Revenge was often carried to the utmost extremity, and more evil returned than what had been received. xiv., and when he mentions their refusing to show travelers the way, Non monstrare vias, etc., or to point out to them where they might find water to drink when thirsty with journeying, takes no notice of their not saluting those of another nation; yet there is no reason to believe, from these words of Christ, that many of them at least would not, and that even a Jewish publican received no salutations from one of his own nation, excepting brother publicans. And if any man would go to law with thee and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. A good use of this very prudential advice of our Lord is this: Thou art a sinner; God hath a controversy with thee. [5] William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene 1. The weight of the prutah was half a barley-corn, and it was the smallest coin among the Jews, as the kodrantes, or farthing, was the smallest coin among the Romans. To give and to lend, are two duties of charity which Christ joins together, and which he sets on equal footing. Of course, the Pharisees were the obvious and notorious examples of that very condition; they kept the commandments, but were children of the devil. This place was near Jerusalem, and had been formerly used for those abominable sacrifices, in which the idolatrous Jews had caused their children to pass through the fire to Molech. 5. A little more salt (true followers of God) would have preserved Sodom and Gomorrah from destruction (Genesis 18:32). These, with the coronal apices, often appear in MSS. Of the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, Matthew 5:20. If men, slighting their own mercies, cry out, This is impossible! Whosoever shall break. (3) They can bring men, through preaching God's word, or teaching it, to become reconciled to God, which is the greatest of all the achievements of the peacemaker. It is our duty and interest, both to bring our gift, and offer it too; but God will not accept of any act of religious worship from us, while any enmity subsists in our hearts towards any soul of man; or while any subsists in our neighbor's heart towards us, which we have not used the proper means to remove. In this passage, Christ does not quote verbatim from the Ninth Commandment, but rather deals with Pharisaical deductions, extensions, and exceptions on the Great Word which said, "THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS," It was far more offensive to the priestly mentality for one to violate his oath, especially with reference to some gift to the temple, than to bear slanderous witness against an accused on trial in a court of law, which is one of the primary meanings in the Decalogue. The reader will not be displeased to find a few of them here, if he can bear with the allegorical and strongly figurative language of the rabbins. "If any adjure another by heaven or earth, he is not guilty. So are Christians. iv. the devil, the father of superfluities and lies. See 2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chronicles 28:3; Jeremiah 7:31, Jeremiah 7:32. ad. If therefore thou art offering thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee. "Lastly, he that saith to his brother, Thou fool, wicked one, or cast-away, shall be in danger of hell-fire, ενοχος εις γεενναν πυρος . We are to surrender ourselves to Christ, that this great purpose of His coming shall claim and possess the whole life. Bab. - By all these things, that I will do this to you.' he shall not be corrupted. An unkind thought of another may be the foundation of that which leads to actual murder. Verify I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou have paid the last farthing. As a matter of practical, everyday living, the teaching of Christ in this place is indeed light and wisdom. Talm. In the treatise called Bammidbar Rabbi, s. 20, we have these words: There were three (evils) in Balaam: the evil eye, (envy), the towering spirit, (pride), and the extensive mind (avarice). 'When the Arabs salute one another,' according to Niebuhr, 'it is generally in these terms, Salam aleikum, Peace be with you; in speaking which words they lay the right hand on the heart. Any change in the status of their law was sure to be received unfavorably by them. An apostle is our authority for saying that no man is above sin, actually. [Because the sense of the commandment would then be, Neither shall ye Praise my holy name]. They were abhorred in an especial manner by the Jews, to whom the Roman government was odious: these, assisting in collecting the Roman tribute, were considered as betrayers of the liberties of their country, and abettors of those who enslaved it. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven - That spiritual kingdom, explained Matthew 3:2, and that kingdom of glory which is its counterpart and consequence. "Should any one, in the words of Hosea, Hosea 5:7, They have dealt treacherously, ביהוה beihovah, Against the Lord, change ב beth into כ caph, he would ruin the world." in more than one hundred places. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. It yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11). "And now for the penalties denounced upon these offenses, let us look upon them, taking notice of these two traditions of the Jews, which our Savior seems to face, and to contradict. But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God; nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. It has. But those who marry as passion or money lead the way, may be justly considered adulterers and adulteresses as long as they live. Blessed are the poor in spirit, etc. Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Indeed it is the property of a Pharisee to abstain only from the outward crime. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head - For these plain reasons: 3dly. Taking his life in his hands, he crossed the inlet in a small boat, and when confronted by the tribe, meekly endured every insult. Many would abhor to commit one external act before the eyes of men, in a temple of stone; and yet they are not afraid to commit a multitude of such acts in the temple of their hearts, and in the sight of God! Those who resort to the use of such expressions are guilty in the eyes of the Lord. Settling disagreements and healing possible sources of friction should be the pressing business of every day. Only that which is connected with the rock, the soul that is in union with Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit, can preserve its savor, and be instrumental of good to others. We must pray for them. A principal part of the Jewish religion consisted in outward washings and cleansings: on this ground they expected to see God, to enjoy eternal glory: but Christ here shows that a purification of the heart, from all vile affections and desires, is essentially requisite in order to enter into the kingdom of God. Idem in Psalm 137:1-9. So that we see plainly, from hence, in what sense the word judgment is used in the latter end of the preceding verse, and the first clause of this, namely, not for the judgment of any one of the Sanhedrins, as it is commonly understood, but for the judgment of God. Thou shalt not forswear thyself - They dishonor the great God, and break this commandment, who use frequent oaths and imprecations, even in reference to things that are true; and those who make vows and promises, which they either cannot perform, or do not design to fulfill, are not less criminal. Meekness and lowliness are related terms (Matthew 11:29,30). His emphasis in this place is on the hope of heaven (see under Matthew 6:9). Since it would be harmful to fertile land because of its salt content, no man would allow it to be thrown on his field. Only such persons as are deeply convinced of the sinfulness of sin, feel the plague of their own heart, and turn with disgust from all worldly consolations, because of their insufficiency to render them happy, have God's promise of solid comfort. The ravages of disease, perversion, and starvation are thus able to destroy that eagerness of the soul that men should have with reference to the things of God. Besides, Canaan was a type of the kingdom of God; and who is so likely to inherit glory as the man in whom the meekness and gentleness of Jesus dwell? It does not appear that there is any other case in which Jesus Christ admits of divorce. Raca ... is an Aramaic expression, according to Dummelow, and means "empty head"! p. 327, etc., edit. Book List. Let your light so shine - Or more literally, Thus let your light shine, Ουτω λαμψατω το φως . They are happy who suffer, seems a strange saying: and that the righteous should suffer, merely because they are such, seems as strange. Christ flatly denounced such a concept and indicated that no one could be saved in such a state as that of the typical Pharisee of his day. And seeing the multitudes, he went up into the mountain: and when he had sat down, his disciples came unto him. Εχθρος γαρ μοι κεινος ὁμως αιδαο πυλησιν. Now is the accepted time. - The Lamb, For the Lamb, By the Lamb. "Should any one in the words of Leviticus 22:32, Neither shall ye Profane תחללו techelelu, my holy name, change ח cheth into ה he, he would ruin the world." This one precept is a sufficient proof of the holiness of the Gospel, and of the truth of the Christian religion. See on Matthew 22:36; (note). And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? They mourn from those sorrows and bereavements which are the common lot of all men. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel - A bushel μοδιος : - a measure both among the Greeks and Romans, containing a little more than a peck English. John said. When we make any promise contrary to the command of God, taking, as a pledge of our sincerity, either God, or something belonging to him, we engage that which is not ours, without the Master's consent. Christ fulfilled the law (1) by his own unswerving obedience to it, (2) by his exact manifestation as its promised Messiah, and (3) by enlarging and expanding its teachings, lifting them to a higher and purer level, and by bringing all the Old Testament teachings to perfection in the perfect Law of Liberty. Such expressions were punished among the Gentoos by a heavy fine. Hear their own words: "A Jew sees a Gentile fall into the sea, let him by no means lift him out; for it is written, Thou shalt not rise up against the blood of thy neighbor: - but this is not thy neighbor." It should be placed upon "THE STAND." See Schoettgen. Resist not evil - Or, the evil person. [For then the words would run, They have dealt treacherously Like the Lord]. And this last does more especially hit the scribes and Pharisees, who arrogated to themselves only to be called חכמים chocamim, wise men, but of all others they had this scornful and uncharitable opinion, 'This people, that knoweth not the law, is cursed,' John 7:49. Malachi. (2) Another conception of the poor in spirit is seen in the account of this beatitude by Luke (Luke 6:20), "Blessed are ye poor." Why do they feel no hunger, no thirst? This is a gracious beginning to our Saviour’s discourse, “Blessed are the poor.”. See the note on Leviticus 2:13. I broke a piece of it, of which that part that was exposed to the rain, sun, and air, though it had the sparks and particles of salt, Yet It Had Perfectly Lost Its Savour: the inner part, which was connected to the rock, retained its savor, as I found by proof." See several proofs in Schoettgen. Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Do good to them that hate you - Give your enemy every proof that you love him. (Matthew 5:1), The traditional site of this mountain is seven miles southwest of Capernaum; the place is known as The Horns of Hattin. The existence of such a salt, and its application to such a use, Schoettgenius has largely proved in his Horae Hebraicae, vol. Such things are forever excluded from the kingdom of heaven. Ye are the salt of the earth - Our Lord shows here what the preachers of the Gospel, and what all who profess to follow him, should be; the salt of the earth, to preserve the world from putrefaction and destruction. means embracing, though it is a different word. See under Matthew 18:8-9. Boles said of this, "The comparison (is) between a city on a hill and a group, or church, of his disciples. Chapter 6. To know the nature of mercy, we have only to consult the grammatical meaning of the Latin word misericordia, from which ours is derived. And, besides the reference to the valley of Hinnom, he seems to refer to that penalty used by the Sanhedrin of burning - the most bitter death that they used to put men to; the manner of which was thus: They set the malefactor in a dunghill up to the knees; and they put a towel about his neck, and one pulled one way, and another the opposite, till, by thus strangling him, they forced him to open his mouth. Did Christ mean that a Christian by lending to all comers should suffer the plundering of all his goods? That is, "One good apple can heal a barrel of rotten apples!" On this authority Wetstein and Griesbach have left it out of the text. See all the cases, Code of Gentoo Laws, chap. God, and the greatest legislators that have ever been in the universe, are of the same opinion. In the tract Shabbath, fol. James (James 1:2-4), Paul (1 Timothy 3:12; Colossians 1:24), and the Twelve (Acts 5:41) were happy in persecutions. It is but an emphatical raising of the sense, to make it the more feeling and to speak home. Matthew 6:5 - 'When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. There are several cases on record, where this was literally done by the martyrs, in Queen Mary's days. And if any man will sue thee at the law - Every where our blessed Lord shows the utmost disapprobation of such litigations as tended to destroy brotherly kindness and charity. That this saying, one jot or one tittle, is a proverbial mode of expression among the Jews, and that it expressed the meaning given to it above, is amply proved by the extracts in Lightfoot and Schoettgen. Even if one were found so foolish as to believe he had attained it, his blindness to any sin would constitute the biggest sin of all. It means that the light Christians give forth to others is truly derived from Christ (2 Peter 1:19). This is true because such expressions find their origin in a heart full of hatred and enmity. Maimonides.'. Chapter 22. Neither is this enough, we must cast them both from us. Need it be said that this is the only procedure laid down in God's word for dealing with the sins of a brother? After many words, each stepped to the back door of his residence, took a shotgun, stepped out on the back steps, and shot the other dead while their respective families were at church! Except your righteousness shall exceed - περισσευση, Unless your righteousness abound more - unless it take in, not only the letter, but the spirit and design of the moral and ritual precept; the one directing you how to walk so as to please God; the other pointing out Christ, the great Atonement, through and by which a sinner is enabled to do so - more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, who only attend to the letter of the law, and had indeed made even that of no effect by their traditions - ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. At the hand of every beast will I require it. This verse, as much as any other in the Bible, throws man upon his knees and bids him trust in Christ alone for eternal life. When the soul is awakened to a tense of its wants, and begins to hunger and thirst after righteousness or holiness, which is its proper food, we know that it must be purified by the Holy Spirit, and be made a partaker of that living bread, John 8:48, or perish everlastingly. The old English word is right-wiseness, i.e. Whatsoever is more than these - That is, more than a bare affirmation or negation, according to the requirements of Eternal Truth, cometh of evil; or, is of the wicked one - εκ του πονηρου εϚιν, i.e. In this subdivision of the Sermon on the Mount, Christ spelled out his own authority as being superior in every way to the edicts of the Decalogue, noting at the same time that he was not destroying but fulfilling them. Of civil respect, Matthew 5:47. Do not equivocate; mean what you assert, and adhere to your assertion. Certainly, one must agree that the Sermon on the Mount is still the Mount Everest of the Christian religion, namely, the highest peak of all and only rarely scaled. The glory of Jesus Christ is that he stripped off those superficial and shallow devices for circumventing God's Law and made the truth to shine before all people. - See Ward's Customs. Nor should too much be made of the fact that most of the losses in these verses seem rather trivial, a flick on the cheek, the loss of a coat, and going a mile. He who, by his mode of acting, speaking, or explaining the words of God, sets the holy precept aside, or explains away its force and meaning, shall be called least - shall have no place in the kingdom of Christ here, nor in the kingdom of glory above. It is very probable that our Lord means no more here than this: if a man charge another with apostasy from the Jewish religion, or rebellion against God, and cannot prove his charge, then he is exposed to that punishment (burning alive) which the other must have suffered, if the charge had been substantiated. A common swearer is constantly perjuring himself: such a person should never be trusted. Ye are the light of the world. Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy but to fulfill. 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