Adam Clarkes Commentary on

Matthew 4:17 thru 7:29

Clarke, Adam

Matthew 4:17

Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent—See on Matthew 3:1, 2 (note).
Every preacher commissioned by God to proclaim salvation to a lost world,
begins his work with preaching the doctrine of repentance. This was the case
with all the prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, all the apostles, and all their
genuine successors in the Christian ministry. The reasons are evident in the notes
already referred to; and for the explanation of the word êçñõóóåéí, preaching or
proclaiming as a herald, see at the end of chap. 3 (note).

Matthew 4:18

Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother—Why did not Jesus Christ call
some of the eminent Scribes or Pharisees to publish his Gospel, and not poor
unlearned fishermen, without credit or authority? Because it was the kingdom of
heaven they were to preach, and their teaching must come from above: besides,
the conversion of sinners, though it be effected instrumentally by the preaching
of the Gospel, yet the grand agent in it is the Spirit of God. As the instruments
were comparatively mean, and, the work which was accomplished by them was
grand and glorious, the excellency of the power at once appeared to be of GOD,
and not of man; and thus the glory, due alone to his name, was secured, and the
great Operator of all good had the deserved praise. Seminaries of learning, in the
order of God’s providence and grace, have great and important uses; and, in
reference to such uses, they should be treated with great respect: but to make
preachers of the Gospel is a matter to which they are utterly inadequate; it is a,
prerogative that God never did, and never will, delegate to man.

Where the seed of the kingdom of God is sowed, and a dispensation of the
Gospel is committed to a man, a good education may be of great and general use:
but it no more follows, because a man has had a good education, that therefore he
is qualified to preach the Gospel, than it does, that because he has not had that,
therefore he is unqualified; for there may be much ignorance of Divine things
where there is much human learning; and a man may be well taught in the things
of God, and be able to teach others, who has not had the advantages of a liberal
education.

Men-made ministers have almost ruined the heritage of God. To prevent this,
our Church requires that a man be inwardly moved to take upon himself this
ministry, before he can be ordained to it. And he who cannot say, that he trusts
(has rational and Scriptural conviction) that he is moved by the Holy Ghost to
take upon himself this office, is an intruder into the heritage of God, and his
ordination, ipso facto, vitiated and of none effect. See the truly apostolic
Ordination Service of the Church of England.

Fishers—Persons employed in a lawful and profitable avocation, and
faithfully discharging their duty in it. It was a tradition of the elders, that one of
Joshua’s ten precepts was, that all men should have an equal right to spread their
nets and fish in the sea of Tiberias, or Galilee. The persons mentioned here were
doubtless men of pure morals; for the minister of God should have a good report
from them that are without.

Matthew 4:19

Follow me—Come after me, äåõôå ïðéóù ìïõ. Receive my doctrines, imitate
me in my conduct—in every respect be my disciples. We may observe that most
of the calls of God to man are expressed in a few solemn words, which alarm, the
conscience, and deeply impress the heart.

I will make you fishers of men—Ezekiel 47:8-10, casts much light on this
place; and to this prophet our Lord probably alludes. To follow Christ, and be
admitted into a partnership of his ministry, is a great honor; but those only who
are by himself fitted for it, God calls. Miserable are those who do not wait fur
this call—who presume to take the name of fishers of men, and know not how to
cast the net of the Divine word, because not brought to an acquaintance with the
saving power of the God who bought them. Such persons, having only their
secular interest in view, study not to catch men, but to catch money: and though,
for charity’s sake, it may be said of a pastor of this spirit, he does not enter the
sheepfold as a thief, yet he certainly lives as a hireling. See Quesnel.

Some teach to work, but have no hands to row;

Some will be eyes, but have no light to see;

Some will be guides, but have no feet to go;

Some deaf, yet ears, some dumb, yet tongues will be;

Dumb, deaf, lame, blind, and maimed, yet fishers all!

Fit for no use but store an hospital.

Fletcher’s Piscatory Eclogues. Ec iv. 5, 18.

Following a person, in the Jewish phrase, signifies being his disciple or
scholar. See a similar mode of speech, 2 Kings 6:19.

Matthew 4:20

They straightway left their nets—A change, as far as it respected secular
things, every way to their disadvantage. The proud and the profane may exult and
say, “Such preachers as these cannot be much injured by their sacrifices of
secular property—they have nothing but nets, etc., to leave.” Let such carpers at
the institution of Christ know, that he who has nothing but a net, and leaves that
for the sake of doing good to the souls of men, leaves his ALL: besides, he lived
comfortably by his net before; but, in becoming the servant of all for Christ’s
sake, he often exposes himself to the want of even a morsel of bread. See on
Matthew 19:27 (note).

Matthew 4:22

Left the ship and their father—By the ship, ôï ðëïéïí, we are to understand
the mere fishing-boat, used for extending their nets in the water and bringing the
hawser or rope of the farther end to shore, by which the net was pulled to land.
But why should these be called to leave their employment and their father,
probably now aged? To this I answer, that to be obedient to, provide for, and
comfort our parents, is the highest duty we owe or can discharge, except that to
God. But, when God calls to the work of the ministry, father and mother and all
must be left. Were we necessary to their comfort and support before? Then God,
if he call us into another work or state, will take care to supply to them our lack
of service some other way; and, if this be not done, it is a proof we have mistaken
our call. Again, were our parents necessary to us, and in leaving them for the
sake of the Gospel, or in obedience to a Divine command, do we deprive
ourselves of the comforts of life? No matter: we should prefer the honor of
serving the Most High, even in poverty and humility, to all the comforts of a
father’s house. But what an honor was the vocation of James and John, to old
Zebedee their father! His sons are called to be heralds of the God of heaven!
Allowing him to have been a pious man, this must have given him unutterable
delight.

Matthew 4:23

Teaching in their synagogues—Synagogue, óõíáãùãç, from óõí, together,
and áãù, I bring, a public assembly of persons, or the place where such persons
publicly assembled. Synagogues, among the Jews, were not probably older than
the return from the Babylonish captivity. They were erected not only in cities and
towns, but in the country, and especially by rivers, that they might have water for
the convenience of their frequent washings.

Not less than ten persons of respectability composed a synagogue; as the
rabbins supposed that this number of persons, of independent property, and well
skilled in the law, were necessary to conduct the affairs of the place, and keep up
the Divine worship. See Lightfoot. Therefore, where this number could not be
found, no synagogue was built; but there might be many synagogues in one city
or town, provided it were populous. Jerusalem is said to have contained 480. This
need not be wondered at, when it is considered that every Jew was obliged to
worship God in public, either in a synagogue or in the temple.

The chief things belonging to a synagogue were:

1st. The ark or chest, made after the mode of the ark of the covenant,
containing the Pentateuch.

2dly. The pulpit and desk, in the middle of the synagogue, on which he stood
who read or expounded the law.

3dly. The seats or pews for the men below, and the galleries for the women
above.

4thly. The lamps to give light in the evening service, and at the feast of the
dedication.

5thly. Apartments for the utensils and alms-chests.

The synagogue was governed by a council or assembly, over whom was a
president, called in the Gospels, the ruler of the synagogue. These are sometimes
called chiefs of the Jews, the rulers, the priests or elders, the governors, the
overseers, the fathers of the synagogue. Service was performed in them three
times a day—morning, afternoon, and night. Synagogue, among the Jews, had
often the same meaning as congregation among us, or place of judicature, see
James 2:2.

Preaching the Gospel of the kingdom—Or, proclaiming the glad tidings of
the kingdom. See the preceding notes. Behold here the perfect pattern of an
evangelical preacher:

1.He goes about seeking sinners on every side, that he may show them the
way to heaven.

2.He proclaims the glad tidings of the kingdom, with a freedom worthy of the
King whom he serves.

3.He makes his reputation and the confidence of the people subservient not
to his own interest, but to the salvation of souls.

4.To his preaching he joins, as far as he has ability, all works of mercy, and
temporal assistance to the bodies of men.

5.He takes care to inform men that diseases, and all kinds of temporal evils,
are the effects of sin, and that their hatred to iniquity should increase in
proportion to the evils they endure through it.

6.And that nothing but the power of God can save them from sin and its
consequences.

For glad tidings, or Gospel, see chap. 1. title (note). Proclaiming, see Matthew
3:1 (note), and end (note); and for the meaning of kingdom, see Matthew 3:2
(note).

All manner of sickness, and all manner of disease—There is a difference
between íïóïò, translated here sickness, and ìáëáêéá, translated disease. The
first is thus defined: íïóïò, ôçí ÷ñïíéáí êáêïðáèåéáí, a disease of some
standing, a chronic disorder.

Infirmity, ìáëáêéá, ôçí ðñïóêáéñïí áíùìáëéáí· ôïé óùìáôïò, a temporary
disorder of the body. Theophylact. This is a proper distinction, and is necessary
to be observed.

