Bob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Matthew 10:34 - 10:36

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Bob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Matthew 10:34 - 10:36


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat_10:34-36

34"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36and a man's enemies will be the members of his household."

Mat_10:34 "Do not think" According to the Analytical Greek New Testament by Barbara and Timothy Friberg, this verb is an aorist active subjunctive used as an aorist active imperative.

Jesus was probably speaking these words against the backdrop of the Jewish expectations concerning the Messiah, who was called the "Prince of Peace" (cf. Isa_9:6). The Jews expected the Messiah to usher in a military order and a nationalistic peace on the Jews'behalf (cf. Luk_12:49-53).

"peace" This term's etymology was "to bring together that which was broken" (cf. Joh_14:24).

"I did not come to bring peace, but a sword" Jesus did not come to bring war or strife, but the fact that He has come forces humans to make a radical decision between "followship" or rejection (cf. Joh_3:17; Luk_12:51-53).

Mat_10:35 "for I came to set a man against his father" See Mat_10:21. The parallel in Luk_14:26 has the Hebrew idiom, "hate father," which was an idiom of comparison. We must recognize this as a Hebrew idiom instead of interpreting it literally (cf. Gen_29:31; Gen_29:33; Deuteronomy 15; Mal_1:2-3; Joh_12:25). This speaks of a radical priority commitment to Jesus which supercedes all earthly ties.

Mat_10:35-36 This is a quote from Mic_7:6. This passage was often quoted in eschatological settings (cf. Mar_13:12 and Luk_12:53).

Mat_10:36 "a man's enemies will be the members of his household" A good example of this type of familial pressure can be seen in Peter's response to Jesus' claim to Messiahship (cf. Mat_16:22).