All that ever came before me are thieves and
robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. (John 10:8)
Interesting, all who came
before Jesus were “thieves and robbers”! How do you think the Jews would accept
such absurdity? Would they accept that all the Prophets mentioned in the Tanach
were “thieves and robbers”, what’s worse how are they to accept Moses their
teacher who helped save the children of Israel from Pharaoh as one of the crooks?
This is not to be taken lightly, the fact Christians are given the authority to
call Prophets of God “thieves and robbers” cross the limit.
This sickness of name
calling found in the New Testament has morally made Christians more aggressive towards
non-Christians. This verse has also baffled many Christian commentators on why Jesus
would use such language to identify the Prophets of old. This further proves
that Jesus of the Bible was a narcissist.
Now before we look into a few commentaries below is a statement
made by Jesus where he claims that Moses will accuse the Jews for what they
have done.
Do not think that I will accuse you to
the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. (John 5:45)
Another baffling
verse, here Jesus claims he will conceal what the Jews have done and instead make
Moses accuse them. The question is, why would Moses speak for the Jews who were
living under the time of Jesus. Was Moses watching everything the Jews were
doing? Here you can see how Jesus was making Moses look bad in front of his devoted
followers the Children of Israel. What’s interesting, Moses never told
his followers he will accuse them before God. Also notice how Jesus said “There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom
you have set your hope.” here we can see that Jesus emphasised that
the Jews put their hope on Moses and the very same man would let them down. It seems like every single Jew would be accused by Moses. Let’s read a few
commentaries on John 10:8 :
Verse 8. - All that came before me are thieves and
robbers. Great difficulty has been felt by commentators in
understanding "before me." The words clearly gave the early Gnostic
heretics a text on which they established their dualistic rejection of the old
dispensation. Their absence from certain texts led Augustine and others to
emphasize the word "came." "All who came," i.e.
in their own strength or wisdom, when not "sent" or
authorized by God. Other endeavors have been made (see Meyer and Lunge) to give
it a non-temporal meaning, such as χωρίς, "independently of me."
8. All that ever came
before me are thieves and robbers] These words are difficult, and
some copyists seem to have tried to avoid the difficulty by omitting either
‘all’ or ‘before Me.’ But the balance of authority leaves no doubt that both
are genuine. Some commentators would translate ‘instead of Me’ for ‘before Me.’
But this meaning of the Greek preposition is not common, and perhaps occurs
nowhere in N.T. Moreover ‘instead of Me’ ought to include the idea of ‘for My
advantage;’ and that is impossible here.
John Trapp Complete
Commentary
8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the
sheep did not hear them.
Ver. 8. All
that ever came before me, &c.] Manes (that mad heretic) made an
argument from this text against Moses and the prophets, as going before Christ.
But Austin answereth, Moses and the prophets came not before Christ, but with
Christ. Intruders, whether before or since our Saviour’s days, are these
thieves and robbers. Ah, whoreson {a} thieves, rob God of his
glory! said Dr Taylor, martyr, in a dream, of the scribes and Pharisees of his
time.
Schaff's Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Such is the general sense of this verse; it is less easy to fill up
the outline it presents. We may well wonder that any should have thought that
the words ‘all that came before me’ might include the prophets of the
former dispensation; for the context most clearly proves that Jesus is speaking
of those who ‘came before Him,’ professing to be ‘the door of the sheep.’
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
8. All that ever came before me—Few texts have more perplexed commentators than
this. It seems, at first sight, to say that all the previous
religious teachers of mankind were impostors. The ancient Gnostics (a
professedly Christian sect who rejected the Old Testament) quoted it to disprove
the divine mission of Moses.
We can see
through commentaries many took this verse to mean all the previous Prophets
were “thieves and robbers”. Another reason why the Jews don’t accept the
teaching of Jesus and reject the New Testament as the inspired word from God
