The Yoke of God, Why we truly need it!

The Yoke of God:

Why we truly need it!

Jesus said, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:29).

Today, I was discussing the topic of being yoked and someone mentioned that Jesus had done away with the commandments of the Old Testament, according to Matthew, chapter 11. It is interesting to me how people look at part of Scripture and do not relate it to the totality of Scripture. I often remind people that theology is an all-inclusive and interwoven understanding. You cannot simply take a verse and derive a meaning that is contrary to previously understood meanings and that totally contradicts all other Scripture. It seems that people believe that in Matthew 11, Jesus does away with God’s commandments with the phrase, “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” Many have taken this to mean that Jesus is releasing one from the bondage of the Old Testament commandments of God. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Jesus is sustaining the commandments of God in His statement. Let me explain how this works by first explaining the concept of being yoked together and how a Jewish listener would have understood Jesus’ words.

How is the concept of being yoked defined, i.e., being “yoked together”? Basically, a wooden crosspiece is fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to a plough or cart that they are to pull (Oxford Dictionary). The main purpose of being yoked is to bind two animals together to share the burden of work, thereby making their efforts more productive and less cumbersome. However, the Torah (God’s instruction book) forbids yoking two different animals together (Deut 22:10). I will come back to this concept of being unequally yoked a little later in the essay.

In the Old Testament, the concept of being yoked often had to do with the concept of servitude. Those who were yoked were considered to be in the service of someone else -- a master or a king. The burden placed on those yoked comes from others in positions of authority. There is always a problem when one uses carnal understanding to make spiritual interpretations or when one devises an interpretation without first understanding the totality of Scripture. There is a big difference in the interpretation of the concept of being yoked carnally vs. a spiritual understanding of being yoked. I recall another conversation with some missionaries earlier this year. I reminded them that when one is sent to work, he or she is sent alone to accomplish a task. At work, we are often given tasks by our bosses and sent off to accomplish these tasks on our own. But this is not how God sends His workers into the field. In fact, when God sends followers into the world to work for Him, He joins them. He is yoked with them. He equips them, then yokes Himself with them in the task that is to be accomplished. This simple understanding makes a big difference in how we interpret Scripture and especially how we interpret the concept of being yoked. It will make a difference in how we understand Matthew 11.

In the Old Testament, being yoked represented being paired with God, i.e., one is brought together in tandem with God to accomplish the task He Himself gave one to accomplish. The yoke God gives us is contained within the commandments of God themselves. He has given us the commandments so that we can join Him in His work, so that we can work along with God, being yoked together. In an earlier essay, I wrote about how the commandments worked and that the word commandment is derived from the Hebrew word “to join.” When one follows the commandments of God, he or she actually is joined with or yoked with God Himself. God shares the load with us as we seek to follow His commandments. A friend earlier this month wrote on my Facebook page when “we can have complete faith in Him and by keeping His commandments, He is bound by covenants to bless us.” I agree, but would instead say that God keeps His promises between us, implying all working together. In both cases, the concept fits well within this idea of being yoked or joined with God to accomplish His tasks.

So, how would a Jewish listener interpret Jesus saying, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light”? First of all, the concept of yoke immediately would have been associated with the precepts of the commandments of God. His commandments are meant to be an instruction book on how to be holy (Learn from Me); thus, they are gentle, not burdensome, as some interpret them (a deeper explanation is provided in my earlier essay). Understand that God’s commandments are an instruction book on how to elevate one’s spiritual life -- not oppressive laws, as they are often understood carnally. It is within the commandments of God that we find rest for our souls. When Jesus says, “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light,” a Jewish listener immediately would have understood that Jesus was placing Himself into the role of God, revealing His deity and not doing away with God and God’s teachings. Jesus often spoke from a position of authority, such is this case. Jesus was reaffirming the commandments in a way that the Jewish listener would have easily understood.

An understanding of this concept can be seen in Jeremiah, Chapter 27. God tells Jeremiah to make himself straps and a yoke, then put them around his neck. The yoke was a reminder that soon, the people of Israel would be yoked with the king of Babylon and no longer joined or yoked with God because the people had abandoned the commandments of God and had chosen to follow false idols and their false teachings. Jeremiah’s symbolic yoke was meant to show the children of Israel that they would soon be on their own, to bear their own burdens, and to bear the burdens of an earthly king, who will place burdens on the people, but not share the burdens equally with the people, as God does. This is the main difference between how one operates carnally vs. spiritually. When we follow the ways of man, we are left to fend for ourselves, but when we embrace God’s commandments, entering into a covenant with Him, God shares our burdens with us, equally. I have written extensively about the commandments and how they should be understood, but in this case, Jesus was not doing away with the commandments in Matthew 11, but instead, He was reaffirming their importance, while placing Himself squarely into the role of God and revealing His deity, while speaking with authority.

