We spoke in the Post “Fulfill – Matthew to Hebrew” about connections of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) to the Torah Portion Mishpatim (Exodus 21-24). It is important to note that in Matthew 5:17 Yeshua says he has not come to annul “the Torah and the Prophets,” before he moves to expound upon some of the writings in the TaNaKh. “Torah and Prophets” was likely a phrase that had both a more general and a more specific meaning. The phrase is repeated numerous times in the Greek Scriptures. The general meaning likely included the entire Hebrew Scriptures that were existent at the time, the TaNaKh. Only one time, in Luke 24:44, does Yeshua add in “and the Psalms,” but the references to “the Torah and the Prophets” commonly include Scriptural passages from the other section of the Hebrew Scriptures, called “the Writings” (the Kh portion of TaNaKh). When we get to more interconnections, the reader will see examples of this, for example, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, etc.
The more specific meaning may refer to the readings that were done in the Synagogues, referred to previously on this website, the combination of the weekly reading of the Torah and the Haftarah. The people, hearing these readings weekly and on a rotating cycle, over and over, would have been most familiar with these passages. Note that the section in Hebrew Scriptures of “Prophets” includes Joshua, Judges, 1&2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings.
The Sermon on the Mount, as noted, has a number of connections with the Mishpatim (Judgments) Torah Portion, but also with many other areas in the TaNaKh, which will become apparent as more and more of that is shared. For now, we ware taking a look at the Log and Speck passage, which is a part of the Sermon on the Mount. Its general topic is related to the topics in Mishpatim, relationships between man and God and man and his fellow man, but the more focused topic deals with judgment (again note that Mishpatim means judgments, the “-im” ending being a plural ending, ( h4941. מִשְׁפָּט mišp̱âṭ being the noun; from the verb h8199. שָׁפַט šâp̱aṭ, to judge. The EDBH gives a good sense of the overall meaning of this root verb, which is “establish; put in proper place.” One can see how “put in proper place” might suggest getting our priorities right.
OK, so this is the smaller context from the Literal Translation of the Bible:
Matthew 7:1-5 (LITV)
- Do not judge, that you may not be judged;
- for with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured again to you.
- But why do you look on the twig/speck that is in the eye of your brother, but do not see the log in your eye?
- Or how will you say to your brother, Allow me to cast out the twig/speck from your eye; and behold, the log is in your eye!
- Hypocrite, first cast the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to cast the twig/speck out of the eye of your brother.
And there are many thoughts about how we treat one another in Scripture, many of which have been brought up before. Here, once again, we are extremely thankful to have George Howard’s Hebrew Matthew, from the Shem Tov writings, which helps focus on what Yeshua was meaning when he spoke this. Realize that this is a Hebrew audience who is very familiar with the Torah especially. To them, a repeat of three words in two consecutive verses, focusing them on those three words, would take them to another familiar passage where those three words appeared in one verse (particularly because of the nature of the verse and its context). That one connecting verse then expands into the entire context of the person that the verse is speaking about.
1. אל תזינו פן תדרנו.
2. באיזה דין תדרנו ובאיזה מזה תמודר ימרדד לכם.
3. ןלמה תראו קש בעין אל תזינו פן תדרנו. זולתך ולא תראה קררה שבעיניך?
4. ןאיך תאמר לזולתך כתר לי זעיר ואוציא קש מעיניך הנה הקרה בעיניך.
