Luke Chapter 5
1) ...Yahushua has left Capernaum to go and declare the imminent arrival of the kingdom of Yahuah on earth to the people who congregate together in the other synagogues of the region of Galilee... It so happened, as the people he was teaching the spoken words of Yahuah to pressed in closer to him in order to hear him speak, that He was standing in an area very near to the waters of the Lake of Gennesaret... otherwise known as the Sea of Galilee...;
2) Yahushua saw two ships standing at the edge of the water of the Lake; but the fishermen were not on board because they were on the shore washing nets.
3) Yahushua stepped up into one of the ships, which belonged to Kepha; and asked Kepha to push the ship off of the shore and guide it out a little way from the land. Then, Yahushua sat down and began to teach the people on the shore from on board the ship.
4) Then, when he had finished speaking for the moment, Yahushua spoke to Kepha, and said: Put the ship out into deeper water and lower your nets for a draught... a haul... of fish.
5) Kepha answered Yahushua by saying: Master! We have exhausted ourselves by working all night long out here, letting our nets out and hauling them back in again and again; and we have caught nothing! However, even though we are all exhausted and feel that it will be useless to do this, because you have said that I should do so I will lower the net.
6) When they had let the net down, they drew the net closed around a huge multitude of fishes; and their net broke.
7) They shouted and waved to the crew of the other ship which was still on shore; and beckoned to them that they were to come out and help them; and they came. Between the two crews of fishermen they filled both of the ships so full of fish that they began to sink under the weight.
8) When Kepha saw... comprehended... when he understood what had happened and why..., he made himself fall down in front of Yahushua's knees; and said, while doing so: Master! You should leave my presence. Because I am a sinful man... You, who are so pure and undefiled that you are able to make this happen, should not be near me...
9) He said this because he had been seized, struck down, and rendered immovable with fearful astonishment after all of this had taken place. As were all the fisherman from the two ships who were with him. Because of the haul of fish which they had just taken.
10) Also there, stricken in the powerless condition of astonishment and fear when this happened, were Yacob and Yochanan. Who were the sons of Zebedee. They were partners with Kepha in the business of fishing. Yahushua said to Kepha: Do not fear... 5399 phobeo {fob-eh'-o} - Don't be afraid of me and be unable to do anything because of it... Don't be alarmed because of me and what I have caused you to be able to do.... From this moment in your life onward you will catch men.
11) ...When the moment had passed... When they were able to collect themselves and continue... Kepha, Yacob, and Yochanan brought their ships back to land and forsook all... 863 aphiemi {af-ee'-ay-me} - they abandoned whatever partnership or working relationship they may have had with the other fishermen on the two ships... They then left from there and accompanied Yahushua to go wherever He went.
12) Then, it so happened when He was in a certain city that there was a man full of the disease of leprosy. This man, when he saw Yahushua, fell down prostrate in front of Him and begged Him, by saying: Lord!... kurios {koo'-ree-os} - Master!... You who have all power over me to decide what to do with me... a sign of reverence and respect with which servants salute their masters... if you desire to do so, you can make me clean... You can cure me if you want to...
13) Yahushua put His hand out and touched the leprous man and said to him: I want to. Be Clean. The leprosy left the man immediately.
*** See the entirety of Leviticus Chapters 13 & 14 for all of the instructions regarding pronunciation, by the Levitical priest, of unclean or clean, the sacrifices for those who have been cleansed, and the curse of the leper...
Leviticus 13:1-3 And Yahuah spoke unto Moses and Aaron, by saying this: 2 When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it exists in the skin of his flesh. The plague of leprosy. Then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons who are the priests: 3 The priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh. If the hair that is in the area of the plague is turned white, and if the plague in sight is deeper than the skin of his flesh... if the flesh has been eaten away and the wound is raw..., then it is a plague of leprosy; and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him to be unclean.
Leviticus 13:45-46 45 And as for the leper in whom the plague exists, his clothes shall be torn, his head will have no covering on it, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip.. over his mouth..., and shall cry out, Unclean! Unclean!... For a warning to all those who are near him so they can avoid being contaminated by him... 46 All the days in which the plague exists within him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone. Outside of the camp is his place of habitation.
