Understanding Yeshua’s Writings in Their Original Context
Imagine this scene. You and your friends gather around a table discussing topics of the day. A foreigner unfamiliar with your history joins your group. Someone in the group wants to express a feeling of intense excitement and says, “I haven’t felt this way since the fourth of July.”
If you live in the United States or understand its history, you might know what they mean by the statement about the “Fourth of July.” It may bring back to your mind memories of the excitement of seeing fireworks and the loud noises. In your mind, you can again hear the gasps and screams as the fireworks explode. You might even smell the smoke from the fireworks and feel patriotic.
However, if the foreigner doesn’t understand the context of the “Fourth of July,” they may not understand the message the speaker is attempting to communicate. To them, the fourth of July may be just another day of the year. It may evoke no unique feelings at all. The speaker’s point about his excitement on that day would not be communicated, and the message would be lost.
This “context” problem is often an issue when we try to understand the meaning of statements or actions in the bible. We try to interpret the Jewish bible by making it “fit into” the experiences of our Western eyes, using the illustrations of our modern world.
We must remember that we serve a Jewish Messiah. He had a Jewish mother and father. As a son of Abraham, he attended the Temple. He studied the Torah as a child. He spoke, taught, reasoned, and worshiped as a Jew. The scriptures were written to a people who understood and related to their ways. We have grown so detached from our Jewish roots that we have lost that original context and connection.
So, in your study, could you develop a new perspective based on the Jewish background of the writers and the surroundings? Instead of trying to transport the scriptures into modern times, let’s transport our minds back to when they were written. As we study, we must understand the culture and history of the author and the people they are addressing. Only with that mindset can we completely understand the message being communicated to us.
To show us an example of considering the original context, let’s look at scripture from the book of John, specifically John 14: 2-4:
“In my father’s house are many places to live. If there weren’t, I would have told you because I am going there to prepare a place for you. Since I am going and preparing a place for you, I will return to take you with me.”
As you read this scripture, what picture forms in your mind? Could you take a moment right now and think of your vision? Do you see a mansion with many rooms? Is this mansion on the beach or possibly in the mountains? Is it in an exclusive part of town? This vision will define your context but not necessarily the author’s context.
To understand this scripture, you must know the author and what picture they were trying to invoke in the hearer’s mind through the statement. In the same way, the 4th of July statement carried a picture. Yeshua’s statement about preparing a room has a picture to communicate to those who understand the context of His words.
In this case, what is the picture for the hearer to see? Remember that this would be a hearer in first-century Israel. One who understood the customs of the times. One who would understand the meaning of preparing rooms in a father’s home.
Now that you have discovered and defined the picture in your mind, this may shock you. I believe that the hearers of Yeshua’s words would think, “I’m going to get married,” or, “I’m going to be a bride!!” You may say to me here that there is no mention of “marriage,” bride,” or even of “wedding.”
Why would I believe this? Let us look again at John 14:2-4 in the history and context of the time of Yeshua.
“In my father’s house are many places to live. If there weren’t, I would have told you because I am going there to prepare a place for you. Since I am going and preparing a place for you, I will return to take you with me.”
A hearer in the time of Yeshua would relate this statement to engagement and marriage. One of the first tasks of the future husband during the engagement period is finding a place for himself and his new wife to live. Typically, he would build a room for them to live in his father’s house.
When Yeshua tells us that He is going to fix a room for us in His Father’s house, he is saying that He is preparing a room for us as we are to become His bride. This original context moves the story’s focus from preparing a room to becoming a bride.
Becoming a bride is an essential fact for us. When we become believers in Yeshua, our engagement to Him is established. As believers, we are betrothed to the Messiah. When our place in the mansion is completed, He will return for us to become His bride and live with Him for eternity.
Understanding the story of building the room in the Jewish context allows us to see the entire picture of becoming His bride. In the same way, understanding the story of the Fourth of July enables the foreigner to see the whole picture of the excitement intended by the speaker.
We miss the greater meaning of scripture because our modern Western mind does not understand the significance of the words in context. Looking at scriptures from the author’s eyes, they are transformed from one-dimensional black-and-white stories into full three-dimensional stories in vivid color.
In closing, as you understand the importance of biblical context, I challenge you to develop a new perspective of scripture based on the Jewish background of the writers and the surroundings rather than on a modern context.
