Crown of Thorns

 

    

When I saw these two images in a teaching by Rabbi David Fohrman of AlephBeta, my immediate thought was of Yeshua.

And then the same concept was repeated by Rabbi Yehoshuah Gordon of blessed memory in his teaching on Vayechi.

So I'm thinking: "Oh my gosh! The crown of thorns the Romans rammed onto His head meant so much more than I ever guessed!"

Let's back up a bit and see what this is all about:

    When Yosef undertook his vow to Ya'aqov to take his body to Kena'an for burial, it was an Egyptian state funeral, with many senior officials and officers escorting the family.

    Bereshiyt 50:7-11:

"So Yosef went up to bury his father. With him went all Pharaoh's servants, the leaders of his household and the leaders of the land of Egypt, along with the entire household of Yosef, his brothers and his father's household; only their little ones, their flocks and their cattle did they leave in the land of Goshen. Moreover, there went up with them both chariots and horsemen - it was a very large caravan.

"When they arrived at the threshing floor in Atad, beyond the Yarden, they raised a loud and bitter lamentation, mourning for his father seven days. When the local inhabitants, the Kena'ani, saw the mourning on the floor of Atad they said, 'How bitterly the Egyptians are mourning!' This is why the place was given the name Avel-Mitsrayim (mourning of Egypt), there beyond the Yarden."

    OK, so no mention of crowns or thorns yet....

Here is Rashi's commentary on Chapter 50 v 10:

I refer you back to those two pictures at the top of this post.

    Rashi is referring to Sotah 13a:

"The Gemara explains what honor was accorded to the family of Jacob: As it is written: “And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they wailed with a very great and sore wailing; and he made a mourning for his father seven days” (Genesis 50:10).

The word atad is the name of the boxthorn bush. And does a boxthorn bush have a threshing floor? Thorns are not collected and eaten.

Rabbi Abbahu says: This teaches that they surrounded the casket of Jacob with crowns, like this threshing floor that is surrounded with boxthorns, because the children of Esau and the children of Ishmael and the children of Keturah all came to the burial of Jacob.

A Sage taught: Initially, they all came to wage war with the family of Jacob, but once they saw the crown of Joseph, the viceroy of Egypt, hanging on the casket of Jacob, they all took their crowns and hung them on the casket of Jacob. A Sage taught: Thirty-six crowns were hung on the casket of Jacob. This was the great honor accorded to the family of Jacob."

      The mere fact that the Kena'ani Kings renamed this threshing floor after Ya'aqov's funeral procession was a great honour. As was the encircling of the coffin with their crowns, just as the threshing floor was encircled with a "crown" of thorns.

    It was as if the crowns made a circle of thorns around the coffin.

    I don't think the Roman soldiers who twisted a crown out of thorns to put on Yeshua's head knew about this Midrash. Even so, in their despicable treatment of The Saviour, they used strong symbolism from Chazal.

    So, the crown of thorns that was meant by the Romans to insult and demean Yeshua, actually did the opposite! It honoured Him, according to the Jewish texts mentioned above.

I love making new (for me) connections between Yeshua and the Tanakh & Talmud. Repeated proof that Yeshua is exactly Who He says He is, the Jewish Messiah. And through Him, we who were born as non-Jews can be saved and grafted into Israel.

What a cause for rejoicing! Shavu'a Tov!