Follow Me

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Follow Me comes after listening to a sermon on John 21 where Jesus is leading Peter to start on His road again. As it frequently happens, I hear something and a thought pours in. My extra thought was when Jesus first called Peter with the words “follow Me”. I went to Matthew 4:19, which is also Mark 1:17, and got a surprise when I found that the Greek may be translated as ‘follow me’ but there is a better way to think about what He said. (I will put several links below for further study.)

Jesus has started on the Road the Father planned for Him that will take Him to pay the Bride’s price for His Church and will bring Him back again. Holy Spirit has led Him to the wilderness and then to Nazareth and now He is inviting others to join Him on this Road.

The phrase here is deute opiso egō, which could say, ‘come behind Me’. Then in Matthew 4:20 and 22 the men followed Jesus, the word here is ēkolouthēsan which is a form of Strong’s Greek: 190. ἀκολουθέω (akoloutheó) — To follow, to accompany; another way to think of this word is ‘get on the road’. So, I see this as ‘Come behind Me on the road I travel’.

Please, go all Berean and join me in the study of these Greek words.

My ink and leaf version of Strong’s list these three words in the Appendix.

The ‘follow Me’ we think of is first used by Matthew in Chapter 8 and is Greek Concordance: Ἀκολούθει (Akolouthei) — 16 Occurrences Yes, this is the form used in John 21:19,22; here is a highlight list.

  • Matthew 8:22 is the disciple who wants to go bury the dead.
  • Matthew 9:9, Jesus calls Matthew the tax-collector.
  • Matthew 19:21 is the invitation to the rich man to become His disciple.

Matthew 10:38 is Jesus instructing us about being on the road with Him and carrying our cross. akolouthei Follows opisō After mou Me (one of the forms of ego)

“The Way” Jesus traveled is also our Road. In John 21, we can learn from Peter that it is not about our job, friends, food, or rivals; it is me FOLLOWING JESUS.

Jonah

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Jonah is one of the prophets that lived under the shadow of Assyria, we know that because he was sent to Nineveh. Nineveh was one of the three great Assyrian cities and it became the capitol. Jonah, son of Amittai is mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25 in conjunction with Jeroboam II. This grandson of Jehu comes to power at the time of Amaziah and Uzziah. Jonah’s prophecy concerned Israel (northern kingdom) getting territory back. I wanted to see which Assyrian king he could have proclaimed his message too.

Amaziah (796–767 BCE) ruled for 29 years and his son Uzziah ruled for 52 years; Jeroboam II ruled for 41 years and started in the middle of Amaziah’s rule. To frame this with the Book of Isaiah, Hezekiah, king of Judah, was 716–687 BCE. These are the four Assyrian kings that are mentioned from this time period.

  • Shalmaneser IV 783 – 773 BCE (2 Kings 17:3,4 and 18:9 – In the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel.)
  • There are two other kings not mentioned by name in the Bible in-between these two.
  • Tiglath-Pileser III 745 – 727 BCE – 2 Kings 15:29 and 16:10 – In the time of Pekah king of Israel (Isaiah 7+8); King Ahaz – 1 Chronicles 5:26 (historical account of deportation); 2 Chronicles 28:20 – Pul gave Ahaz trouble.
  • Sargon II 722 – 705 BCE (Isaiah 20:1 – Had Ashdod attacked.)
  • Sennacherib 705 – 681 BCE 2 Kings 18:13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them; (NIV) see 2 Chronicles 32:1, Isaiah 36:1, Isaiah 37:9. He is given credit for making Nineveh the political capitol while the other cities were religious and military centers, but had been the capitol at one time.

We do not know how old Jonah was, so it seems that between Shalmaneser and Pul are the most likely kings.

I have seen an Iron Age documentary where the narrator took two events (many years apart) from Assyria’s history to tie them to Jonah. Many documentaries use places or events in describing things in the Fertile Cresent and suggest that they influenced Biblical narratives.

List of the Kings of Judah | Bible Wiki | Fandom

Kings of the Assyrian Empire – Bible History

Luke 4

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Luke listened, saw, and believed in the Lord of the kingdom Paul was proclaiming. Luke then listened more, interviewed witnesses, collected words, and sorted what he heard; then he organized and wrote it. I believe that like the prophets before him the Holy Spirit led this Greek, this Gentile, as he proclaimed Jesus. He gleaned from Matthew, Mark, Mother Mary, and countless others the narratives he writes to build faith in people for centuries. Thank you, Luke.

Chapters 1 – 3 are the formal introduction of Jesus with some background history. Luke 4 is the beginning of His ministry; it also has some connections to Israel’s past when they were in the wilderness after being called from Egypt. His baptism connects with the journey through the Red Sea and the forty days in the desert mirrors the forty years it took for Israel to get to the Promised Land. This is the first of two special forty-day periods in Jesus’ life. This story is also in Mark 1 and Matthew 3-4.

Our Lord’s return to Nazareth is interesting. (Luke uses Nazareth more than any other Gospel writer.) His return to Galilee (the Northern Kingdom) is important. Matthew quotes Isaiah twice about these locations: Isaiah 9:6 is in Matthew 4:15-16 about the land of Zebulun and Naphtali and an obscure mention to Him being called a Nazarene. The root word for Nazareth/Nazarene is netzer which means branch. So, Isaiah 11:1, Zechariah 3:8, and Jeremiah 23:5 are those prophetic announcements. (See post below.) Second, I think there were safety issues; not only staying away from Herod, but the rulers in Jerusalem. Third, this is the land of the Northern Kingdom. Think of the promises to Israel in the writings of the prophets who lived in the shadow of Assyria; this is the fulfillment of many of those, like Nahum 1:15a. Forth, massa, like Isaiah 53:3 had to happen, Luke records the rejecting starting in Nazareth.

