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Definition of Yoke:
- In literal sense, the word ‘Yoke’ means a bar of wood, so constructed as to unite two animals (usually oxen), enabling them to work in the fields, drawing loads, pulling instruments used for farming.
- Figuratively, It is a symbol of
- Slavery (1 Tim 6:1)
- Servanthood (Lev 26:13:”I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.” Also Jer 27:8-12)
- Submission, Forced Subjection
- Burden, Load
- Oppression (Is 9:4)
- Bondage to Sin (Lam 1:14: “My sins have been bound into a yoke, by his hands, they were woven together…”)
- The Plowman (farmer) binds the yoke upon the neck of the oxen, so that it would not fall off or be shaken off. Yoke bound around the neck of man would cause his strength to diminish, one may waver and fall under the yoke (load).
"Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?" (Hebrews 12:9)
Human parents transmit physical characteristics to their offspring, but our spiritual attributes come from God, for He is "the Father of spirits." Paul recognized that all men are "the offspring of God" (Acts 17:29), and that each man is still "the image and glory of God" (1 Corinthians 11:7).
Thus our spirit/soul nature, as distinct from our body of physical/mental flesh, has come from God, who created it and united it with our body, evidently at the moment of physical conception in the womb. It is obvious that the "image of God," man's spirit/soul nature, could not be transmitted genetically via the "genetic code" and the DNA molecules, for these are simply complex chemicals programmed to transmit only the physical and mental attributes of the ancestors to the children.
