The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 19

The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 19 - Christogenea on Talkshoe 11-02-2012

1 Then entering in He passed through Iericho, 2 and behold, a man by name called Zakchaios, and he was chief tax-collector and he was wealthy. 3 And he sought to see Yahshua, who He is, and was not able because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. 4 Yet running ahead to the front he went up into a mulberry tree that he may see Him, since He was about to pass through there. 5 And as He came by the place, Yahshua looking up said to him: “Zakchaios! Hurry, you must come down! For today it is necessary for Me to stay at your house!” 6 Then hurrying he came down and welcomed Him rejoicing. 7 And all those seeing it murmured, saying that “With a sinful man He has entered in to lodge!” 8 Then stopping Zakchaios said to the Prince: “Behold, half of my property, Prince, I give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything of anyone, I return it fourfold!” 9 And Yahshua said to him that “Today has preservation come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham! 10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which has been lost!”

This account of Zakchaios the tax-collector only appears in Luke. Note the exclamation of Yahshua in verse 9, “Today has preservation [or salvation] come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham!” We are not told whether Zakchaios is an Israelite, however he must be, for he is already a son of Abraham, and that is why salvation came to his house. Salvation did not come to the house of Zakchaios because he was repentant. Salvation did not come to the house of Zakchaios because he offered to give away his property. Rather, Christ is salvation, and Christ chose to come to the house of Zakchaios because Zakchaios is a son of Abraham!

The word ἀπολωλός is the Perfect Active Participle of ἀπόλλυμι (622) and therefore it describes something which is already – and still – “lost”, not something that at some future point in time may become lost, as all of the mainstream sects misinterpret the term. The “lost” sheep were lamented in Ezekiel chapter 34, nearly 700 years before Christ, and over 500 years before the forming of the Judaean nation extant at the time of Christ, from which have come the Jews. The Jews cannot possibly be lost sheep, because Christ had told them “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep” (John 10:26). The key to understanding the Bible is the location and identification of these “sheep”, which ancient history, the prophets and archaeology, studied fully and honestly, reveals not only as the Romans and most of the Greek tribes, but also as the Parthians, Kelts, and Scytho-Germanic tribes of Europe, in addition to the remnant of true Israelites in Judaea. At Matthew 15:24, the same word is used of these sheep, as a Perfect Participle, in the plural and as a Substantive, where Christ says “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” In their Greek-English lexicon, Liddell & Scott give an example of ἀπόλλυμι as the word was used by the Tragic Poet Euripides, “to drive...ruined” from one’s fatherland, which is perfectly descriptive of the ancient Israelites.

Isaiah 66:19 tells us, in part, where the “lost” sheep of ancient Israel were. Speaking of the tribes of Israel who were being taken away by the Assyrians at Isaiah's very time, Yahweh says through the prophet: “And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the [Nations].” The only people who did appear in all of those places, and within two hundred years after the prophet wrote, were the Germanic tribes pouring into Europe from Asia in the 6^th to 3^rd centuries before Christ.

To repeat Luke 19:9-10: “9 And Yahshua said to him that 'Today has preservation come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham! 10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which has been lost!'”

Zakchaios was already a son of Abraham, and for that reason Salvation came to his house. This man Zakchaios is representative of that which was lost: the children of Israel. Christ came “but only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. Christ came “to seek and to save that which has been lost!” If you are not a genetic Israelite, you have no part in the one true Church, which is the Israel of God, the seed of Abraham which sprung from the loins of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob.

11 Then adding a parable He spoke for those hearing these things, because He was near to Jerusalem and they were supposing that immediately the Kingdom of Yahweh was going to appear.

The people of Judaea, and even the apostles, were persuaded that the Kingdom of Yahweh would materialize immediately with the manifestation of the Messiah. In John chapter 6, after Yahshua had fed a multitude of 5,000 men, and also many women and children, from five loaves and two fish, we have the following: “14 Then the men, seeing the sign which He had made, said that 'this is truly the Prophet who is coming into the Society!' 15 Then Yahshua, knowing that they were going to come and to seize Him in order that they would make Him king, He alone withdrew back into the mountain.” Again, in John chapter 12, upon Yahshua's triumphant ride into Jerusalem on the foal of an ass, the people are said to have exclaimed “Oh save! Blessed is He coming in the Name of Yahweh, the King of Israel!”

