I would like to refer those of you unfamiliar with midrashic studies to this link. This is one of the best explanations of midrash I have found on the web....http://www.yashanet.com/studies/matstudy/mat1.htm
P'[bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] is the literal meaning of the passage.....this would be the literal reading of the text, "what does it say", Remez is the implied meaning. Remez is found by examining the context of the passage. You should look in chapters before as well as after the passage you are examining.
Drash involved searching the Bible for patterns, analogies, similarities which might lend more meaning to the passage under examination. Examples of parallel verses would be the sequence of trumpets and Jericho and the judgements in Revelation.
Sod would be the hidden/mystical meaning of the text. Example of this might be the story of Ruth. Naomi is Jewish, Ruth is a gentile, Ruth marries Jewish kinsman redeemer, Ruth "gives" the baby to Naomi. A picture of the fulfillment of the gentile times with the gospel and grace of YHWH going back to Israel as a nation again.
Matthew 26:36 - 46
I wanted to examine this passage midrashically.
P'[bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]
Yeshua went to Gethsemane with Peter, James and John and asked them to sit while he prayed somewhere separate from them.
Yeshua began to be very sad, and deeply distressed. He asked His three companions to stay and watch with Him. He walked a bit further from then, and prayed, falling on his face, that if it was possible to let the cup pass from Him, let it be so. Otherwise, let the Father's will be done.
Yeshua walked back to find the disciples sleeping. He said to Peter, "Couldn't you watch one hour?" He exhorted the men to watch and pray, lest they fall into temptation. He mentioned that the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak.
He went and prayed again. Again, upon returning to the three, Yeshua finds them asleep.
He leaves them again, prays, that if it was the Father's will for Him to drink the cup, He would.
He returns a third time, only to find the disciples sleeping and resting again. Yeshua tells them that the hour is at hand, the Son of Man was being betrayed into the hands of sinner.
REMEZ
Quite a bit had happened that day. Consider all the events leading up to the prayer time in Gethsemane. During the entire day, the disciples had prepared the passover meal. (Matthew 26:28....
So, the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover) That is alot of work! My husband prepared a Passover Seder meal for us today....and he cooked six hours straight!
Then, that evening at the meal was very emotional for everyone involved.....Yeshua told them that one of them was going to betray Him. The reaction? And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, "Lord, is it I?"
Judas was given the piece of bread, and left the group. They had to be stunned to realize who was going to betray Yeshua! No one seemed to suspect him.
Then, Yeshua introduced something very unusual. He broke bread and poured wine and said that such represented his body and blood, "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Yeshua then tells them He will not ever drink wine again until He drinks it new in the Father's kingdom.
After singing a psalm, they went to the Mount of Olives. There, yeshua further dismays them by saying that all would stumble because of Him that night! Peter especially was very upset to think Yeshua thought he would do that.
It was shortly after that conversation with Peter, in which Yeshua told Him he would betray His Lord three times before the rooster crowed in the early morning, that Yeshua takes Peter, James and John with him to Gethsemane.
They were exhausted, I am sure, emotionally and physically.
The latter conclusion is backed up by details in the synoptic gospels.
Mark confirms that the men were exhausted.....Mark 14:40
And when He returned, He found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.
Luke, however, adds the detail to the picture....he draws the picture of emotionally drained, depressed men.
Luke 22:45 "When He rose up from prayer and had come to His disiples, He found them sleeping from sorrow."
D'RASH
There are so many places to take this passage!
Does anyone have any suggestions?
This would be the exposition or application of the Pshat and/or REMEZ meaning of the text. It is always best to limit ourselves to the primary components of the allegory that represent specific realities...
One primary component: being watchful, not falling asleep
Yeshua will return at an unexpected time, during the watches of the night, so be ready. Psalms as well as some of the parables specifically mention watches in the night. Also, watches in the night are mentioned in Song of Solomon.
