27 Comments

  1. Great post!
    I remember hearing so many in Christian circles declare that the sin on Christ’s ‘shoulders’ was so great that the Father had to turn His face away, and then someone quotes Jesus quoting Psalm 22 as proof.

    One day at a Bible Study, we were cautioned about how we sometimes have to look close at these things we always say, because we don’t always think them through or check the Scriptures. Then that same night, the conversation about the Father turning His face away happened. I said, “Hey, I think if we look at the Scriptures, we’ll find no proof that it actually says that. In fact, it seems the opposite. Isaiah tells us that it pleased the Lord to crush him; Revelation tells us He’s the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world; Paul tells us this is the fulfillment of everything that was promised and the mystery of God that has been coming together for ages, and is now revealed. It’s all part of God’s plan… so I don’t think it’s something that He can’t bear to look at.”

    Later I realized that Psalm 22:24 – in the passage Jesus is quoting – plainly states, “He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard him, when he cried to him.” Literally the opposite of what we often hear.

    I’ve also heard (but need to confirm) that the “He has done it” at the end of Psalm 22 in the Septuagint is the same Greek word (maybe root word) for the declaration, “It is finished!”

    One of the men there later came to me and told me he had looked at it more and agreed with me, then told me about “Remez” as a technique. It seems so clear that Jesus was giving a massive “hint” to those watching.

    It’s powerful to think that no matter how great our sin, the love and grace of God is so much greater — that nothing we do is so powerful as to cause God to turn His face away, but that His mercies and grace are so powerful as to look right at all the worst humanity has to offer and pay the debt through His shed blood.

    Haha, sorry for the long rant, but I’m happy I found your post from just two weeks ago… Psalm 22 is the subject of our church Bible Study tonight, and I was just looking up remez to prepare and refresh my memory on this passage.

    1. Thank you for your comments Dave. I think sometimes there is a tendency to “read” Christian thought into prophetic language. We want things to fit but the reality is that the reality is not always nice and neat. A study into the prophetic leads us oftentimes into the literary and into prose and into language that isn’t quite so simple. I appreciate you leaning more into those things!

  2. Thank you for this article, I have been looking for information on Jesus’ Jewish teaching methods. Currently, I am a seminary student wanting to integrate this into a paper. However, my seminary, from what I can find, has no information on this subject. While I do agree with what you have said, my professor would not accept this as “academic.” Do you have any sources that could be used on a seminary level paper concerning Remez and Pardes?

    1. There are some on Sefaria that you might find useful. You can do a search for the word remez. Much is in Hebrew but there are some in English. Here is one. https://www.sefaria.org/Kedushat_Levi%2C_Genesis%2C_Bereshit?ven=Kedushat_Levi_translated_by_Rb._Eliyahu_Munk&lang=bi
      You sort of have to sort through the various teachings on it as some were used in teaching Torah and some became used in Kabbalah as well.

      There is an article called The Place of Story and Storytelling in Messianic Jewish Ministry: Rediscovering the Lost Treasures of Hebraic Narrative by Bill Bjoraker published in the Kesher Journal in Jan 2, 2018 that touches a tiny bit on it.

      Chabad.org I am sure has some as well. Since it is a a rabbinical method, rabbinical sources are likely going to be the only good sources. It was something I learned through the years so I don’t know many specific sources but I will go through my library here at home and see if I can find anything for you as well.

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