The apostles also expected the Kingdom of Yahweh to come to fruition immediately. At Acts 1:6, just before the ascension of Christ, they inquire: “Prince, then at this time shall You restore the Kingdom to Israel?” Christ is said to have responded: “It is not yours to know the times or the seasons which the Father has placed in His own authority. Rather you shall receive power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you and you shall be My witnesses in both Jerusalem and in all Judaea and Samareia, and unto the end of the earth”

That the apostles believed that the Messiah is the rightful King over Israel is evident right from the beginning, as one can see at John 1:49: “Nathanael replied to Him: 'Rabbi! You are the Son of Yahweh! You are King of Israel!'” While in the Gospels it is recorded that many people professed Christ to be King, He never made the profession directly, but only in allusions in parables. When falsely accused by the Judaeans, we see this exchange between Christ and Pilate, from John chapter 18: “33 Therefore Pilatos entered again into the Praetorium and called to Yahshua and said to Him: 'Are You the King of the Judaeans?' 34 Yahshua replied: 'Do you say this by yourself or have others spoken to you concerning Me?' Pilatos replied: 'What, am I a Judaean? Your nation and the high priests delivered You to me. What have You done?' 36 Yahshua replied: 'My Kingdom is not from of this Society. If My Kingdom was of this Society, My deputies would have fought in order that I would not be delivered to the Judaeans. But now My Kingdom is not from here.' 37 Therefore Pilatos said to Him: 'Then are You King?' Yahshua replied: 'You say that I am a king. For this I had been born and for this I have come into Society: in order that I may testify to the truth. Each who is from of the truth hears My voice.' 38 Pilatos says to Him: 'What is truth?' And saying this he again went out to the Judaeans and says to them: 'I find not any guilt in Him.'”

A belief in immediate restoration of the Kingdom of God to Israel prevailing in the minds of the people of Judaea in regards to the Messiah, subsequently one of Paul's biggest challenges was in convincing the people to whom he brought the gospel that the truth was otherwise, as he explains at Acts 26:22-23: “However obtaining assistance from Yahweh, unto this day I have stood bearing testimony to both the small and the great, saying nothing outside of the things which both the prophets and Moses said are going to happen, 23 whether the Christ was to suffer, whether first from a resurrection from the dead is a light going to be declared to both the people and to the Nations.” Christ Himself explained this to the apostles on at least several occasions, one of them being recorded at Mark 8:31: “And He began to instruct them that it is necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things and to be rejected by the elders and the high priests and the scribes and to be put to death and after three days to be resurrected.”

All of this is in accordance with the prophecy found in Daniel, where it says at 9:26 that after a certain prophetic period of time “shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself”. It is within the provenance of God, that so many Judaeans understood that the Messiah was to come, and missed these plain words of Daniel concerning His being “cut off”, or killed. If He is to be King, a second coming is necessitated, as we see in Matthew 25:31: “And when the Son of Man should come in His effulgence and all the messengers with Him, then He shall sit upon His throne of honor.” Christians recognize His Kingship now, being confidently assured that His words will certainly be fulfilled.

12 Therefore He said: “A certain man of noble birth had gone to a distant land, to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. 13 And calling ten of his servants he gave to them ten minas and said to them ‘Engage yourselves in business while I go.’

The μνᾶ (3414), or mina, is a Latin coin equal to 100 drachma, or according to Liddell & Scott, 15.2 troy ounces. The drachma was nearly equal to the Roman denarius, being approximately 88.3% of its value. So one mina being equivalent to 88 denarii, or nearly five month's wages for a Roman soldier of the period, 10 minas would be a considerable sum. (The pay for soldiers at the time of Julius Caesar was 225 denarii a year, according to H.J. Edwards in Appendix A of his edition of Caesar's The Gallic War translated for Harvard's Loeb Classical Library.)

