Was Joseph a Carpenter?

I received the following question:

Was Jesus’ step-father a carpenter?  According to the following lexicon:
http://www.studylight.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=5045
he may have just been a general tradesmen.

In Israel, where wood was scarce, a “carpenter” seems most unlikely. They did not build things out of wood generally. Houses and furniture were usually built out of other materials. “Carpenter” was the translation made in a country where wood is very common, and is the common building material. In England, a “builder” IS a “carpenter.” In Israel, not so. It seems highly unlikely that Joseph or the Lord were carpenters.

It does seem somehow appropriate that a carpenter would be hung on a piece of wood to die, but unfortunately, this connection is probably totally manufactured. The Lord likely worked more with the hammer and chisel than the hammer and nails.

Before the Son of Man Comes

I received the following question:

I’m going through Matthew and have a quick question for you in chapter 10.  When all those flee to the mountains who are living in Judea, are the 12 disciples not part of this living outside the land?  It seems that they will be going from city to city but won’t get through all of them till Christ comes.  Any thoughts?

The twelve disciples most certainly will be among those who flee to the mountains from Judea. For one thing, Christ’s instructions regarding this are specifically to them. “‘Therefore when YOU see the ‘abomination of desolation,‘” “And pray that YOUR flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath,” “Then if anyone says to YOU,” and so forth in Matthew 24 (emphasis mine). They are to remain there in the mountains until the parousia of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 19 Part 2

11. Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately.

It appears that many of the people following the Lord Jesus to Jerusalem thought that He was going there to take the throne and begin ruling Israel and the world at that very moment. They knew that this glorious government was coming eventually, and that the Lord had been proclaiming it. They also knew of the hatred and opposition of the ruling class in Israel, who were centered in Jerusalem. They must have thought that the Lord’s going there must stir up His enemies to the point where He would be forced to act now, and to exercise His power in order to bring in that planned kingdom. Of course this was not what Christ was doing, but rather was going there to die. Only when His death was accomplished could He take the throne.

Luke 19

1. Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.

We have already seen how the Lord had healed the blind man before getting to Jericho. The following event happens while He is passing through the city. The other gospels in recording their accounts of the healings of blind men give those that happened while He was leaving the city, and thus skip over any events such as these that happened while He was in Jericho. Therefore, the story we are about to read is one that is unique to Luke.

The name Jericho either meant “City of the Moon,” or “A Fragrant Place,” depending on how the word is derived. Some may remember that the city of Jericho was completely destroyed by the sons of Israel under Joshua in Joshua 6, and that Joshua cursed the one who would rebuild it. Therefore they might wonder how it could have existed at this time. Yet we do not read that God said that this cursed city would never be rebuilt, but rather that the cursed man who rebuilt it would do so at the cost of both his firstborn and his youngest son. We read this in Joshua 6:26.

Poor Saints at Jerusalem

I received the following question:

Regarding the Jerusalem saints having all things common during the early part of the book of Acts. Do you believe that those saints were later instructed to not have all things common after that Paul became an apostle to the Gentiles? I know that they were being led of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem during the early part of Acts to have all things common but I was just wondering what your thoughts are on them after Paul started taking up collections for the poor saints at Jerusalem. My thoughts always used to be that those that had all things common simply ran out of money as the Kingdom was being delayed, but I would like to hear your thoughts on it.

The group that was to have all things in common was those who were gathered together with the twelve, the actual group of disciples formed by Christ. There is no indication that this arrangement ever went beyond this, or was taken up by any other group, or any group that Paul started.

Talents Are…?

I received the following question:

I have a question regarding Matthew 25:30. “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” This seems to be saying that he has been condemned, i.e. thrown into hell. So wasting your talents can get you tossed into hell?

I have heard people in talking about this parable speak of our “talents and abilities.” They play off of the fact that we have an English word “talent” that is basically the same as the Greek word talanta for a unit of money. Just because this coincidence exists does not mean that what we think of as “talents” is what was represented in the parable. The word El means “God” in Hebrew. The word el means “the” in Spanish. We cannot conclude from this that “God” and “the” are synonymous, or symbolic for each other.

What Is Love?

I received the following questions:

What is love? What does it mean to love God, especially in the context of Mark 12:30,31. And, what does it mean to love your neighbor? Does our attitude of love have different characteristics to non-Christians as to Christians? Does 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 have any ties? And, then is there a significance that is important to us when it love is mentioned as what seems better than faith and hope?

Another thing I would like to take in to consideration is Galatians 5:22-23, the fruits of the Spirit; I want to understand them more, this includes love, but the other qualities of the fruit of the Spirit I think are intertwined. And then, there is Colossians 3:12-14 where love is mentioned as binding the other virtues mentioned there.

So, you see, I really want to understand love.  And, maybe it is a thing that will take time.  Please examine these with me, and give any insight that you might have.  I think in order to love God, love others, and to love myself, I need to get a deeper understanding of what love is.

Ancient Greek actually had four words for love.

Luke 18 Part 3

31. Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.

The Lord now takes his twelve, chosen disciples aside to communicate to them privately. As we see throughout the gospels, these twelve men often receive special revelations from the Lord that the mass of His disciples do not receive. The three of Peter, James, and John from among the twelve are the only ones who received more special revelations than this group.

They are currently going up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover feast. This, of course, was not news to the disciples. Yet the Lord is about to reveal to them what will happen while they are there. All things that are written by the prophets concerning Him, the Son of Man, will be accomplished. What things He means He specifies in the following verse.

Luke 18 Part 2

15. Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

There were some, probably from among the crowds that were constantly gathering around the Lord, who were bringing infants to Him in the hopes that He would touch them. This might seem like a strange thing, and yet when we think of Who the Lord was, we can see why some might wish to do this. Certainly if you were carrying a child and met the Lord Jesus, there would be nothing greater you could think of having Him do for that child than to touch him. The child might be too young to hear His words and believe, and yet in the future you could always say with pride that this child had been touched by the Lord Jesus.

Yet there is nothing like this that we can do today. The Lord is not on earth, and there is no one who can stand in for Him. Some think that getting a child touched by some priest or holy man might have benefit in the eyes of God. Yet this is just religion and superstition, for there is no one on earth who can touch a child and have it mean anything in the sight of God today. If we try to emulate this now, we will just produce some empty religion.

Luke 18

1. Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,

The Lord now speaks a parable. The “them” He was speaking to were the disciples, as we see it in verse 22. He now gives them this parable to teach them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. Bullinger points out in The Companion Bible that this is the only instance of a parable in Scripture where the explanation is given first before the parable. This is a rather strange parable, as we will see, and so we must be careful in seeking to determine the truth the Lord meant to convey by it.

The Lord wanted them to learn always to pray and not lose heart. There are many different kinds of prayer. This word in Greek is proseuchomai, and means prayer, either in the form of making request, or else of simply talking with the Lord. In this case, this is referring to prayers requesting something of God.