Take my yoke upon you,.... The phrase is Rabbinical.
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Take my yoke upon you,.... The phrase is Rabbinical. The Jewish doctors often speak (a) of , "the yoke of the kingdom of heaven", and of persons taking it upon them; and which they exhort to, and express in much such language as here (b); , "take upon you the yoke of the holy kingdom", every day. They distinguish this from the yoke of the law, and say (c).
"a man must first take upon him the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, and after that take upon him the "yoke" of the commandment.''
Their sense I take to be this, that a man must first make a profession of his faith in the God of Israel, and then live conformably to his law: agreeably to this, Christ exhorts such persons who come to him for rest and happiness, to profess their faith in him, to embrace the doctrines of the Gospel, to submit to his ordinances, and to walk according to those laws, commands, and orders, which he, as king of saints, has made, and requires obedience to: so those who come to him for life, and believe in him, as the Saviour of their souls, though they are not to trust in, and depend upon any duties performed by them; yet they are not to sit still, or lay aside the performance of good works, or live a licentious course of life, but are always to be doing the will and work of their Lord. And this he calls "his yoke", in distinction from the yoke of the law of Moses, and of the traditions of the elders.
 
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Yoke (ζυγόν)
"These words, as recorded by St. Matthew, the Evangelist of the Jews, must have sunk the deeper into the hearts of Christ's Jewish hearers, that they came in their own old, familiar form of speech, yet with such contrast of spirit. One of the most common figurative expressions of the time was that of the yoke for submission to an occupation or obligation. Very instructive for the understanding of the figure is this paraphrase of Cant. 1:10: 'How beautiful is their neck for bearing the yoke of thy statutes; and it shall be upon them like the yoke on the neck of the ox that plougheth in the field and provideth food for himself and his master.'
"The public worship of the ancient synagogue commenced with a benediction, followed by the shema (Hear, O Israel) or creed, composed of three passages of scripture: <a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/deuteronomy/6-4.htm" >Deuteronomy 6:4-9</a>;<a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/deuteronomy/11-13.htm" >Deuteronomy 11:13-21</a>; <a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/numbers/15-37.htm" >Numbers 15:37-41</a>. The section <a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/deuteronomy/6-4.htm" >Deuteronomy 6:4-9</a> was said to precede<a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/deuteronomy/11-13.htm" >Deuteronomy 11:13-21</a>, so that we might take upon ourselves the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, and only after that the yoke of the commandments. The Saviour's words must have had a special significance to those who remembered this lesson; and they would now understand how, by coming to the Saviour, they would first take on them the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, and then that of the commandments, finding this yoke easy and the burden light" (Edersheim, "Life and Times of Jesus," and "Jewish Social Life").</p>