Double Up
But all this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures of the prophets.” Then all the disciples left Him and fled. Matthew 26:56 NASB
Left Him and fled – Why say it twice? Isn’t it enough to say the disciples left? Or the disciples fled? Why use both verbs? The answer is not so simple. First, this appears to be a Hebraic way of expressing action translated into Greek. Secondly, there are two actions occurring here, not just the act of escaping.
Hebrew often uses verbs of similar meaning in parallel. This format emphasizes the act, drawing on nuances that are contained in the subtle differences between the verbs. If Matthew is thinking in Hebrew, he may be employing this technique, provoking the reader to ask, “What is the difference between these two ways of acting and why is it important?” Let’s see.
“They left him” uses the verb aphiemi (to leave). Interestingly, it is also the verb for pardon and forgiveness (to leave guilt behind, to let go). In fact, the verb is typically used in this sense, not in the sense of running away. That context makes the usage here even more striking. The disciples are leaving the one they acknowledge as able to forgive, to offer pardon. They are walking away from forgiveness. Their action is much more than running away. Their action is treason, betrayal and denial. They show themselves unwilling to commit. Furthermore, their action shows that the forgiveness offered by the Messiah wasn’t quite enough for them. We could probably translate this as, “They forsook him and fled.” The first act of spiritual desertion is a heart act. They gave up on the dream.
“and fled” is the Greek verb pheugo. It means, “to flee, to escape, to avoid, to shun, to disappear.” It would be uselessly repetitious if aphiemi carried the same meaning. But clearly there is a purpose behind this double verbal conjunction. Once the disciples accede to treason and betrayal, fleeing follows. One action leads to the next. It isn’t possible to stay in proximity to the one betrayed. Fleeing is not simply a matter of physical self-protection. It is a matter of psychological survival. If they have given up on Yeshua, then their own psychological state requires getting away. And that’s what they did. First they abandoned the Lord spiritually. Then they ran away.
It feels like a familiar pattern. Something has to happen in our hearts before we actually leave his presence. We have to turn away from what he offers. We have to quit believing. We have to cast aside the dream that he offers a way out. Then we are ready to run. In fact, then we will have to run. We will have to run just to not become suicidal. We will have to distance ourselves from the present reminder of our failed hope.
And when we run away we probably won’t see what happens next. If faith is perseverance, it is not running even when hope seems to evaporate before our eyes.
Topical Index: fled, left, aphiemi, pheugo, hope, Matthew 26:56
This is very good. David knew that his sin was against God. The rest was just nuclear fallout – consequences. Only the betrayal was a true choice; which is to say, only the decision to betray was powered by the human. Once you sign over your freedom, everything that follows is a matter of NON-choice. Fleeing for your life is not optional, once relationship is broken. That isn’t to say that turning around (teshuva) is not a choice, but repentance involves the help of heaven, which, if you are still facing the wrong direction, is impossible to partner with. Only when the rebellion stops can heaven have room back for love.
Once you start running, the only choice you have is to continue to run (pridefully excusing your last real choice), or to stop running (acknowledge the wrong direction). To sin is to hand your choices over in that area of your life. The sin IS to choose not to choose, with the unpardonable sin (which I believe is to succeed in choosing ALL of your choices away) as the inevitable end of that line. To continue to sin in that place is to continue to avoid (flee) from taking the responsibility back – excusing and defending the last choice, which is living in the past (death). To take choice (life) back IS to repent for choosing it away last time.