5. החנף תוציא קודם הקורה מעיניך ראח”כ תוציא הקש מעין זולתך
Here is that one verse in the Hebrew, showing the words of reference:
Genesis 19:8 (BHS)
8 הִנֵּה־נָ֨א לִ֜י שְׁתֵּ֣י בָנֹ֗ות אֲשֶׁ֤ר לֹֽא־יָדְעוּ֙ אִ֔ישׁ אוֹצִֽיאָה־נָּ֤א אֶתְהֶן֙ אֲלֵיכֶ֔ם וַעֲשׂ֣וּ לָהֶ֔ן כַּטֹּ֖וב בְּעֵינֵיכֶ֑ם רַ֠ק לָֽאֲנָשִׁ֤ים הָאֵל֙ אַל־תַּעֲשׂ֣וּ דָבָ֔ר כִּֽי־עַל־כֵּ֥ן בָּ֖אוּ בְּצֵ֥ל קֹרָתִֽי׃
Genesis 19:8 (LITV)
8 Behold, now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please let me {bring them out} (h3318. יָצָא yâṣâ’) to you and do to them as you see (h5869. עַיִן ‘aiyn) fit (h2895. טוֹב ṭôḇ); only do not do a thing to these men, on account of this they came into the shade of my roof (h6982. קוֹרָה qôrâ; or קֹרָה qorah).
This is a connection we likely would never make in our English translations, but which is very clear here. And it will become so very clear the nature of the Tapestry that is Scripture, all always going back to Torah, once we begin to track down some of the many threads to which this verse leads. We cannot understand the Greek Scriptures, Yeshua’s teachings and Paul’s and the other authors, without thoroughly knowing the Hebrew Scriptures and most especially Torah. To follow is the immediate context of this verse.
Genesis 19 (LITV) 1 And the two angels came into Sodom at evening. And Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. And Lot saw, and he rose up to meet them and bowed his face to the earth. 2 And he said, Behold, now, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and lodge, and wash your feet; and rise early and go to your way. And they said, No, for we will lodge in the street. 3 And he much urged them, and they turned in to him and came into his house. And he made a feast for them. And he baked unleavened cakes, and they ate. 4 Before they had laid down, even the men of the city, the men of Sodom, circled the house; from the young to the aged, all the people from its limits. 5 And they called to Lot and said to him, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them. 6 And Lot went out to them, to the door, and he closed the door behind him. 7 And he said, My brothers, please do not act evilly. 8 Behold, now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please let me {bring them out} (h3318. יָצָא yâṣâ’) to you and do to them as you see (h5869. עַיִן ‘aiyn) fit (h2895. טוֹב ṭôḇ); only do not do a thing to these men, on account of this they came into the shade of my roof (h6982. קוֹרָה qôrâ; or קֹרָה qorah). 9 And they said, Stand back! And they said, This one came in to visit, and must he always judge? Now we will do evil to you rather than to them. And they pressed on the man, upon Lot violently, and drew near to break the door. 10 But the men put out their hands and brought Lot in to them, into the house, and shut the door. 11 And they struck the men at the door of the house with blindness, from the small to the great; and they struggled to find the door. 12 And the men said to Lot, Who still is here to you? Bring out of this place your sons and your sons-in-law and your daughters, and whoever belongs to you in the city. 13 For we are about to destroy this place, for the cry of them is great before YHWH, and YHWH has sent us to destroy it. 14 And Lot went out to speak to his sons-in-law, those taking his daughters. And he said, Rise up, go out from this place, for Jehovah is about to destroy the city. And he seemed as one joking to his sons-in-law. 15 And when the dawn rose, then the angels urged Lot, saying, Rise up, take your wife and your two daughters who are found, lest you be cut off in the depravity of the city. 16 And he lingered. And the men lay hold of his hand and his wife’s hand, and on the hand of his two daughters, YHWH having mercy on him. And they caused him to go out, and they put him down outside the city. 17 And it happened as they led them outside, he said, Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay in all the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest you be swept away. 18 And Lot said to them, Please, no, Lord! 19 Behold, now, Your servant has found grace in Your sight, and You have magnified Your mercy which You have done to me in saving my life. And I am not able to escape to the mountain lest some evil overtake me and I die. 20 Please, now, this city is near, to flee there, and it is a little one. Please let me escape there! Is it not a little thing, that my soul may live? 21 And He said to him, See, I have lifted up your face also as to this thing, without overthrowing the city for which you have spoken. 22 Hurry, escape there, for I am not able to do anything until you have come there. So the name of the city was called Zoar. 23 The sun had gone forth on the earth, and Lot came into Zoar. 24 And YHWH rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from YHWH out of the heavens. 25 And He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all those living in the cities, and the produce of the ground. 26 And his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 27 And Abraham started up early in the morning, going to the place where he had stood there before YHWH. 28 And he looked toward the face of Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain. And he saw. And, behold, the smoke of the country went up like the smoke of a furnace. 29 And it happened when God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham; and He sent Lot out from the overthrow when overturning the cities in which Lot lived. 30 And Lot went up out of Zoar and lived in the mount. And his two daughters were with him. For he feared to live in Zoar. And he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31 And the first-born said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to come in to us as is the way of all the earth. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him, that we may keep alive seed of our father. 33 And they caused their father to drink wine that night. And the first-born went in and lay with her father. And he did not know when she lay down nor when she rose up. 34 And on the next day it happened, the first-born said to the younger, Behold, I lay with my father last night. Let us cause him to drink wine tonight also. And you go in and lie with him, so that we may keep alive seed of our father. 35 And they caused their father to drink wine that night also. And the younger rose up and lay with him. And he did not know when she lay down, nor when she rose up. 36 And both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 37 And the first-born bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of Moab to this day. 38 And the younger also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites to this day.