Matthew 4:24

Sick people—Ôïõò, êáêùò å÷ïíôáò, those who felt ill—were afflicted with
any species of malady.

And torments—âáóáíïéò, from âáóáíéæù, to examine by torture, such as
cholics, gouts, and rheumatisms, which racked every joint.

Possessed with devils—Daemoniacs. Persons possessed by evil spirits. This is
certainly the plain obvious meaning of daemoniac in the Gospels.

Many eminent men think that the sacred writers accommodated themselves to
the unfounded prejudices of the common people, in attributing certain diseases to
the influence of evil spirits, which were merely the effects of natural causes: but
that this explanation can never comport with the accounts given of these persons
shall be proved as the places occur.

Our common version, which renders the word, those possessed by devils, is not
strictly correct; as the word devil, äéáâïëïò, is not found in the plural in any part
of the Sacred Writings, when speaking of evil spirits: for though there are
multitudes of daemons, Mark 5:9, yet it appears there is but one DEVIL, who
seems to be supreme, or head, over all the rest. Äéáâïëïò signifies an accuser or
slanderer, 1 Timothy 3:11; 2 Timothy 3:3; Titus 2:3. Perhaps Satan was called so,

1st. because he accused or slandered God in paradise, as averse from the
increase of man’s knowledge and happiness, Genesis 3:5; John 8:44; and

2dly. because he is the accuser of men, Revelation 12:9, 10. See also Job 1:2.

The word comes from äéá, through, and âáëëåéí, to cast, or shoot, because of
the influence of his evil suggestions; compared, Ephesians 6:16, to fiery darts;
and thus it is nearly of the same meaning with ï ðåéñáæùí, he who pierces
through. See on Matthew 4:3 (note).

Lunatic—Persons afflicted with epileptic or other disorders, which are always
known to have a singular increase at the change and full of the moon. This
undoubtedly proceeds from the superadded attractive influence of the sun and
moon upon the earth’s atmosphere, as, in the periods mentioned above, these two
luminaries are both in conjunction; and their united attractive power being
exerted on the earth at the same time, not only causes the flux and reflux of the
ocean, but occasions a variety of important changes in the bodies of infirm
persons, of animals in general, but more particularly in those who are more
sensible of these variations. And is this any wonder, when it is well known, that a
very slight alteration in the atmosphere causes the most uncomfortable sensations
to a number of invalids! But sometimes even these diseases were caused by
demons. See on Matthew 8:16, 34 (note), and Matthew 17:15 (note).

Palsy—Palsy is defined, a sudden loss of tone and vital power in a certain part
of the human body. This may affect a limb, the whole side, the tongue, or the
whole body. This disorder is in general incurable, except by the miraculous
power of God, unless in its slighter stages.

He healed them—Either with a word or a touch; and thus proved that all
nature was under his control.

Matthew 4:25

This verse is immediately connected with the fifth chapter, and should not be
separated from it.

Great multitudes—This, even according to the Jews, was one proof of the
days of the Messiah: for they acknowledged that in his time there should be a
great famine of the word of God; and thus they understood Amos, Amos 8:11.
Behold, the days come—that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of
bread—but of hearing the words of the Lord. And as the Messiah was to dispense
this word, the bread of life, hence they believed that vast multitudes from all
parts should be gathered together to him. See Schoettgenius on this place.

Decapolis—A small country, situated between Syria and Galilee of the
nations. It was called Decapolis, Äåêáðïëéò, from äåêá, ten, and ðïëéò, a city,
because it contained only ten cities; the metropolis, and most ancient of which,
was Damascus.

From beyond Jordan—Or, from the side of Jordan. Probably this was the
country which was occupied anciently by the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and
the half tribe of Manasseh; for the country of Decapolis lay on both sides of the
river Jordan. See Numbers 32:5, 33.

THE account of our Lord’s temptation, as given by the evangelist, is
acknowledged on all hands to be extremely difficult. Two modes of interpretation
have been generally resorted to, in order to make the whole plain and intelligible:
viz. the literal and allegorical. In all cases, where it can possibly apply, I prefer
the first: the latter should never be used, unless obviously indicated in the text
itself; or so imperiously necessary that no other mode of interpretation can
possibly apply. In the preceding observations, I have taken up the subject in a
literal point of view; and it is hoped that most of the difficulties in the relation
have been removed, or obviated, by this plan. An ingenious correspondent has
favored me with some observations on the subject, which have much more than
the merit of novelty to recommend them. I shall give an abstract of some of the
most striking; and leave the whole to the reader’s farther consideration.

The thoughts in this communication proceed on this ground: “These
temptations were addressed to Christ as a public person, and respected his
conduct in the execution of his ministry; and are reported to his Church as a
forcible and practical instruction, concerning the proper method of promoting the
kingdom of God upon earth. They are warnings against those Satanic illusions,
by which the servants of Christ are liable to be hindered in their great work, and
even stopped in the prosecution of it.

1.“As our Lord had, at his baptism, been declared to be the SON of God, i.e.
the promised Messiah, this was probably well known to Satan, who did not
mean to insinuate any thing to the contrary, when he endeavored to engage
him to put forth an act of that power which he possessed as the Messiah.
The mysterious union of the Divine with the human nature, in our Lord’s
state of humiliation, Satan might think possible to be broken; and therefore
endeavored, in the first temptation, Command these stones to be made
bread, to induce our Lord to put forth a separate, independent act of power;
which our Lord repelled, by showing his intimate union with the Divine
will, which he was come to fulfill—Man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Thus showing, as
he did on another occasion, that it was his meat and drink to do the will of
his Father.

“2.The ground of the temptation was then changed; and the fulfillment of the
Divine will, in the completion of a prophetic promise, was made the
ostensible object of the next attack. Cast thyself down—for it is WRITTEN,
He will give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands shall
they bear thee up, etc. This our Lord repelled with—Thou shalt not tempt
the Lord thy God—as Satan had designed to induce him to seek this public
miraculous confirmation of God’s peculiar care over him, as the promised
Messiah, of his being which, according to the hypothesis above, Satan had
no doubt. Moses, being appointed to a great and important work, needed
miraculous signs to strengthen his faith; but the sacred humanity of our
blessed Lord needed them not; nor did his wisdom judge that such a sign
from heaven was essential to the instruction of the people.

“3.The last temptation was the most subtle and the most powerful—All these
will I give unto thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. To inherit all
nations, had been repeatedly declared to be the birthright of the Messiah.
His right to universal empire could not be controverted; nor could Satan
presume to make the investiture. What, then, was his purpose? Satan had
hitherto opposed, and that with considerable success, the kingdom of God
upon earth; and what he appears to propose here, were terms of peace, and
an honorable retreat. The worship which he exacted was an act of homage,
in return for his cession of that ascendancy which, through the sin of man,
he had obtained in the world. Having long established his rule among men,
it was not at first to be expected that he would resign it without a combat:
but the purpose of this last temptation appears to be an offer to decline any
farther contest; and, yet more, if his terms were accepted, apparently to
engage his influence to promote the kingdom of the Messiah. And as the
condition of this proposed alliance, he required, not Divine worship, but
such an act of homage as implied amity and obligation; and if this
construction be allowed, he may be supposed to have enforced the
necessity of the measure, by every suggestion of the consequences of a
refusal. The sufferings which would inevitably result from a provoked
opposition, which would render the victory, though certain to Christ
himself, dearly bought; added to which, the conflict he was prepared to
carry on through succeeding ages, in which all his subtlety and powers
should be employed to hinder the progress of Christ’s cause in the earth,
and that with a considerable degree of anticipated success. Here the devil
seems to propose to make over to Christ the power and influence he
possessed in this world, on condition that he would enter into terms of
peace with him; and the inducement offered was, that thereby our Lord
should escape those sufferings, both in his own person, and in that of his
adherents, which a provoked contest would ensure. And we may suppose
that a similar temptation lies hid in the desires excited even in some of the
servants of Christ, who may feel themselves often induced to employ
worldly influence and power for the promotion of his kingdom, even
though, in so doing, an apparent communion of Christ and Belial is the
result: for it will be found that neither worldly riches, nor power, can be
employed in the service of Christ, till, like the spoils taken in war,
Deuteronomy 31:21-23, they have passed through the fire and water, as,
without a Divine purification, they are not fit to be employed in the service
of God and his Church.

“Hence we may conclude, that the first temptation had for its professed object,
1st, our Lord’s personal relief and comfort, through the inducement of
performing a separate and independent act of power.—The second temptation
professed to have in view his public acknowledgment by the people, as the
MESSIAH: for, should they see him work such a miracle as throwing himself
down from the pinnacle of the temple without receiving any hurt, they would be
led instantly to acknowledge his Divine mission; and the evil of this temptation
may be explained, as seeking to secure the success of his mission by other means
than those which, as the Messiah, he had received from the Father. Compare John
14:31. The third temptation was a subtle attempt to induce Christ to acknowledge
Satan as an ally, in the establishment of his kingdom.” E. M. B.