Check out Luke 12:37-40
Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
SOD
This would be the "hidden" meaning.
The Holy Spirit is trying to tell us something in the synoptic gospels.
Could one meaning be that believers are going to go into the Tribulation? Night usually refers to the Tribulation...There is an implication of falling asleep, due to sorrow....will the heartache and the sorrow of our trials in the Tribulation cause us to fall asleep? Fall asleep from sorrow? Become so depressed? Don't forget that all ten virgins fell asleep! The virgins fell asleep, because it seemed like the bridegroom was delayed. Will it seem so endless, so sad, so difficult, that we.....fall asleep for a short period of time?
What does Yeshua exhort the disciples to do...PRAY and WATCH! Notice, though, even though the disciples were reminded to wake up....even they kept falling asleep!
I have left out the larger context.....
Remember WHEN the garden scene took place. After Judas was personally indwelt with Satan, and he left to betray Yeshua! What ends the scene...? Judas coming with a multitude to arrest Yeshua!
Whenever you read of Judas, particularly in John's gospel, the Holy Spirit is trying to tell you something about the Antichrist. Only two men in Scripture will ever be personally indwelt by Satan....Judas the the man who will be the antichrist. The antichrist will be revealed in the middle of Daniel's seventieth week....
Note 2 Thessalonians 2:2-4 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Go back to Daniel 9:27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolate."
So, if the gospel accounts parallel the future end-time activities of antichrist, there are at least three watches from the apostles coming to understand that Judas was the betrayer.
Perhaps the SOD is that we believers will be here sometime after the abomination of desolation, after the antichrist reveals who he is and sets himself up over the Temple in Jerusalem. The persecution will be intense, and we may fall asleep in sorrow.....
What say you, fellow midrashers? Any comments? Am I completely off on any of this??
P'[bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] is the literal meaning of the passage.....this would be the literal reading of the text, "what does it say", Remez is the implied meaning. Remez is found by examining the context of the passage. You should look in chapters before as well as after the passage you are examining.
Drash involved searching the Bible for patterns, analogies, similarities which might lend more meaning to the passage under examination. Examples of parallel verses would be the sequence of trumpets and Jericho and the judgements in Revelation.
Sod would be the hidden/mystical meaning of the text. Example of this might be the story of Ruth. Naomi is Jewish, Ruth is a gentile, Ruth marries Jewish kinsman redeemer, Ruth "gives" the baby to Naomi. A picture of the fulfillment of the gentile times with the gospel and grace of YHWH going back to Israel as a nation again.
Matthew 26:36 - 46
I wanted to examine this passage midrashically.
P'[bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]
Yeshua went to Gethsemane with Peter, James and John and asked them to sit while he prayed somewhere separate from them.
Yeshua began to be very sad, and deeply distressed. He asked His three companions to stay and watch with Him. He walked a bit further from then, and prayed, falling on his face, that if it was possible to let the cup pass from Him, let it be so. Otherwise, let the Father's will be done.
Yeshua walked back to find the disciples sleeping. He said to Peter, "Couldn't you watch one hour?" He exhorted the men to watch and pray, lest they fall into temptation. He mentioned that the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak.
He went and prayed again. Again, upon returning to the three, Yeshua finds them asleep.
He leaves them again, prays, that if it was the Father's will for Him to drink the cup, He would.
He returns a third time, only to find the disciples sleeping and resting again. Yeshua tells them that the hour is at hand, the Son of Man was being betrayed into the hands of sinner.
REMEZ
Quite a bit had happened that day. Consider all the events leading up to the prayer time in Gethsemane. During the entire day, the disciples had prepared the passover meal. (Matthew 26:28....
So, the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover) That is alot of work! My husband prepared a Passover Seder meal for us today....and he cooked six hours straight!
Then, that evening at the meal was very emotional for everyone involved.....Yeshua told them that one of them was going to betray Him. The reaction? And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, "Lord, is it I?"
