Burden Alleviation

Linear literary Structure of Kings

Overall Structure

In order to convey meaning, biblical authors selected structural schemes that helped them communicate their messages. For example, the author of Kings used a chronologically linear arrangement to trace Israel’s rebellious history from its first sinful king to its last. The linear structure helped the author develop and establish his point: Israel’s (and Judah’s) revolt was not an isolated incident, but was a long and

sustained rebellion, spanning hundreds of years—and all in the face of Yahweh’s repeated demonstrations of his power, kindness, and mercy (especially through the ministries of Elijah and Elisha).

Dorsey, David A. 2004. The Literary Structure of the Old Testament: A Commentary on Genesis–Malachi. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

1 kings 11:28-12:33

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28–30, KJV 1900)

One must find rest in Jesus himself (v. 28) before attempting to obey the law as Jesus expounds it (“Take my yoke upon you,” v. 29). Otherwise law keeping becomes a terrible bondage. Many whom Jesus addresses are weary and burdened precisely because of their efforts to keep the Law (cf. Acts 15:10). Jesus grants rest to his people by giving them his law (vv. 28–29)! In fact, the subject of the very next passage is that God revealed the fourth commandment to grant rest (the meaning of the word sabbath). Jesus’ yoke is easy (for “his commands are not burdensome” [1 John 5:3]), and his burden is light (v. 30; unlike others, he helps his followers bear the load; see 23:4).

Chamblin, J. Knox. 1995. “Matthew.” In Evangelical Commentary on the Bible, 3:735. Baker Reference Library. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

18 My son, gather instruction from thy youth up: so shalt thou find wisdom till thine old age. 19 Come unto her as one that ploweth and soweth, and wait for her good fruits: for thou shalt not toil much in labouring about her, but thou shalt eat of her fruits right soon. 20 She is very unpleasant to the unlearned: he that is without understanding will not remain with her. 21 She will lie upon him as a mighty stone of trial; and he will cast her from him ere it be long. 22 For wisdom is according to her name, and she is not manifest unto many.

23 Give ear, my son, receive my advice, and refuse not my counsel, 24 And put thy feet into her fetters, and thy neck into her chain. 25 Bow down thy shoulder, and bear her, and be not grieved with her bonds. 26 Come unto her with thy whole heart, and keep her ways with all thy power. 27 Search, and seek, and she shall be made known unto thee: and when thou hast got hold of her, let her not go. 28 For at the last thou shalt find her rest, and that shall be turned to thy joy. 29 Then shall her fetters be a strong defence for thee, and her chains a robe of glory. 30 For there is a golden ornament upon her, and her bands are purple lace. 31 Thou shalt put her on as a robe of honour, and shalt put her about thee as a crown of joy.

32 My son, if thou wilt, thou shalt be taught: and if thou wilt apply thy mind, thou shalt be prudent. 33 If thou love to hear, thou shalt receive understanding: and if thou bow thine ear, thou shalt be wise, 34 Stand in the multitude of the elders; and cleave unto him that is wise. 35 Be willing to hear every godly discourse; and let not the parables of understanding escape thee. 36 And if thou seest a man of understanding, get thee betimes unto him, and let thy foot wear the steps of his door. 37 Let thy mind be upon the ordinances of the Lord, and meditate continually in his commandments: he shall establish thine heart, and give thee wisdom at thine own desire (Sirach 6:18–37, KJV Apoc)

23 Draw near unto me, ye unlearned, and dwell in the house of learning. 24 Wherefore are ye slow, and what say ye to these things, seeing your souls are very thirsty? 25 I opened my mouth, and said, Buy her for yourselves without money. 26 Put your neck under the yoke, and let your soul receive instruction: she is hard at hand to find. 27 Behold with your eyes, how that I have but little labour, and have gotten unto me much rest. 28 Get learning with a great sum of money, and get much gold by her. 29 Let your soul rejoice in his mercy, and be not ashamed of his praise. 30 Work your work betimes, and in his time he will give you your reward.