The above is the substance of the ingenious theory of my correspondent, which
may be considered as a third mode of interpretation, partaking equally of the
allegoric and literal. I still, however, think, that the nearer we keep to the letter in
all such difficult cases, the more tenable is our ground, especially where the
subject itself does not obviously require the allegorical mode of interpretation.
Among many things worthy of remark in the preceding theory the following
deserves most attention: That Satan is ever ready to tempt the governors and
ministers of the Christian Church to suppose that worldly means, human policy,
secular interest and influence, are all essentially necessary for the support and
extension of that kingdom which is not of this world! Such persons can never
long preserve hallowed hands: they bring the world into the Church; endeavor to
sanctify the bad means they use, by the good end they aim at; and often, in the
prosecution of their object, by means which are not of God’s devising, are driven
into straits and difficulties, and to extricate themselves, tell lies for God’s sake.
This human policy is from beneath—God will neither sanction nor bless it. It has
been the bane of true religion in all ages of the world; and, in every country
where the cause of Christianity has been established, such schemers and plotters
in the Church of God are as dangerous to its interests as a plague is to the health
of society. The governors and ministers of the Christian Church should keep
themselves pure, and ever do God’s work in his own way. If the slothful servant
should be cast out of the vineyard, he that corrupts the good seed of the Divine
field, or sows tares among the wheat, should be considered as an enemy to
righteousness, and be expelled from the sacred pale as one who closes in with the
temptation—“All these things (the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them)
will I give unto THEE, if thou wilt fall down and worship ME.” However
necessary the Church may be to the state, and the state to the Church, as some
people argue, yet the latter is never in so much danger as when the former smiles
upon it.

Matthew 5:1

Matthew 5

Christ begins his sermon on the mount, vv. 1, 2. The beatitudes, vv. 3-12. The
disciples the salt of the earth, and light of the world, vv. 13-16. Christ is not come to
destroy, but confirm and fulfill, the Law and the Prophets, vv. 17-19. Of the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, v. 20. Interpretation of the precepts relative to
murder, anger, and injurious speaking, vv. 21, 22. Of reconciliation, vv. 23-26. Of
impure acts and propensities, and the necessity of mortification, vv. 27-30. Of divorce,
vv. 31, 32. Of oaths and profane swearing, vv. 33-37. Of bearing injuries and
persecution, vv. 38-41. Of borrowing and lending, v. 42. Of love and hatred, vv. 43-46.
Of civil respect, v. 47. Christ’s disciples must resemble their heavenly Father, v. 48.

NOTES ON CHAPTER 5

Matthew 5:1

And seeing the multitudes—Ôïõò ï÷ëïõò, these multitudes, viz. those
mentioned in the preceding verse, which should make the first verse of this
chapter.

He went up into a mountain—That he might have the greater advantage of
speaking, so as to be heard by that great concourse of people which followed
him. It is very probable that nothing more is meant here than a small hill or
eminence. Had he been on a high mountain they could not have heard; and, had
he been at a great distance, he would not have sat down. See the note on Matthew
5:14.

And when he was set—The usual posture of public teachers among the Jews,
and among many other people. Hence sitting was a synonymous term for
teaching among the rabbins.

His disciples—The word ìáèçôçò signifies literally a scholar. Those who
originally followed Christ, considered him in the light of a Divine teacher; and
conscious of their ignorance, and the importance of his teaching, they put
themselves under his tuition, that they might be instructed in heavenly things.
Having been taught the mysteries of the kingdom of God, they became closely
attached to their Divine Master, imitating his life and manners; and
recommending his salvation to all the circle of their acquaintance. This is still the
characteristic of a genuine disciple of Christ.

Matthew 5:3

Blessed are the poor in spirit, etc.—Or, happy, ìáêáñéïé from ìá or ìç, not,
and êçñ, fate, or death: intimating, that such persons were endued with
immortality, and consequently were not liable to the caprices of fate. Homer,
Iliad i, 330, calls the supreme gods, Èåùí ìáêáñùí, the ever happy and
IMMORTAL gods, and opposes them to èíçôùí áíèñùðùí, mortal men.

ôù ä’ áõôù ìáñôõñïé åóôùí

Ðñïò ôå Èåùí ìáêáñùí, ðñïò ôå èíçôùí áíèñïðùí

“Be ye witnesses before the immortal gods, and before mortal men.”

From this definition we may learn, that the person whom Christ terms happy is
one who is not under the influence of fate or chance, but is governed by an all-
wise providence, having every step directed to the attainment of immortal glory,
being transformed by the power into the likeness of the ever-blessed God.
Though some of the persons, whose states are mentioned in these verses, cannot
be said to be as yet blessed or happy, in being made partakers of the Divine
nature; yet they are termed happy by our Lord, because they are on the straight
way to this blessedness.

Taken in this light the meaning is similar to that expressed by the poet when
describing a happy man.

FELIX, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas: Atque
metus omnes et inexorabile FATUM

Subjecit pedibus; strepitumque Acherontis avari!

Virg. Geor. ii. v. 490

Which may be thus paraphrased:—

“Happy is he who gains the knowledge of the first cause of all
things; who can trample on every fear, and the doctrine of
inexorable FATE; and who is not terrified by death, nor by the
threatened torments of the invisible world!”

Poor in spirit—One who is deeply sensible of his spiritual poverty and
wretchedness. Ðôù÷ïò, a poor man, comes from ðôùóóù, to tremble, or shrink
with fear. Being destitute of the true riches, he is tremblingly alive to the
necessities of his soul, shrinking with fear lest he should perish without the
salvation of God. Such Christ pronounces happy, because there is but a step
between them and that kingdom which is here promised. Some contend, that
ìáêáñéïé should be referred to ðíåõìáôé, and the verse translated thus: Happy,
or blessed in spirit, are the poor. But our Lord seems to have the humiliation of
the spirit particularly in view.

Kingdom of heaven—Or, ôùí ïõñáíùí, of the heavens. A participation of all
the blessings of the new covenant here, and the blessings of glory above. See this
phrase explained, Matthew 3:2 (note). Blessed are the poor! This is God’s word;
but who believes it? Do we not say, Yea, rather, Blessed is the rich?

The Jewish rabbins have many good sayings relative to that poverty and
humility of spirit which Christ recommends in this verse. 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).

Tanchum, fol. 84. The law does not abide with those who have the extensive
mind, (avarice), but with him only who has a contrite heart.

Rabbi Chanina said, “Why are the words of the law compared to water?
Because as waters flow from heights, and settle in low places, so the words of the
law rest only with him who is of an humble heart.” See Schoettgen.

Matthew 5:4

Blessed are they that mourn—That is, those who, feeling their spiritual
poverty, mourn after God, lamenting the iniquity that separated them from the
fountain of blessedness. Every one flies from sorrow, and seeks after joy, and yet
true joy must necessarily be the fruit of sorrow. The whole need not (do not feel
the need of) the physician, but they that are sick do; i.e. they who are sensible of
their disease. 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. They SHALL BE comforted, says Christ,
ðáñáêëçèçóïíôáé, from ðáñá, near, and êáëåù, I call. He will call them to
himself, and speak the words of pardon, peace, and life eternal, to their hearts.
See this notion of the word expressed fully by our Lord, Matthew 11:28, COME
UNTO ME all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 5:5

Blessed are the meek—Happy, ïé ðñáåéò, from ¼áïò, easy, those who are of
a quiet, gentle spirit, in opposition to the proud and supercilious Scribes and
Pharisees and their disciples. We have a compound word in English, which once
fully expressed the meaning of the original, viz. gentleman; but it has now almost
wholly lost its original signification. Our word meek comes from the old Anglo-
saxon meca, or meccea, a companion or equal, because he who is of a meek or
gentle spirit, is ever ready to associate with the meanest of those who fear God,
feeling himself superior to none; and well knowing that he has nothing of
spiritual or temporal good but what he has received from the mere bounty of
God, having never deserved any favor from his hand.

For they shall inherit the earth—Or, ôçí ãçí, the land. Under this
expression, which was commonly used by the prophets to signify the land of
Canaan, in which all temporal good abounded, Judges 18:9, 10, Jesus Christ
points out that abundance of spiritual good, which was provided for men in the
Gospel. 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?
In some good MSS. and several ancient versions, the fourth and fifth verses are
transposed: see the authorities in the various readings in Professor Griesbach’s
edition. The present arrangement certainly is most natural:

1.Poverty, to which the promise of the kingdom is made.

2.Mourning or distress, on account of this impoverished state, to which
consolation is promised. And

3.Meekness established in the heart by the consolations received.