Deuteronomy 24:8-9 8 Take heed... pay diligent attention to what has been instructed... in regard to the plague of leprosy. So that you observe diligently and do according to all that the priests, the Levites, shall teach you. Just as I commanded them, you shall observe to do. 9 Remember what Yahuah, your Elohim, did to Miriam on the life path that you were on after you had come out of Egypt.
It did not matter who you were, if you had the plague of leprosy, in your status and standing...
2 Chronicles 26:17-21 17 And Azariah the priest went into the temple after the king, Uzziah, and with him were fourscore priests of Yahuah, who were valiant men: 18 And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him: It does not pertain to you, Uzziah, to burn incense to Yahuah; but that duty is to the priests the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary. For you have trespassed. Neither shall it be for thine honour from Yahuah, our Elohim. 19 Then Uzziah was wroth, and he had a censer in his hand with which he intended to burn incense; and while he was angry and contending with the priests, the leprosy rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of Yahuah, from the place where he was standing beside the incense altar. 20 And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they threw him out from there. O' Yes, he himself hastened also leave that place. Because Yahuah had smitten him. 21 And Uzziah the king was a leper until the day of his death; and he dwelt in a seperate house, because of his being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of Yahuah; and Yotham, his son, was over the king's house, judging the people of the land.
14) Yahushua charged him... gave him instructions... laid the task or duty on him... You are not to tell anyone about this; and further said to him: You are to go and show yourself to the priest... in Yerushalem, at the temple... some 60 miles away... so that he can declare that you are clean; and make the offering that is to be made for your cleansing according to what Moses commanded, so that your healing will be for a testimony to them.
15) In spite of this being done, instead of what Yahushua had intended, so much the more did a fame go out to the surrounding area of Galilee concerning Him; and great multitudes gathered together to hear Him speak, teach, and be healed by Him of the sicknesses, natural weaknesses and frailties of their bodies.
16) Yahushua then withdrew Himself to a desolate place for a while; and He prayed.
17) It then happened, on a certain day as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law... 3547 nomodidaskalos { nom-od-id-as'-kal-os} - master teachers of the law... sitting down near Him, who had travelled to where He was at the time from out of every town of the region of Galilee, and from the region of Iudea, and from the city of Yerushalem; and the power of Yahuah existed there to heal them.
18) Then, during that time, men brought in a man, lying on a couch, or small bed, who had been overpowered by a palsy... 3886 paraluo {par-al-oo'-o} - a condition in which the motor nerves do not operate correctly, which causes a feebleness of strength and lack of muscular control in the limbs that are stricken... The men who brought him looked for a way, or method, by which they could bring him in to where Yahushua was. So they could lay the man, in his sickbed, in front of Yahushua.
19) When they could not find any way to bring the sick man to Yahushua because of the denseness of the multitude of people pressing together to hear Him and experience His power, they went up onto the top of the house; and lowered the sick man, in his bed, down into the middle of all of those inside the house through a hole they made in the tile roof.
20) When Yahushua saw the actions of their faith... their conviction of the truth that Yahushua could heal the man... He said to the sick man on the bed that had been lowered through a hole in the roof: Man... H376 'iysh {eesh} - man... Your sins... 863 aphiemi {af-ee'-ay-mee} - the debt of your sins... is forgiven... Either H5545 calach {saw-lakh'} - a primitive root, used in the Qal sense: are forgiven... are pardoned..., or H5375 nasa' {naw-saw'} - a primitive root. When used in the niphal sense: are taken away... are carried off... are swept away...
21) The scribes and Pharisees who were sitting there began to reason amongst themselves, by saying: Who is this that speaks blasphemies?... Who does this man think he is that he speaks in such a way as to slander the name and reputation of another?... Who can forgive sins except Yahuah only?... They possibly prevented themselves from uttering the name of Yahuah and used HaShem or Adonai because of their teaching that the actual name would be profaned by their speaking it aloud... As is taught in Judaistic circles today...
22) More than this, when Yahushua discerned their thoughts, He gave them an answer by saying this to them: What is this that you deliberate and dispute about within your hearts?
23) Which is easier? To say: Your sins have been forgiven, or to say: Rise up and walk?
24) It makes no difference to me; but so that you can know and understand that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins... (He then looks down at the man on the bed who had been sick with the palsy)...: Get up! Pick up your bed; and go to your house!
