Covered In Dust

By: Tony Griffies

Home > Learning Center > Devotional Articles

Growing up in the church, I remember memorizing the books of the Old and New Testaments. And no, I'm not talking about the contents of those books, but the names of those books. I was quite proud to be able to recite the names of the bible books in front of my Sunday school classmates. As big an accomplishment as this may have been, I didn't have anything on a young Jewish boy. Jewish boys back in Jesus' day grew up memorizing the Talmud (Genesis-Deuteronomy). After they would reach a certain age, these boys would then either make a transition so as to learn a trade or, if they were exceptionally well versed in the Talmud, they would further their training and instruction, eventually applying to become a disciple of a local rabbi. Only the crème of the crop would ever become disciples of rabbis.

Each rabbi was known to have a particular set of instructions that they would pass on to their student. This special set of instructions was known as that rabbi's yolk. So, if a young Jewish boy desired to be a disciple of a rabbi, that boy would have to take upon him that rabbi's yolk, learning from that rabbi so as to learn what that rabbi knows and to ultimately become like his rabbi. If you remember, Jesus once told his followers to take up His yolk, and to learn from Him.

"May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi."

A rabbi would test his student's knowledge of such things as the Torah and the Talmud, and if the student just didn't quite have it, the student would be told to go back to learning his family's trade. However, if the student did have a good understanding of the teachings, then that rabbi would say, Come follow me. The boy would have to leave behind his family and everything he knew to follow in the footsteps of his rabbi (Jesus treated his followers the same way). This is what it meant to become a disciple.

A saying developed among disciples of rabbis. At the end of a given day, wherever the rabbi had traveled, his disciples would have traveled also. Whatever dust and grime had collected on the rabbi that same dust and grime would have caked up on the rabbi's disciples. So disciples would say to one another, May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi. This was one sign to everyone that you had been following in the footsteps of your master teacher.

Times haven't changed so much. The same Jesus who called people to take up His yolk and to learn of Him is the same Jesus who calls you and me to follow suit. Jesus, the Master Teacher or Rabbi is looking for dedicated people who will follow in His footsteps. May we all follow the path of the Rabbi, Jesus and may we each be able to say to one another, May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi.

Home | Search | Welcome Center | Learning Center