Matthew 5:6

They which do hunger and thirst—As the body has its natural appetites of
hunger and thirst for the food and drink suited to its nourishment, so has the soul.
No being is indestructible or unfailing in its nature but GOD; no being is
independent but him: as the body depends for its nourishment, health, and
strength upon the earth, so does the soul upon heaven. Heavenly things cannot
support the body; they are not suited to its nature: earthly things cannot support
the soul, for the same reason. When the uneasy sensation termed hunger takes
place in the stomach, we know we must get food or perish. 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. Now, as God never inspires a prayer but with a
design to answer it, he who hungers and thirsts after the full salvation of God,
may depend on being speedily and effectually blessed or satisfied, well-fed, as
the word ÷ïñôáóèçóïíôáé implies. Strong and intense desire after any object has
been, both by poets and orators, represented metaphorically by hunger and thirst.
See the well-known words of Virgil, Aeneid iii. 55.

—Quid non mortalia pectora cogis,

Auri sacra FAMES!

“O cursed hunger after gold! what canst thou not influence the hearts of men to
perpetrate?”

How frequently do we find, inexplebilis honorum FAMES-SITIENS
virtutis-famae SITUS, the insatiable hunger after honor, a thirst for virtue,
thirst after fame, and such like! Righteousness here is taken for all the blessings
of the new covenant—all the graces of the Messiah’s kingdom—a full restoration
to the image of God!

Matthew 5:7

The merciful—The word mercy, among the Jews, signified two things: the
pardon of injuries, and almsgiving. Our Lord undoubtedly takes it in its fullest
latitude here. To know the nature of mercy, we have only to consult the
grammatical meaning of the Latin word misericordia, from which ours is
derived. It is composed of two words: miserans, pitying, and cor, the heart;
or miseria cordis, pain of heart. Mercy supposes two things:

1.A distressed object: and,

2.A disposition of the heart, through which it is affected at the sight of such
an object.

This virtue, therefore, is no other than a lively emotion of the heart, which is
excited by the discovery of any creature’s misery; and such an emotion as
manifests itself outwardly, by effects suited to its nature. The merciful man is
here termed by our Lord åëåçìùí, from åëåïò, which is generally derived from
the Hebrew ìéç chil, to be in pain, as a woman in travail: or from ììé
galal, to cry, or lament grievously; because a merciful man enters into the
miseries of his neighbor, feels for and mourns with him.

They shall obtain mercy—Mercy is not purchased but at the price of mercy
itself; and even this price is a gift of the mercy of God. What mercy can those
vindictive persons expect, who forgive nothing, and are always ready to improve
every advantage they have of avenging themselves? Whatever mercy a man
shows to another, God will take care to show the same to him. The following
elegant and nervous saying of one of our best poets is worthy of the reader’s
most serious attention:—

“The quality of mercy is not strained;

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed;

It blesseth him who gives, and him who takes:

’Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown

It is an attribute of God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest God’s,

When mercy seasons justice.—

Though justice be thy plea, consider this,

That, in the course of justice, none of us

Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy;

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render

The deeds of mercy.—

Why, all the souls that are, were forfeit once:

And he who might the ’vantage best have took

Found out the remedy. How would you be,

If He who is the top of judgment should

But judge you as you are? O! think on that;

And mercy then will breathe within your lips,

Like man, new made

How shalt thou hope for mercy, rend’ring none?”

In the tract Shabbath, fol. 151, there is a saying very like this of our Lord.

“He who shows mercy to men, God will show mercy to him: but
to him who shows no mercy to man, God will show no mercy.

Matthew 5:8

Pure in heart—In opposition to the Pharisees, who affected outward purity,
while their hearts were full of corruption and defilement. 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. He whose soul is not
delivered from all sin, through the blood of the covenant, can have no Scriptural
hope of ever being with God. There is a remarkable illustration of this passage,
quoted by Mr. Wakefield from Origen, Contra Cels. lib. vi. “God has no body,
and therefore is invisible: but men of contemplation can discern him with the
heart and understanding. But A DEFILED HEART CANNOT SEE GOD: BUT HE
MUST BE PURE WHO WISHES TO ENJOY A PROPER VIEW OF A PURE BEING.”

Shall see God—This is a Hebraism, which signifies, possess God, enjoy his
felicity: as seeing a thing, was used among the Hebrews for possessing it. See
Psalm 16:10. Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy One to see corruption, i.e. he shall
not be corrupted. So John 3:3: Except a man be born again, he cannot SEE the
kingdom of God, i.e. he cannot enjoy it. So John 3:16. He that believeth not the
Son, shall not SEE life, i. e shall not be put in possession of eternal glory. The
Hindoo idolaters vainly boast of what the genuine followers of Christ actually
enjoy—having the Divine favor witnessed to their souls by the Holy Spirit. The
Hindoos pretend that some of their sages have been favored with a sight of their
guardian deity.—See WARD’S Customs.

Probably our Lord alludes to the advantages those had, who were legally pure,
of entering into the sanctuary, into the presence of God, while those who had
contracted any legal defilement were excluded from it. This also was obviously
typical.

Matthew 5:9

The peace-makers—Åéñçíç, peace, is compounded of åéñåéí (åéò) eí,
connecting into one: for as WAR distracts and divides nations, families, and
individuals, from each other, inducing them to pursue different objects and
different interests, so PEACE restores them to a state of unity, giving them one
object, and one interest. A peace-maker is a man who, being endowed with a
generous public spirit, labors for the public good, and feels his own interest
promoted in promoting that of others: therefore, instead of fanning the fire of
strife, he uses his influence and wisdom to reconcile the contending parties,
adjust their differences, and restore them to a state of unity. As all men are
represented to be in a state of hostility to God and each other, the Gospel is called
the Gospel of peace, because it tends to reconcile men to God and to each other.
Hence our Lord here terms peace-makers the children of God: for as he is the
Father of peace, those who promote it are reputed his children. But whose
children are they who foment divisions in the Church, the state, or among
families? Surely they are not of that GOD, who is the Father of peace, and lover
of concord; of that CHRIST, who is the sacrifice and mediator of it; of that SPIRIT,
who is the nourisher and bond of peace; nor of that CHURCH of the Most High,
which is the kingdom and family of peace.

St. Clement, Strom. lib. iv. s. 6, in fin. says, that “Some who transpose the
Gospels add this verse: Happy they who are persecuted by justice, for they shall
be perfect: happy they who are persecuted on my account, for they shall have a
place where they shall not be persecuted.”

Matthew 5:10

They which are persecuted—Äåäéùãìåíïé, they who are hard pressed upon
and pursued with repeated acts of enmity. Parkhurst. They are happy who suffer,
seems a strange saying: and that the righteous should suffer, merely because they
are such, seems as strange. But such is the enmity of the human heart to every
thing of God and goodness, that all those who live godly in Christ Jesus shall
suffer persecution in one form or other. As the religion of Christ gives no quarter
to vice, so the vicious will give no quarter to this religion, or to its professors.

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.

Matthew 5:11

When men shall revile you, and persecute—The persecution mentioned in
the preceding verse comprehends all outward acts of violence—all that the hand
can do. This comprehends all calumny, slander, etc., all that the tongue can
effect. But as äéùêåéí, which we render to persecute, is a forensic term, and
signifies legal persecutions and public accusations, which, though totally
unsubstantiated, were the means of destroying multitudes of the primitive
Christians, our Lord probably refers to such. No Protestant can think, without
horror, of the great numbers burnt alive in this country, on such accusations,
under the popish reign of her who is emphatically called Bloody Queen Mary.

Matthew 5:12

Rejoice—In the testimony of a good conscience; for, without this, suffering
has nothing but misery in it.

Be exceeding glad—Áãáëëéáóèå, leap for joy. There are several cases on
record, where this was literally done by the martyrs, in Queen Mary’s days.

Great is your reward in heaven—In the Talmudical tract Pirkey Aboth, are
these words: “Rabbi Tarpon said, The day is short: the work is great: the laborers
are slow: the REWARD IS GREAT: and the father of the family is urgent.”

The followers of Christ are encouraged to suffer joyfully on two
considerations.

1.They are thereby conformed to the prophets who went before.

2.Their reward in heaven is a great one.

God gives the grace to suffer, and then crowns that grace with glory; hence it is
plain, the reward is not of debt, but of grace: Romans 6:23.

Matthew 5:13

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. See the note on
Leviticus 2:13.

But if the salt have lost his savor—That this is possible in the land of Judea,
we have proof from Mr. Maundrell, who, describing the Valley of Salt, speaks
thus: “Along, on one side of the valley, toward Gibul, there is a small precipice
about two men’s lengths, occasioned by the continual taking away of the salt;
and, in this, you may see how the veins of it lie. 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 his Trav.,
5th edit., last page. A preacher, or private Christian, who has lost the life of
Christ, and the witness of his Spirit, out of his soul, may be likened to this salt.
He may have the sparks and glittering particles of true wisdom, but without its
unction or comfort. 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.

