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The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats
Topic Started: May 5 2012, 05:57 AM (396 Views)
MarkStaneart
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Messiah tells a story in Matthew 25:32-46 about an event that is to take place in the heavens at the end of the age and compares it to an event in human terms that may be often completely misunderstood.

He describes a shepherd, in our English Text, dividing the sheep from the goats. The sheep, who have performed righteously and met the needs of the poor and needy are welcomed into life eternal; but the goats are sent away to everlasting punishment.

What is immediately concerning about this story is the usage of goats in a negative sense. Goats, in biblical society, were good. They were clean animals that were acceptable for sacrifice, just as the sheep. Because of their heartiness and versatility, they were more preferable to the common farmer. The sheep, requiring more care but producing a higher quality wool and meat, were more up-scale.

So, why would goats be destined for eternal punishment in the analogy? Why not dogs, which were not clean animals but might be likely to be found mingling among the sheep for one reason or another?

It may be that the problem is the nature in which we've read this passage without understanding the Jewish culture that the Author is addressing and identifies Himself with, and simply because we read the Text in English, not in Greek.

The first thing that we notice is noun chosen when describing the sheep and the goats. It is, rather, the sheep (plural) "probata" from the goat (singular) "eriphon." Later, in verse 33, He will further distinguish the goat as a "kidling" (eriphia).

The Jewish audience would immediately know what He is talking about:

And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon th two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD'S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself: And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail: And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel. And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.
(Leviticus 16:6-22)

This narrative, if we can compare it with Messiah's description of the sheep and the goat, places His lesson within the context of Yom Kippur. This changes the dynamics of the story dramatically. The sheep are no longer (personally) identifiable as righteous in their own acts. Their sins have simply been transferred onto the azazel (the scapegoat). His destruction is not simply on the merit of his own wickedness but in that he is bearing the sin of the entire community. There is a subtle movement from the singular to the plural which requires the non-Jewish translators to assume that the usage of the singular "goat" was an oversight or somehow inconsistent. Beginning in verse 41, The King shall speak unto those destined for torment using plural pronouns, not as a singular goat. In the context of the story, all the nations have been gathered together (verse 32). In the context of Torah, the gentiles are consistently invited to fully participate in worshiping the God of Israel. However, if they choose not to be a part, then they have no covering by the scapegoat. They, too, must leave. Grace, in the biblical context is never offered to the individual who chooses to stand on his or her own merit; but comes in association with the covenant relationship as the community of Israel.


Edited by MarkStaneart, May 5 2012, 06:10 AM.
Visit Mark Staneart at www.renewourdays.com
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