(https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030510.html) “The Eye of God,” helix nebula.
This is the very sad explanation of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. There are so many connections, it is hard to know where to begin. First, note that in verse 5, where the men of the town (and notice it says “all” of them, say they want to “know” the two angels that came, “to know” is a euphemism for sexual relations. Also note that in the same passage, there is the interaction between Lot and his daughters, again “lay with” is a euphemism for sexual relations. And that this is another forbidden interaction, incestual relations. The list is in Leviticus 18. That would be the first connection to make beyond this immediate context.
Another intense connection is a very similar story in Judges 19 in which the reader will see the numerous connections. This incident almost results in the entire destruction of one of the Tribes of Israel, Benjamin, and one must read on in Judges 20 and 21 to see that play out. Notice that this is centered around the actions of some disgusting people in Gibeah, which appears to be the same location as the Gibeonites noted in Joshua 9. We will be talking more about Gibeon later, and their deception of the leaders of Israel.
And of course, there is much upon which to follow through about Lot himself, in addition to the two peoples that came from the incestual relationship between Lot and his two daughters, the Moabites and the Ammonites. The reader will need to look by word study at the history of both of these peoples and interactions with Israel. And particularly with Moab, look to some reconciliation by way of a woman named Ruth, in the book of Ruth, and how she even is seen in the genealogy of Yeshua in Matthew 1 (and her husband Boaz noted in both Matthew 1 and Luke 3).
To follow Lot, one must go back to Genesis 11, which it is good to review anyway, because it speaks of the Tower of Babel and the dispersion of the people. There is a listing of genealogy of Shem, one of Noah’s sons, the father of all the Semitic peoples. As you work your way through that genealogy (remembering that all names have a meaning and can help one understand more about the people and what transpired0, one comes to a man named Terah (meaning “to waver’) he was the father of Abram (who later became Abraham), Nahor, and Haran (h2039. הָרָן hârân). Haran was the father of Lot. Haran died while his father still lived. Terah took his family from Ur of the Chaldeans to move toward Canaan, but he “wavered,” and settled in a place called Haran (h2771. חָרָן ḥârân – notice this “Haran” begins with a different letter than tear’s son, Lot’s father – better if it were written as Charan in English).
It is from Charan after Terah’s death, that Abram hears the instructions from YHWH to go to a place that YHWH would show him Abram, in following with an expectation in the Hebrew people, tries to preserve his brother Haran’s lineage by taking Lot under his wing. You will see how things go with Lot’s relationships if you read Genesis 12, 13, and 14. And you must compare his behavior to that of Abram/Abraham, to better understand the character of Lot, though the Genesis 19 incidents give you a pretty clear picture. Lot’s name comes from a root meaning “cover” also “secret.” In a way, one can see that he was “covered” a great deal by Abraham, which may have led to some of his unrighteous behavior, and some of the things that he did were “in secret,” but ended up with long term consequences.