To be trodden underfoot—There was a species of salt in Judea, which was
generated at the lake Asphaltites, and hence called bituminous salt, easily
rendered vapid, and of no other use but to be spread in a part of the temple, to
prevent slipping in wet weather. This is probably what our Lord alludes to in this
place. The existence of such a salt, and its application to such a use,
Schoettgenius has largely proved in his Horae Hebraicae, vol. i. p. 18, etc.

Matthew 5:14

Ye are the light of the world—That is, the instruments which God chooses to
make use of to illuminate the minds of men; as he uses the sun (to which
probably he pointed) to enlighten the world. Light of the world, íìåò øð ner
olam, was a title applied to the most eminent rabbins. Christ transfers the title
from these, and gives it to his own disciples, who, by the doctrines that he taught
them, were to be the means of diffusing the light of life throughout the universe.

A city that is set on a hill—This place may receive light from the following
passage in Maundrell’s Travels. “A few points toward the north (of Tabor)
appears that which they call the Mount of Beatitudes, a small rising, from which
our blessed Savior delivered his sermon in the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters
of Matthew. (See the note on Matthew 5:5). Not far from this little hill is the city
Saphet, supposed to be the ancient Bethulia. It stands upon a very eminent and
conspicuous mountain, and is SEEN FAR and NEAR. May we not suppose that
Christ alludes to this city, in these words of his, A city set on a hill cannot be
hid?” p. 115. Quesnell remarks here: “The Christian life is something very high
and sublime, to which we cannot arrive without pains: while it withdraws us from
the earth, and carries us nearer heaven, it places us in view, and as a mark, to the
malice of carnal men.”

Matthew 5:15

Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel—A bushel
ìïäéïò:—a measure both among the Greeks and Romans, containing a little more
than a peck English. From some ancient writers we learn, that only those who
had bad designs hid a candle under a bushel; that, in the dead of the night, when
all were asleep, they might rise up, and have light at hand to help them to effect
their horrid purposes of murder, etc. See Wetstein, Kypke, Wolf, etc.

Matthew 5:16

Let your light so shine—Or more literally, Thus let your light shine, Ïõôù
ëáìøáôù ôï öùò. As the sun is lighted up in the firmament of heaven to diffuse
its light and heat freely to every inhabitant of the earth; and as the lamp is not set
under the bushel, but placed upon the lamp-stand that it may give light to all in
the house; THUS let every follower of Christ, and especially every preacher of the
Gospel, diffuse the light of heavenly knowledge, and the warmth of Divine love
through the whole circle of their acquaintance.

That they may see your good works—It is not sufficient to have light—we
must walk in the light, and by the light. Our whole conduct should be a perpetual
comment on the doctrine we have received, and a constant exemplification of its
power and truth.

And glorify your Father—The following curious saying is found in
Bammidbar Rabba, s. 15. “The Israelites said to the holy blessed God, Thou
commandest us to light lamps to thee; and yet thou art the, Light of the world,
and with thee the light dwelleth. The holy blessed God answered, I do not
command this because I need light; but that you may reflect light upon me, as I
have illuminated you:—that the people may say, Behold, how the Israelites
illustrate him, who illuminates them in the sight of the whole earth.” See more in
Schoettgen. Real Christians are the children of God—they are partakers of his
holy and happy nature: they should ever be concerned for their Father’s honor,
and endeavor so to recommend him, and his salvation, that others may be
prevailed on to come to the light, and walk in it. Then God is said to be glorified,
when the glorious power of his grace is manifested in the salvation of men.

Matthew 5:17

Think not that I am come to destroy the law—Do not imagine that I am
come to violate the law êáôáëõóáé, from êáôá, and ëõù, I loose, violate, or
dissolve—I am not come to make the law of none effect—to dissolve the
connection which subsists between its several parts, or the obligation men are
under to have their lives regulated by its moral precepts; nor am I come to
dissolve the connecting reference it has to the good things promised. But I am
come, ðëçñùóáé, to complete—to perfect its connection and reference, to
accomplish every thing shadowed forth in the Mosaic ritual, to fill up its great
design; and to give grace to all my followers, ðëçñùóáé, to fill up, or complete,
every moral duty. In a word, Christ completed the law:

1st. In itself, it was only the shadow, the typical representation, of good things
to come; and he added to it that which was necessary to make it perfect,
HIS OWN SACRIFICE, without which it could neither satisfy God, nor
sanctify men.

2dly. He completed it in himself by submitting to its types with an exact
obedience, and verifying them by his death upon the cross.

3dly. He completes this law, and the sayings of his prophets, in his members,
by giving them grace to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and
strength, and their neighbor as themselves; for this is all the law and the
prophets.

It is worthy of observation, that the word øîâ gamar, among the rabbins,
signifies not only to fulfill, but also to teach; and, consequently, we may infer
that our Lord intimated, that the law and the prophets were still to be taught or
inculcated by him and his disciples; and this he and they have done in the most
pointed manner. See the Gospels and epistles; and see especially this sermon on
the mount, the Epistle of James, and the Epistle to the Hebrews. And this
meaning of the word gives the clear sense of the apostle’s words, Colossians
1:25. Whereof I am made a minister, ðëçñùóáé ôïí ëïãïí ôïõ Èåïõ, to fulfill
the word of God, i.e. to teach the doctrine of God.

Matthew 5:18

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven—In the very commencement of his
ministry, Jesus Christ teaches the instability of all visible things. “The heaven
which you see, and which is so glorious, and the earth which you inhabit and
love, shall pass away; for the things which are seen are temporal, ðñïóêáéñá,
are for a time; but the things which are not seen are eternal áéùíéá, ever-during,”
2 Corinthians 4:18. And the WORD of the Lord endureth for ever.

One jot or one tittle—One yod, (é), the smallest letter in the Hebrew
alphabet. One tittle or point, êåñáéá, either meaning those points which serve for
vowels in this language, if they then existed; or the seraphs, or points of certain
letters, such as ø resh, or ã daleth, ä he, or ç cheth (as the change of
any of these into the other would make a most essential alteration in the sense, or,
as the rabbins say, destroy the world). Or our Lord may refer to the little
ornaments which certain letters assume on their tops, which cause them to appear
like small branches. The following letters only can assume coronal apices, õ
tsaddi—â gimel—æ zain—ð nun—è teth—ò ayin—ù shin.
These, with the coronal apices, often appear in MSS.

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. 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.

“The book of Deuteronomy came and prostrated itself before
the Lord, and said: ‘O Lord of the world, thou hast written in me
thy law; but now, a Testament defective in some parts is defective
in all. Behold, Solomon endeavors to root the letter yod out of
me.’ (In this text, Deuteronomy 17:5. íéùð äáøé àì lo
yirbeh, nashim, he shall not multiply wives). The holy
blessed God answered, ‘Solomon and a thousand such as he shall
perish, but the least word shall not perish out of thee.’”

In Shir Hashirim Rabba, are these words:

“Should all the inhabitants of the earth gather together, in order
to whiten one feather of a crow, they could not succeed: so, if all
the inhabitants of the earth should unite to abolish one é yod,
which is the smallest letter in the whole law, they should not be
able to effect it.”

In Vayikra Rabba, s. 19, it is said:

“Should any person in the words of Deuteronomy 6:4, Hear, O
Israel, the Lord our God is ãçà achad, ONE Lord, change the
ã daleth into a ø resh, he would ruin the world.” [Because,
in that case, the word øçà achar, would signify a strange or
false God].

“Should any one, in the words of Exodus 34:14, Thou shalt
worship no OTHER, øçà achar, God, change ø resh into ã
daleth, he would ruin the world.” [Because the command would
then run, Thou shalt not worship the ONLY or true God].

“Should any one in the words of Leviticus 22:32, Neither shall
ye PROFANE åììçú techelelu, my holy name, change ç
cheth into ä he, he would ruin the world.” [Because the sense
of the commandment would then be, Neither shall ye PRAISE my
holy name].

“Should any one, in the words of Psalm 150:6, Let every thing
that hath breath PRAISE, ììäú tehalel, the Lord, change ä,
he into ç cheth, he would ruin the world.” [Because the
command would then run, Let every thing that hath breath
PROFANE the Lord].

“Should any one, in the words of Jeremiah 5:10, They lied
AGAINST the Lord, äåäéá beihovah, change á beth into ë
caph, he would ruin the world.” [For then the words would run,
They lied LIKE the Lord].

“Should any one, in the words of Hosea, Hosea 5:7, They have
dealt treacherously, äåäéá beihovah, AGAINST the Lord,
change á beth into ë caph, he would ruin the world.” [For
then the words would run, They have dealt treacherously LIKE the
Lord].

“Should any one, in the words of 1 Samuel 2:2, There is none
holy AS the Lord, change ë caph into á beth, he would ruin
the world.” [For then the words would mean, There is no holiness
IN the Lord].

