Matthew is the one for the dramatic, the presenter of the extraordinary.  The “inventor” of the Virgin Birth and the consequent veneration of Mary as the Mother of God.  He gives us massive earthquakes, risings of the dead, eclipse of the sun, tearing of the curtain.

 Matthew, as did Luke, recognised from his source - Mark - that Yahweh had come and had been called Jesus.  In this regard, Luke had recognised the need for Elijah and Yom Yahweh to have come before the advent of  Yahweh.  He had found Elijah in John the Baptist - which John’s Gospel denies - and had hugely elaborated on the topic in his first chapter to prove his

Yahweh-Jesus.  Matthew, on the other hand, took it upon himself to prove the divinity of his Yahweh Jesus... and found Immanuel, son of Isaiah, who was born and lived as a young boy in the time of king Ahaz, some 700 years before Jesus.

Matt. 1   :21     She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus

                                    (Yeshua) because he will save his people (Israel) from their sin.  (This can

                                    account for the Guilt offering of the Suffering Messiah)

                          :22     All this took place to fulfil what Yahweh had said through the prophet:

                          :23     “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will

                                    call him Immanuel” - which means ‘God with us’.   

 

Isa.    7   :13     Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David!  Is it not enough to try

                                    the patience of men?  Will you trust the patience of God also?

                          :14     Therefore Yahweh Himself will give you a sign:  The “almah” (young

                                    woman) will be with child and give birth to a son and (he) will call him

                                    Immanuel - God with us.  (There is no reference to the name “Jesus”)

                          :15     He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong

                                    and choose the right.

                          :16     But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and to choose the

                                    right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.”

This comparison shows instructions for two different, unrelated, names to be given;          

1.  “You are to give him the name Yeshua ...” - Jesus

2.  “...will call him Immanuel.”

They are not the same person.

 King Ahaz, king of Judah, and his people lived in fear of Rezin, king of Aram and Pekah, king of Israel, who threatened Jerusalem and Judea.  So Adonai sent Isaiah to Ahaz with a message of comfort and assurance of protection against these two agitators.  The message would be:  “God is with you”, and would come in the form of  a boy who would be called “Immanuel”.  Yahweh never said he would incarnate Himself in that little boy, dwell physically in Judah and so defeat Rezin and Peka.  The name Immanuel would  merely be a sign of comfort to the people of Judah.  In this same way the names of the other sons of Isaiah contained signs and messages for Israel - signs and messages limited to that specific generation of Judah.

 After the defeat of Rezin and Pekah, however, came the king of Assyriah, who would overrun Judah.  In this regard, Yahweh again addresses this boy by name - and He is not talking to or of Himself:

Isa.    8   :8       “...and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and

                                    reaching up to the neck.  Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of

                                    your (not “My”) land, O Immanuel!”

 The context of the scenario of Isa.7 and 8 shows that Isaiah had two other divinely named sons, names containing specific messages for Judah at the time:

Isa.    7   :3       Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub

                                    (meaning ‘a remnant will return’) to meet Ahaz…”

Isa.    8   :3       Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son.

                                    And Yahweh said to me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz” (meaning

                                    ‘quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil’)

                          :4       Before the boy knows how to say “My Father” or “My mother”, the

                                    wealth of  Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by

                                    the king of Assyria”.

 The context  therefore  indicates that Isaiah had three divinely named sons - names which contained specific messages, for specific people, at a specific time, for specific purposes, and so he testifies;

Isa.    8   :18     “Here I am, and the children Yahweh has given me.  We are signs and

                                    symbols in Israel from Yahweh Almighty, who dwells in Zion.”

 It is incomprehensible for Matthew to imply that Yahweh:

  i.    had said of this Immanuel boy that He would incarnate Himself in this boy - 700 years later,

  ii.   would be all three - Yahweh, Suffering Messiah and Conquering Messiah - as the

        final requirement for Yom Yahweh,

  iii.  would build an entire Gentile Empire - outside of Israel ...that would worship His “mother.”

 The age-old argument about “Almah” - virgin or young woman - is quite irrelevant, as it is referring to the mother of Immanuel, not that of Jesus.

 None of the other writers seemed to have given this huge ideology any thought.  One person has built a mountain out of nothing.  Yet he, Matthew, seemed convinced that Yom Yahweh had come.  He also has a 1 Jesus who, in passing, refers to John the Baptist as Elijah... and then also denies it in his rendering of the Prophetic Sermon (Matth. 24).

Matth.11:14    “And if you are willing to accept it, he (John) is the Elijah who was to come”. 

 Matthew’s other Yom Yahweh derivatives.

 To establish his position, Matthew makes some other Yom Yahweh connections;

 i.  The Rising of the Dead

Isa.    24 :21     In that day Yahweh will punish the powers in the heaven above and

                                    the kings on the earth below.

                     25 :9       In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in Him

                                    and He saved us”. 

                     26 :1       In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

                                    “We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts.”

                          :19     See your dead will live; their bodies will rise.  You who dwell in the

                                    dust, wake up and shout for joy.  Your dew is like the dew of the

                                    morning; the earth will give birth to her dead...

                          :21     See, Yahweh is coming out of His dwelling to punish the people of

                                    the earth for their sins…      

 

Matth.27:51    At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn from top to bottom.

                                    The earth shook and the rocks split.

                          :52     The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who

                                    had died were raised to life.  They came out of their tombs and,

                                    after Jesus’s resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared

                                    to many people.

None of the other New Testament writers know about these events, nor does Matthew tell us what happened to these people.  Were they raptured?  Did they die again?  They just seemed to disappear, as none of the great restoration events expected of Yom Yahweh came about.  Yet the exact  opposite events are predicted by his 2 Jesus in his Prophetic Sermon of Matth. 24!  So even Mark’s copiers failed to notice the enormous contradictions.

 ii.  Tearing of the Curtain

 It is unclear what the significance of the torn Temple curtain is.  There is no prophetic prediction of such an event.  Was it supposed to indicate the end of temple worship or that the separation between God and His people had been broken?  It could be a reference the “Asham” of  Isa.40:1,2. However, Yom Yahweh has a Sanctuary in which Yahweh dwells among His people (Ezek. 37:26-27, Ezek. 39:8b, Ezek. 43:7, Joel 3:17, Isa. 2:2-3. Isa. 60:13, Dan. 9:25, Rev.11:1-2).  The temple, at the time of  Jesus, was incomplete in any event, because the Ark of the Covenant - signifying the presence of Yahweh - was absent, remains absent and has been absent since the fall of Solomon’s temple with the Babylonians.  Did Jeremiah escape with it to Egypt?  Much speculation and search has led to nothing.  Nobody knows.  Yahweh knows and that is good enough.

 Nevertheless, this “tearing of the curtain” doesn’t seem to have had much significance for the  early Jewish Church under James.  They seemed to pursue normal temple worship and service - as did Jesus - some 20 years after Jesus and the “tearing of the curtain”, as can be seen from Acts 21:17-26:

Acts 21 :26     The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with

                                    them.  Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when

                                    the days of purification would end and the offering would be

                                    made for each of them.

 iii.  The Great Earthquake

Zech.14 :1       A Day of Yahweh is coming…

                         :4       On that day His (Yahweh’s) feet will stand on the Mount of

                                    Olives... and the Mount of Olives will split in two...

                         :5       ...you will flee as you fled from the earthquake…”

 Matthew records two earthquakes; one at the death of Jesus - when the graves opened - and another at his resurrection;

Matth.28:2      There was a violent earthquake, for an Angel of the Lord came

                                    down from heaven and, going to the tomb...              

 None of the other writers know about these “violent earthquakes”.  Neither does the Jewish historian, Josephus ,whose only such recording is of a great earthquake in the early days of King Herod, which claimed 30.000 lives (Wikipedia on Josephus).

 iv.  The Striking of the Shepherd

 This concerns the matter of “the Shepherd struck by the sword”, in the midst of the events of Yom Yahweh.  The prophet Zecharaiah introduces two shepherds at a time before Yom Yahweh, in the context, not of the restoration of Israel, but of dispersion.  Firstly, there is a good shepherd, who appears to be rejected by the people and whose life is valued at thirty shekels of silver.  We have already met him in the context of “Asham” - the Guilt Offering.  Then there is another shepherd, of whom Yahweh says:

Zech. 11 :15    Then Yahweh said to me, “Take again the equipment of a foolish

                                    shepherd.