Getting back to Log and Speck, if one has followed the discussion of the tie-in to Lot’s life, then one can understand that this man was judging his fellow dwellers in Sodom, but his behavior, though perhaps different in some ways, was no more righteous than they because he had some very substantial shortcomings himself. (Read James 2:8-13, as well as the Sermon on the Mount after the Beatitudes, from Matthew 5:17-7:29.) We must be more certain to work on improving our own lives than worrying about the sins of others. God works in each of our lives to draw us closer to him. That is not to say that if a brother that we know well is obviously going down a wrong path, that we should say nothing. But we must carefully search our own hearts first, and correct our own lives. The entire book of Job/Iyob is very enlightening, where a very righteous man faces some major life trials, and his “friends” are rather judgmental. Of course, at some point one should become quite familiar with that book, but the point can be seen in Job 42:7-9.
There should, as well, be additional discussion about the word for “Log,” h6982. קוֹרָה qôrâ. The word occurs only five times in TaNaKh, including the occurrence in Genesis 19:8. It is clear that in this occurrence, where Lot says, “Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof (h6982. קוֹרָה qôrâ),” (ESV) that he is speaking of the “threshold covenant,” whereby the person taking guests into his home becomes responsible for the guests (and likewise, the guests agree to abide by the rules of the household).
h6982. קוֹרָה qôrâ occurs twice in the following passage, where the ESV also brings the understanding of responsibility into play in its translation:
2 Kings 6:1-7 (ESV) 1 Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See, the place where we dwell under your charge is too small for us. 2 Let us go to the Jordan and each of us get there a log (h6982. קוֹרָה qôrâ), and let us make a place for us to dwell there.” And he answered, “Go.” 3 Then one of them said, “Be pleased to go with your servants.” And he answered, “I will go.” 4 So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. 5 But as one was felling a log (h6982. קוֹרָה qôrâ), his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, “Alas, my master! It was borrowed.” 6 Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. 7 And he said, “Take it up.” So he reached out his hand and took it.
[Here it should be noted that the “sons of the prophets” were disciples h8527. תַּלְמִידים ṯalmîyḏim of a prophet/prophets (examples are seen of Eliyahu/Elijah and Elisha – see 1 Kings 20 and 2 Kings 2, 4, 5, 6, and 9).] What the Hebrew says is “dwell in your presence,” but since here the disciples are dwelling in a place with Elisha, as Yeshua’s disciples dwelt with him, they are his responsibility, reflected in the use of the use of h6982. קוֹרָה qôrâ as it had been used in Genesis. 19:8. In 2 Chr. 3:7, it is used of the roof/beams of the Temple that Solomon is building, and in Song of Songs 1:16, it appears to refer to the same, calling “our house” the house place where the two lovers come together (God and Israel), which would be the Temple, and with the attendant responsibilities of each.
The point here is that h6982. קוֹרָה qôrâ is a word with much depth of meaning, which would have been understood by those hearing.
One more word from Hebrew Matthew 7:3-4 is repeated, shown in green above, which LITV translates as “twig” and ESV translates as “speck.” In the Hebrew Matthew, the word is h7179. קשׁ qš; from h7197. קָשַׁשׁ qâšaš. That word is translated as chaff and stubble the 16 times it occurs in the TaNaKh. In no case is it used in a positive sense in context. The first occurrence is in Exodus when the Israelites were being tormented by the Egyptians:
Exodus 5:12 (ESV)
12 So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble (h7179. קשׁ qš) for straw, which is a guarantee of a negative connotation.
Other occurrences are in Ex. 15:7; Job 13:25; 41:28(20),29(21); Ps. 83:13(14); Isa. 5:24; 33:11; 40:24; 41:2; 47:14; Jer. 13:24; Joel 2:5; Obad. 1:18; Nah. 1:10; Mal. 4:1(3:19). The Malachi usage is very pertinent to this usage in Matthew:
Malachi 4:1 (ESV) 1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
The two entries below are excerpts from the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, which will help the reader understand the more metaphorical meanings:
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