A VERY SIGNFICANT FINDING

 In studying the Bible, we often gloss over what we do not understand. Many times, what is glossed over is the most important! Now let’s examine the “Council” and “Raca.”

The Jews had laws (six-hundred and thirteen of them). They were laws that God revealed to Moses for various reasons: health, righteousness, civility, respect, and so forth. The scribes transcribed the laws so often that they became the legal experts, and they often accompanied the Pharisees to determine the Law, and the latter who judged about everybody, including Jesus.

In addition, there were two councils: (1) The Lesser Sanhedrin which was made up of twenty-three judges in each major city, and (2) one Greater Sanhedrin made up of seventy- one members, including a “prince” or “president” (nasi) and one chief of the court. The latter was much like a supreme court and the former district courts.

Their jurisdiction included all the six-hundred-thirteen Mosaic Laws many of which were regulations to strictly enforce the Ten Commandments — the Law of God.

This commentary considers the second part of the key verse for today: 

KEY VERSE: But I say unto you, “That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council:” but whosoever shall say, “Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Mat 5:22)

 During my many years of learning, I have heard only one teacher or preacher who explained the word “Raca” and it was still vaguely defined. Admit it, you have skipped over “Raca” as well and perhaps even neglected to ask, What council?

Raca is not translated from the Greek because it was an Aramean word which in turn was the common language of the day that most of the Jews spoke. Few Jews spoke Hebrew and because of Hellenization and Romanism, most turned to the Aramaic Language of the surrounding area, greater Syria. Aramaic was the commercial and governmental language of its day, so no wonder the council would understand “Raca” and no wonder the legal term was non-translated from the Greek.

Raca (rhaka) means nonsense (Strong 1890). If one person accused another of nonsense, perhaps they would have their day in court. Many duels were fought in colonial America because of frivolous words that offended people, and surely it was the same in Herodian times.’

Raca was essentially accusing someone of being brainless or mindless. Their thoughts were so worthless that they were nothing more than provocateurs. It appears that such flippant accusation could be taken to a council to sue for justice.

Unknown is which council… the Lesser or Greater Sanhedrin. It is known that it was the Sanhedrin because the Greek word translated as “council” was “Synedrion” which was first and formally the Greek Council in the Hellenistic era (Wikipedia 2001).

The Sanhedrin may have been Judaean copy of the Greek Synedrion. Therefore, whether the “council” in question was Greek or Jewish is ambiguous, but in the Roman era, a good guess would be the Sanhedrin of the Pharisees whose membership included their political opponents, the Sadducees.

If so, then the council would indeed judge on Mosaic Law but which one? Perhaps it might have been this one: The court must not kill anybody on circumstantial evidence, to wit: “Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked” (Exod 23:7)

“False matters” would be mindless lies that are uttered that might cause injustice. They would be frivolous contrivances, or misinformation that could be made up. They would be lies that had no continuity. George Orwell would say something like this, a multitude of lies do not make one truth.

The council, whichever it was, would decide the case. They would judge the circumstantial evidence whenever there was no firm proof and decide the fate of the accused. Whether it was factual or not was up to the members of the Sanhedrin. They all had biasness and judged each using different metrics because they were not only an ecclesiastical body but a true political body that was a shadow government in those times.

If decided wrongly, the council could either favor the false accusation or deny the truth. The outcome could either doom the innocent or exonerate the guilty. The mob trial of Jesus was a case of “Raca” wherein misinformation on the part of political partisans doomed the real King of the Jews. No wonder Jesus said, “Raca”!

The mob that judged Jesus guilty was nothing more than a mindless lynch mob that cared nothing about truth, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36), but feared their kingdom of Judaea was in jeopardy, and did so without evidence!

In the key verse, Jesus added, ““Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” Perhaps Jesus was not speaking to the formal Sanhedrin but to the rule of the mob who were enforcing the Law of Moses — that because Jesus claimed to be the Image of God, that He broke the Law (John 14:9).

Not “Raca” (mis-informers) but fools (moros). Even the friends of Jesus testified against Him: “And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, “He is beside himself (Existemi)” (Mark 3:21) — “to be out of one's mind, besides one's self, insane” (ibid).

That seems strange! Jesus is God. He is the “Existence.” To say that He is besides himself, would be that He only thought He was the Father (Existence — I AM THAT I AM, Jehovah). He is crazy, thinking that He is JHVH!

Jesus was issuing a dire warning… Those that thought that He is not God were in danger of the fire of Hell! The “lynch mob” who hanged Him on the “tree” (the Cross) were in danger of hell fire. He was warning the multitude who would eventually listen to the mindless thoughts of the accusers.

Is that what happens to this day? Are not minds made up? Trump is crazy; he must be impeached. Trump is crazy; he must be imprisoned. All the while those who testify to that are the mindless “Racans”!

Of course, this commentary is not about Trump nor even specifically Jesus. Jesus is referring to the general M.O. of the masses. They are the mindless that today’s Democrats depend upon for injustice, or as Jonathan Gruber said about Obamacare, “We depended on the stupidity of the American voter.”

That’s what happened to Jesus; the council (the mob) depended on the stupidity of the Judean “voters” who voted mindlessly and needlessly for misinformation to be accepted… “Crucify Him; crucify Him!” Perhaps Jesus was speaking of His near future trials by several different councils, one as mindless as the next.

For myself, I now see that Jesus was speaking about the multitude when He was falsely accused by mindless people who had no evidence. That is a very significant finding in the pursuit of truth.

Who broke the Law? It was certainly not the accused, Jesus, but the council at the crucifixion that became the law that day.

(picture credit, Getty Images, duncan1890)