to His disciples. Take a look at the text, and then we will draw a "Come to Heshbon" connection 😊

"Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. Then a scribe came and said to Him, 'Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.' Jesus said to him, 'The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.' Another of the disciples said to Him, 'Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.' But Jesus said to him, 'Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.'" (Matt. 8:18–20)

Many commentaries explain that Yeshua was telling these disciples that they were not fit to follow Him. Perhaps Yeshua was saying just the opposite. The scribe was a person who faithfully copied the Torah. This scribe was a righteous one who recognized Yeshua as the prophesied Messiah. Yeshua warns him that it will be a tough life of sacrifice. Why? Because Yeshua was about to "depart to the other side of the sea."

The sea symbolizes the nations. The scribe would and should have understood Moses' prophesied plan of Return for Israel. He volunteers that he will go, too, to gather the lost. The scribe is warned that he will lose his home in Israel in order to follow. Ironically, a rabbinic law says that the only permissible reason for a Jew to depart from Eretz Yisrael is to search for a bride. Hmmmm!

To take the Word to the nations and seek the Bride, the disciple-scribe would experience hardship, so he needed to "Come to Heshbon." He would have no home. Another disciple says that he will follow, but he first needs to bury his dead. Sometimes an English translation does not transmit all the nuances of the Greek or Hebrew. Look at this statement as an equivalent expression: "Follow Me = Let the dead bury their own dead."

"Before acquiring a plot for the living, one must first acquire a burial plot. In order to truly be able to strike roots and settle down in Eretz Yisrael, one has to first sacrifice for the Land." Yeshua wants the living disciple to follow Him like Abraham did in the foreign neighborhood of the Amorite, Hittite, and Anakim at Hebron.

Although the whole Land was Abraham's, he bought a tiny piece of it at great cost, affecting his own "death." Anyone who follows Yeshua must bury a treasured part of himself for the journey.

As burying Sarah at great cost was a test to Abraham concerning his belief in resurrection life, so is burying a part of yourself. Sarah and Abraham were one. Hebron was said to be the entrance back to the Garden of Eden. Abraham believed that there would be a resurrection, and he believed that gospel so much that he paid a high price for prime real estate to experience that event.

As we head into the third day of the week—the most fruitful day of the week—it begs us to ask a question: what price are you willing to pay? Remember, He went ahead of you, not instead of you 😊

Shalom!!
Alan

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