When I was refusing the help of heaven, I had no way to ‘fix it’, but I also found that I had no way to repent, although I sought a path carefully, with tears. There was NO good choice for me. I felt shoved around. It was very unfair! My chooser had been broken. It worked for others, I could see, but I found it was not working well for me. Nothing worked out: love tried and tried, but to no avail. I can stand here today and say with confidence that I think all true choices are about what to do or not do about love. If you choose to betray love (agreement with and cooperation with heaven), however, in that place the choices of love are no longer possible. This is true slavery to sin. Not until you see your hands completely tied; not until you see no way out; not until you see no choices left, and life completely shoving you around, will you also be able to see that love (choice) is about partnership with heaven. I think all of us sin because none of us start out really, truly being able to believe that. All true choice is the other half of agreement with that Will. Going it alone means the only choice left is to continue to sign away the next chance for life, and the next, until no chance is left. Without God, I think choice is an illusion, and all you truly have is flight. In my experience, that is.
“But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.” (Matthew 28:16-17). Eleven disciples. Eleven people who knew Yeshua more than anyone else. Eleven that lived and breathed Yeshua for about three years. Some ‘unspecified number” of His closest followers, of the eleven, doubted Yeshua, and this after the Resurrection. What does this say about us, His ‘human creatures’? If the best we are promised is a ‘hope’, albeit worded ‘clear and certain’, what can we say about those closest disciples that ‘doubted’ Yeshua? Maybe ‘doubting’ is God’s way of leaving the ‘door open’, maybe just a crack, but ‘open’, for each of us to explore ‘our doubting’. Scripture never, to my understanding, assures us that ‘trusting’ will be easy, a ‘no-brainer’. So there is a lot of room for ‘doubt’ and adequate space and hopefully time, to ‘run’ and ‘flee’ in our ‘doubt’. But the Creators door seems always to remain ‘open’, for the return of His creatures. So maybe we should embrace ‘the doubting’ and if we choose to ‘run’, better hope you have a good pair of sneakers, for to flee from God, is indeed a very, very long distance.
Hi David and others,
To flee from God is a very long distance.
I consider the first couple thinking they were hiding in the garden, they thought they had distanced themselves from YHVH.
I think of the apostle Peter, who got as far as a porch and wept bitterly over denying Yeshua.
Judas chose suicide.
I think of the times I want to take a short hiatus and cool the relationship with Yeshua. That usually occurs when I want something from life that Scripture tells me would be destructive. YHVH knows us through and through, and may at times protect us from ourselves when rebelling seems attractive to us.
Yeah, the door is opened, but like Noah, or Lot, or any other major figure in Scripture learned, the day comes when the door closes and there aint no stopping it. I pray we are not gamblers but have the sense to own up to our inequities about life and ask YHVH to sustain us in our hour!
Shalom,
David R
Just something interesting I found concerning “doubt” ( from aish.com):
“A fascinating insight into the subject of doubt can be gained from examining the root words themselves, as always in Torah. The Hebrew word for doubt is “safek,” and for certainty, “vadai.” Amazingly, these commonly-used words are not to be found in the entire biblical writings! Nowhere does the Torah mention the Hebrew forms for doubt or certainty. Both these words are of Rabbinic origin.
The word for “doubt” is of human origin; it is a result of the damage we do to our own perception.
Now we know that the essence of an idea is contained in the Torah word for that idea; if there is no word, it surely means that in essence that concept does not exist. And of course – the world as formed by its root in Torah contains no doubt: things either exist or they do not. There is nothing in the world that exists “doubtfully,” tentatively; doubt is our problem, a feature of our perception, not an objective reality! And if there is no doubt external to us, of course there is no certainty – certainty exists only where doubt is a possibility; if there can be no doubt there can be no certainty, a thing simply “is”!
(The truth is, we are so confused that we say we are sure exactly when we are not: “I’m sure I saw him yesterday” really means one is not sure at all! When one is certain one simply states the fact: “I saw him yesterday.”)
The primal, pristine world of God’s Creation is dear and open. We opacify and confuse it. The word for “doubt” is of human origin; it is a result of the damage we do to our own perception.”
Very interesting. Thanks.
One would wonder what Mary Magdalene would have done. I listened to someone once who questioned her knowing whoYeshua was. Yeshua delivered her of seven demons. She knew who our wonderful Messiah was.
And when “they” saw HIm, “they” worshiped Him.. — What about us? Is He worthy?
Maybe the text is saying, ‘they’ went through the ‘motions’ of worshiping, that happens every week in church-world, but in reality an unspecified number of the disciples (some) doubted. Which then ‘begs’ the question; Did they doubt the Resurrection or did they doubt the one before them was really Yeshua i.e.,He had a ‘transformed body’ that was not easily recognizable in appearance?; Did they doubt His mission to bring God’s will to Earth as it was in the Heavenly dimension?; Did they doubt He was the Messiah?; Did they doubt His miracles and healings? Sure wish I was there as an observer.
Yes, and if you had been there, you and I might have “doubted” since we both come from the post-Torah, Hellenism. I find it fascinating that the disciples are even attributed “doubt,” a concept that can only exist in a Hellenized form of religious thought. How much of the translation we have has already been infected by this Greek idea, and suddenly made legitimate because it is found in a biblical text?
Skip, I find this fascinating. I have wondered how the disciples could have doubted who He was. They may not have understood what or how? But to have walked, talked and broken bread with our Messiah. And to have felt his love and healing. How could they? Which leads me to a question about Thomas described as doubting Thomas. What say you on this?
First, see Luzette’s excellent addition about doubt and certainty in rabbinic thought. The “doubting” Thomas idea must come via Greek thought, not biblical texts. It resonates with us because we have grown up in a world where doubt and certainty are applied to reality, without thinking that neither is actually the case in the real world.
Second, try reading the report of the encounter without thinking about “doubt.” See what it is that Thomas is actually concerned about. Let me know what you find.
Yeshua knew they were going to abandon him. But the verses afterwards shows He wanted them near. And sadly they weren’t even able to do that.
I’ve had those nights … Sometimes though comfort can’t be found in another person and in dark places we lose sight of YHVH, too.
Why did Yeshua pray to have the cup taken from him?
I’m not a scholar and haven’t even studied God’s Word much. And I read your story, I believe titled Loneliness,
Skip. Beautiful. I think you should publish that as a short story??
We can define bitterness. Bitterness is like battery acid. It is corrosive. We can define betrayal or abandonment. We can watch plays or movies where people are acting these feelings out. We can listen to music that allows us to enter into these feelings. We can believe we know what these states of being are like. We can become sad or angry by observing. But until one
actually “lives” these experiences can one truly empathize. We
can sympathize but that is all. We haven’t been there. Or done that.
Maybe we suffer because it gives us the ability to enter into someone else’s life because we have walked in their shoes.
When we have suffered we can more humbly follow in Yeshua’s footsteps. I think that is a beautiful thing.
Yes, why did Yeshua pray to have the cup taken from him? This may seem like a silly thought considering the big picture but could He have loved the life he was living. Just a thought and a young person sometimes gets brave enough to ask. ?
It seems to me that the texts indicate he was entirely committed to the task ahead, so it’s unlikely that his plea is about keeping the life he had. After all, in John’s gospel his conversation with Pilate clearly indicates that he came to establish the Kingdom through death. I believe the issue is about the possibility of ANY OTHER option than crucifixion. It is the cup of suffering, of dying in torment, and of taking it on voluntarily in order to complete the mission.
I doubt it was about doubt the disciples were going through, they were in dire circumstances, set upon with confusion, unable to comprehend the situation, unsure what to do. When confronted, all they could react with was total denial.
They were truly shaken.
…and Peter was following him AFAR OFF/ at a distance, unto the court of the chief priest, and having gone in within, he was sitting with the officers, to See The END. verse 58.
Even Judas, who had betrayed him, having the least ‘faith’ or belief in who Yeshua was, when he saw that he was condemned, offered to return the thirty pieces of silver; that is a step in repentance, regretting the wrong he had done.
Wonder what we would have felt/ done if we were there in their place?