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Category: Appointed Times

The King in Disguise

Tags:  High Holy Days, King, liturgy, parables, Rosh Hashanah, Shepherd, Yom Kippur

By D. Thomas Lancaster

Yeshua's Lost High Holiday Parables

A blast will be sounded...and all the dwellers of the earth will cross before You like the members of a flock. Like a shepherd shepherding his flock...thus You will pass and count and number and visit the souls of all flesh..."

There are several apocryphal and bogus gospels which purport to contain 'the lost teachings of Jesus.' The majority of those sources are hardly worthy of mention. But we may be in possession of two 'lost parables' of Yeshua right in the Gospel of Matthew. What's more, they are parables thematically linked to the High Holidays.

In Jewish tradition, the High Holidays of the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah)1 and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) are regarded as days of judgment. Rosh Hashanah, the civil New Year, is comparable to the end of the heavenly fiscal year, so the tradition arose that God reviews the books at the end of each year. According to the classical Jewish explanation, the heavenly Court is convened on Rosh Hashanah, and books of judgment are opened before the court. Everyone's deeds are recorded therein to be scrutinized by the Judge. The names of the righteous are written in the Book of Life; the names of the wicked are written in the Book of Death. Ten days later, on Yom Kippur, God seals the verdict, and the books are closed. The decision is based largely upon the accumulation of one's merits or sins over the previous year. A preponderance of merit results in one's name being written in the Book of Life. Hence the traditional greeting in Jewish congregations on Rosh Hashanah is "May you be inscribed in the Book of Life for a sweet year."

Shepherd and Judge

This image of judgment is akin to the image of Matthew 25 wherein a shepherd is recorded as separating sheep and goats (sheep on the right, goats on the left) and a king is found separating righteous and wicked subjects (righteous on the ...

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© 2009 First Fruits of Zion. All rights reserved. We encourage you to share this material with your friends for further personal study. However, This material may not be republished, in print, electronically, or any other form without our prior permission. Adapted from Messiah Magazine #82 .

For more information about this issue, click here.

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