(Luke 19:1 NASB) And He entered and was passing through Jericho.
(Luke 19:2 NASB) And behold, there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; and he was a chief tax-gatherer, and he was rich.
(Luke 19:3 NASB) And he was trying to see who Jesus was, and he was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature.
(Luke 19:4 NASB) And he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.
Luke 19:4: As Yeshua was passing through Jericho, there was a little guy who was a chief tax-gatherer who wanted to see Yeshua. And, as the story goes, he climbed a sycamore tree so he could see Him.
(Luke 19:5 NASB) And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”
(Luke 19:6 NASB) And he hurried and came down, and received Him gladly.
(Luke 19:7 NASB) And when they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”
Luke 19:7: Yeshua told Zaccheus that He must stay at his house. The people who saw this claimed that Yeshua was staying in the house of a man who is a sinner. Being a chief tax-gatherer, he was probably one who stole from the people previously.
(Luke 19:8 NASB) And Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.”
Luke 19:8: Zaccheus’ response was interesting. He said he would give half of all that he had to the poor. This was following the words of John the Baptist earlier (Luke 3:8-14). Zaccheus also said that he will repay everyone he has defrauded four times as much. Torah says to repay and add 20% to those you defraud or steal from (Lev. 6:1-6). According to Torah if he stole sheep is to repay fourfold (Ex. 22:1).
Apparently Zaccheus is wanting to make abundant restitution for his sins.
(Luke 19:9 NASB) And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.
Luke 19:9: Yeshua calls Zaccheus a son of Abraham. This is indicative that he is a son of Abraham due to his righteousness (faithfulness) (Romans 4:11-16, Gal. 3:28-29). The fact is, Yeshua tells us that we are sons of Abraham if our actions are like Abraham’s actions (or our faithfulness is like Abraham’s faithfulness) (John 8:39-44).
(Luke 19:10 NASB) “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
(Luke 19:11 NASB) And while they were listening to these things, He went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.
Luke 19:11: The Son of Man came to seek and save that which is lost. Why did the people think the Kingdom of Elohim was going to appear? This is exactly what was prophesied would happen when the Kingdom arrives (Ezek. 34:15-17).
(Luke 19:12 NASB) He said therefore, “A certain nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return.
(Luke 19:13 NASB) “And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business with this until I come back.’
Luke 19:13: A mina is a Greek monetary unit. It is also a Hebrew monetary unit. One mina is worth about 50 shekels, which is worth about 2-3 months salary. What is meant by the precious money given to the servants? The minas are likely a reference to Torah, or His Word (Job 28:12-15, Psalm 119:72, 19:9-11, Prov. 3:13-15, 8:10-11, 16:16).
This is speaking of His people dealing with His Word and living according to His Word until He returns.
(Luke 19:14 NASB) “But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’
Luke 19:14: The nobleman is apparently Yeshua who was hated by the people and he had left and put others in charge.
(Luke 19:15 NASB) “And it came about that when he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him in order that he might know what business they had done.
(Luke 19:16 NASB) “And the first appeared, saying, ‘Master, your mina has made ten minas more.’
(Luke 19:17 NASB) “And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, be in authority over ten cities.’
Luke 19:17: The Master will return and settle all accounts (2 Cor. 5:10, Psalm 7:6-8, 9:7-8, Ecc. 12:13-14, Ezek. 18:30-32).
The servant had been very faithful and was rewarded with authority over ten cities.
(Luke 19:18 NASB) “And the second came, saying, ‘Your mina, master, has made five minas.’
(Luke 19:19 NASB) “And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’
Luke 19:19: The Master congratulated the next servant also. He was obedient and he prospered (2 Chron. 31:20-21, Psalm 1:2-3, Joshua 1:7-8).
(Luke 19:20 NASB) “And another came, saying, ‘Master, behold your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief;
(Luke 19:21 NASB) for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not sow.’
Luke 19:21: The one who brought back just one mina knew that Elohim was a hard man (a righteous judge). He was correct (Job 21:14-16, Mal. 1:12-14).
This man said he was afraid, so he went and hid the Word of the Master in the ground instead of performing it (Rev. 21:8)
(Luke 19:22 NASB) “He said to him, ‘By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow?
(Luke 19:23 NASB) ‘Then why did you not put the money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?’
Luke 19:23: This slave is called lazy and “wicked.” This is obviously a reference to his lack of good works and his doing of evil (anti-Torah) ways (Psalm 119:53). This slave knew of Elohim, but still did not heed His Word.
Verse 23 is almost strange. What is meant by “Then why did you not put the money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?” Usury is the reference. Usury could be charged to the foreigner (Deut 23:19-20). This is likely a reference to the fact that at least others outside of Israel (the foreigner) could have benefited from his observance of Torah, had he the courage to be obedient in front of them.
(Luke 19:24 NASB) “And he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’
(Luke 19:25 NASB) “And they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas already.’
(Luke 19:26 NASB) “I tell you, that to everyone who has shall more be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.
