Mathew 11:21


askandanswer
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21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have arepented long ago in sackcloth and bashes.

Every time I read this verse, I wonder why it is that Jesus chose to do these mighty works in Bethsaida, where they were rejected, instead of arranging for these works to be done in Tyre and Sidon, where they would have been accepted, and resulted in large scale repentance by the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon. I understand that being outside the jurisdictional boundaries that Christ seemed to have been working under, ( See Matthew 15:24) there was a reduced likelihood that Christ Himself would have gone to these two cities, but given that mighty works were performed by previous prophets in other places, its hard for me to understand why His personally appointed apostles were not instructed to go and perform any might works in cities where Christ knew they would have success if those works were performed. Can anyone suggest some good reasons why Christ did works in locations that He probably knew would not bear good fruit, while choosing not to work, and not to arrange for others to do work,  in cities that He knew would bear good fruit?

 

 

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3 hours ago, askandanswer said:

Can anyone suggest some good reasons why Christ did works in locations that He probably knew would not bear good fruit, while choosing not to work, and not to arrange for others to do work,  in cities that He knew would bear good fruit?

I don't know one way or the other, but here's a possibility: 

Mistakes - Despair, Inc.

 

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For that matter, why didn’t He come to the Nephites rather than the Jews?

As to Tyre and Sidon specifically:  Christ isn’t saying the people of Tyre and Sidon of the first century AD would have accepted Him.  He’s saying the people of Tyre and Sidon of the 4th-7th centuries BC, who were condemned by Isaiah/Jeremiah/Ezekiel and subsequently destroyed for their wickedness (like the people of Sodom who were destroyed for their wickedness) were less hard-hearted than the people of Judah.  This may have been objectively true; or it may have been hyperbole intended by the Lord to shock His hearers into repentance and warn them that they were living on borrowed time.

Edited by Just_A_Guy
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18 hours ago, askandanswer said:

21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have arepented long ago in sackcloth and bashes.

Every time I read this verse, I wonder why it is that Jesus chose to do these mighty works in Bethsaida, where they were rejected, instead of arranging for these works to be done in Tyre and Sidon, where they would have been accepted, and resulted in large scale repentance by the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon. I understand that being outside the jurisdictional boundaries that Christ seemed to have been working under, ( See Matthew 15:24) there was a reduced likelihood that Christ Himself would have gone to these two cities, but given that mighty works were performed by previous prophets in other places, its hard for me to understand why His personally appointed apostles were not instructed to go and perform any might works in cities where Christ knew they would have success if those works were performed. Can anyone suggest some good reasons why Christ did works in locations that He probably knew would not bear good fruit, while choosing not to work, and not to arrange for others to do work,  in cities that He knew would bear good fruit?

 

 

I believe that part of the answer comes to us through geography and history the rest I think is wrapped up in symbolism.  Let us first take a look at Chorazin and Bethsaida.  These are two rather small villages at the time of Christ that were found on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.  Except for elevation the Sea of Galilee is like a twin to Bear Lake in northern Utah and southern Idaho.  The west side of the Sea of Galilee was mostly Jewish and the east side was mostly pagan.  Bethsaida and Choriazin are at the northern part of the lake, not far from Capernaum.  Jesus spent most of his ministry with his apostles in Capernaum - perhaps as much as 90%.  80% of the recorded miracles performed by Jesus took place in Capernaum.  It is not like the residents of Chorazin and Bethsaida did not know about what was going on (mighty works) in Capernaum.  Likely there were some citizens of Chorazin and Bethsaida that saw and experienced many of the miracles with their own eyes.  In short the residents of Chorazin and Bethsaida were so close and yet so far away. 

I personally liken this to many of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that perhaps attend church quite often but seldom if ever witness the many and great miracles taking place daily among the saints of G-d and if such is witnessed of in Fast and Testimony meeting - they never seem to hear of it or believe it.  In contrast they wonder why they do not experience miracles that were so prevalent at other times and places.

Now for fun I will speak with some history and speculation concerning the cities of Tyre and Sidon.  These are the two ancient capitols of the Phoenicians.   Historically there is some confusion as to who the Phoenicians were; particularly where they came from.  They were perhaps the most advanced sea faring civilization of their time.  The word "Phoenicians" came from the Greeks that named them because of their purple sails on their ships.  The Phoenicians were very closely related to the Israelites.   At the time of King David, the king of Phoenicia (Hyrum) gave David a fleet of 300 ships that would depart from Israel and return 2 year later laden with trade.  Among the traded goods were peacocks that at that time were only found in India.  Using the time at sea and the products returned these ships likely were able to navigate around the Cape of Good Hope.

When the civilizations of Europe were able to master such navigation closer to our modern times - within 40 years of such technology - their ships were blown off course on their return and ended up in South America.  I speculate that the fleet of King David also included the Americas in their secret travels and I will speak a little more to this speculation.  Perhaps the lost gold mines of King Solomon  were in the Americas. 

But let us now look into some things we learn from the Book of Mormon.  About the time of Lehi arriving in the Americas there was a group of people that escaped the siege of Babylon by taking to the sea in ships.  Unlike the Lehites the Mulekites sailed through the Mediterranean and their purpose was to preserve the blood line of the kings of Israel.   In ancient Hebrew "Mulek" was a term for "king".  I find it interesting that their capitol in the Americas was Zarahemla but more importantly the name of the river flowing next to the city was "Sidon".  And so I speculate that the Mulekites knew of the sea faring ancient tec of their ancestors and fled to a place they already knew secretly of that the Babylonians could not follow. 

And so I believe that Jesus was making reference to peoples among the Nephits that did repent in sack cloth and ashes because of miracles that had taken place 30 years earlier.  As a side note to all this - I believe the traditions and culture of the Mulekites were the fuel for the Kingsmen noted in the Book of Mormon.

 

The Traveler

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