The Gospel in Words: 'Yoke'

Take my yoke upon you." (Matthew 11:29)"Yoke" comes from a root word meaning to join together; unite; shake together; product of a mixture as in leaven or ferment (Origins of English Words)."The ancient 'yoke' was a pole of wood, resting horizontally on the neck of an animal, or on the necks of a pair of animals; and the … 'bars' (Ezekiel 34:27) consisted of pieces of wood passing perpendicularly through the yoke, and fixed on each side of the neck by 'thongs' (Jeremiah 2:20; 27:2) resting on the hump of the animal, the yoke appears to hold the animal down. Israel is … pictured as a beast of burden. Therefore, when the yoke is removed, Israel can stand upright" (Leviticus, A Book of Ritual and Ethics, Jacob Milgrom).Virtually every usage of the word yoke in scripture has a negative connotation and is used as a symbol of physical or spiritual bondage, such as "yoke of bondage" (Mosiah 21:13). For example, Nephi describes the oppression of the abominable church as something that "yoketh them with a yoke of iron, and bringeth them down into captivity" (1 Nephi 13:5).In the Savior's time, then, all of his listeners were familiar with the idea of a yoke either as in the submission of domesticated animals or in general the yoke of their servitude. They also were deeply familiar with the idea that a savior would come and break their yoke of bondage. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing" (Isaiah 10:27; see Isaiah 14:25).How astonishing it must have been to his listeners to hear him turn the image of yoke into one of liberation. "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).The word learn comes from the root word, track or furrow. When we take his yoke upon us, we can imagine ourselves as an ox pulling a plow and digging furrows. Thus, taking upon us his yoke is essential to learning of him. But as the Savior also teaches, meekness is an indispensable element in learning of him and finding rest to our souls. "Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my spirit, and you shall have peace in me" (D&C 19:23).