                          :16     For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not take

                                    care of the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the

                                    healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their

                                    hoofs.

                          :17     Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock!  May the

                                    sword strike his arm and his right eye!  May his arm be completely

                                    withered, his right eye totally blinded.”

 After this, from Zech. 12 through to Zech. 14, we find a comprehensive outlook on Yom Yahweh, regularly punctuated by “...in that day” and “A day of Yahweh is coming...”.  In the midst of this scenario, we find “the sword...”, referred to regarding the foolish shepherd:

Zech. 13  :7     “Awake, o sword, against My shepherd, against the man who is

                                    close to me!”, declares Yahweh Almighty.  “Strike the shepherd, 

                                    and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the

                                    little ones”

Matthew then has Jesus quote this latter statement, as though speaking of himself, as though the great events of Yom Yahweh had in fact come, implicating himself as the bad shepherd.

Matt. 26 :31     Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on

                                    account of me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd and the

                                    sheep will be scattered’”.

 If we take the position of  2 Jesus, in his Prophetic Sermon, and the Lamb of Revelation, who opens the seals, we have to agree that Yom Yahweh is yet to take place in the future and that the “striking of the shepherd” is also to take place in the future.  What “Shepherd”, to be struck in the future, is then spoken of here?  It cannot be the Suffering Messiah.  He is referred to earlier in the context of restoration and Yom Yahweh in Zech 12:10 “…They will look to me (Yahweh) on account of him who they pierced...” - pierced before Yom Yahweh.  This striking of the shepherd by an awakening sword in the future Yom Yahweh, cannot speak of the Good Shepherd of Zech. 11.  It has to be the “worthless shepherd who deserts the flock...” against whom the sword must rise.  Who is he?

 The Jesus of John’s Gospel has much to say about these two shepherds:

John  10 :11     “I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for

                                    the sheep.

                                    :12        The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep.  So when he

                                    sees the wolf coming he abandons the sheep and runs away.”

 And who is the “hired hand”?

John 21 :15     When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son

                                    of Jonah, do you truly love me more than these?”.  “Yes, Lord,” he said,

                                    “you know that I love you”.  Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”.

                          :16     Again Jesus said, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you truly love me?”.  He

                                    answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”.  Jesus said, “Take

                                    care of my sheep.”.   

                          :17     The third time he said to him, “Simon , son ,of Jonah, do you love

                                    me?”.  Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you

                                    love me?”.  He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love

                                    you.”.  Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”.

                          :18     I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and

                                    went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your

                                    hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do

                                    not want to go.

 What is John’s Jesus really saying ...to us today?  The succession of St Peter has certainly abandoned the sheep of Israel, “eaten the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hoofs” with its atrocious Crusades, Inquisition, Pogroms and deafening silence at the Holocaust. “Arise, o sword...”.

 Is it then coincidence that Mathew has his Jesus quote Zech 13:7, “I will strike the Shepherd...”, in the context of his rebuke of Peter’s denial of him?

Matth.26:31    “I will strike the shepherd...”

                          :33     Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”

                          :34     “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the

                                    rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”         

Is Jesus perhaps saying something far more profound about the striking of the shepherd and Peter’s denial of him, something that even the author, Matthew, did not understand at the time?  Is he implying, in John and in Matthew, that Simon Peter is the “worthless shepherd”?  The succession of St. Peter certainly does not want to contend with 2 Jesus - the Prophet Messiah and the Suffering Messiah.  Much more about this later.

 We have now discussed a number of Yom Yahweh-related events, which Matthew has called upon to establish his position.  Are these, together with the “darkening of the sun” (Matth. 27:45), then an effort to explain the signs of Yom Yahweh?  What a contradiction for Matthew’s 2 Jesus to place it all in the future in his prophetic discourse - according to Matthew:

Matth.27:45    From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.

Matth.24:29    “Immediately after the distress of those (future) days,

                                    The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light...”

 The Redactors of Matthew’s Gospel have failed, on a grand scale, to discern these major contradictions.