The Holy Spirit is a key figure in Luke 1-4; He is part of the action 12x. When Jesus is baptized, Luke 3:21,22, the Trinity is all there; the Father speaks and the Holy Spirit physically lands on Jesus in the form of a dove. Why? Luke 4:1 has Jesus “full” of the Holy Spirit at the Jordan and then the Spirit led Him into the desert; verse 14 Jesus returns “in the power” of the Spirit to Galilee. Luke 4:1-30 has four displays of the Spirit’s gifts that I will point out.

  1. When Jesus took control of the questions from Satan, He had a logos of wisdom and used God’s Word to answer.
  2. In verse 23, He had a logos of knowledge about the people and their thinking.
  3. Verse 24-27 was a prophetic message about things He was going to do. He went to the region of Sidon and helps a woman with her child, Mt 15:21 and Mk 7: 24-30. In verse 27 is story of a leper, who was the enemy; Jesus healed a leper in Luke 17:15 from Samaria. Elijah and Elisha had done the first miracles.
  4. Jesus walked through an angry crowd and ‘went on His way’! Walking through an angry crowd that liked to throw rocks, untouched, is miraculous. That gift is not listed in 1 Corinthians 12 or Romans 12; okay, maybe the gift of miraculous powers. It was not the only time He did this, John 8:59 and 10:39. Peter was escorted out of prison by an angel, the Apostles were released from jail in Acts 5:19, and Philip was taken from the eunuch by the Spirit in Acts 8:39.

Luke records more workings/gifts of the Holy Spirit and the offices of the five-fold ministry in the rest of Chapter 4 and 5; not a bad way to start a world changing ministry.

Nazirite, Nazareth, and Grapevines | Mark’s Bible Study

The Root, The Branch, The Fruit – The Christmas Story | Mark’s Bible Study

Daughter – Bride Price Not Dowry

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This Daughter post is part of a collection that I never thought I would make; God has a sense of humor and a lot of patience. I did not realize how long this one has been in my thinking and writing. “Bride price” is a term I found in Hebrew/Jewish marriage customs and it made sense and I started using it. Many English translations use the term dowry. I am not sure what the term meant in 1599 but by 1828 Webster shows the overlapping thinking about dowry. For my part I never could figure out why some used the term dowry for when the bride’s family paid for a young woman to be married and when a groom paid for the privilege to marry a woman.

The 1599 Geneva Bible and then the 1611 KJV uses the term dowry four times; I will point out who is paying who.

  • Genesis 30:20 – Leah is saying that Father God has given HER a present that she named Zebulun. Remember that Jacob worked for years (he paid) to marry Rachel. Genesis 31:14-16 adds to that thought when Leah and Rachel agree on something.
  • Genesis 34 – This is Hamor, father of Shechem, bargaining the price for Dinah. He offers to pay Jacob whatever he wants and give a gift.
  • Exodus 22:17 – If a man seduces a virgin, he must pay the ‘bride price’ (NIV) to the father.
  • 1 Samuel 18:25 – King Saul is asking David to pay 100 foreskins to marry his daughter.
  • Leah uses the word zê-ḇeḏ, which probably means gift. The other references use mō-har.

Why does this matter? Who paid for us to become the Bride of the Lamb and when was the price paid? Did Father God send Jesus to pay the price or are we paying God to be married to His Son? When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, He was going to pay the bride price.

Dowry – Wikipedia

Bride price – Wikipedia

Websters 1828 – Webster’s Dictionary 1828 – Dowry

Daughter As Cities and Countries

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‘Daughter As Cities’ is part of the collection of Daughter Zion posts. This one has taken a while to start because every time I thought I was ready God dropped another ‘Muse Moment’ on me. So, no, this is not the last one in this collection, but I needed to start.

That is where I will begin, at the start with Eve. Yes, she is the ‘mother of all the living’, but she started out as a daughter of God. Her title/Divine calling travels through the pages of the Bible and into Revelation. I believe that cities and nations are referred to with feminine nouns (with respect) because they share in Eve’s calling; ‘mother of all living’. Scholars have a lot to say about cities and people groups and their development in our history. My very simple take on the subject is that they have allowed for sharing (many things) and have attracted bullies. With that said, think about Tree #2; the knowledge of good and evil.

In Genesis 4:17 we see Cain building a city that he names after his son, Enoch. After the Flood, mankind decided to build Babel in Genesis 11 and in Revelation 18, we see it being destroyed. (If John was using code and Babylon = Rome; that has happened when the Goths {Arian’s followers} trashed the city.) So, cities begin with man and The Great City comes down with God in the last days. FYI – Byblos has nothing to do with Babylon; it is a city north of Sidon in the Levant. Nimrod in Genesis 10:2 is also a city builder.

The Holy Spirit has John, A Sent One and Writer, highlight women and cities many times when he writes. John stresses Jesus’ love and continued care for Mary, His mother, and the role of the women at the tomb; they saw Him first at the Resurrection. 2 John uses the terms: chosen lady and chosen sister, normally understood to be churches (in cities). In Revelation 21:9, John is shown the “bride, the wife of the Lamb”. The opening of Revelation is to seven churches/angels that are referred to with the name of their city. I studied Sardis in Revelation 3; the angel has a masculine noun, church and Sardis are feminine, and the people have a neutral noun. John continues this Tale of Cities with:

  • Old Jerusalem – Chapter 11. Rome, Jerusalem, Constantinople, Athens, and Pisidian Antioch are all built on seven hills.
  • Babylon – Chapter 17 and 18.
  • New Jerusalem – Chapter 21. In Chapter 22 the Holy City is poleōs, which is a feminine noun.

Take a Muse Moment and consider trying to tell the Bible Story without referring to cities and people groups.

Some references: