Matthew 27 38 Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. -kjv Matthew 27 44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. -kjv Question from moody radio listener on Mar 25, 2017 on openline: Could you help me understand regards to the passages that referred to the criminals who were crucified with Jesus? Matthew, Mark implied that multiple criminals taunted Jesus. In Luke's account, one of the criminals acknowledged who Jesus was and rebuked the other one. Could there have been more than just two? Normally, we just assumed there have been three of them, two criminals, one who believed and one who did not and Jesus in the middle. Could there have been more criminals crucified who would have been taunting Jesus? Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik and his wife Eva Rydelnik. Dr Michael Rydelnik: I don't think there were just Jesus and the two criminals there. When the Romans executed people, they did a whole bunch. Probably there were more people taunting Jesus than just the two there. It appears that what you have in Luke is one of those who were there being crucified with the Lord Jesus, he's the one who repents and that's the one whom Jesus says "this day you will be with me in Paradise" and there's probably a wide street where many people were being crucified for a variety of reasons. The word that is used here for thiefs is better rebels, these were probably ... Eva Rydelnik: They were zealots against Rome. They were political activist against Rome, which is why one of the charges against Jesus which led to him being crucified was ... Dr Michael Rydelnik : The king of the Jews trying to bring down the Romans. Eva Rydelnik: They use a political accusation against him. Dr Michael Rydelnik: So they were people who were involved in revolt against Rome. Eva Rydelnik: In Matthew 27:44, it just say the robbers who were crucified with him were insulting him but it doesn't say they were dissidents. In verse 38, it says at that time, two robbers were crucified with him. One on the right, one on the left, so in verse 38, it says there were two, in verse 44, it says the robbers. The fact that there were two does not limit that there was only two.
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Question from moody radio listener on openline on March 18, 2017:
In Leviticus, it seems that God is continually telling the Israelites that if they do positive things toward Him, then they will be blessed and if they lived wrongly, they will be punished. Is that how God related to His people back then and is that how He relates to His people now?
Answer from Michael Rydelnik and Larry Feldman:
Michael Rydelnik:
I think there was a general principle, back in the days with the Law of Moses, Deutronomy 28 to 30, Leviticus 26. It taught that God blesses His people for obedience, and He will discipline them, not punish them, for lack of obedience. I think that was the general principle but even in the days when Israel was living in the land, at that time, they still struggled because they saw that there were times when it wasn't quite working out that way. The premise that the writer Asaph has, in Psalms 73, is God is indeed good to Israel, to the pure in heart. He says that God is going to bless them who are pure in heart but then he says as for me, my feet almost slipped, my steps nearly went astray and then He starts talking about the prosperity of the wicked.Then he says, wait a minute, it's not going like I thought, here the wicked are prospering and I am suffering. The basic principle is God blesses those who are obedient, disciplines those who are disobedient but sometimes, God allows difficulties into the lives of those who are obedient so that we can become more obedient.
Larry Feldman:
I think also sometimes people also lose sight of the fact of the fact that God made an unconditional covenant through David and the new covenant in Jeremiah 31, he makes many an Abraham but they forget that the Mosiac covenant is a conditional covenant. God says that as long as you are obeying and walking with me, I will bless you. If you get out of line, God has grace but He will discipline their disobedience and we see that thoughout Israel's history.
Michael Rydelnik:
Yeah, you look at Hebrews 11:32 to 40, you talk about believers who are faithful, it talks about some people who had great victories like Gideon and Barack and all those but others suffered extremely, many of whom the world are not worthy. I would say we can't play hard and fast that this will always be, we don't know the mind of God.
Question from moody radio listener on Mar 11, 2016? Nabonidus? Belshazzar? Nebuchadnezzar? Nabonidus, where does he fit in as far as heritage as is concerned, grandfather? father? I am studying this a lot and I am just baffled by it. Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik: There is nothing to be that baffled about, Nabonidus is the son of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, who is mentioned in Daniel 5, is his son, so some people say that the king should have been Nabonidus but in scripture, it says to be Belshazzar, what we know now is that Belshazzar is co-regent with Nabonidus and that's why in Daniel 5, he says anyone who can interpret the handwriting on the wall will receive a third of my kingdom, could not give half because he had half and basically was co-regent with his father, Nabonidus. So, even though Nabonidus is not mentioned, but Belshazzar, his co-regent was and then Daniel interprets the hand writing on the wall. So, does that make sense to you? Moody Radio listener: It becomes very confusing, Amel-Marduk is Nebuchadnezzar's son and then Nabonidus, I can't figure where he's at? Dr Michael Rydelnik: He is the king who came third after Nebuchadnezzar.