25) Immediately the man got up from where he had lain in front of them all, picked up what he had been laying on; and left the building to go to his own house. Singing and speaking the praises of Yahuah the whole way home!
26) ...Now!... Picture this in your mind's eye...There was silence!... They were all amazed... Dumbfounded!... They all were completely incapapable of expressing words to each other that were adequate enough to describe what they had just witnessed... No One There could say that they had a handle on what had just happened... Everything they prided themselves about what they thought they knew about Yahuah and His Order had been rendered inaccurate and incomplete by the circumstances that had just now unfolded before them... They began, in an obviously shaky manner, to give Yahuah praise and honor out loud for what they had seen, being filled with fear as they did so, as they said amongst themselves: We have seen strange, unexplainable things today.
27) Sometime after these things had taken place, Yahushua went out into some public area in a town or village in the region of Galilee, and He saw... observed... watched the actions of and contemplated... a publican... 5057 telones {tel-o'-nace} - a renter , or farmer, of taxes.
This taken, in part, from the ISBE - During the early part of the Herodian era, taxes were paid to the king and collected by officials appointed by him for that purpose. This method worked fairly well, at least under Herod the Great; but had ceased to exist before any of the books of the New Testament were written.
Archalaus, son of king Herod the Great by his wife Malthace, succeeded his father after his death, in the government of Judea, Samaria and Idumaea; but was deposed by the Romans for misgovernment in 6 AD. It was then, at the request of the Jews themselves, that the region of Judea was incorporated into the Roman empire and put under procurators who were in charge of all financial administration, although the tetrarchs, through their officials, still collected the internal taxes. It is to be noted first of all, that in the imperial era the direct taxes were not farmed out... they were not handled by "publicans"...; but were collected by regular imperial officers in the regular routine of their official duty in the service of the king.
It was the customs tax which was levied on exports, and on all the goods that were in the hands of merchants who were passing through the country, which were then sold to the highest bidders in the marketplaces or auctions, that was collected by those who are described as "publicans". This term is commonly used to cover several grades of minor officials engaged in the customs service of Rome. The word was extended in meaning to encompass all of those major and minor officials engaged in such duties. From the publicanus, who was the farmer-general of a province, to his subordinate local officials. The publicans of the New Testament "examined the goods and collected tolls on roads and bridges" (Stapfer, op. cit., 216). These tolls were collected at Caesarea, Capernaum and Jericho (Josephus, BJ, II, xiv, 4). Those collected at Capernaum went into the treasury of king Herod Antipas.
Hatred of paying duties seems to be ingrained in human nature. Customs officials are always unpopular. The method of determining the amount to be paid was, by necessity, inquisitorial in nature. The man who opens someone's boxes and bundles in order to appraise the value of what one has so as to place a tax on the whole, is at best a tolerated evil. In Judea, under the Roman system, all circumstances involved in this system of taxation combined to make the publican the object of bitter hatred. He represented and exercised in a hands on manner, touching all that someone might make a profit by, which obviously became a sore spot with individuals, the hated power of Rome. The tax itself was looked upon as an inherent religious wrong, as well as a civil imposition; and by many, the payment of it was considered a sinful act of disloyalty to God. The tax-gatherer, if he was a Jew, was a renegade in the eyes of his brethren. He paid a fixed sum for the taxes. In accordance with what was set by those in power; and received for himself what he could demand and collect over and above that amount. It is obvious that the threat of loss or harm to those who would resist was enforced by some means. The collector was, for this reason, always under the suspicion of being an extortioner; and probably was in most instances. The unusual combination of character traits that could be found in a publican, of petty tyrant, renegade, and extortioner was not conducive to popularity in any society...
this particular publican was named Levi. Yahushua watched him as he satperforming his duties, at the place where customs taxes are collected. He then approached Levi and said: Follow me... 190 akoloutheo {ak-ol-oo-theh'-o} - accompany me... become my student or disciple...
28) Levi, at the words which Yahushua spoke to him, left his place of authority; and followed Yahushua wherever he was going.