(Sirach 51:23–Baruch, KJV Apoc)

11:28–30 Jesus’ words recall a statement made by personified Wisdom in a Jewish document dating to several hundred years before Christ (Sir 6:18–31; 51:23–27). When combined with Mt 11:19, this suggests that Jesus portrayed Himself as personified Wisdom, the One who exists eternally and acted on Yahweh’s behalf to create the world. (1 Co 1:24; see note at Mt 11:16–19). Jesus’ teaching provided an easy yoke in contrast to the heavy, suppressive yoke of rabbinic teaching (23:4; Ac 15:10).

Quarles, Charles L. 2015. “Matthew.” In Holman Illustrated Bible Commentary, edited by E. Ray Clendenen and Jeremy Royal Howard, 1024. Broadman & Holman.

The chapter closes with a prayer, and with an invitation. Israel’s rejection of the King was also part of the Father’s “gracious will.” The nation might refuse its King, but all who labor and are heavy laden are called to come to the Saviour.

“Come to Me,” Jesus invited, “and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for 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” (vv. 28–30).

The word picture is a beautiful one. The yoke of Jesus’ day was a fitted collar-like frame, shaped to rest on the neck and shoulders of two animals. Teamed together, the task was far easier for two oxen than for one. And if one were a young ox, how much easier to have an older, stronger companion to share the burden. To men who called for God’s King to reign over them, Jesus offered to be God’s Servant, yoked in harness with them.

Today, taking up the yoke that links us to Jesus, we too find rest. We walk beside Jesus. We learn from Him. And because our older, stronger, all-powerful Companion takes His fullest share of all our burdens, when we are linked to Jesus our burdens truly are made light

Richards, Lawrence O. 1987. The Teacher’s Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Jesus issued a call to all … who are weary (hoi kopiōntes, “those tired from hard toil”) and burdened (pephortismenoi, “those loaded down”; cf. phortion, “load,” in Matt. 11:30) to come to Him. People’s weariness comes from enduring their burdens, probably the burdens of sin and its consequences. Rather, they should come and yoke themselves with Jesus. By placing themselves under His yoke and learning from Him, they may find rest for their souls from sins’ burdens. By yoking, they become true disciples of Jesus and join Him in His proclamation of divine wisdom. To learn (mathete) from Him is to be His disciple (mathētēs). People can trade their heavy, tiring burdens for His yoke and burden (phortion, “load”), which by contrast are easy and light. To serve Him is no burden, for He, in contrast with those who reject Him, is gentle (praus; cf. 5:5) and humble.

Barbieri, Louis A., Jr. 1985. “Matthew.” In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, edited by J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, 2:45. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Jesus issued a call to all … who are weary (hoi kopiōntes, “those tired from hard toil”) and burdened (pephortismenoi, “those loaded down”; cf. phortion, “load,” in Matt. 11:30) to come to Him. People’s weariness comes from enduring their burdens, probably the burdens of sin and its consequences. Rather, they should come and yoke themselves with Jesus. By placing themselves under His yoke and learning from Him, they may find rest for their souls from sins’ burdens. By yoking, they become true disciples of Jesus and join Him in His proclamation of divine wisdom. To learn (mathete) from Him is to be His disciple (mathētēs). People can trade their heavy, tiring burdens for His yoke and burden (phortion, “load”), which by contrast are easy and light. To serve Him is no burden, for He, in contrast with those who reject Him, is gentle (praus; cf. 5:5) and humble.

Barbieri, Louis A., Jr. 1985. “Matthew.” In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, edited by J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, 2:45. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Learned Christ Eph 4:20,21

Jeremiah 6:16

King James Version Chapter 6

. 16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein

Amplified Bible Chapter 11

Matthew 11 : 28

Word Pictures in the New Testament Matthew 11:28

Come unto me (δευτε προς με [deute pros me]). Verses 28 to 30 are not in Luke and are among the special treasures of Matthew’s Gospel. No sublimer words exist than this call of Jesus to the toiling and the burdened (πεφορτισμενοι [pephortismenoi], perfect passive participle, state of weariness) to come to him. He towers above all men as he challenges us. “I will refresh you” (κʼαγο ἀναπαυσω ὑμας [k’ago anapausō hūmas]). Far more than mere rest, rejuvenation. The English slang expression “rest up” is close to the idea of the Greek compound ἀνα-παυω [ana-pauō]. It is causative active voice.

