In the Land of Milk and Honey: Zealots

we drove away from the sea of Galilee to the East

I come from a greenhouse farm, couldn't help myself

had to take a picture

The Sea of Galilee is still visible

In front of us a very steep hill

with ruins on the side

A closer look reveals buildings, the hillside is so steep

that the front yard of one building

is the roof of the one below

There is a hole in the wall

lots of good pasture, no sheep

we are in the Golan Hights

Walking down where the Romans breached the wall

This is a Zealot town

Pharisee - live obediently in the world

Zealot - live out of the world, but use it's stuff

Herodians - live in the world and use it

Essenes - live out of the world and don't be part of it

what did Jesus say?

If you belonged to the world, the world would have loved its own. But because you do not belong to the world — on the contrary, I have picked you out of the world — therefore the world hates you.

and Paul:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The Zealots lived here and could go out and do damage

They killed 100.000 Romans in 10 years

Living on this steep hill was like

sticking up their middle finger to the Romans

The Zealot symbol was a palm branch

waving a palm branch was at times a crucifiable offense

The next day, the large crowd that had come for the festival heard that Yeshua was on his way into Yerushalayim. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Deliver us!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of Adonai,the King of Isra’el!”

We do a re-enactment of a synagogue service

This synagogue is original first century

Outside the synagogue a Mikvah

Head, Heart, Hand & Feet

we learn a song to sing for when the Hazan brings out the scroll

Hine(y) ma tov u'manayim
Shevet akh-im gam ya-khad
Hine(y) ma tov
Hine(y) ma tov
la la lai la la la la la lai

It's the only Hebrew song we know, sort of

How good and pleasant it is
For brothers & sisters to sit together.

We had so much fun during this teaching

We were dancing and kissing the scroll

How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!

at Jesus time the reading calendar was about 200 years old

you knew the scripture for the day

every member of the synagogue took their turn, women 13+ too

after reading the scroll goes back in the Torah closet

the reader gives the message derashah, 5 minutes

(how this scripture has impacted me)

sitting in Moses seat

“The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim,” he said, “sit in the seat of Moshe. So whatever they tell you, take care to do it. But don’t do what they do, because they talk but don’t act!

Jesus went o the synagogue in Nazareth

Now when he went to Natzeret, where he had been brought up, on Shabbat he went to the synagogue as usual. He stood up to read, and he was given the scroll of the prophet Yesha‘yahu. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of Adonai is upon me;
therefore he has anointed me
to announce Good News to the poor;
he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the imprisoned
and renewed sight for the blind,
to release those who have been crushed,to proclaim a year of the favor of Adonai.”

After closing the scroll and returning it to the shammash, he sat down; and the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. He started to speak to them: “Today, as you heard it read, this passage of the Tanakh was fulfilled!” Everyone was speaking well of him and marvelling that such appealing words were coming from his mouth. They were even asking, “Can this be Yosef’s son?”

and was almost stoned

Then Yeshua said to them, “No doubt you will quote to me this proverb — ‘“Doctor, cure yourself!” We’ve heard about all the things that have been going on over in K’far-Nachum; now do them here in your home town!’ Yes!” he said, “I tell you that no prophet is accepted in his home town. It’s true, I’m telling you — when Eliyahu was in Isra’el, and the sky was sealed off for three-and-a-half years, so that all the Land suffered a severe famine, there were many widows; but Eliyahu was sent to none of them, only to a widow in Tzarfat in the land of Tzidon. Also there were many people with tzara‘at in Isra’el during the time of the prophet Elisha; but not one of them was healed, only Na‘aman the Syrian.”

On hearing this, everyone in the synagogue was filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of town and dragged him to the edge of the cliff on which their town was built, intending to throw him off. ³⁰But he walked right through the middle of the crowd and went away.

Stoning was done on a high hill

the 2 witnesses push the (naked) guy down

every witness drops a boulder on him

Most people died already from the fall

but some people survived

they assumed that was a sign that they were not guilty

The sin of Nazareth is a common one "pride"

Be careful not to miss the humble way He taught us to live

“Come to me, all of you who are struggling and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Jesus' yoke is His method of interpretation