Matthew 11:12

[lenpettis74]

"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."


This passage has always been a source of confusion for me. In the notes of my KJV study bible it states that violence is a passive term in the greek and is referring to the "people of the kingdom". I don't know if I agree with this, but in a sense, it's the only way it makes sense. It doesn't make sense from the standpoint that I cannot make a case in any other scripture where the "kingdom of heaven" is used in referrence to the 'people', but on the other hand, it's the only way it makes sense in context with the verse and chapter. In another sense, it makes no sense: Violence as passive? Am I just extra dense here, or can anyone make sense of this passage?

 

[cyberlizard]

Its an allusion to a passage in Micah 2, particularly verses 12-13.

Allow me to cite a passage from 'understanding the difficult words of jesus' by bivin/blizzard, page 85-86.

"These verses are full of rich imagery. It is the picture of a shepherd penning up his sheep for the night. He quickly builds a fold by throwing up a makeshift rock fenhce against the side of a hil. The next morning, to let the sheep out, he makes a hole or a breach in the fence by tossing some of the stones aside. He steps through his 'gate' with the sheep following close behind. They have been penned in all night and can hardly wait to get out of their cramped quarters. Of course they push and shove, several trying to get through at once, literally breaking through, further breaching the little gate in their eagerness to get out and into the green pasture.

Finally they burst out into the open spaces, rushing headlong after the shepherd.

In Michah 2v13 the 'breach maker' and the king are of course the same person, but in rabbinic interpretation discivered by David Flusser, they are two different persons: the 'breach maker' is interpreted as being Elijah, and 'their king' as the Messiah, the Branch of the Son of David.

Now we can begin to understand what Jesus is saying. He is not only hinting at Michah 2, but also at a well known rabbininc interpretation of it. "The Kingdom of Heaven" he says "is breaking forth (NOT suffering violence) and every person in it is breaking forth (literally 'those who are breaking out break out into it, or by means of it." compare with Luke 16v16, the parellel to Matthew 11v12. Two tremendous things are now happening simultaneously: the Kingdom is bursting forth into the world (like water from a broken dam) and individuals within the Kingdom are finding liberty and freedom.

In MAtthew 11v12, as in the midrash, Elijah, or John the Baptist is the breach maker, the Poretz. He makes the breach in the rock fence and goes through first. He has opened the way. He is the Elijah of Malachi 3v1 and 4v5-6, who goes before the Lord to prepare His way. As in the midrash, Jesus, the King, follows JOhn. Jesus is the Lord himself, who leads the sheep through the gate. It is a powerful image......

if you want to read the rest of the section about the 2nd temple period of understanding about Jesus' comments and the passages cited, you'll have to buy the book (and the good thing is its cheap) - here's a link.



Steve

 

[lenpettis74]

Great answer, that actually makes a lot of sense. I will have to pick up that book. Thanks!!

 

[Radagast]

I tend to go with the NIV on this one:

From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.

There was a whole thread on this verse here -- see posts #5, #19, and #21 onwards.

There is debate as to whether violence here is indeed a "passive" term in the Greek (which is a grammatical term meaning someone does something to the Kingdom, i.e. "it suffers violence"), or whether it's a "middle" term (meaning someone something the Kingdom does for itself, i.e. "it is forcefully advancing"). I think it's a "middle" here, for a whole raft of reasons -- see the other thread.