Tag: yoke

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Bible Terms

Bible Term: Yoke

yoke

From a simple perspective, a yoke is a means to harness a draft animal in order to pull a load.

However, a deeper understanding of this comes from considering it in an historical perspective. Back in Jesus’ day, the learned Rabbi‘s would study the Scriptures.

They did not see them as a definitive, fixed set of rules, but rather as a document to be explored and interpreted. A Rabbi’s interpretation of what the scriptures said, of what should be allowed and what should be prohibited, was called his yoke.

When Jesus said his yoke was easy and his burden light, he was letting it be known that he allowed many more things then he prohibited.

He didn’t want his followers weighed down with a long list of don’ts, of heavy, burdensome requirements, but instead, he wanted them to be free to focus on him—and not a bunch of rules.

Also see bind and loose.

Key verse about Yoke: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”(Matthew 11:28-30, NIV)

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

Binding and Loosing

In the post about the easy yoke, we learned that a yoke was essentially a Rabbi’s teaching, of what was prohibited and what was allowed. Jesus had his own yoke and he said it was easy.

The process of ascertaining what things were to be prohibited, was the act of binding. To “bind” something, was to prohibit it; that is, to hold to it tightly. To “bind” implies obligation.

The process of determining what things were to be allowed, was the act of losing. To “lose” something was to allow it; that is, to let go. To “loose” implies freedom.

Since Jesus’ yoke was light, there must have been only a few things that he wanted to “bind” and many things that he wanted to “lose.”

However, Jesus doesn’t stop there. He also told his disciples that “whatever you bind (prohibit) on earth will be bound (prohibited) in heaven and whatever you loose (allow) on earth will be loosed (allowed) in heaven.”

In doing so, he implicitly gave them — and us — the opportunity to interpret scripture just like he and the Rabbis were doing — with the promise of agreement in heaven.

As such, we need to be extremely careful about the things we bind and loose; there are eternal consequences.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.

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Bible

The Easy Yoke

Jesus said that his yoke was easy; that his burden was light.

What exactly does that mean?

From a simple perspective, we understand a yoke to be a means to harness a draft animal in order to pull a load. Therefore, an easy yoke, one with a light burden, would be something that was not hard to do.

This means that the things Jesus expects from his followers are not difficult or burdensome.

However, we can gain a deeper understanding of his words when we consider it from a historical perspective. Back in Jesus’ day, the learned Rabbi’s would study the scriptures.

They did not see them as a definitive, fixed set of rules, but rather as an open-ended document that needed to be explored and interpreted. A Rabbi’s interpretation of what the scriptures said, of what should be allowed and what should be prohibited was called his yoke.

When Jesus made his proclamation about his yoke, his hearers would connect it with the Rabbi’s practice (recall that Jesus was often called Rabbi by his followers and admirers).

So when Jesus said that his yoke was easy and his burden light, he was letting it be known that he allowed many more things than he prohibited.

He didn’t want his followers weighed down with a long list of don’ts, of heavy burdensome requirements, but instead he wanted them to be free to focus on him — and not a bunch of rules.

Some people read the Bible as a rigid law book of hard laws and unyielding rules. Instead they should be interpreting it like the Rabbis, making an easy yoke as Jesus advocated.

A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.