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Post by dominiquerhines on Apr 8, 2020 11:32:21 GMT
What is the meaning behind Luke 23:31. Jesus is on the way to be crucified and says to the women weeping for Him...
Luke 23:31 NKJV — [31] “For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?”
The full text (Luke 23:28-31) says this,
Luke 23:28-31 NKJV — [28] But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. [29] “For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!’ [30] “Then they will begin ‘to say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” ’ [31] “For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?”
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Post by Jeff G on Apr 8, 2020 19:43:46 GMT
OK - first, it's worth mentioning that similar language is used in Ezekiel 17:24 and Ezekiel 20:47, which mention green and dry trees - but I don't this will help us too much, since I don't think these passages are directly about the same thing. But I think the idea is that "green tree/wood" represents a righteous person, and "dry tree/wood" represents the unrighteous. So Jesus is the green tree, and the "wicked and adulterous generation" that Jesus often had to deal with - that certainly included plenty of dry trees. I think Jesus was speaking about the judgment and calamity that would come upon many of the Jewish people in 70 AD. Indeed, those events were truly horrible. So while Jesus was being led to be crucified (certainly a terrible way to die), He was giving a warning about even worse things that would happen in the future.
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Post by dominiquerhines on Apr 8, 2020 20:13:54 GMT
Hey, thanks Jeff. So you are saying that Jesus was conveying in Luke 23:31 that if He, being a righteous man, was sentenced to death (aka. they did a terrible act during the green wood/tree) then it should be no amazing thing that they would commit even worse evil in a sinful generation, in the time where unrighteous abounds in many (aka. committing even more terrible acts during the dry wood/tree)?
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Post by Jeff G on Apr 8, 2020 22:55:43 GMT
Yes, I think that's it.
But now I'm wondering, who's the "they" that we're talking about? I mean, is it specifically about the Romans, or perhaps it's broader than that and it's about humans in general? Or maybe it's kind of both.
“For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?”
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Post by dominiquerhines on Apr 9, 2020 19:58:32 GMT
Yes, I think that's it. But now I'm wondering, who's the "they" that we're talking about? I mean, is it specifically about the Romans, or perhaps it's broader than that and it's about humans in general? Or maybe it's kind of both. “For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?”Yeah, I have come to understand that many things in the Bible have multiple applications or spirals like Doug says.
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