29) Then, Levi made a huge feast take place in his own house. In honor of Yahushua... in honor of the status and position within the society that a recognised Master Teacher of Israel has; and in recognition of the prestige that was bestowed on the household of Levi by Yahushua's invitation of him to be his disciple... Master teachers of Israel did not off handedly invite just anyone to be their student... such a position was usually sought for by the use of influential means... many who desired to be students of recognised teachers were turned away and had to pursue some other career choice for the rest of their lives... this was viewed, by the society standards of the day, to be a significant honor... and there were a great many tax collectors among all of the others who sat down to eat with them at this feast... Being invited to eat with someone, especially within one's own house, was a sign of honor to the one invited... Being invited to a celebration such as this one brought even more prestige to an individual in this society... Those who were already disciples of Yahushua, however many that there were, accompanied him wherever he went; and this festive occasion was no exception...
30) But their scribes... 1122 gramateus {gram-mat-yooce'} - men learned in the Mosaic law and in the sacred writings who were interpreters and teachers. These men examined what were considered to be the more difficult and subtle questions of the law; and they added decisions of various kinds that were thought to add to the meaning and scope of the Mosaic Law. Since the advice of men who were skilled in the law was thought needed in the examination of the causes and solutions of the difficult questions regarding the Mosaic Law, these men were enrolled in the Sanhedrin; and were always mentioned in connection with the priests and elders of the people... and Pharisees... 5330 Pharisaios {far-is-ah'-yos} - a sect that recognises the authority of the writings of the OT as well as the orally passed on traditions in their standard of belief and life. They sought to obtain distinction and praise of people and their god by means of their outward shows of ceremonial washings, fastings, prayers, and giving to the poor. They prided themselves on their self perceived good works. They held to a belief in the existence of good and evil angels; and to the expectation of a Messiah. They held to a hope that the dead, after an experience of either reward or penalty in Hades, would be recalled to life by the Messiah; and then that each of them would recieve good or evil in this recall to life. According to their individual deeds in their previous life. They were bitter enemies of Yahushua and His causes. Yahushua rebuked them severely, collectively, for their insatiable greed and ambition and their reliance on outward works and outward shows of piety in order to gain the popularity of the people while in pursuit of recognition and an elevated status in society...
murmured against His disciples, by saying to them: Why is it that you sit down together and eat and drink with these tax collectors and others who are not free from sin. Why do you, and those learn from you, honor those are despised by all in this society with your presence as a Master Teacher of the Law?
31) Yahushua answered them by saying this to them: Those who are healthy and strong do not need a physician or healer. Instead, it is those who are sick and weak.
32) I did not come to show myself to the world and be recognised in order to call... invite... the righteous... those who are as they ought to be according to Yahuah's Way and Order... to be repentant and return to the Way they should have always been on... I came for the purpose of calling... inviting... sinners to that Path of Life.
33) They then said this to Yahushua: Then why is it that the disciples of Yochanan the Immerser fast often and make prayers; and why is it that the Pharisees do the same things; but your disciple eat and drink?
34) Yahushua said this to them: Can you make the children of the bride chamber... 1692 Bride-Chamber, Sons (children) of the - (Grk: hoi huioi tou numphonos): These were friends or companions of the bridegroom and were usually very numerous. Any wedding guest might be included in the expression, or anyone who took part in the bridal procession and remained for the wedding-feast. It was their duty to provide and care for whatever was necessary for the celebration of the wedding festivities... fast while the bridegroom is with them?...
35) The question is rhetorical and the answer is obviously "no"; but the days are coming when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; and it is during the days when he is not with them that they will fast.
36) Along with that answer, Yahushua also spoke a parable to them; and He said this: No one puts... sews... a new piece of clothing onto an old, worn out one. If someone does so, then two things take place. The new cloth, which is stronger, makes a tear in the old worn out fabric; and the cloth that was taken from the newly made garment will not agree... will not look right in combination with... the old, worn out garment.
37) Also, no one puts new wine into old leather containers that are made to contain liquids because the freshly made wine will burst the old leather containers and spill out; and the old leather containers will be destroyed.
38) Instead, everyone knows that newly fermented wine must be put into newly made leather containers; and when this is done as it should be, then the loss of the containers and the wine is prevented.
39) Also it is true that no one, after having drunk the older wine, will desire the wine that has not been aged. Because it is true that the aged wine is better.
