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first we will talk about yoke as it is translated in Hebrew...
mowtah, Hebrew 4133, Strong’s
mowtah, mo-taw'; feminine of Hebrew 4132 (mowt); a pole; by implication an ox-bow; hence a yoke (either literal or figurative) :- bands, heavy, staves, yoke. Jeremiah 27:1-11 (The neighbouring nations to be subdued) 1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2Thus saith the Lord to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck, 3And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah; 4And command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your masters; 5I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. 6And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. 7And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him. 8And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. 9Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: 10For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish. 11But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord; and they shall till it, and dwell therein. Matthew Henry's commentary...Jeremiah 28:10-17
Jeremiah is to prepare a sign that all the neighbouring countries would be made subject to the king of Babylon. God asserts his right to dispose of kingdoms as he pleases. Whatever any have of the good things of this world, it is what God sees fit to give; we should therefore be content. The things of this world are not the best things, for the Lord often gives the largest share to bad men. Dominion is not founded in grace. Those who will not serve the God who made them, shall justly be made to serve their enemies that seek to ruin them. Jeremiah urges them to prevent their destruction, by submission. A meek spirit, by quiet submission to the hardest turns of providence, makes the best of what is bad. Many persons may escape destroying providences, by submitting to humbling providences. It is better to take up a light cross in our way, than to pull a heavier on our own heads. The poor in spirit, the meek and humble, enjoy comfort, and avoid many miseries to which the high-spirited are exposed. It must, in all cases, be our interest to obey God’s will. Jeremiah 28:10-17
10 And HanThen Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and brake it. 11aniah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way. 12Then the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the prophet, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 13Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron. 14For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also. 15Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The Lord hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. 16Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord. 17So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month. these are literal yokes

Jeremiah 28:10-17 (The false prophet warned of his approaching death. (10-17) Hananiah is sentenced to die, and Jeremiah, when he has received direction from God, boldly tells him so; but not before he received that commission. Those have much to answer for, who tell sinners that they shall have peace, though they harden their hearts in contempt of God’s word. The servant of God must be gentle to all men. He must give up even his right, and leave the Lord to plead his cause. Every attempt of ungodly men to make vain the purposes of God, will add to their miseries.
so we see in all of this the yoke of rebellion is heavy and hard to bear... and again we see God as a just God... not allow deciet to go unpunished, we may not realize the punishment as onlookers... but God is always just... and that God is a sovereign God, able to do whatever He sees fit to do... His judgement is righteous...
we don't want the kind of yokes spoken of here... representing a bondage to our enemies... but on the other hand... our ultimate enemie, satan, is bound... by our faith in God, satan is bound by a yoke that is heavy and impossible to bear... now another translation of yoke... yoke translated here still in Hebrew is... tsemed, Hebrew 6776, Strong’s
tsemed, tseh'-med; a yoke or team (i.e. pair); hence an acre (i.e. day's task for a yoke of cattle to plough) :- acre, couple, × together, two [asses], yoke (of oxen). 1 Samuel 11:7
And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out with one consent. this is a team that is yoked together...
ox were literally yoked together, forcing them to work together...
if one lags behind... what happens?
it slows the pace, causes the one who is keeping the faster pace to work harder to pull the other along, so the work is slower to get done, and the team can't work as long without tiring...
if they try to go in different directions, what happens??
the same as lagging behind... it just don't get much accomplised...
but if they work together, what happens?
the work goes much smoother, the workload is shared, causing the team to work much faster, and not tire near so quickly... much work gets done, much more efficiently...
then we will talk about another translation of yoke... yoke in these scriptures is translated from the Hebrew as... `ol, Hebrew 5923, Strong’s
`ol, ole; or owl, ole; from Hebrew 5953 (`alal); a yoke (as imposed on the neck), literal or figurative :- yoke. Lament. 1:14
The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up. the bondage of sin... it is heavy, and it keeps us down... the end of this bondage is death, eternal death... Matthew 11:29-30 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. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Jesus wants us to be yoked with Him... why?
He says it clearly, to learn of Him...
this could be a yoke as in Jeremiah, one person yoked in bondage... in that we willfully place ourselves in bondage to Jesus, and that bondage is not burdensome... and we do it because we love and trust Him...
but I prefer to think of it as the yoked together kind of yoke...
why? because He says it is to learn of Him... and...
what better way to learn about someone than to be yoked to them... be at their side constantly??
and what does He tell us about His yoke??
it is easy, and not a heavy burden...
we can spend time with Him... constantly... learn about Him... and not find it burdensome to us... it is not a chore, not something to dread... not hard for us to do... the next scripture has a deviation of yoke... translated... yokefellow translated here... suzugos, Greek 4805, Strong’s
suzugos, sood'-zoo-gos; from Greek 4801 (suzeugnumi); co-yoked, i.e. (figurative) as noun, a colleague; probably rather as properly name; Syzygus, a Christian :- yokefellow. and fellowlabourers translated here... sunergos, Greek 4904, Strong’s
sunergos, soon-er-gos'; from a presumed compound of Greek 4862 (sun) and the base of Greek 2041 (ergon); a co-laborer, i.e. coadjutor :- companion in labour, (fellow-) helper (-labourer, -worker), labourer together with, workfellow. Philip. 4:3
And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life. with fellowlabourers, we are yoked together to accomplish a shared goal... there must be unity.... as we talked about before... pulling against each other, we accomplish nothing... but together, we can get any job done that the Lord has lead us to do...
NOW I ask... HOW DOES OUR YOKE FIT US... we are all yoked to one thing or another... either to sin... which is ultimately death... or to Jesus, whose burden is light, and whose yoke is easy... and we are yoked to a fellowlabourer, in one labor or another...
which of these yokes do we carry??
are we pulling against Jesus?? or walking in harmony with Him, learning of Him??
are we working in unity with fellowlabourers to do a work for God, or are we pulling against the will of God and slowing down the work??
let us each consider where we are in our yoke today... Love,
His Child,
Angela