Matthew 11:29

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest to your souls.”

The yoke of Jesus is not based on submitting to His instruction but on learning from Jesus Himself what it meant to be meek and lowly in heart, and walking in submission to Him. It is the yoke of the Kingly Rule of God. In general a yoke is a wooden instrument that joins two animals so that it makes it easier for them, acting together, to pull a heavy load. The idea may well be that Jesus was, as it were, in the yoke, and that those who came to Him joined Him in the yoke and as it were walked with Him as He walked in meekness and lowliness (compare Galatians 2:20). Thus did they learn from Him (compare Isaiah 30:21 where we have the words of the yoke-master). How else could it be made easy? This ties in with the attitude which was required of His disciples in the beatitudes as a result of God's blessing of them (Matthew 5:3).

‘Meek and lowly in heart.' The idea behind meekness is not that of being afraid to stand up and be counted, but of not being continually concerned with one's own interests. The meek person never gets het up about selfish concerns, for in cases like this his concern is only to please God and look after God's interests. That is why Moses was able to be described as ‘meek' (Numbers 12:3). Lowliness of heart goes with meekness. Compare ‘poor in spirit'. There is no thought of exalting self. Note how this connects with the activity of the Servant in Matthew 12:19, and with the continual emphasis on the fact that true greatness is found in being lowly (Matthew 20:25).

‘And you will find rest to your souls.' Compare Jeremiah 6:16 where the rest is found by walking in the old paths, ‘the good way'. So the good way was to be found by walking as He walked. Note that in Jeremiah the failure to listen to what God was saying resulted in the exile. Here the One Who representing Israel has come out of exile (Matthew 2:15) offers the opportunity to them to ‘return from (spiritual) exile' and find rest. But this is the rest of quietness and confidence. ‘In returning and rest you will be saved, in quietness and in confidence will be your strength' (Isaiah 30:15)