Judas was given the piece of bread, and left the group. They had to be stunned to realize who was going to betray Yeshua! No one seemed to suspect him.
Then, Yeshua introduced something very unusual. He broke bread and poured wine and said that such represented his body and blood, "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Yeshua then tells them He will not ever drink wine again until He drinks it new in the Father's kingdom.
After singing a psalm, they went to the Mount of Olives. There, yeshua further dismays them by saying that all would stumble because of Him that night! Peter especially was very upset to think Yeshua thought he would do that.
It was shortly after that conversation with Peter, in which Yeshua told Him he would betray His Lord three times before the rooster crowed in the early morning, that Yeshua takes Peter, James and John with him to Gethsemane.
They were exhausted, I am sure, emotionally and physically.
The latter conclusion is backed up by details in the synoptic gospels.
Mark confirms that the men were exhausted.....Mark 14:40
And when He returned, He found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.
Luke, however, adds the detail to the picture....he draws the picture of emotionally drained, depressed men.
Luke 22:45 "When He rose up from prayer and had come to His disiples, He found them sleeping from sorrow."
D'RASH
There are so many places to take this passage!
Does anyone have any suggestions?
This would be the exposition or application of the Pshat and/or REMEZ meaning of the text. It is always best to limit ourselves to the primary components of the allegory that represent specific realities...
One primary component: being watchful, not falling asleep
Yeshua will return at an unexpected time, during the watches of the night, so be ready. Psalms as well as some of the parables specifically mention watches in the night. Also, watches in the night are mentioned in Song of Solomon.
Check out Luke 12:37-40
Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
SOD
This would be the "hidden" meaning.
The Holy Spirit is trying to tell us something in the synoptic gospels.
Could one meaning be that believers are going to go into the Tribulation? Night usually refers to the Tribulation...There is an implication of falling asleep, due to sorrow....will the heartache and the sorrow of our trials in the Tribulation cause us to fall asleep? Fall asleep from sorrow? Become so depressed? Don't forget that all ten virgins fell asleep! The virgins fell asleep, because it seemed like the bridegroom was delayed. Will it seem so endless, so sad, so difficult, that we.....fall asleep for a short period of time?
What does Yeshua exhort the disciples to do...PRAY and WATCH! Notice, though, even though the disciples were reminded to wake up....even they kept falling asleep!
I have left out the larger context.....
Remember WHEN the garden scene took place. After Judas was personally indwelt with Satan, and he left to betray Yeshua! What ends the scene...? Judas coming with a multitude to arrest Yeshua!
Whenever you read of Judas, particularly in John's gospel, the Holy Spirit is trying to tell you something about the Antichrist. Only two men in Scripture will ever be personally indwelt by Satan....Judas the the man who will be the antichrist. The antichrist will be revealed in the middle of Daniel's seventieth week....
Note 2 Thessalonians 2:2-4 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Go back to Daniel 9:27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolate."
So, if the gospel accounts parallel the future end-time activities of antichrist, there are at least three watches from the apostles coming to understand that Judas was the betrayer.
Perhaps the SOD is that we believers will be here sometime after the abomination of desolation, after the antichrist reveals who he is and sets himself up over the Temple in Jerusalem. The persecution will be intense, and we may fall asleep in sorrow.....
What say you, fellow midrashers? Any comments? Am I completely off on any of this??
) I had a quick bite to eat, and all of a sudden I got so drowsy. I wanted to call them and cancel and just go and flop on the bed ( this was 4PM). But I realized what it was and prayed and got up and got ready and then it was as if it never happened. Later I found out when we were there and had gotten to talking that they know very little about the Word and I believe that HaSatan knew this as well and was trying to keep us apart. We ended up until midnight talking at great length about some really cool things to do with old tabernacle times and temple times and I believe that they got much from this and had asked if we could get together more often for Bible study ( Praise the L-rd ! ) 