These examples fully prove that the ìéá êåñáéá of our Lord, refers to the
apices, points, or corners, that distinguish á beth from ë caph; ç cheth
from ä he; and ø resh from ã daleth. For the reader will at once perceive,
how easily a ë caph may be turned into a á beth; a ä he into a ç cheth;
and a ø resh into a ã daleth: and he will also see of what infinite
consequence it is to write and print such letters correctly.

Till all be fulfilled—Or, accomplished. Though all earth and hell should join
together to hinder the accomplishment of the great designs of the Most High, yet
it shall all be in vain—even the sense of a single letter shall not be lost. The
words of God, which point out his designs, are as unchangeable as his nature
itself. Every sinner, who perseveres in his iniquity, shall surely be punished with
separation from God and the glory of his power; and every soul that turns to God,
through Christ, shall as surely be saved, as that Jesus himself hath died.

Matthew 5:19

Whosoever—shall break one of these least commandments—The Pharisees
were remarkable for making a distinction between weightier and lighter matters
in the law, and between what has been called, in a corrupt part of the Christian
Church, mortal and venial sins. See on Matthew 22:36 (note).

Whosoever shall break. What an awful consideration is this! 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. That
this is the meaning of these words is evident enough from the following verse.

Matthew 5:20

Except your righteousness shall exceed—ðåñéóóåõóç, 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.
This fully explains the meaning of the preceding verse. The old English word is
right-wiseness, i.e. complete, thorough, excellent Wisdom. For a full explanation
of this verse, see Luke 18:10, etc.

Matthew 5:21

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time—ôïéò áñ÷áéïéò, to or by
the ancients. By the ancients, we may understand those who lived before the law,
and those who lived under it; for murder was, in the most solemn manner,
forbidden before, as well as under, the law, Genesis 9:5, 6.

But it is very likely that our Lord refers here merely to traditions and glosses
relative to the ancient Mosaic ordinance; and such as, by their operation,
rendered the primitive command of little or no effect. Murder from the beginning
has been punished with death; and it is, probably, the only crime that should be
punished with death. There is much reason to doubt, whether the punishment of
death, inflicted for any other crime, is not in itself murder, whatever the authority
may be that has instituted it. GOD, and the greatest legislators that have ever been
in the universe, are of the same opinion. See Montesquieu, Blackstone, and the
Marquis Beccaria, and the arguments and testimonies lately produced by Sir
Samuel Romilly, in his motion for the amendment of the criminal laws of this
kingdom. It is very remarkable, that the criminal code published by Joseph II.,
late emperor of Germany, though it consists of seventy-one capital crimes, has
not death attached to any of them. Even murder, with all intention to rob, is
punished only with “imprisonment for thirty years, to lie on the floor, to have no
nourishment but bread and water, to be closely chained, and to be publicly
whipped once a year, with less than one hundred lashes.” See Colquhoun on the
Police of the City of London, p. 272.

Matthew 5:22

Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause—¿
ïñãéæïìåíïò—åéêç, who is vainly incensed. “This translation is literal; and the
very objectionable phrase, without a cause, is left out, åéêç being more properly
translated by that above.” What our Lord seems here to prohibit, is not merely
that miserable facility which some have of being angry at every trifle, continually
taking offense against their best friends; but that anger which leads a man to
commit outrages against another, thereby subjecting himself to that punishment
which was to be inflicted on those who break the peace. Åéêç, vainly, or, as in
the common translation, without a cause, is wanting in the famous Vatican MS.
and two others, the Ethiopic, latter Arabic, Saxon, Vulgate, two copies of the old
Itala, J. Martyr, Ptolomeus, Origen, Tertullian, and by all the ancient copies
quoted by St. Jerome. It was probably a marginal gloss originally, which in
process of time crept into the text.

Shall be in danger of the judgment—åíï÷ïò åôáé, shall be liable to the
judgment. That is, to have the matter brought before a senate, composed of
twenty-three magistrates, whose business it was to judge in cases of murder and
other capital crimes. It punished criminals by strangling or beheading; but Dr.
Lightfoot supposes the judgment of God to be intended. See at the end of this
chapter.

Raca—ä÷éø from the Hebrew ÷ø rak, to be empty. It signifies a vain,
empty, worthless fellow, shallow brains, a term of great contempt. Such
expressions were punished among the Gentoos by a heavy fine. See all the cases,
Code of Gentoo Laws, chap. 15: sec. 2.

The council—Óõíåäñéïí, the famous council, known among the Jews by the
name of Sanhedrin. It was composed of seventy-two elders, six chosen out of
each tribe. This grand Sanhedrin not only received appeals from the inferior
Sanhedrins, or court of twenty-three mentioned above; but could alone take
cognizance, in the first instance, of the highest crimes, and alone inflict the
punishment of stoning.

Thou fool—Moreh, probably from äøî marah, to rebel, a rebel against
God, apostate from all good. This term implied, among the Jews, the highest
enormity, and most aggravated guilt. Among the Gentoos, such an expression
was punished by cutting out the tongue, and thrusting a hot iron, of ten fingers
breadth, into the mouth of the person who used it. Code of Gentoo Laws, chap.
15: sec. 2. p. 212.

Shall be in danger of hell fire—åíï÷ïò åôáé åéò ôçí ãååííáí ôïõ ðõñïò,
shall be liable to the hell of fire. Our Lord here alludes to the valley of the son of
Hinnom, íðä éâ Ghi hinom. 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. A particular place in this
valley was called Tophet, from úôú tophet, the fire stove, in which some
supposed they burnt their children alive to the above idol. See 2 Kings 23:10; 2
Chronicles 28:3; Jeremiah 7:31, 32. From the circumstances of this valley having
been the scene of those infernal sacrifices, the Jews, in our Savior’s time, used
the word for hell, the place of the damned. See the word applied in this sense by
the Targum, on Ruth 2:12; Psalm 140:12; Genesis 3:24; 15:17. 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. There are three kinds of
offenses here, which exceed each other in their degrees of guilt.

1st. Anger against a man, accompanied with some injurious act.

2dly. Contempt, expressed by the opprobrious epithet raka, or shallow brains.

3dly. Hatred and mortal enmity, expressed by the term moreh, or apostate,
where such apostasy could not be proved.

Now, proportioned to these three offenses were three different degrees of
punishment, each exceeding the other in its severity, as the offenses exceeded
each other in their different degrees of guilt.

1st. The judgment, the council of twenty-three, which could inflict the
punishment of strangling.

2dly. The Sanhedrin, or great council, which could inflict the punishment of
stoning. And

3dly. The being burnt alive in the valley of the son of Hinnom. This appears to
be the meaning of our Lord.

Now, if the above offenses were to be so severely punished, which did not
immediately affect the life of another, how much sorer must the punishment of
murder be! Matthew 5:21. And as there could not be a greater punishment
inflicted than death, in the above terrific forms, and this was to be inflicted for
minor crimes; then the punishment of murder must not only have death here, but
a hell of fire in the eternal world, attached to it. It seems that these different
degrees of guilt, and the punishment attached to each, had not been properly
distinguished among the Jews. Our Lord here calls their attention back to them,
and gives then to understand, that in the coming world there are different degrees
of punishment prepared for different degrees of vice; and that not only the
outward act of iniquity should be judged and punished by the Lord, but that
injurious words, and evil passions, should all meet their just recompense and
reward. Murder is the most punishable of all crimes, according to the written law,
in respect both of our neighbors and civil society. But he who sees the heart, and
judges it by the eternal law, punishes as much a word or a desire, if the hatred
whence they proceed be complete and perfected. Dr. Lightfoot has some curious
observations on this passage in the preface to his Harmony of the Evangelists.
See his works, vol. ii., and the conclusion of this chapter.

Matthew 5:23

Therefore if thou bring thy gift—Evil must be nipped in the bud. An unkind
thought of another may be the foundation of that which leads to actual murder. A
Christian, properly speaking, cannot be an enemy to any man; nor is he to
consider any man his enemy, without the fullest evidence: for surmises to the
prejudice of another can never rest in the bosom of him who has the love of God
in his heart, for to him all men are brethren. He sees all men as children of God,
and members of Christ, or at least capable of becoming such. If a tender
forgiving spirit was required, even in a Jew, when he approached God’s altar
with a bullock or a lamb, how much more necessary is this in a man who
professes to be a follower of the Lamb of God; especially when he receives the
symbols of that Sacrifice which was offered for the life of the world, in what is
commonly called the sacrament of the Lord’s supper!

Matthew 5:24

Leave there thy gift before the altar—This is as much as to say, “Do not
attempt to bring any offering to God while thou art in a spirit of enmity against
any person; or hast any difference with thy neighbor, which thou hast not used
thy diligence to get adjusted.” 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. A religion, the very essence of which is love, cannot suffer at
its altars a heart that is revengeful and uncharitable, or which does not use its
utmost endeavors to revive love in the heart of another. The original word,
äùñïí, which we translate gift, is used by the rabbins in Hebrew letters ïåøåã
doron, which signifies not only a gift, but a sacrifice offered to God. See
several proofs in Schoettgen.

