Scriptural Mormonism: TDNT on the use of ζυγος (yoke/burden) in Matthew 11:29-30

In Mt. 11:29 f. Jesus invites the κοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι to take upon them His ζυγός: ἄρατε τὸν ζυγόν μου ἐφʼ ὑμᾶς καὶ μάθετε ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ, ὅτι πραΰς εἰμι καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ, καὶ εὑρήσετε ἀνάπαυσιν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν· ὁ γὰρ ζυγός μου χρηστὸς καὶ τὸ φορτίον μου ἐλαφρόν ἐστιν. The saying, which formally belongs to the larger context of wisdom sayings, is obviously formulated as a conscious paradox. How can a ζυγός be easy? But the paradox evaporates when we remember who is speaking and to whom. Jesus is clearly speaking to those who already bear a ζυγός, for He refers expressly to His ζυγός, to the ζυγός of the Messiah, contrasting this with another ζυγός, with the other ζυγός. But this other ζυγός can only be that of worship under the Law, which involves the oppressive labour and attitude of the slave. This is clear from Mt. 23:4, where we find the image of the burden used. In this saying, therefore, a contrast is drawn between the Messianic ζυγός of Jesus and the ζυγός of legalism. Jesus is thus contrasted with the νόμος, as in John’s Gospel and sometimes in Paul. Thus the ζυγός which Jesus lays on those who accept it is the new worship of God in the free access to the Father which is the portion of all who bow obediently to the Word of Jesus and receive from Him the revelation of the will of God. This access is not the result of human attainment; it is the gift of Jesus in His Word and person. For this reason acceptance of His ζυγός is possible only in faith in Him as the Christ. Hence only to those who believe in Him is His yoke a ζυγὸς χρηστός and His burden a φορτίον ἐλαφρόν.

The formula ὁ ζυγός μου obviously stands in conscious correspondence to the expression עוֹל תּוֹרָה. This for its part is par. to such expressions as עוֹל מַלְכוּת שָׁמַיִם, “yoke of the kingdom of heaven” (→ I, 572), עוֹל מִצְוֹת, “yoke of the commandments,” עוֹל שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, “yoke of the Holy One, blessed be He,” עוֹל שָׁמַיִם, “yoke of heaven, i.e., God” (→ οὐρανός), עוֹל שֶׁל ה, “yoke of God,” which all express the idea of subordination to the will of God. At Sir. 51:17 we have in the Heb. the עֹל of σοφία. The Rabbis also speak in the same way of the עוֹל מַלְכוּת, “the yoke of (earthly) government,” the עוֹל דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ, “the yoke of earthly conduct,” and also the עוֹל בָּשָׂר וָדָם, “the human yoke.” The two groups are sometimes contrasted. Thus Ab., 3, 5: “He who accepts the yoke of the Torah, from him they take off the yoke of government and the yoke of earthly conduct.” What is meant is that where the will of God is alone accepted, and where His dominion is present, there is no place for political or economic care. The statement is thus near to the message of Jesus (Mt. 6:10 f.), but with the basic distinction that it presupposes human achievement prior to the dawn of the divine kingdom (→ 525). Similarly, we read in T. Sota, 14, 4 that he who breaks the yoke of heaven, i.e., he who wickedly transgresses the will of God revealed and definitively established in the Torah, brings himself under the yoke of an earthly king, i.e., becomes a servant of man instead of a servant of God.

It is essential to the Jewish world to stand under the עוֹל תּוֹרָה. Yet this is not felt to be a burden; it is a privilege. It rests on God’s dealings with Israel. By the deliverance from Egypt Israel became an elect people ordained to fulfil God’s will. The Rabbis interpreted the law-giving at Sinai in this sense, and thus made the service of God the meaning of the existence of the Jews. In this light we can understand that the recitation of the schema (Dt. 6:4–9; 11:13–21; Nu. 15:37–41), i.e., the confession of the one God of heaven and earth, who is the God of the Jewish people, is equivalent to bowing beneath the yoke of the kingdom of heaven. We can see why the texts say that the proselyte takes upon him the עוֹל מַלְבוּת שָׁמַיִם, and why it is also recorded that the dying Aqiba recited the schema when he breathed his last, tortured to death by the Romans because of his part in the Zealot uprising (b. Ber., 61b). And when Jesus was asked whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar (Mt. 22:15 ff. and par.) there stood in the background those eager souls who were not prepared to tolerate for themselves or for the people any other yoke or will than that of God, the real question being whether Jesus would give the same answer as they did, and therefore take His stand with them, on the question as to the nature of the מַלבוּת שָׁמַיִם. Here is the point where with perfect clarity the yoke of Jesus and the yoke of a divine dominion conceived in human terms divide with all the sharpness with which the Gospel is distinct from the Law.

d. The Jewish use of the “yoke” passes over from the NT into the early Church. In Did., 6, 2 we read: εἰ μὲν γὰρ δύνασαι βαστάσαι ὅλον τὸν ζυγὸν τοῦ κυρίου, τέλειος ἔσῃ. εἰ δʼ οὐ δύνασαι, ὃ δύνῃ τοῦτο ποίει. Since the following verses deal with abstention from certain foods and from meat offered to idols, as with the general folly of idolatry, it seems fairly certain that ὅλος ὁ ζυγὸς τοῦ κυρίου implies sexual asceticism. If so, the admonition as a whole (v. 2–3) renews the so-called apostolic decree of Ac. 15:29, except that now → πορνεία embraces, also the marital relationship—a sign that the Didache is already moving in a different direction from the NT (cf. 1 C. 7:5). Here, as in Barn., 2, 6, the idea of the ζυγός is linked with the Word of Jesus. In Barn., however, there is clear differentiation from Judaism. The description of the Word of Jesus as ὁ καινὸς νόμος … ἄνευ ζυγοῦ ἀνάγκης ὤν is designed, according to the context, to express the fact that the νόμος of Jesus is more gift than obligation, so that it excludes the deployment of human works in the service of God.(Karl Heinrich Rengstorf, “Ζυγός, Ἑτεροζυγέω,” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, 10 vols. [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1964–], 2:899–901)