“Engage yourselves in business while I go.” The often-quoted “occupy till I come”, from the King James Version, is a pitifully archaic and quite poor translation carried over from the Geneva Bible. The NAS, adding some words to the text, at least translates the verb much more accurately where it has “do business with this until I come back.” The verb is a plural form of πραγματεύομαι, a passive verb which means to be busy or to be engaged in business. Many Christians, especially Identity Christians, take the poor King James rendering of this verse out of context and assume that it means that Christians should assert hegemony over the world, as if they could possibly have such a thing ahead of Christ Himself. To quote from Matthew chapter 25 once more: “31 And when the Son of Man should come in His effulgence and all the messengers with Him, then He shall sit upon His throne of honor. 32 And they shall gather before Him all the nations and He shall separate them from one another just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And He shall indeed stand the sheep at His right hand, but the goats at His left hand. 34 Then the King shall say to those at His right hand: ‘Come, those blessed of My Father, you shall inherit the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the foundation of Society!'” All of the goat nations shall be destroyed: they shall not be ruled over by Christ. The idea that Christ should rule over the goat nations comes from universalists and imperialists, but not from Scripture. Christ came only for the sheep: the children of Israel.

14 And his citizens hated him and they sent ambassadors after him saying ‘We do not want him to rule over us!’

While the allegory is not a perfect parallel of the ministry and mission of the Christ, it certainly has strong similarities, and He certainly meant it to be so similar. The parable is meant to show what Christ expects of His servants, for those who expect the Kingdom of Yahweh. It also forebodes the ultimate fate of His enemies, agreeing with what is already outlined in the books of the prophets.

15 Then it came to pass upon his return from receiving the kingdom that he said to call for him the servants, those to whom he gave the money, that he would know what they did while engaged in business.

Where we see the clause “what they did while engaged in business”, the King James Version has “how much every man had gained by trading”. In any case, we see what is expected of the servants where the King James Version has in verse 13 “occupy till I come”, although the Greek literally says “engage yourselves in business while I go”.

Mark 13:33-37: “33 You watch, be wakeful. For you do not know when the time is. 34 As a man traveling abroad has left his house and given to his slaves authority for each his work and orders the doorkeeper that he should be alert, 35 therefore you be alert. For you do not know when the master of the house comes, whether late or at midnight or at the cock-crow or in morning, 36 not coming suddenly he should find you sleeping. 37 And that which I say to you I say to all: be alert!”

16 And the first came saying ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas!’ 17 And he said to him ‘Very well, good servant. Because you have been faithful with the least, you must have authority over ten cities.’ 18 And the second had come saying ‘Your mina, master, has made five minas!’ 19 So he then said to him ‘And you must be over five cities.’ 20 And another had come saying ‘Master, behold, your mina which was kept hidden in a handkerchief. 21 For I was in fear of you, because you are a harsh man. You take that which you have not laid up, and you harvest that which you have not sown.’

One of the attributes of both cruel kings and shrewd businessmen, is to freely profit from the labors of others.

22 He said to him ‘From your mouth I shall judge you, wicked servant! Because you had known that I am a harsh man, taking that which I have not laid up, and harvesting that which I have not sown! 23 Yet for what reason did you not give my money to the bank, that I coming would exact it with interest?’

From the servants own mouth he was judged: the servant admitted knowing what his master would expect, but still neglected any attempt to meet that expectation. Therefore the servant was judged for his negligence.

Luke 12: “47 “Now that servant who knowing the will of his master and not preparing or doing according to his will shall be clubbed much. 48 But he not knowing yet doing such worthy of blows shall be clubbed little. All to whom much is given, much shall be sought from him, and to whom much is committed, far more shall be demanded of him.”

