November 2025
Lech Lecha
Brit Hadashah Reflections 03
Torah portion Genesis 12 : 1 – 17 : 27
Haftarah portion Isaiah 40 : 27 – 41 : 16
Brit Hadashah Matthew 5:1 - 6:34
Hebraic understanding of the Gospel of Yeshua
Yeshua had taken up residence in the Galilee region of Northern Israel. Evidently, people had heard of His remarkable healing ministry and travelled great distances to see Him, hear Him speak, and to be healed of all manner of sickness and disability. The audience, completely Jewish.
Even today, in the place known as Tabgha, just above Capernaum, it is possible, to imagine the scene with which our text opens today. On gently sloping ground, the Sea of Galilee spread out below them, the Master sitting on the grass and teaching the very large crowd who had gathered to hear Him. Hanging on every word, they heard Him bless and comfort those who are ‘poor in spirit’, ‘those who mourn’, ‘the meek’, ‘those who hunger and thirst for righteousness’, ‘the merciful’, ‘the pure in heart’, ‘the peacemakers’, and ‘those persecuted for righteousness sake’. No one who is a true follower of Yeshua is excluded from the blessing and promise of great reward for their perseverance.
Using His followers as a symbol of light in a dark world, He urges them to let that light shine before men. And what is the evidence of that light? It is the good works that we do in His name. The good works which bring blessing to those around us, and glory to our Father in heaven, Here is the outworking of the Hebrew mindset. We worship God by what we do, not by what we say! The Greek mindset talks about it, the Hebrew mindset does it, lives it, and shows it in action. We praise God in our words, we worship Him in our actions.
The next verse clarifies how they were to make good on letting that light shine. It is by taking heed to the instructions God gave to Moses on the mountain, in words known as the Torah. Yeshua’s Jewish audience would have had no difficulty understanding what He was saying. It was as clear as the nose on their face! But this statement is so immensely underrated and misunderstood by gentile believers. “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law (Torah) or the Prophets (their words of chastisement and encouragement), I did not come to destroy but to fulfil (Greek ‘pleroo’). It is the word ‘fulfil’ which has been so misunderstood. In spite of the clarity of the statement that ‘destruction’ of the Torah was never His objective, we are still taught in many of our churches that ‘fulfil’ (Greek ‘pleroo’) still means bringing Torah to a close, ending, making obsolete, doing away with. But the correct translation of that word ‘pleroo’ is ‘to give full and complete meaning to’, or ‘making full’.
As evidence of this, that Greek word ‘pleroo’ is used in some other notable places in our Bible. In Philippians 2:2 Paul says” ‘pleroo’ my joy by being like-minded”. In 1 Colossians 2:26 he says “… which was given to me for you to ‘pleroo’ the word of God”. And 1 Colossians 4:17, “take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may ‘pleroo’ it”. Then another in 2 Thessalonians 1:11 “.. that our God would count you worthy of His calling, and ‘pleroo’ all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power”. In all these places, just like Matthew 5:17, the word ‘pleroo’ is translated as fulfil.
Then as if to hit the point home with additional force, the Master declares that “not one jot or tittle (in the Hebrew language this refers to the smallest letter and emphasis point) will pass from the Torah until all is fulfilled”. And that, my friends will be when He returns to this earth in triumph to rule and reign from Jerusalem. But there is more !! Anyone who teaches that the Torah is obsolete will be least in the kingdom of heaven. Wow!! Does ANYONE believe that our beloved Apostle Paul will be ‘least in the kingdom of heaven’? Because what we are taught about Paul in many of our churches today would relegate him to that unenviable position.
Our text continues with the Master teaching Torah Himself. Not the bald re-statement of the commandment, but in explanation, expanding the fullest meaning of the commandment. For example, He likens murder to being angry without cause. Commiting adultery to looking at a woman in lust. Loving your neighbour to include those who see themselves as your enemy. Far from being an expression of obsolescence of Torah, the Master teaches that we are to embrace the very essence and sense of the commandments in the way we think, as well as the way we act. As always, there is so much more to learn from this “sermon on the mount”. A good note to conclude this ‘reflection’ is with chapter 6:33. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, (which the Torah explains in detail of how to live righteously) and all these things will be added to you.” His Jewish audience understood this completely.
Shabbat Shalom
RS