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Matthew 1:19-21 — Then Joseph her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was willing to break their engagement privately. But he pondered on these things, lo! the Angel of the Lord appeared brightly to him in a dream/vision* saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for the baby conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a son and you shall call His name Jesus – for He will save His people from their sins.”

*the word for “dream/vision” in the quote is “onar” and is only used by Matthew (six times) throughout the Bible and only refers to angelic encounters. The King James Version interprets it as “dream” but the context of this verse would have Joseph awake pondering on what to do when the Angel of the Lord arrives.

In the Greek text of which this is originally written, Jesus’s name is really Ἰησοῦν or Iesous. However, it is assumed Mary and Joseph would speak Aramaic and know Hebrew (because the Torah, the Jewish Bible, was mostly written in Hebrew). Therefore, we can assume that in Joseph’s encounter with the Angel of the Lord, the Angel would have spoken Aramaic or Hebrew to Joseph and would have said to name their Son Yehoshua instead of Iesous. Strong’s Concordance indicates that this name Yehoshua is a combination of two Hebrew words – Yehovah [Strong’s No. H3068] and Yasha [Strong’s No. H3467]. Yehovah is the name of our God – the God of the Universe, commonly referred to as God, YHWH, or Jehovah. Yasha means “to be free” or “to rescue” or “to cause to be safe”. Together, we might interpret Yehoshua to mean “YHWH rescues” or “God saves” or “Yehovah saved“. This interpretation is confirmed by the Angel of the Lord following the given name by “for He will save His people from their sins”. 

Yehoshua [Hebrew], Iesous [Greek], Jesus [English] —> YHWH rescues

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In the Old Testament Hebrew, the word “Mashiyach” is translated as Messiah or anointed. The Strong’s Concordance definition is “a consecrated person (as a king, priest, or saint); specifically the Messiah: – annointed, Messiah.” It is used 39 times. Let’s check a few of them out:

The first usage is in Leviticus 4:3-6.

Leviticus 4:3-6 — If the priest that is mashiyach sins according to the sin of the people, then let him bring for his sin which he has sinned, a young bull without blemish to YHWH for a sin offering. And he shall bring the young bull to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before YHWH and shall lay his hand upon the bull’s head and kill the bull before YHWH. And the priest that is mashiyach shall take the bull’s blood and bring it to the tablernacle of the congregation. And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle the blood seven times before YHWH before the vail of the sanctuary.

Within this verse, we see that the priest is consecrated (meaning “set apart or dedicated to the service of God”). When he sins (as we all do), he must sacrifice a young bull on his behalf as a sin offering.

In Samuel 2:35 we see a possible prophecy of Jesus.

1 Samuel 2:35 — [YHWH] “And I will raise up a faithful priest that will do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a firm house and he will walk before my mashiyach forever.”

In Daniel, we see THE MESSIAH prophesied.

Daniel 9:25 — Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again and the wall also, even in troublous times. And after sixty-two weeks the Messiah shall be cut off but not for himself. And the people of the prince that shall come will destroy the city and the sanctuary and in the end will be a flood and to the end of the war desolations are determined.

In the New Testament Greek, the word “Christos” is translated as anointed. The Strong’s Concordance definition is “anointed, that is the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus: – Christ”. It is used 569 times. Let’s briefly look at some examples:

The second use of the word is in Matthew 1:16.

Matthew 1:16 — And Jacob had Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christos.”

We can see that Jesus is called the Christ.

Another verse is from Matthew 2:4, concerning the prophesied birth of the Christ.

Matthew 2:4 — And when he had gathered all of the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them to where Christos should be born.

This indicates that Jesus’s arrival was expected – prophesied from before His birth.

Lastly, we can see in Luke 2:26 that the anointed one was prophesied to come.

Luke 2:26 — And it was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen God’s Christos.

It is straightforward and almost an immediate word for word translation. The only difference is that Christos is reference to a specific Anointed Person (Jesus) where as mashiyach can be any anointed person (such as a priest). If we refer to “The Messiah” or “The Anointed” or “The Christ”, we understand this to be referring to a specific person from God who would free us from our bondage. This person is Jesus.

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And He [Yehoshua] taught them many things by parables and said to them in His instruction, “Listen. See a sower went out to sow. And because during the process of sowing some fell by the roadside and the birds of the air came and devoured it. And some fell in rocky places with not much soil and immediately it sprouted because it had no depth of soil. But the scorching sun rose and the sprout had no root so it shriveled. And some fell into thorns and the thorns grew up and strangled it and gave no fruit. And other fell on beautiful soil and yielded fruit to go up and increased and brought forth – some thirty and some sixty and some one hundred.” And He said to them, “He that has ears to hear, hear.” And when He was alone, the twelve around Him asked about the parable. And He said to them, “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the realm of Theos, but to them that are outside, all are done in parables. That looking they may look and not see and hearing they may hear and not comprehend – not ever reverting and sins forgiven of them.” And He said to them, “Are you not aware of this parable? And how will you know all parables? The sower sows the logos. And these are they by the roadside, where the logos is sown, but when they hear it, the accuser comes immediately and takes away the logos that was sown in their heart. And these are similarly scattered on rocks who when they have heard the logos, immediately take it accompanied with gladness and have no root in them and are temporary. Afterward, pressure or persecution comes because of the logos, and at once they are entrapped. And these are the scattered seeds into thorns – to hear the logos and anxiety of this age, and the delusion of wealth, and the longing of remaining things enter and strangle the logos and causes no fruit. And these are scattered seeds on beautiful soil – which some hear the logos and fully accept and are fertile – one thirty and one sixty, and one one-hundred.”

The first thing we should consider in this parable is the story itself. Yehoshua (Jesus) is telling a large audience by the seaside a story of someone who plants seeds and describes four scenarios once the Sower casts the seeds. The seeds either land on the roadside, on rocky soil, on crowded soil, or on beautiful soil:

1. Roadside – where the soil is hard and the seed cannot penetrate.
2. Rocky soil – where the soil is shallow and the sun kills it.
3. Crowded soil – where weeds consume the nutrients and weaken the plant.
4. Beautiful soil – where the plant flourishes and produces a bountiful harvest.

Here we can see the four soil types display recipients of the seeds. Depending on the condition of the soil, the seeds grow fruitful or are destroyed.

OUR HEARTS AND SPIRITS ARE THE SOIL. 

When Yehoshua further explains this parable to the disciples, He tells them that the Sower sows the “logos” [Greek] which can be interpreted with numerous interpretations – typically a message or a coherent thought that is spoken. Here we can interpret “logos” as numerous ideas. I believe it is either (a) the good news of Christ; (b) the Realm of Heaven; or (c) both.

The roadside is compacted silt and hard like clay. When the message is scattered to hardened hearts, the accuser immediately snatches the message away as if it was never received.

The rocks have some soft openings but no nutrients for the seed to take root. When the message is scattered to mostly hardened hearts, it is received and the heart experiences the joy of receiving it but the sensation was temporary and the seed withers.

The crowded soil is willing to receive the seed but allocates its nutrients towards unfruitful plants instead of the fruitful and the seed grows weakly and unfruitful itself.

The beautiful soil receives the seed and allows it to take root. It is full of nutrients and dedicates itself to sustaining the seed until it reaches harvest – which is 30x, 60x, or even 100x.

Looking at the parable bluntly:

• The Sower is someone, through the Holy Spirit, who preaches the good news of Christ.
• The Seed is the good news of Christ.
• The soils are us.
• The Harvest is how much of a blessing is created.
• Be the beautiful soil.

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