The eighth passage of the Sefer Yeshua is mainly based on Lk 12:49 and Thomas 16:1. A similar passage can be found in Mt 10:34 (about bringing a sword to the Land). The midrash about being aggrieved at the stubbornness of people’s hearts is partly based on Mk 3:5.
8. 1When Yeshua` saw how the hearts of the Zealots and of certain Torah scholars were stubborn, and how religious fakers and hypocrites, the rich and the greedy refused to turn from their destructive ways, and thereby caused suffering to others, 2Yeshua` recalled the prophecies of Malachi – of how God’s Glory would cleanse the Land – so he cried out, ‘Would that I could bring fire to this land! Would that it were already burning!’
Background
Because of the prophetic theology contained in this saying, it could be suggested that Yeshua was aware of some aspects of pre-Exile Yahwist theology – that of the fire of God’s Glory coming to the Land of Israel, in order to cleanse and purify the Land and its people. However, this is not how it has traditionally been interpreted by commentators, because of the verses about division within families that follow it in Lk and Mt.
Bringing fire and conflict
Because of the wording of passages suggesting that Yeshua saw his purpose as bringing fire and sword, a few scholars have concluded that Yeshua’s ministry was a violent one, and that therefore he was a Zealot. Those who do not believe he was a Zealot, merely think that the saying is about predicting tribulation and the conflict of war, or about bringing division to families – that being a Christian will naturally put members of families at variance against each other, and break up families (Lk 12:51-53, Mt 10:35-36). However, the verses from Micah 7:5-6 (about members of families being set against one another), which these latter verses from Luke and Matthew allude to, refers to the symptoms of societal breakdown i.e. that strife within families is not caused by faith in God, but rather by abandoning God’s values.
Looking at the sources
The saying around which this passage is based, is taken from Luke and Thomas. The Lucan version says,
“I have come to cast fire upon the Land; would that it had already been kindled!” (Lk 12.49)
And the Thomas version says,
Jesus said, “Perhaps people think that I have come to cast peace upon the world. They do not know that I have come to cast conflicts upon the earth: fire, sword, war.” (Th 16:1)
This is similar to a saying in Matthew:
“Do not suppose that I came to bring peace to the Land; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Mt 10:34)
Matthew interprets the sword as the sword of societal and family strife (since the verses that follow interpret the sword in terms of conflict and division within families).
However, in biblical prophecy the sword can also be the sword of God’s just retribution, e.g. Ezek 32:10b – “When I brandish My sword before them, they shall tremble every moment for their lives, each one of them, on the day of your downfall.” Also Ezek 21:4-5 – “Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked, therefore My sword shall be taken out of its sheath against all flesh from south to north, and all flesh shall know that I, YHVH, have drawn My sword out of its sheath; it shall not be sheathed again.” In fact, most of Ezekiel chapter 21 is about ‘the Sword of God’.
It may be that in the original Q-source, our present saying merely happened to be followed by those about family conflict, and that in real life, the sayings were spoken by Yeshua on separate occasions, and were therefore unconnected. In my humble opinion, the unfortunate disconnect of this saying from its original biblical prophetic inspiration (the sword and fire of God), has allowed generations of Christians to think that it is acceptable to break up families for the sake of the gospel – in other words, to deliberately frame their gospel in terms of a divisive message, instead of a message that heals, and brings people together.
The Fire of God’s Glory
The prophet Malachi said,
The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says YHVH of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire, and like launderers’ soap.” (Mal 3:1b-2)
Malachi was speaking of a prophet who would preach with fire in his words – this was the promised ‘prophet like Elijah’, who would come to announce a time of tribulation – a ‘Day of Yahveh’. Yeshua believed that Yohanan the Immerser (John the Baptist) was this promised prophet like Elijah (Mt 11:13-14).
Furthermore, the righteous anger of God against injustice would consume the Land:
“Through the wrath of YHVH of hosts the Land will be burned, and the people will become like fuel for the fire.” (Isa 9:19)
“And YHVH will cause God’s majestic voice to be heard, and the descending blow of God’s arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and tempest and hailstones.” (Isa 30:30)
It was therefore believed that in future times of tribulation, God’s Glory would consume the Land like a purifying fire, to judge the wicked and vindicate the innocent.
The midrash regarding those who refused to listen to God’s Message
The Prophet Isaiah said,
“as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their roots will be consumed, and their blossoms will rise like ash, for they have rejected the teaching of YHVH of hosts, and have despised the Message of the Holy One of Israel.” (Isa 5:24)
In the midrash, certain people are mentioned – those most likely to have stubbornly refused to listen to Yeshua’s call for repentance: “Zealots, …certain Torah scholars, ….religious fakers and hypocrites, the rich and the greedy”.
The refusal of these types of people to listen to God’s call to repentance may have caused Yeshua to long for the fire of God’s Glory to do its purifying work, but perhaps without the accompanying destructive war.
The prophetic ‘Day of YHVH’
Rabbinic theology eagerly and joyfully looks forward to this ‘Day of Hashem’, because they believe the term refers to ‘the Messianic Age’, but it doesn’t. Wherever ‘the Day of YHVH’ is mentioned in the biblical prophets, it always refers to a time of tribulation. Amos even cautions people about longing for this ‘Day of Hashem’: ‘Woe to you who desire the Day of YHVH! Why do you want the day of YHVH? . . . . the Day of YHVH shall not be light but rather darkness, blackest night without a glimmer’, (Amos 5:18-20).
Notable commentators understand Yeshua’s mission in terms of apocalypse (the end of the world), but the end of the world has self-evidently not come. Instead, it would be more realistic to understand Yeshua’s mission in terms of a prophet chosen by God to forewarn of a coming ‘Day of YHVH’ – a soon-to-come time of tribulation.
Life application
You all know of certain religious people who long for the world to end, because they believe that they will immediately be taken into heaven to meet ‘Christ’. This means that there is a whole swathe of the human race who eagerly long for war and conflict, and are delighted by news of terrible wars spreading around the world. This is contrary to Amos who warned, “Woe to you who desire the Day of YHVH!” (Amos 5:18).
When a prophet declares a coming Day of YHVH, the response should not be jubilation, but rather repentance, and an earnest desire to rediscover and return to the righteous and ethical ways of God. Religious hypocrites need to reevaluate their perverse views on religion; corrupt and authoritarian leaders need to examine the true, intrinsic purpose of the leader of a people under God; religious zealots who embrace violence and commit murder in the name of their religion, need to be made aware that there is no paradise for them at the end of their lives; and wealthy people whose only god is mammon, need to realise that they have a God-ordained responsibility to give back to society – they cannot simply take more and more from it, leaving those with little or nothing to make up for the taxes they avoid paying.
Those who refused to listen to Yeshua’s message in the 1st century, have their precise counterparts in our society today in the 21st century. Yeshua’s values are relevant throughout every generation, and need to be resurrected and reasserted in every generation, by those who declare that they are his followers.