What do you think of when you think of waving palm branches on Palm Sunday, a day that commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey? The images likely evoke the ideas of a humble king coming in peace.
However, if you were knowledgeable about the Jewish culture of the time, you would recognize that the palm branches had quite a different meaning for the people who welcomed Jesus.
“It’s exactly the exact opposite,” said Rabbi Jason Sobel, who joined ChurchLeaders for an interview about his new book, “Transformed by the Messiah: How Old and New Testament Jesus Connections Reveal God’s Intentional Story for Your Life,” which is out now.
“Historically, when you look at Second Temple Judaism, when you read the works of Josephus, or you read about the story of the Maccabees, which Hanukkah is about,” said Sobel, “really, the palm branch became a sign of Israel’s national independence that they won after military victories.”
“If you look at ancient coins, when they won independence, they would put the palm branches, they’d mint coins symbolic of the victory they won,” Sobel explained. “When Rome defeated the Jewish people, they put a Jewish person weeping under a palm tree, symbolizing they had been defeated and lost their sovereignty.”
“So their waving of the palm branches was saying, ‘We want a warrior Messiah who’s going to lead a revolt against the Romans and free us from the Gentile oppressors, cleanse us from their pagan influence and restore national sovereignty, a military leader like David who fought the battles of Israel,’” he said. “That’s what they thought they were signing up for. It’s not what they got.”
And then in the Book of Revelation, said Sobel, “There’s the picture of those who overcome the tribulation waving palm branches in heaven. So even in the New Testament, it becomes a sign of victory over the enemy,” although the “New Testament talks about it [as] a spiritual overcoming, a spiritual victory.”
Sobel’s new book offers numerous examples of how understanding Jewish culture brings clarity to the Christian faith and the identity of Jesus. When we understand these details in Scripture, said Sobel, we can be transformed by Jesus ourselves and have a deeper understanding of God’s intentionality and love for us.
“God is in the details, and you can take that to the bank,” said Sobel, “and therefore that should give us hope that our future is going to be better than our past.”
Rabbi Jason Sobel: The Details Reveal God Is ‘Intentional About Your Life’
Rabbi Jason Sobel is an author and the founder of Fusion Global, a ministry that seeks to bring people into the full inheritance of the faith by connecting treasures of the old and the new. He has served as a spiritual advisor for the internationally acclaimed series “The Chosen” since its inception. He previously joined ChurchLeaders in 2023 to talk about his book “Signs and Secrets of the Messiah: A Fresh Look at the Miracles of Jesus.”
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“Part of my passion is to help people see the Bible and, in this case, the life of Jesus in high definition,” said Sobel of why he wrote “Transformed by the Messiah.” He remembers drawing in a workbook as a child and doing an activity to connect the dots.
“God is in the details, and you can take that to the bank,” says Rabbi Jason Sobel, “and therefore that should give us hope that our future is going to be better than our past.”Click to Post“There was something so satisfying when at the end you saw all the dots connect in the picture that was formed,” he said. “I think when we connect the dots between the Old and the New [Testaments] and see how it connects, we see the life of Jesus in high definition.”