Analytically ask what “Would people in the original audience have perceived” What would Jesus’ listeners pictured and visualised ?

Paraphrase of Dorsey, David A. 2004. The Literary Structure of the Old Testament.

At least 3 or 4 pictures emerge-

The yoke, conjuring up the image of 2 oxen or similar beasts of burden coupled together, hauling a plough or heavy load.

2. Learn of me, contrasting to the Rabbi’s, the Pharisees, teachers of the law, and their heavy interpretations devoid of grace or anointing. A weight they could not bear themselves, yet hypocritically placed on others.

3. Come unto me, many of the listeners may have been familiar wait a particular Jewish document dating to several hundred years before Christ Sirach 6:18–31; 51:23–27 a deutocanonical Book in the Apocrypha. Was Jesus claiming to be wisdom personified, the Word of God, the creator of all? We explored that to conclusion when studying Proverbs 31 in a previous sermon.

4. I will give you Rest, alleviation, lighten, rejuvenate. This was the request made to King Rehoboam after Solomon’s death. A request denied, emphatically. A denial that justified a rebellion and the division of a nation, the splitting of a kingdom, a schism a rift perpetuated for thousands of years to this day. If contemporary man, if modern Jews have no part in the Davidic dynasty, they are disconnected with the Lord Jesus Christ the promised Messiah, the King of Kings.

Arrogant Rehoboam’s terms repelled because they were rough, harsh, heavy … resulting in suppression, tyrannical governance and death.

Meek Jesus’ reign is rejected although gentle (lowly of heart), kind (easy), and light … producing rest, wholesome balanced leadership and everlasting life.

Haughty Solomon taxed heavy to build the temple, then his palace then his Millo, his herd of horses, grain stock, weapons, … Gentle Jesus contrary to that generously builds a place for us amongst the many mansions in his father’s house.

1 kings 11:28-12:33

Foot prints in the sand

The School of God

Come as you are

1 Just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidd'st me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

2 Just as I am, and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot, to thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

3 Just as I am, though tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings and fears within, without, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

4 Just as I am, thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve; because thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Elliott, Charlotte, daughter of Charles Elliott, of Clapham and Brighton, and granddaughter of the Rev. H. Venn, of Huddersfield, born March 18, 1789 - passed Sept. 22, 1871. To her acquaintance with Dr. C. Malan, of Geneva, is attributed much of the deep spiritual-mindedness which is so prominent in her 150 hymns. Though weak and feeble in body, she possessed a strong imagination, and a well-cultured and intellectual mind.