 

v.   Israel’s King  -  Riding on a Donkey

Apart from these positions of Matthew and, apart from Yom Yahweh, he also has another questionable conclusion.  As with the case of Immanuel, son of Isaiah, some 700 hundred years before Yeshua, Matthew  - as does John, while Mark and Luke do not mention it - presents the story of:  “See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey” - at the ‘triumphant entry’ of Jesus into Jerusalem.  If we study the context of the original prophecy from Zechariah, however, numerous discrepancies appear

Matth.21:5      “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle

                                    and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”.

Zech.  9 :9       “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout, daughter of Jerusalem!

                                    See your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle

                                    and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey”. 

 Mathew appropriates this verse to explain the triumphant entry of Jesus shortly before the crucifixion, death and resurrection.  However, the succeeding verses in Zechariah reveal a successful king who will bring an end to war in Ephraim and Jerusalem.  A king who will rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the end of the land.  

There is absolutely nothing here to suggest that this king would immediately suffer and die, rise on the third day and then depart, leaving Israel in tatters.  If this was to have happened, and the described kingdom was to be purely a spiritual one with no connection to the land, the city and the temple - THIS IS WHERE YAHWEH WOULD HAVE SAID SO - YET THERE IS NOTHING OF THE SORT.  The prophecy, however, appears to speak of a time before the Greek Empire, which was to succeed the Persian empire:

Zech.9:13        “I will bend Judah as I bend My bow and fill it with Ephraim.  I will

                                    rouse your sons , O Zion - against your sons, O Greece - and make

                                    you like a warriors sword”.

 This could be a reference to the Maccabean revolt and deliverance from the despicable Antiochus Epiphanus, who subjected Israel and sacked the temple some 160 before Yeshua.  In studying the ministry of Zechariah, we find distinctive time patterns.  As seen before, the last three chapters deal quite spectacularly with Yom Yahweh.  Before that, Zechariah’s main concern seems to be with the people and events of his time - as does that of his colleague Haggai.

 Zecharaiah lived and prophesied at the time of the return from the Babylonian exile - at the time of  Joshua, the high priest, and Zerubabel, the governor, who was in charge of rebuilding the temple.  Joshua was succeeded by Ezra, who had followed later with some of the exiles, as high priest.  And then, many years later, a most remarkable and highly esteemed person - who had served with distinction in the house of the king of  Persia - arrived in Jerusalem.  Nehemiah.

 The book of  Nehemiah describes him as a man of honour, integrity and great authority.  A man of humility who, though being the governor of Judea, refused the luxuries of a king.  He governed with authority and with profound awe of Yahweh and His institutions, which he had reinstated through Ezra, the high priest.  It is a marvelous story.  One of Nehemiah’s great missions was the rebuilding of the city wall, which was accomplished through much adversity. And this is where we find a simple, yet compelling story:

Neh.  2   :11     I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days

                          :12     I set out during the night with a few men.  I had not told anyone

                                    what my God had put on my heart to do for Jerusalem.  There were

                                    no donkeys with me except the one (donkey) I was riding on.

                          :14     Then I moved on toward the Fountain gate and the King’s pool, but

                                    there was not enough room for my donkey to get through…

 A donkey.  These mentions of a donkey seem almost trivial.  Of what importance could the mode of transport of a leader possibly be?  Unless it was placed there deliberately for the purpose of identification.  It certainly attracts our attention to this incredible man of Yahweh, who is fully revealed in the book of Nehemiah as a king among his people.  A king in Judah in the time of the Persian Empire - before the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great. 

This Godly governor, in the course of his duties, would have travelled the country for all to see ...on his donkey.  A humble king, riding a donkey every day - for all to see - some 400 years before Yeshua, and not an opportunistic once-off at the time of Yeshua.  This is the king whom Zechariah saw.  A king who would appear in his lifetime or shortly after, well before Yom Yahweh.  He also saw another King.  One associated with horses, the symbol of power:

Zech.10:3         ...for Yahweh Almighty will care for His flock, the house of Judah,

                                    and make them like a proud horse in battle.

                          :4       From Judah will come the cornerstone…

                     3   :8       “...I am going to bring My servant the Branch”.

This is the one who will come, riding, not on a donkey, but on a white horse (Rev. 19:11) - the Son of Man Messiah in the Yom Yahweh.

 Matthew, therefore, having introduced Yahweh and having named Him ‘Yeshua’ (Jesus), now also calls Him Nehemiah.       

 

THE WORD IS THE SWORD.