Luke 19:26: Everyone who has (maintains, regards) Torah shall have in abundance. Those who do not, will have everything taken away (Hos. 2:9-11). They will be cast out of the Kingdom into outer darkness.
(Luke 19:27 NASB) “But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.”
Luke 19:27: Those who reject Elohim and His ways ruling over them, will be slain in His presence (Psalm 69:22-28, Isa. 66:6, 14-18, Nahum 1:2,8).
(Luke 19:28 NASB) And after He had said these things, He was going on ahead, ascending to Jerusalem.
(Luke 19:29 NASB) And it came about that when He approached Bethphage and Bethany, near the mount that is called Olivet, He sent two of the disciples,
Luke 19:29: Bethany is on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. Bethphage is on the other side of a ravine from Bethany.
(Luke 19:30 NASB) saying, “Go into the village opposite you, in which as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it, and bring it here.
(Luke 19:31 NASB) “And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ thus shall you speak, ‘The Lord has need of it.'”
Luke 19:31: It is possible that Yeshua is being omniscient (all-knowing) in His actions here. But it is also possible that Yeshua set this up previously when He came through that area earlier in His journeys through Israel.
(Luke 19:32 NASB) And those who were sent went away and found it just as He had told them.
(Luke 19:33 NASB) And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
(Luke 19:34 NASB) And they said, “The Lord has need of it.”
Luke 19:34: The man readily agrees to give them the colt upon hearing those words. Once again, it is likely this was arranged previously.
(Luke 19:35 NASB) And they brought it to Jesus, and they threw their garments on the colt, and put Jesus on it.
(Luke 19:36 NASB) And as He was going, they were spreading their garments in the road.
Luke 19:36: By throwing their garments on the road in front of Him, they were using an ancient custom in Israel to declare Yeshua as King of Israel. This same greeting was given to Jehu (Yahweh is he) when he was made king (1 Kings 9:13).
(Luke 19:37 NASB) And as He was now approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen,
(Luke 19:38 NASB) saying, “BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Luke 19:38: The people are quoting Psalm 118:22-26. When they said “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest,” they were declaring that the Messiah has come the same way the angels did at His birth (Luke 2:13-14).
His arrival on a donkey is a fulfillment of the prophecy given in Zech. 9:9.
(Luke 19:39 NASB) And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”
(Luke 19:40 NASB) And He answered and said, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!”
Luke 19:40: Yeshua is telling the Pharisees that He is the Messiah. This is the time of Messiah and the whole earth will rejoice (Psalm 96:11-13, 98:7-9, 114:1-8).
(Luke 19:41 NASB) And when He approached, He saw the city and wept over it,
(Luke 19:42 NASB) saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.
(Luke 19:43 NASB) “For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before you, and surround you, and hem you in on every side,
Luke 19:43: This is a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Yeshua knew that the people would reject Him. It was prophesied that after they did that, Jerusalem would be destroyed. Yeshua will prophesy on this in greater detail in Luke 21 (Luke 21:20-24).
(Luke 19:44 NASB) and will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
Luke 19:44: Yeshua specifically said that Jerusalem will be destroyed because they did not recognize the time of your visitation. How could Israel have recognized the “time” of the visitation of Messiah? The reason being is that it is spelled out for them in Daniel 9:24-26. Let’s turn to this passage in Daniel and see what transpired.
(Dan 9:24 NASB) “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.
“Seventy weeks” does not necessarily mean 490 days. The Hebrew word for weeks is “shabua” which means “a unit of measure”. This word is similar to our word dozen. A dozen can stand for twelve of anything. Gabriel is saying here that seventy “sevens” are determined for the people of Daniel. It could be seventy sevens of days, weeks, months, or years. In the context of this verse, it is plain that Daniel was reading in Jeremiah about 70 years and it appears that what is being referred to is years. Why were the Israelites held in captivity for 70 years?
LEV 25:3 ‘Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in its fruit;
LEV 25:4 ‘but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the LORD. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.
LEV 25:5 ‘What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land.
The Isrealites had violated the law of the sabbath pertaining to their land for 490 years. They did not let their land rest on the seventh year as Elohim had commanded. Elohim let them know He meant what He said. He let them be held captive to make up for the 70 Sabbath years they had missed (2 Chron. 36:21).
The 70 weeks spoken of here is broken up into three segments: 7 weeks, 62 weeks, and 1 week.
Daniel must be puzzled here as to how the end of the 70 years of captivity would fit into the long period of Gentile world domination shown in the previous visions in chapters 2, 7, & 8. Daniel had to think that at the end of the 70 years of Israel captivity his people would return to the land, the promised Messiah would come, and the kingdom which had been promised to David would be established. But what about these Gentile empires? These had to be seemingly irreconcilable contradictions to Daniel.
It says “Seventy weeks are determined for your people,…” The Hebrew word for “determined” here literally means “cutting off”. The seventy sevens are to be cut off, or cut out, for the Israelites, as the following verses will indicate.