Then come and offer thy gift—Then, when either thy brother is reconciled to
thee, or thou hast done all in thy power to effect this reconciliation. My own
obstinacy and uncharitableness must render me utterly unfit to receive any good
from God’s hands, or to worship him in an acceptable manner; bat the
wickedness of another can be no hinderance to me, when I have endeavored
earnestly to get it removed, though without effect.

Matthew 5:25

Agree with thine adversary quickly—Adversary, áíôéäéêïò, properly a
plaintiff in law—a perfect law term. Our Lord enforces the exhortation given in
the preceding verses, from the consideration of what was deemed prudent in
ordinary law-suits. In such cases, men should make up matters with the utmost
speed, as running through the whole course of a law-suit must not only be
vexatious, but be attended with great expense; and in the end, though the loser
may be ruined, yet the gainer has nothing. A good use of this very prudential
advice of our Lord is this: Thou art a sinner; God hath a controversy with thee.
There is but a step between thee and death. Now is the accepted time. Thou art
invited to return to God by Christ Jesus. Come immediately at his call, and he
will save thy soul. Delay not! Eternity is at hand; and if thou die in thy sins,
where God is thou shalt never come.

Those who make the adversary, God; the judge, Christ; the officer, Death; and
the prison, Hell, abuse the passage, and highly dishonor God.

Matthew 5:26

The uttermost farthing—Êïäñáíôçí. The rabbins have this Greek word
corrupted into ññèðåéãø÷ kordiontes, and ÷éøèðå÷, kontrik, and say,
that two úåèåøô prutoth make a kontarik, which is exactly the same with
those words in Mark 12:42, ëåðôá äõï, ï åóôé êïäñáíôçò, two mites, which are
one farthing. Hence it appears that the ëåðôïí lepton was the same as the
prutah. 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. If the matter issue in law, strict justice will be done, and
your creditor be allowed the fullness of his just claim; but if; while you are on the
way, going to the magistrate, you come to a friendly agreement with him, he will
relax in his claims, take a part for the whole, and the composition be, in the end,
both to his and your profit.

This text has been considered a proper foundation on which to build not only
the doctrine of a purgatory, but also that of universal restoration. But the most
unwarrantable violence must be used before it can be pressed into the service of
either of the above antiscriptural doctrines. At the most, the text can only be
considered as a metaphorical representation of the procedure of the great Judge;
and let it ever be remembered, that by the general consent of all (except the
basely interested) no metaphor is ever to be produced in proof of any doctrine. In
the things that concern our eternal salvation, we need the most pointed and
express evidence on which to establish the faith of our souls.

Matthew 5:27

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old—By the ancients, ôïéò
áñ÷áéïéò, is omitted by nearly a hundred MSS., and some of them of the very
greatest antiquity and authority; also by the Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Gothic,
and Sclavonian versions; by four copies of the old Itala; and by Origen, Cyril,
Theophylact, Euthymius, and Hilary. On this authority Wetstein and Griesbach
have left it out of the text.

Matthew 5:28

Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her—Åðéèõìçóáé áõôçí,
earnestly to covet her. The verb, åðéèõìåù, is undoubtedly used here by our
Lord, in the sense of coveting through the influence of impure desire. The word
is used in precisely the same sense, on the same subject, by Herodotus, book the
first, near the end. I will give the passage, but I dare not translate it. To the
learned reader it will justify my translation, and the unlearned must take my
word. Ôçò ÅÐÉÈÕÌÇÓÅÉ ãõíáéêïò Ìáóóáãåôçò áíçñ, ìéóãåôáé áäåùò,
Raphelius, on this verse, says, åðéèõìåéí hoc loco, est turpi
cupiditate mulieris potiundae flagrare. In all these eases, our
blessed Lord points out the spirituality of the law; which was a matter to which
the Jews paid very little attention. Indeed it is the property of a Pharisee to
abstain only from the outward crime. Men are very often less inquisitive to know
how far the will of God extends, that they may please him in performing it, than
they are to know how far they may satisfy their lusts without destroying their
bodies and souls, utterly, by an open violation of his law.

Hath committed adultery with her already in his heart—It is the earnest
wish or desire of the soul, which, in a variety of cases, constitutes the good or
evil of an act. If a man earnestly wish to commit an evil, but cannot, because God
puts time, place, and opportunity out of his power, he is fully chargeable with the
iniquity of the act, by that God who searches and judges the heart. So, if a man
earnestly wish to do some kindness, which it is out of his power to perform, the
act is considered as his; because God, in this case, as in that above, takes the will
for the deed. If voluntary and deliberate looks and desires make adulterers and
adulteresses, how many persons are there whose whole life is one continued
crime! whose eyes being full of adultery, they cannot cease from sin, 2 Peter
2:14. 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!

Matthew 5:29

Matthew 5:29-30

Pluck it out—cut it off—We must shut our senses against dangerous objects,
to avoid the occasions of sin, and deprive ourselves of all that is most dear and
profitable to us, in order to save our souls, when we find that these dear and
profitable things, however innocent in themselves, cause us to sin against God.

It is profitable for thee that one of thy members—Men often part with some
members of the body, at the discretion of a surgeon, that they may preserve the
trunk, and die a little later; and yet they will not deprive themselves of a look, a
touch, a small pleasure, which endanger the eternal death of the soul. It is not
enough to shut the eye, or stop the hand; the one must be plucked out, and the
other cut off. Neither is this enough, we must cast them both from us. Not one
moment’s truce with an evil passion, or a sinful appetite. If you indulge them,
they will gain strength, and you shall be ruined. The rabbins have a saying
similar to this: “It is better for thee to be scorched with a little fire in this world,
than to be burned with a devouring fire in the world to come.”

Matthew 5:31

Whosoever shall put away his wife—The Jewish doctors gave great license
in the matter of divorce. Among them, a man might divorce his wife if she
displeased him even in the dressing of his victuals!

Rabbi Akiba said, “If any man saw a woman handsomer than his own wife, he
might put his wife away; because it is said in the law, If she find not favor in his
eyes.” Deuteronomy 24:1.

Josephus, the celebrated Jewish historian, in his Life, tells us, with the utmost
coolness and indifference, “About this time I put away my wife, who had borne
me three children, not being pleased with her manners.”

These two cases are sufficient to show to what a scandalous and criminal
excess this matter was carried among the Jews. However, it was allowed by the
school of Shammai, that no man was to put away his wife unless for adultery.
The school of Hillel gave much greater license.

A writing of divorcement—The following is the common form of such a
writing. See Maimonides and Lightfoot.

“On the day of the week A. in the month B. in the year C. from
the beginning of the world, according to the common computation
in the province of D., I, N. the son of N. by whatever name I am
called, of the city E. with entire consent of mind, and without any
compulsion, have divorced, dismissed, and expelled thee—thee, I
say, M. the daughter of M. by whatever name thou art called, of
the city E. who wast heretofore my wife: but now I have dismissed
thee—thee, I say, M. the daughter of M. by whatever name thou
art called, of the city E. so as to be free, and at thine own disposal,
to marry whomsoever thou pleasest, without hinderance from any
one, from this day for ever. Thou art therefore free for any man.
Let this be thy bill of divorce from me, a writing of separation and
expulsion, according to the law of Moses and Israel.

REUBEN, son of Jacob, Witness.

ELIEZAR, son of Gilead, Witness.”

God permitted this evil to prevent a greater; and, perhaps, to typify his
repudiating the Jews, who were his first spouse.

Matthew 5:32

Saving for the cause of fornication—Ëïãïõ ðïñíåéáò, on account of
whoredom. As fornication signifies no more than the unlawful connection of
unmarried persons, it cannot be used here with propriety, when speaking of those
who are married. I have therefore translated ëïãïõ ðïñíåéáò, on account of
whoredom. It does not appear that there is any other case in which Jesus Christ
admits of divorce. A real Christian ought rather to beg of God the grace to bear
patiently and quietly the imperfections of his wife, than to think of the means of
being parted from her. “But divorce was allowed by Moses;” yes, for the
hardness of their hearts it was permitted: but what was permitted to an
uncircumcised heart among the Jews, should not serve for a rule to a heart in
which the love of God has been shed abroad by the Holy Spirit. Those who form
a matrimonial connection in the fear and love of God, and under his direction,
will never need a divorce. But those who marry as passion or money lead the
way, may be justly considered adulterers and adulteresses as long as they live.

Matthew 5:33

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. Swearing in civil
matters is become so frequent, that the dread and obligation of an oath are utterly
lost in it. In certain places, where oaths are frequently administered, people have
been known to kiss their thumb or pen, instead of the book, thinking thereby to
avoid the sin of perjury; but this is a shocking imposition on their own souls. See
the notes on Deuteronomy 4:26; 6:13.