In 1828, at the age of 32, Charlotte Elliott suffered a serious illness that left her a semi-invalid. This caused depression, and within the year she experienced a severe spiritual crisis. Swiss evangelist Henry A. Cesàr Malan was visiting her family, and she confessed to him that she didn’t know how to come to Christ. His famous response was, “Come to him just as you are.” Her depression continued, however. One night, twelve years later, she lay awake, distressed by her uselessness as an invalid, and by doubts of her spiritual life. The next day, as she reflected on the previous night, she decided she needed to meet her spiritual troubles head on and conquer them by the grace of God. So she “gathered up in her soul the grand certainties, not of her emotions, but of her salvation: her Lord, His power, His promise” (Lutheran Hymnal Handbook). She took up pen and paper, and wrote down her own “formulae of faith,” remembering those words of the visiting evangelist. In the end she had the text “Just as I am, without one plea.” Her rule of faith has since become a comfort to millions, and we join with all Christians who experience doubt and uncertainty in their faith when we declare that Christ invites us to come to Him, just as we are. What essentially is Jesus’ claim? (11:25–30) What was that claim of Jesus that John was perplexed about, and that Korazin and Bethsaida found too much to accept? This amazing passage tells us. ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earthy, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father,26 for this was your good pleasure. 27 ’All things have been committed to me by my Father. No-one knows the Son except the Father, and no-one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28‘Come to me, you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’ Jesus is quietly claiming to be the locus of all revelation. Whatever revelation there may be, dispersed in human intellect and values, in virtuous action, in nature and in the history of humankind, the centre of all God’s self-disclosure is Jesus of Nazareth. He fulfils all the hopes of the Old Testament, and is the heart of all revelation. In a dark world lit by candles and lamps, he comes as a searchlight. If we look closely at this claim, we will see five distinct elements in it. First, Jesus maintains that God the Father conceals and reveals according to his will. People cannot grasp a Christian understanding of God and Christian relationship with God by their own efforts. They cannot discern who Jesus is, what the kingdom is, unless God shows them. He conceals these things from those who are wise in their own conceits, and reveals them to those who come with childlike trust and teachableness. Whenever anyone comes to faith, there is a divine disclosure to that person. Secondly, Jesus claims to be the plenipotentiary representative of the Father. He comes from the Father’s side, equipped with the Father’s power and trenchancy, and displaying the compassion of the Father’s heart. He fully represents God, and he comes with God’s own claim on human hearts. Thirdly, only the Father fully understands Jesus. Not John, not the disciples, not the wise or little children. The mystery of his person is inscrutable this side of heaven. Theologians have spent centuries seeking to reconcile his divine and human natures. It is like trying to square the circle. With the limited discernment of the human mind and heart it cannot be done. It takes God to know God. Only the Father knows the Son. What a claim! Fourthly, only Jesus fully understands the Father. Great people have discovered and taught many true and noble things about God. Nobody has known him with the intimacy of Jesus, who could call him Abba, dear daddy. When that holy man Mahatma Gandhi was dying, one of his relatives came to him and asked, ‘Babaki, you have been looking for God all your life. Have you found him yet?’ ‘No,’ was the reply. ‘I’m still looking.’ The humility, the earnestness, the sheer goodness of a great teacher like Gandhi shine through a remark like that. But it stands in the most stark contrast with Jesus’ claim in this passage. ‘No-one knows the Father except the Son’ (27). He does not know something about God. He does not even know everything about God. He knows God absolutely. It is simply breathtaking. And fifthly, because Jesus shares the Father’s nature as well as ours, he and he alone can reveal the Father. He can show us, because he knows. He can introduce us because he belongs: he is the Son. These five elements go to make up the most astounding claim that has ever been heard on human lips, that the way to know the Father is through Jesus. It reminds us irresistibly of other words of Jesus: ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me’, and ‘Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.’ If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. If you want to get through to God, come to Jesus. If you want to discover the epicentre of God’s self-disclosure, you will find it in Jesus. That is the claim. That is what makes Christianity at once so widely attractive and so widely hated. The sheer exclusivity of the claims drives people in one direction or the other. They do not allow us the comfort of occupying middle ground. Nor can we shrug off the need for decision by saying that these exclusive claims are found only in the Fourth Gospel, which some scholars regard as late and theologically tendentious. The passage before us is every bit as challenging, exclusive and absolute in its claim as anything in the Fourth Gospel, and it is situated in one of the oldest strata of the Gospel tradition, the Q material, sayings of Jesus found in both Matthew