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Hebrew Word Studies
Rest



      Rabbi Yeshua HaMeshiach (Jesus the Messiah) said; "Come to me all who labor and are burdened and I will find rest for you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am humble and gentle of spirit, you will find peace for your heart. For my yoke is pleasant and light is my burden." (Matityahu 11.28-30)

      The peshat (simple meaning) of this verse is that Yeshua will give rest to those who are burdened. But Yeshua was teaching a drash (deeper meaning) from the Tenach (Old Testament).

      In the first part of the passage above we read; "Come to me all who labor and are burdened and I will find rest for you." The Hebrew word for rest is nuach. Nachah, a word related to nuach, means to guide or lead another into a place or state of rest. This can be seen in Shemot (Exodus) 32.34 "Now go, lead (nachah) the people (Israel) to the place I spoke of (the promised land - the land of rest)". When one has experienced a place or state of rest, he desires to lead others into that rest. Noach, whose name is also related to nuach, was one who knew of a coming rest and preached it to others to lead them into it. According to our Matityahu passage, Yeshua also knows of a rest and desires to lead others into that rest. What is the rest that Yeshua is speaking of?

      Yeshua begins to identify this rest when he says; "take my yoke upon you and learn from me". Here Yeshua is referring to the teaming of two oxen together for plowing. An older, stronger more experienced ox is placed in a yoke next to a younger less experienced ox. The young then learns his responsibilities from the older. The rest Yeshua offers is the yoke with which we are bound to him. What is the yoke? How do we, as the younger ox, learn from Yeshua, the older ox? The yoking together is our covenant relationship with the Meshiach and that yoke is the Torah.

      By using the fourth rule of Hillel; "the building of the father (a teaching) from two or more passages", we can see how G-d's promised rest is actually the Torah. Psalms 5.8 sais "Lead (nachah) me Adonai, in your righteousness". Here we have the word "nachah" meaning to lead one into a rest. Therefore, Adonai's righteousness is a rest. Devariym (Deut) 4.8 and 6.25 call the Torah and commands "righteousness". By putting these three passages together we can build the teaching that the Rest is Torah.

      Yeshua then sais that he is "humble and gentle of spirit, you will find peace for your heart". He is telling us that as the older and stronger ox, he will be gentle with us and not force us to move faster or work harder than we can bare. The stronger we get, the faster he will move and the harder he will work us.

      We could easily translate Yeshua's next statement; "for my yoke is pleasent and light is my burden" as "my Torah is easy". G-d even said in his Torah "this command which I command today is not difficult and it is not out of your reach". (Devariym 30.11)

      In summary, Yeshua wishes to yoke us to him through the Torah which will not be a burden that we cannot carry but rather a delightful rest.



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