2

Also, what do you think he is saying, exactly?

Daisy
  • 446
  • 1
  • 7
  • 20
  • 1
    The Greek does not say "I am". You should not even try to associate Jesus to the tetragrammaton by hinting "I am", unless the original language of your bible is English. – Cynthia Apr 06 '16 at 05:28
  • @Daisy I down-voted this because of the "I [am]" injection. Fix that I can remove the down-vote. Thanks. –  Apr 06 '16 at 10:51
  • 1
    I love that you both are saying this, making me find the oldest manuscripts and seeing what it actually says. I don't care if anyone votes my stuff down; I'm not here to gain points -I'm here to learn. But I don't like stating something false so I will fix it if I find that you are correct. Going to take me some time, though. What I have found are the versions of this particular verse and "I am" is used in at least one version but the sentence is created differently. – Daisy Apr 06 '16 at 14:25
  • 1
    King James: "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." – Daisy Apr 06 '16 at 14:28
  • 1
    Actually, the Greek is literally, "Not [I] was-sent except but the sheep lost of house Israel" In proper English this should be translated, "I was not sent except to lost sheep of the house of Israel." Note the common practice in Greek that pronouns are implied by the verb. That "I" does not exist in this sentence except by implication. –  Sep 13 '18 at 22:47

3 Answers3

1

This is an allusion to Jeremiah 50:6 and therefore a reference to the Jews. Jeremiah speaks of them as 'lost sheep' because they were 'lost' in Babylon:

Jeremiah 50:6: My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.

Jeremiah 50:5 says they shall ask the way to Zion (Jerusalem).

Now, in Matthew chapter 15, when the Canaanite woman asked for help for her daughter, the disciples said to send her away because she was not a Jew, but Jesus said that he was sent not just to help Jews:

Matthew 15:22-24: And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

This is a reversal of the original passage in Mark 6:25-29, where Jesus implied that his miracles were like bread for the children of Israel, and not for the gentiles ('dogs') but then relented when the woman showed faith:

Mark 7:25-29: For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.