The seventy weeks concern “your people”. It concerns Israel. They also concern “your holy city”, which is Jerusalem. Six things will be accomplished at the end of the seventy weeks:
This verse is a summary of the prophecy of the seventy weeks. Keep in mind that this prophecy concerns Israel. Gabriel says it is for “your people”.
When critics come to the Book of Daniel, they hate the ninth chapter. It is prewritten history. It is the section that foretells the arrival of Messiah. Elohim predicted the time this prophecy would start. Elohim also predicted the day of the Messianic entry of Yeshua into Jerusalem.
(Dan 9:25 NASB) “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.
The starting point for the 490 year period is essential to the correct understanding of the prophecy. This must fit into secular history on a particular date. There have been many suggestions for the starting date of this time period which is started by a decree to rebuild Jerusalem; The decree of Cyrus (Ezra 1:1-4); the decree of Darius (Ezra 6:1-12), the decree of Artaxerxes (in the seventh year of his reign Ezra 7:11-26); but the only one that really fits the description in verse 25 is the decree of Artaxerxes in the twentieth year of his reign (Neh. 2:1-8). The other decrees speak of rebuilding the Temple, but only this one focuses on the city and the walls as prophesied. This decree has a date attached to it of month of Nissan, 445 B.C. The twentieth anniversary of the reign of Artaxerxes (as mentioned in Neh. 2:1) was March 16, 445 B.C. This will be our starting point.
Another important question to contemplate is this: What constitutes a year? Would it be an American year of 365 days? No. We are using the Tanakh calendar here which consists of 360 days per year.
The first seven “weeks” brings us to 397 B.C. and to the time of the prophet Malachi. These were the “troublesome times” as witnessed by both Nehemiah and Malachi. The end of this forty-nine year period culminates the exact time frame, according to Jewish history, that it took to rebuild the walls in Jerusalem.
(Dan 9:26 NASB) “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.
According to this passage, sixty-two weeks (or 474 years) after the first 7 weeks (or 49 years) bring us to the Messiah. Sir Robert Anderson in his book, The Coming Prince, was the first one to work out the time schedule. If we project 476 years (173,880 days) ahead from the first of Nisan in 445 B.C., we come to the tenth of Nisan (April 6), A.D 32. This is the day Yeshua rode into Jerusalem, offering Himself publicly as Messiah for the first time.
Up until the time of this Messianic entry into Jerusalem, Yeshua always told people to be quiet about being healed and about His miracles (Matt. 12:15-16, 9:27-31). The demons recognized Him for who He was and Yeshua would not permit them to tell the people (Mark 1:34). He told His mother that His time had not yet come to reveal Himself as Messiah when He turned the water into wine (John 2:1-4). Yeshua was referring to His “time” according to the timetable of the Messiah as revealed in Daniel 9:24-27. At the time of his Messianic entry, Jesus declares that His time has now come (John 12:14-15, 23).
We just read here in Luke that the Pharisees told Yeshua to rebuke His disciples for calling Him the Messiah when He entered Jerusalem. Yeshua told them that it was impossible for them to be quiet. That’s because this is the day of the Messiah! Yeshua wept because of the desolation that was to soon come to Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44). He said He wept because “you did not recognize the TIME of Elohim’s coming to you…” This is in reference to the peoples’ lack of recognition of this timetable referred to in Daniel Chapter 9.
After the 69th week, the Messiah will be cut off. This was the crucifixion of Messiah on a tree. This passage also states that after the 69th Week, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple would take place. That is precisely what happened in 70 A.D. under the direction of Titus, the Roman.
(Luke 19:45 NASB) And He entered the temple and began to cast out those who were selling,
(Luke 19:46 NASB) saying to them, “It is written, ‘AND MY HOUSE SHALL BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER,’ but you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”
Luke 19:46: Yeshua entered the Temple and he threw out those who were taking money from people in an illegitimate manner. Many people are under the delusion that their church is somehow the equivalent to the Temple of Elohim. Nothing is father from the truth. However, most churches don’t hesitate to beg money from the people for salaries, buildings, youth trips, etc.. and illegitimately call it a “tithe.”
Yeshua quotes Isa. 56:7 and states “My House shall be called a house of prayer” (Isa. 56:4-7). He also quotes the Tannakh by saying that they have made the Temple into a “robber’s den” (Jer. 7:11)
(Luke 19:47 NASB) And He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people were trying to destroy Him,
(Luke 19:48 NASB) and they could not find anything that they might do, for all the people were hanging upon His words.
Luke 19:48: Yeshua taught daily in the Temple while the religious leaders were trying to devise a way to destroy Him. Actually, they did not need to destroy Him. All they needed to do was show the people where He was wrong in His teaching. But they continually failed in that endeavor previously. However, they will try again.
The text says the the people were “hanging upon His words.” That is because He was teaching Torah in it’s pure form (Neh. 8:1-3).
Patrick McGuire
Copyright 2014 Patrick McGuire and Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly All rights reserved, no portion of this Lesson may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews. Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly Fort Smith, Arkansas