With this understanding, let’s examine deeper the meaning of what Jesus expressed when He cried out, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani” and the greater message it would have communicated to those nearby. But the religious leaders would have understood His greater message, which comes from the rest of the verse which explains why they are giving praise: “Because of Your adversaries, that You might silence the enemy and make the revengeful cease.” The religious leaders would have realized that Jesus was not only answering their question but also implying that they were God’s enemies. Jesus quoted to them the first part of Psalm 8:2. Did you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of children and nursing babies, you have perfected praise?’” (Psalm 8:2) This is one form of remez.Ī different kind of example comes from Matthew 21:15-16:īut when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children who were crying in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the son of David!” they were indignant, and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes. He builds from this understanding the foundation of the his Gospel that he is going to share the story of God who came to earth and lived among us. For instance, John begins his Gospel by saying, “In the beginning…” These three words are a “clue” to look back, knowing that Jewish readers would know Genesis 1:1, where the Bible tells us that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. This method of teaching is found inside all four Gospels in different ways. A religious leader would quote a short section of Scripture knowing that his audience would know to fill in the rest of the passage.įor instance, if someone were dying, today one could say, “The Lord is your shepherd.” But in its greater context there hearer would understand that the purpose is not just this one line but the meaning and comfort found throughout the entire Psalm. So, remez became a kind of teaching short-hand. Large portions of Scripture were memorized, not only by the religious leaders, but by the common people as well. Many Jewish children, especially the children of religious leaders, were expect to memoize the entire Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers) by the time they were twelve and to be able to explain it by the time they were thirteen. Knowing Scripture in Jesus’ day was a top priority.
#Eli eli lama sabachthani full
To understand this in its full meaning, we first need to reach back to Jewish culture: The great rabbis in Jesus’ day used a technique that later came to be called “ remez,” meaning “hint” or “clue.” Remez is when a teacher would use part of a Scripture passage, expecting the hearers to know the rest of the story and thus to deduce a greater meaning of what was being said. He spoke in the language most easily understood by all, the language of the home. In the Hebrew it reads, “Eli, Eli, lamah azabtani,” but from the cross, Jesus spoke in the common language of the day. When Jesus spoke these words from the cross, He was quoting the first line of Psalm 22.
Jesus was completely abandoned, crushed and separated, and for the first time in Scripture, Jesus called out but did not address God as His Father.
He became a curse for us and God turned His face away from His Son.
On the cross, He became sin and God unleashed the full penalty for our sin on Him. Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have separated you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”įor the first time in eternity, the Perfect Son of God was cut off from His Father. With the sin of the world upon Him, Jesus experienced spiritual death and suffered complete separation from the Father. This phrase has often been misunderstood because it wasn’t just a cry of agony. “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’–which means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) A Greater Understanding of What Jesus Meant
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