Dick Harfield
  • 12,589
  • 5
  • 24
  • 60
  • hi Mr. Hartfield, thanks for your comment. Two questions. (1) Does it sound to you like Christ was initially saying to her that he would not help because he only came for the house of Israel? And she's a Greek. She convinced him otherwise because of her faith (it's all about faith). (2) When you say that this is a reference to "Jews," I'm not sure if you mean the Israelites from the tribe of Judah OR all the Israelites. Can you clarify? Jeremiah 50:4 refers to "the people of Israel and the people of Judah together" -that sounds like it includes more than the tribe of Judah. Thank you – Daisy Apr 06 '16 at 02:54
  • I'l deal with Israel and Israelites first: Israel ceased to exist after the Assyrian invasion in 722 BCE. From about the time of the Babylonian Exile, the Jews began to refer to themselves as Israelites, although apparently their neighbours did not do so for another 2 or 3 centuries. When Jeremiah says the Israelites shall come, he is reiterating the hope, also found esewhere in the OT, that the scattered Israelites would return and be together with the Jews (under Jewish rule). – Dick Harfield Apr 06 '16 at 03:05
  • Back to point 1 in your question: New Testament scholars read Mk 7:25-29 as saying Jesus at first refused. We know Matt was substantially based on Mk, but softens this passage. I hope all this helps. – Dick Harfield Apr 06 '16 at 03:06
  • So "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" are the Israelites that scattered? – Daisy Apr 06 '16 at 03:09
  • I'm guessing you're gone, no worries. Just going to post this quickly... The part that's interesting is: If Christ came only for the scattered Israelites, did the apostles fill that role -and wouldn't it make sense not to take his message to the Greeks for this reason? Taking his message to the Greeks, like Paul did, seems to be contrary to the purpose of only being here for the scattered Israelites. It's like he was sent to gather the initial call of Abraham. – Daisy Apr 06 '16 at 03:14
  • @Daisy Not gone, just having lunch. I'm afraid I may not have been very clear in these follow-up comments, but I said above that the Jews began referring to themselves as Israelites around the time of the Babylonian Exile. When Matt talks of Israelites, it means the Jews, as above. I am not suggesting that Jesus really said exactly what Mark reports - I'm sure you know how things get altered in the retelling. As for Paul, that takes us into the realm of opinion, and I am trying to stick with hermeneutics :) – Dick Harfield Apr 06 '16 at 03:41
  • 1
    I'd probably correct the comment about Jeremiah 50:6 - the author uses the 'sheep' analogy throughout the text (cf. 10:21, 11:15, 23:1) when talking about Israel. As far as Jeremiah and Ezekiel are concerned, Judah isn't talked about as 'lost sheep' because of the exile, but because of their sins before the exile. But the 'sheep' is a very fond image of God and his people through the major prophets, and so I don't think Jesus is directly recalling this single Jeremiah passage here, but appealing to the wider concept. – Steve can help Apr 06 '16 at 09:26
  • Thanks, Mr. Hartfield -appreciate you staying with me. A few thoughts... (1) Whenever anyone uses the word "Jews" for the NT, that feels like a can of worms. From what I understand, "Jew/Jews" is a term that is never once used in the NT; the term is "Judeans." "Jews" was used later on by society and inserted into bibles incorrectly; when you look at the actual oldest manuscripts, the term is not "Jews." – Daisy Apr 06 '16 at 14:03
  • (2) "...the Jews began referring to themselves as Israelites" -what was the Hebrew term you think they actually used and where are you deriving this? (3) In regards to Paul, my question was: Who is Christ referring to when he says he was here only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel?" – Daisy Apr 06 '16 at 14:04
  • When you say that the lost sheep are the scattered Israelites (that's what I'm hearing; please correct me if I'm wrong), that begs a deeper answer since the scattered Israelites during the time of Christ were more known back then. Today, we have no idea who most of these people are (their lineage), where they are, etc. Most of the 7 billion people on the planet today consider themselves Christians. If Christ was sent only to the scattered Israelites, there are several billion people that look to him as their messiah that are not accounted for, in this regard. – Daisy Apr 06 '16 at 14:05
  • @Daisy Trouble with the Bible is that it is so easy to lose perspective that it covers many centuries and to see it almost as condensed into a single time frame. For Jeremiah, Israelites and Judahites (Jews) were different peoples, and he could still hope for the return of the scattered Israelites. By the time of Jesus, five centuries later, that hope was gone. Although Matt uses an allusion to Jermiah's 'lost sheep', it is talking about the Judahites/Judeans/Jews of his own day. The Israelites had long since intermarried and been absorbed into the host cultures where they had been scattered. – Dick Harfield Apr 06 '16 at 21:58
  • Mr. Hartfield, you keep adding more comments but not responding to the questions/concerns I asked for clarification. (2) what is the Hebrew term you think the Israelites used to refer to themselves and where are you deriving this? (3) When you say that the lost sheep are the scattered Israelites, that begs a deeper question (the question is never really answered) since we don't live in that time period and there are billions of people referring to themselves as Christians, most of whom are likely not able to trace their lineage to scattered Israelites. How do you reconcile this? – Daisy Apr 07 '16 at 13:51
1

Jesus is plainly saying he was sent to the Children of Israel, meaning the descendants of Jacob/Israel that have went away from the righteous path of serving God and his role is t o be their shepherd.

Al P
  • 11
  • 1
  • 1
    An unambiguous statement by Jesus that needs no more explanation than what you have provided, he was sent to the Jews not to the Gentiles – that only came after. This site takes a bit of getting used to so don’t be discouraged by others who attempt to force their opinion. You can also 'Edit' your answer rather than another new answer. – another theory Sep 20 '23 at 10:41
  • 1
    Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center. – Community Sep 20 '23 at 13:56
0

It's amazing to me that such a plain and statement causes a debate, /discussion especially since Jesus always explain his parables to his disciples.I think the problem is that non-israelites find it hard to swallow, since they're sold the narrative that Jesus came for the whole world. But since Jesus said that the entire scriptures foreshadowed his coming and God never sent any of his prophets to any nation of people but the Israelites then the simple understanding of who he was sent to makes sense.

Al P
  • 11
  • 1