Further understanding can be made through the concept of being unequally yoked (Deut. 22:10). It becomes obvious when one understands how being yoked together works that putting a yoke around two different animals would cause problems. The concept of being yoked only works when both animals are of equal size and strength, so that they can work together and share the burden equally. In my teachings of the commandments, I explain how true believers exist within a binary role of serving God and serving mankind. The commandments are the yoke that joins us with God. Without them, we are left to bear our own burdens. This understanding is what my friend was pointing out to me earlier, that God is obligated to keep His promises between His covenant children because we are essentially joined, or yoked, together, thereby sharing the load and responsibility together.

I recall yet another conversation I had with some missionaries earlier this year, when we were discussing the concept of Chastity. I mentioned that violations of the commandment of Chastity were very serious. God’s commandments were given to the Israelites as a covenant relationship, akin to a marriage covenant. Thus, as is within a marriage covenant, two are joined, or yoked, together to share the burdens of life equally. The same can be said when one enters into a covenant relationship with God. They are joined/yoked together in a spiritual marriage covenant to share the burdens of life together. Any violation of this marriage covenant leads to adultery. In the Old Testament, God often called the Israelites an adulterous people because they continually abandoned the commandments of God in favor of false idols and false teachings. Any behavior that leads us astray from the commandments of God can lead us into adultery. Thus, the commandments of God become essential for keeping us joined, or yoked, together with God, much like a marriage covenant works between a man and a woman. Of course, more analogies can be made about being unequally yoked, but the idea is to understand the equal responsibility of two being yoked.

Rather than replace God’s commandments, Jesus’ teachings actually reaffirm them, while showing His Deity in the process. As Mormons, we understand better than most the importance of the commandments. Sadly, many people disregard the commandments because they find them oppressive, not understanding the true nature within the commandments. As I have written before, the commandments serve to elevate our spiritual lives, to put us on an equal plane with the one who gave us the precepts: God. Thus, the commandments join, or yoke, us together with God, allowing God to share our burdens in life and lighten the load of life. The commandments teach one to become holy, as well as gentle and humble, finding rest within the shadows of God’s wings. So, when Jesus said, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light,” in Matthew 11:29, he was teaching us to obey the commandments of God, and stay yoked with God, so that God can share in the burdens of life together with us, equally with us. Thus, we become more productive in God’s work, while God lessens the burden of life through the commandments by serving alongside us, to accomplish His ultimate redemptive plan for mankind. As we obey the commandments of God, the concept of being yoked to God allows for more productivity in God’s plan for our lives, while lessening the burdens life can throw at us in the process. This is why we truly need to be yoked with God, through His commandments.

Ironically, this morning during my devotional, I read about the Righteous King Mosiah. In Mosiah Chapter 6, verse 7 it mentions how newly anointed King Mosiah joined the people in tilling the earth, so as to not become burdensome to the people. It fits nicely within the framework of this short essay. King Mosiah gave the people a task of tilling the earth, then He joined them in tilling the earth as to not become a burden and to lighten the people’s load. I thought it would be a nice way of ending this essay.

• Mosiah Chapter 6 King Benjamin records the names of the people and appoints priests to teach them— Mosiah reigns as a righteous king. About 124– 121 B.C. 1 And now, king Benjamin thought it was expedient, after having finished speaking to the people, that he should take the names of all those who had entered into a covenant with God to keep his commandments. 2 And it came to pass that there was not one soul, except it were little children, but who had entered into the covenant and had taken upon them the name of Christ. 3 And again, it came to pass that when king Benjamin had made an end of all these things, and had consecrated his son Mosiah to be a ruler and a king over his people, and had given him all the charges concerning the kingdom, and also had appointed priests to teach the people, that thereby they might hear and know the commandments of God, and to stir them up in remembrance of the oath which they had made, he dismissed the multitude, and they returned, every one, according to their families, to their own houses. 4 And Mosiah began to reign in his father’s stead. And he began to reign in the thirtieth year of his age, making in the whole, about four hundred and seventy-six years from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem. 5 And king Benjamin lived three years and he died. 6 And it came to pass that king Mosiah did walk in the ways of the Lord, and did observe his judgments and his statutes, and did keep his commandments in all things whatsoever he commanded him. 7 And king Mosiah did cause his people that they should till the earth. And he also, himself, did till the earth, that thereby he might not become burdensome to his people, that he might do according to that which his father had done in all things. And there was no contention among all his people for the space of three years. (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Book of Mormon (Kindle Locations 3720-3735). (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Kindle Edition.)

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