WORD STUDY – VIPERS (ARAMAIC)
Matthew 3:4,7-9: “ And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. (7)But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (8) Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: (9) And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to [our] father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”
I have now spent ten years, an entire decade, devoting myself to the search for a heart of God. It is fully documented in the archives on my website. In all that time I have never discovered the hint of wrath, anger or vengeance in the heart of God. I have only found love, compassion and tears for the suffering and lost of this world. As a result of having spent a minimum of 3-4 hours or longer a day for the last 3,650 days studying God’s Word in the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek with the intent of discovering God’s heart, I am now totally biased. I cannot read the Word of God any longer without seeing only God’s amazing love and grace.
So I now come to one of God’s beloved servants who is often portrayed as a wild, maniacal, doomsday prophet dressed in ill fitted clothes, subsisting on bugs and robbing bee’s nest of wild honey. He comes into town looking like some escaped patient from a behavior modification hospital shouting out that the end is near while mothers hide their children and local residents run in terror.
Let me give you a different picture of the man John the Baptist. Let’s start with his clothing. It was not the clothing of a carelessly dressed crazy man. His clothing was carefully chosen to convey a message. Clothing made of camel’s hair was the skin of the animal without the course, itchy, stingy, thorny hair of the camel removed. He wore this garment, which no normal person would wear, because it was visibly uncomfortable. He was showing his rebellion against the corrupt governmental and religious leaders who made their fortunes off the back of the common people causing them live in poverty and suffering as if they were living in clothing covered with camel’s hair. He ate locust and honey not because he was a wild man but because it was kosher (Leviticus 11:21-23) and to show he followed religious law. There is a small bird in the desert that flock together in such swarms that Bedouins call them locust and they are a food source for desert dwellers as they are easily caught. Alternatively, perhaps that is what John ate.
John the Baptist entered a town not as a mad man but as a champion of the people. As people would gather around to hear the revolutionary message of this radical out to free them from the tyranny of those oppressing them they would see that leather girdle or belt. Suddenly their hero takes on a whole new meaning for that leather belt is a symbol not seen for many, many years in the land of Israel. Mother’s would tell their children of the days long past of men who entered towns wearing a leather belt, men who spoke from the heart of God, who prophesied of a coming day when justice would be meted out and the faithful to God would enter a new golden age. That leather belt was the symbol of a true prophet of God.
There were many holy men and teachers wandering around the land, each giving their own little message. If someone were to accept this message and become a member of this new cult, they would be baptized by this teacher as an outward expression of their loyalty to this new teaching.
John’s message, however, was not cultic message, but a simply one. In the Aramaic it is the word tuwu which simply means to turn or return. In other words, if you have left you first love, your love for God then return to it. If you have never loved God, then turn to Him and learn of His love. If you were baptized by John it was a simply a declaration that you were committing your life to loving the YHWH Elohim, Lord God, both the feminine and masculine nature of God with all your heart, soul and might.
Deuteronomy 6:4, the very root and basis of Judaism, the Shema, “Hear O’ Israel the Lord thy God is one and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul and might.” When Jesus was baptized He was declaring to the world that this was the message for which He would devote His life.
When John was baptizing there were some Pharisees and Sadducees who attended the event. Pharisees were members of a religious order, like a Jesuit and Franciscan in the Catholic Church, some are priest and some are layman but all have committed their lives in a particular service to God following certain disciples of that religious order. Pharisees followed a strict observance of the Torah and teachings of the Oral Traditions. Sadducees were priest who maintained the Temple in Jerusalem. They held a high social status which was sustained by their priestly responsibilities. They performed or presided over the sacrifices during the feast of pilgrimage to Jerusalem. They were the religious politicians maintaining the administration of the state, serving with Pharisees on the Sanhedrin, collecting taxes, maintaining a temple guard, maintaining relationships with the Romans and serving as judges for domestic and civil violations. They did not believe in a heaven or hell, no afterlife, man has a free will to choose or reject good and evil and God commits no evil. They followed strict observance of Torah but rejected Oral Traditions.
These were not all bad men as often described. There is good and bad in any organization. Many Pharisees and Sadducees firmly believed they were helping mankind and they were doing a lot of good. But there was a corrupt element as well causing many to give a sweeping consensus that all were bad, just like saying all Democrats, liberals, leftist are bad or all Republican, conservative, right wing are bad. There are good, caring people on both sides.
So when John called the Pharisees and Sadducees a generation or children of vipers he was not condemning them but explaining their situation and hope. The word viper in the Aramaic is akidneh which is really a reference to a scorpion. When a male scorpion mates it quickly dies and when the young scorpion is born it tears the body of the mother so that the mother dies. As a result a baby scorpion is born into this world as an orphan without the guidance of a set of parents. John was simply declaring that the Pharisees and Sadducees were orphans. Your parent Abraham died giving you birth and you have long lost his guidance. However, your real parent is YHWH Elohim, the Lord God. Your salvation is not based upon your relationship with Abraham but with the YHWH Elohim, the Lord God, the feminine and masculine nature of God. John’s message was simply one word: “Tuwu.” Turn or return to your loving parent YHWH Elohim and you will no longer be orphans without any guidance.
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