The word for bank, τράπεζα (5132) is literally just a “table”, but in this context it is a “II. a money-changer’s table, a bank”, as the word was often employed (Liddell & Scott). Many commentators point to this passage and claim that Christ approves of usury. However in reality Christ is only taking an example from contemporary culture to show that the useless servant did not do the least that could be expected of him in order to benefit his master. Making such an allegory does not by itself show that Christ condones usury, and many Old Testament passages condemn the practice. The law states that Israelites may loan to aliens at usury, and they certainly should, but it forbids loaning to one's brother with usury, and Christians should certainly follow that example.

Deuteronomy 23:19-20 "19 Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury: 20 Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it."

The attitude of the prophets concerning usury:

Jeremiah 15:10 Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.

Ezekiel 22:12 In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.

KJV Nehemiah 5:7 Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them.

KJV Psalm 15:5 He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

24 And to those present he said ‘Take the mina from him and give it to him having the ten minas!’ [And verse 25:] 25 And they said to him ‘Master, he has ten minas!’

The Codices Bezae (D) and Washingtonensis (W) want all of verse 25.

26 ‘I say to you that to all having shall be given, but from he not having even that which he has shall be taken!

Those of us who have gifts from God but do not use them to serve Him shall have no reward in the end. We serve our God by serving our brethren. From John chapter 13: “12 Therefore when He washed their feet and took His garments and reclined again, He said to them: 'Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Prince’, and you speak well, for I am. 14 Therefore if I, the Prince and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you are also obliged to wash the feet of one another. 15 For I have given to you an example in order that just as I have done for you, you also should do. 16 Truly, truly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master nor an ambassador greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you would do them.'” Therefore we must use our gifts, our abilities, to serve our brethren.

27 But my enemies, those who do not want me to rule over them, you bring them here and slay them before me!’” 28 And speaking these things He went forward, going up to Jerusalem.

John 19:15: “15 Then they [the Judaeans, incited by their leaders] cried out 'Kill! Kill! Crucify Him!' Pilatos says to them: 'Shall I crucify your king?' The high priests replied: 'We have no king except Caesar!'” Matthew 24:24-25: “24 And Pilatos, seeing that nothing helps, but rather a tumult arises, taking water washed the hands before the crowd, saying 'I am innocent from the blood of this man! You see to it!' 25 And responding all the people said: 'His blood is upon us, and upon our children!'”

Who are His enemies? The children of Israel are not His enemies, or they would have all been slain back in 1 Samuel chapter 8 when they first sought an earthly king rather than have Yahweh as their King. Rather, Yahweh foresaw that the children of Israel would do such a thing, as outlined in Deuteronomy 17:14-15: “14 When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; 15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.” This is exactly why Christ, Yahweh God in the flesh, came from the house and family of David, so that only He could be the rightful King of the children of Israel.

Yet the Gospel makes it clear that there were two classes of people in Judaea. First, there was a class of people who anticipated a Messiah, such as Sumeon, who “was righteous and devout, expecting the consolation of Israel” and to whom it was promised that he would not die until he saw the Messiah with his own eyes (Luke 2:25-26). Then there was another class of people who rejected the very idea of a Messiah – a King anointed by God – and they feared it right from the beginning. From Matthew chapter 2: “1 Now Yahshua being born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herodas the king, behold! Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, 2 saying 'Where is He having been born King of the Judaeans? For we have seen His star in the east and we have come to worship Him!' 3 And hearing it King Herodas was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him, 4 and upon gathering all the high priests and scribes of the people he inquired from them: 'Where is the Christ born?' 5 And they said to him: 'In Bethlehem of Judaea.' For thusly it was written by the prophet: 6 'And you Bethlehem, land of Iouda, by no means are you least among the leaders of Iouda, for there shall come out of you a leader, who shall shepherd My people Israel.'” While the priests and scribes knew that Scripture, and Herod had heard it, they nevertheless thought that they could successfully oppose it, therefore proving themselves to be the enemies of Yahweh God and of His Christ.

The Gospel also makes it clear how to distinguish between those two classes of people. For Yahshua Christ told those priests and other community leaders who opposed Him that “you do not believe, because you are not My sheep!” He did not say, as the mainstream sects all purport in their doctrinal positions, “you are not My sheep, because you do not believe ”, rather, He said “you do not believe, because you are not My sheep”, meaning that they were not His sheep in the first place: they were not of Israel. Paul fully confirms this as the proper interpretation, where in the opening lines of Romans chapter 9 he describes those of Israel for whom he cares, his “kinsmen according to the flesh”, tells us that “not all those who are from Israel are those of Israel” and goes on to compare the children of Jacob with the children of Esau. Later in that chapter Paul compared the children of Jacob to “vessels of mercy” and the children of Esau to “vessels of destruction”.

It is clear in Scripture, such as in Malachi chapter 1 or in Ezekiel chapters 34 and 35, that the Edomites had, or were going to, move into the ancient land of Israel and take it over for themselves following the Assyrian deportations. Secular histories such as those of Josephus and Strabo fully corroborate the fact that the Roman province of Judaea was multiracial, that it consisted both of the original Judaeans who were Israelites and also of Edomites and others, all who practiced Judaism. Josephus and others also attest that the high-priests and rulers and other officers in Judaea were not all of the stock of the Israelites, but were often of other races, and especially Edomites. Thus in Revelation 2:9 and 3:9 Yahshua Christ warned about “those saying for themselves to be Judaeans and they are not, but are a congregation of the Adversary”.

The enemies of God in Judaea are not the only enemies of God, for Yahweh said that He would have “war with Amalek from generation to generation” (Exodus 17:16), and Amalek – being only a portion of the descendants of all those accursed Canaanites, Kenites, Rephaim and others of His enemies mentioned in Genesis, had spread far and wide by the time of Christ. Yet we shall see in Luke 21:24 that the enemies of Christ in Jerusalem, as it was foretold, would “fall by the edge of the sword and they shall be taken away captive into all nations”. They are among us today, and while over the centuries they have not all retained the same identity, for the most part they are known as Jews.

Psalm 139:19-22: “19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. 20 For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. 21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.” Here we see that not anyone can simply “believe” and somehow be “saved”, for if that were so, how could Yahweh's enemies take His name in vain? James 2:19: “You believe that there is one God, you do well; even the demons believe it, and they shudder!” There is no salvation for demons. Neither is their salvation for any but Israel, to whom salvation was promised. The Christian should count all others as his enemies.

Jeremiah 30:10-11: “10 Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. 11 For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.” Where is Israel not scattered? As the Scripture says, all Israel shall be saved, and it is also evident that only Israel shall be saved.

29 And it came to pass, as He had come near to Bethphage and Bethania, near the mountain called “of Olives”, He sent two of the students 30 saying, “Go into the opposite village, upon which entering you shall find a leashed colt, on which not one man has ever sat, and releasing it bring it. 31 And if anyone should ask you ‘Why do you release it?’ you speak thusly: ‘Because the Prince has need of it!’” 32 Then departing those who were sent found just as He said to them. 33 And upon their releasing the colt, its masters said to them “Why do you release the colt?” 34 Then they said “Because the Prince has need of it!”

The prescience of God which was in Christ is written into the Gospels quite prosaically, as if the apostles had taken it for granted. Yet here we see the prescience of Christ which only God Himself can have, and which only God can impart. As Yahweh pronounced in Isaiah chapter 41: “Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods”.

35 And they brought it to Yahshua, and casting their garments upon the colt they mounted Yahshua. 36 And upon His going they were spreading their garments in the road. 37 Then upon His approaching, already near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of students rejoicing began to praise Yahweh with a great voice concerning all of the feats which they had seen, 38 saying “Blessed is He coming, the King in the Name of Yahweh! Peace in heaven and honor in the heights!”

Zechariah 9:9: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.”

Psalm 118:24-26: “24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. 26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.”

39 And some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to Him “Teacher! Admonish Your students!” 40 And replying He said “I say to you, if they should stay silent, the stones shall cry out!”

By no means would the testimony be prevented. The idea of rocks crying out in testimony may have been something of an adage among the Greeks. Yet while I am certain to have seen such in the classics several times, I have but one citation to present now. Euripides, in his Hippolytus, put these words into the mouth of the hero Theseus: “For if I am to be bested by you when you have done this to me, Isthmian Sinis shall no longer attest that I killed him but say it was an idle boast, and the Skironian rocks near the sea shall deny that I am a scourge to evildoers!” (Euripides, Hippolytus, lines 976-980, Loeb Library, Harvard University Press, edited and translated by David Kovacs).

41 And as He approached, seeing the city He wept for it, 42 saying that “If you had known in this day, even you, the things for peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes! 43 Because the days come upon you and your enemies shall cast a palisade around you and they shall encompass you and enclose you from every side, 44 and they shall level you to the ground and your children with you, and they shall not leave in you a stone upon a stone, because you have not discerned the time of your visitation!”

From Daniel 9:25-27: “25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

From Romans 16:20: “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans not fifteen years later (perhaps as little as twelve, since the dating of Paul's composition of the epistle to the Romans is unclear). Paul understood both the prophecy of Daniel, and the words of Christ here, that the people of Jerusalem who rejected Christ would be punished for that very reason. In Luke chapter 21, Christ repeats at length His prophecies concerning the impending destruction of Jerusalem and punishment of His enemies.

45 And entering into the temple He began to cast out the dealers 46 saying to them: “It is written that ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’, but you have made it a den of robbers!”

Isaiah 56:7 refers to the house of Yahweh as a house of prayer. At Jeremiah 7:11 Yahweh states: “Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.” In the context of Jeremiah 7, the spoiling of the temple in this manner was the direct result of the sin of the children of Israel. The presence of the bankers and those selling doves, ostensibly for sacrifice, also shows that the religion of the Judaeans had become a business, much like the business-religions of today. No doubt, the doves cost two or three times in the temple what they did in the common markets of the surrounding towns. And no doubt the money-changers also exacted a much higher fee for their services, simply because they were in the temple.

This event is also recorded in Matthew chapter 21 and in Mark chapter 11. There is another event, not found in the first three gospels, but recorded in John chapter 2, which reads thus: “12 After this He went down into Kapharnaoum, and His mother and brethren and His students, and they abode there for not many days. 13 And it was near the Passover of the Judaeans, and Yahshua went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found seated in the temple those selling cattle and sheep and doves and the bankers, 15 and having made a whip of ropes He cast them all out of the temple, and the sheep and the cattle, and He spilled out the coins of the bankers and overturned the tables, 16 and to those selling doves He said: 'Take these things from here! Do not make the house of My Father a house of merchandise!' 17 His students remembered that it is written: 'The zeal for Your house consumes Me!'” 

This event recorded in John must be a distinct event, since John's gospel is quite chronological in its construction, where John is seen to recount feasts and Passovers as they pass. While the event in John is similar, it is also different, and the circumstances which surround it are far different. Therefore Yahshua must have done this very thing twice, once at the commencement of His ministry, and again here towards the end of his ministry.

47 Then He was teaching each day in the temple. And the high priests and the scribes and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him. 48 Yet they could not find that which they should do, for all of the people were devoted to hearing Him.

Judaea in the time of Christ was much like America is today. Wherever the devils infiltrate, they work in collusion to take over the government and all of the high positions and offices of the land. If Christians would only believe their Bibles, that we should have nothing to do with any of the enemies of Christ our God, we would not get ourselves into the predicaments which lead to the very mess which all of our White nations are in today. There are many people in our White nations who are true and who love God, however just like ancient Judaea, the nations themselves are being run by the anti-Christs for their own ends. And there is no political solution.

2 John 9-11: “9 Each who going forth and not abiding in the teaching of Christ has not Yahweh. He abiding in the teaching, he also has the Father and the Son. 10 If one comes to you and does not bear this teaching, do not receive him into the house and do not speak to welcome him! 11 For he speaking to welcome him takes a share in his evil works.” All of those so-called “judeo-Christian” preachers have taken a share in the evil works of the enemies of Christ, simply because they have embraced the jews. A “judeo-Christian” is really no better than a “Judas-Christian”.