Let’s begin with Matthew 26:30. “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”
We must ask the question, Why did Yeshua go out to Har HaZeitim, that is, the Mount of Olives? And on leaving the guest room late on Passover, what song did they sing on their way to the Mount of Olives?
The Mount of Olives is a mountain of three peaks that separates the Judean Desert in the east from the city of Jerusalem in the west. An alternate name given to the Mountain, as cited in the Judean Talmud and the Midrash, is “Har HaMishcha,” which means the Mount of Anointment, named after the anointing oil that was prepared from the olives that grew there. In Hebrew, Mishcha also means to pull, draw, or lead something or someone to or towards something. This is the wordplay that is used when Yeshua was led away to his crucifixion. Given the idolatry and corruption that was so much a part of the Jerusalem spiritual leadership, “Har HaMishcha – the Mount of Anointment and the Mount of Drawing down, pulling, or leading also came to be called Har haMashchit – the Mount of Corruption, which is a play in Hebrew. You can see this in 2 Kings 23:13. Should it be any surprise to us that Yeshua:
- 1) Prayed on the Mount of Anointment
- 2) Arrested as a religious criminal on the Mount of Anointment
- 3) Crucified on the Mount of Anointment
- 4) Buried on the Mount of Anointment
- 5) Resurrected on the Third Day on the Mount of Anointment
- 6) Ascended to the Right of the Father from the Mount of Anointment
- 7) Returns to the Mount of Anointment as our King, the Son of David
As for the song or songs that were sung on the walk to the Mount of Anointment, did Yeshua sing the Hillel (Psalms 113-118)? Not likely. If not the Hillel, what was sung? We’ll find our answer in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Qumran texts of 11Q5.
Join us for this Episode Number 127 and PART 14 in our study of the last Passover week of Yeshua on Real Israel Talk Radio
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