and Luke but absent from Mark. Scholars ascribe a high degree of reliability to this material. C. S. Lewis was right when he said that there is no way of reconciling Jesus’ humility of lifestyle, quality of character and profundity of teaching with the rampant megalomania which must colour his theological claims about himself if he is not God. We are invited to choose how we shall respond to so staggering a claim. The revelation and the rescue belong together. So Jesus, after making this claim to be the revelation of God, issues the most wonderful, warm invitation to all who feel in need of rescue by God (28–29). Notice again the breathtaking claim, ‘Come to me’ (28). Not ‘Go to God’—we could not find the way. The Bible suggests that there is a twist in our human nature which would make us unwilling to embrace the highest when we saw it. ‘Come to me—I have come to seek you out.’ What grace, that God should come to seek his rebel subjects with no word of condemnation on his lips, but an invitation, ‘Come’! That one word shows us the very heart of God. That is his attitude to sinners. The weary and the heavily burdened are particularly invited. That may have a significance beyond the obvious, for the Greeks were exhausted by the search for truth, which had been proceeding for centuries without resolution. They anticipated modern existentialists in concluding that authentic experience was incommunicable: ‘It is very difficult to find God, and when you have found him it is impossible to tell anyone else about him.’ As for the Jews, they must have found religion a great burden. It had become a matter of endless regulations and duties. Did not the teachers of the law and the Pharisees ‘tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders’ (23:4)? Jesus came to end the search by taking us in his loving arms. He came to lift burdens off our aching backs, not tie them on. He offers ‘rest’, not cessation from toil, but peace and fulfilment and a sense of being put right. We have only to come, to entrust ourselves to him, and we shall find that rest. Millions have done so, and have enjoyed that given rest. There is a deeper rest, which cannot be given but can only be found: the rest of taking his yoke upon us and entering into partnership with him. He wants not only to welcome back the sinner, but to train the disciple. ‘Come to me’ is followed by ‘Take my yoke upon you’ (28–29). The yoke was the wooden collar that ran across the shoulders of a pair of oxen and enabled them jointly to pull enormous weights. Metaphorically, the yoke was used to describe the law which the Jewish youth undertook to bind to himself in the bar mitzvah ceremony. It spoke of loyal commitment. And here the carpenter of Nazareth, who had made many a yoke, says in effect, ‘My yokes fit well. They do not rub your neck and shoulders. Come to me. Get yoked up to me. Make an act of loyal obedience, like a bar mitzvah, to me. And you will find a deep peace and satisfaction that you could never find elsewhere. I have come for you. Come to me.’ Often in Judaism the ‘yoke’ is applied to the law. Jesus brings a wonderful fulfilment to that imagery. He invites the weary and harassed not to go to the law but to come to him. However, the allusion seems to go deeper, to the wisdom literature where wisdom is almost personified and almost identified with God. In Sirach 51:23–27, Wisdom invites people to ‘Draw near to me’, to take on the ‘yoke’ of instruction, with the promise of little labour and of finding ‘rest’. It is only an allusion, and some scholars doubt any reference to wisdom at all. But if Jesus did make that allusion and some of his hearers picked it up, its claim is truly shattering. It is saying that what the law and wisdom were to Israel, Jesus is to the citizens of the kingdom. This metaphor was not forgotten in the church. The early Christian document, the Didache, calls Christ’s commandments ‘the yoke of the law’. His yoke is gentle, but not in the sense that it is less demanding than Judaism. In some ways it is more demanding. But it is the yoke of love, not of duty. It is the response of the liberated, not the duty of the obligated. And that makes all the difference. Michael Green, The Message of Matthew: The Kingdom of Heaven, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 140–143.

MILLO [MILL oh] (fill) — a fortification or citadel near Jerusalem. The Millo of Jerusalem was probably part of the fortification of the Jebusite city that David captured. It may have been either a solid tower full of earth or a bastion strengthening a weak point in the wall. It was already in existence when David’s army captured the Jebusite city (2 Sam. 5:9).

The Millo was one of the building projects included in King Solomon’s expansion program in Jerusalem in later years. He strengthened the Millo by using conscripted labor (1 Kin. 9:15). Centuries later, King Hezekiah had the Millo repaired in preparation for an invasion and siege by the Assyrians (2 Chr. 32:5). King Joash was killed “in the house of the Millo” (2 Kin. 12:20)—the victim of a conspiracy.

Also see Beth Millo.

Youngblood, Ronald F., F. F. Bruce, and R. K. Harrison, Thomas Nelson Publishers, eds. 1995. In Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Anybody can become angry—that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way—that is not easy!

Aristotle

Under his yoke we are assured of his nearness and communion.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Lutheran Pastor)

’Tis patience that makes a burden light.

Ovid (Roman Poet)

I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of them: “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden.”

Saint Augustine of Hippo