Perform unto the Lord thine oaths—The morality of the Jews on this point
was truly execrable: they maintained, that a man might swear with his lips, and
annul it in the same moment in his heart. Rab. Akiba is quoted as an example of
this kind of swearing. See Schoettgen.

Matthew 5:34

Matthew 5:34-35

Neither by heaven, etc.—It was a custom among the Scythians, when they
wished to bind themselves in the most solemn manner, to swear by the king’s
throne; and if the king was at any time sick, they believed it was occasioned by
some one’s having taken the oath falsely. Herod. l. iv.

Who is there among the traders and people of this world who obey this law? A
common swearer is constantly perjuring himself: such a person should never be
trusted. 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. God manifests his glory in
heaven, as upon his throne; he imprints the footsteps of his perfections upon the
earth, his footstool; and shows that his holiness and his grace reign in his temple
as the place of his residence. Let it be our constant care to seek and honor God in
all his works.

Matthew 5:36

Neither shalt thou swear by thy head—For these plain reasons:

1st. God commands thee not to do it.

2dly. Thou hast nothing which is thy own, and thou shouldst not pledge
another’s property.

3dly. It never did, and never can, answer any good purpose. And

4thly. Being a breach of the law of God, it is the way to everlasting misery.

Matthew 5:37

Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay—That is, a positive
affirmation, or negation, according to your knowledge of the matter concerning
which you are called to testify. Do not equivocate; mean what you assert, and
adhere to your assertion. Hear what a heathen says on this subject:—

Å÷èñïò ãáñ ìïé êåéíïò ¿ìùò áéäáï ðõëçóéí,

Ïò ÷’åôåñïí ìåí êåõèåé åíé öñåóéí, áëëï äå âáæåé.

Hom. Il. ix. 312

“He whose words agree not with his private thoughts is as
detestable to me as the gates of hell.”

See on Joshua 2 (note) at the end.

See the subject of swearing particularly considered in the note at the
conclusion of Deuteronomy 6 (note).

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—åê ôïõ ðïíçñïõ åéí, i.e. the devil, the father of superfluities
and lies. One of Selden’s MSS. and Gregory Nyssen, a commentator of the fourth
century, have åê ôïõ äéáâïëïõ åéí, is of the devil.

That the Jews were notoriously guilty of common swearing, for which our
Lord particularly reprehends them, and warns his disciples against, and that they
swore by heaven, by earth, by Jerusalem, by their head, etc., the following
extracts, made by Dr. Lightfoot from their own writings, amply testify:—

“It was customary and usual among them to swear by the
creatures. ‘If any swear by heaven, by earth, by the sun, etc.,
although the mind of the swearer be, under these words, to swear
by HIM who created them, yet this is not an oath. Or, if any swear
by some of the prophets, or by some of the books of the Scripture,
although the sense of the swearer be to swear by HIM that sent that
prophet, or that gave that book, nevertheless, this is not an oath.
MAIMONIDES.’

“If any adjure another by heaven or earth, he is not guilty.
TALMUD.

“They swore by HEAVEN, àåä ïë íéîùä hashshamayim,
ken hu, ‘By heaven, so it is.’ BAB. BERAC.

“They swore by the TEMPLE. ‘When turtles and young pigeons
were sometimes sold at Jerusalem for a penny of gold, Rabban
Simeon ben Gamaliel said, äåä åòîä By this habitation (that is,
by this TEMPLE) I will not rest this night, unless they be sold for a
penny of silver.’ CHERITUTH, cap. i.

“R. Zechariah ben Ketsab said, äåä åòîä ‘By this TEMPLE, the
hand of the woman departed not out of my hand.’

R. Jochanan said, àìëéä ‘By the TEMPLE, it is in our hand,
etc.’ KETUBOTH and BAB. KIDUSHIN.

“Bava ben Buta swore by the TEMPLE in the end of the tract
Cherithuth, and Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel in the beginning,
ìàøùéë âäðî äæå And so was the custom in Israel.—Note this,
so was the custom.

JUCAS. fol. 56.

“They swore by the city Jerusalem. R. Judah saith, ‘He that
saith, By JERUSALEM, saith nothing, unless with an intent purpose
he shall vow towards Jerusalem.’ Where also, after two lines
coming between those forms of swearing and vowing, are added,
ìëéäá ìëéäì ìëéä íìùåøéá íìùåøéì íìùåøé ‘Jerusalem,
For Jerusalem, By Jerusalem.—The Temple, For the temple, By
the temple.—The Altar, For the altar, By the altar.—The Lamb,
For the Lamb, By the Lamb.—The Chambers of the Temple, For
the chambers of the temple, By the chambers of the temple.—The
Word, For the Word, By the Word.—The Sacrifices on Fire, For
the sacrifices on fire, By the sacrifices on fire.—The Dishes, For
the dishes, By the dishes.—By all these things, that I will do this
to you.’ TOSAPHT. ad. NEDARIM.

“They swore by their own HEADS. ‘One is bound to swear to his
neighbor, and he saith, êùàø ééúë éì ãéø Vow (or swear) to me
by the life of thy head, etc. SANHEDR. cap. 3.

“One of the holiest of their precepts relative to swearing was
this: ‘Be not much in oaths, although one should swear concerning
things that are true; for in much swearing it is impossible not to
profane.’ Tract. DEMAI.”—See Lightfoot’s Works, vol. ii. p. 149.

They did not pretend to forbid ALL common swearing, but only what they term
MUCH. A Jew might swear, but he must not be too abundant in the practice.
Against such permission, our Lord opposes his Swear NOT AT ALL! He who uses
any oath, except what he is solemnly called by the magistrate to make, so far
from being a Christian, he does not deserve the reputation, either of decency or
common sense. In some of our old elementary books for children, we have this
good maxim: “Never swear: for he that swears will lie; and he that lies will steal;
and, if so, what bad things will he not do!” READING MADE EASY.

Matthew 5:38

An eye for an eye—Our Lord refers here to the law of retaliation mentioned
See Exodus 21:24, (see the note there, and see Leviticus 24:20 (note)), which
obliged the offender to suffer the same injury he had committed. The Greeks and
Romans had the same law. So strictly was it attended to at Athens, that if a man
put out the eye of another who had but one, the offender was condemned to lose
both his eyes, as the loss of one would not be an equivalent misfortune. It seems
that the Jews had made this law (the execution of which belonged to the civil
magistrate) a ground for authorizing private resentments, and all the excesses
committed by a vindictive spirit. Revenge was often carried to the utmost
extremity, and more evil returned than what had been received. This is often the
case among those who are called Christians.

Matthew 5:39

Resist not evil—Or, the evil person. So, I am fully persuaded, ôù ðïíçñù
ought to be translated. Our Lord’s meaning is, “Do not repel one outrage by
another.” He that does so makes himself precisely what the other is, a wicked
person.

Turn to him the other also—That is, rather than avenge thyself, be ready to
suffer patiently a repetition of the same injury. But these exhortations belong to
those principally who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Let such leave the
judgment of their cause to Him for whose sake they suffer. The Jews always
thought that every outrage should be resented; and thus the spirit of hatred and
strife was fostered.

Matthew 5:40

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. It is evident he would have his followers to suffer rather the
loss of all their property than to have recourse to such modes of redress, at so
great a risk. Having the mind averse from contentions, and preferring peace and
concord to temporal advantages, is most solemnly recommended to all
Christians. We are great gainers when we lose only our money, or other property,
and risk not the loss of our souls, by losing the love of God and man.

Coat—×éôùíá, upper garment.—Cloke, jìáôéïí, under garment. What we
call strait coat, and great coat.—See on Luke 6:29 (note).

Matthew 5:41

Shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.—áããáñåõóåé. This word
is said to be derived from the Persians, among whom the king’s messengers, or
posts, were called Áããáðïé, or angari. This definition is given both by
Hesychius and Suidas.

The Persian messengers had the royal authority for pressing horses, ships, and
even men, to assist them in the business on which they were employed. These
angari are now termed chappars, and serve to carry despatches between the
court and the provinces. When a chappar sets out, the master of the horse
furnishes him with a single horse; and, when that is weary, he dismounts the first
man he meets, and takes his horse. There is no pardon for a traveler that refuses
to let a chappar have his horse, nor for any other who should deny him the best
horse in his stable. See Sir J. Chardin’s and Hanway’s Travels. For pressing post
horses, etc., the Persian term is Sukhreh geriften. I find no Persian word
exactly of the sound and signification of Áããáñïò; but the Arabic agharet
signifies spurring a horse, attacking, plundering, etc. The Greek word itself is
preserved among the rabbins in Hebrew characters, àéøâðà angaria, and it
has precisely the same meaning: viz. to be compelled by violence to do any
particular service, especially of the public kind, by the king’s authority. Lightfoot
gives several instances of this in his Horae Talmudicae.

We are here exhorted to patience and forgiveness:

First, When we receive in our persons all sorts of insults and affronts, Matthew
5:39.

Secondly, When we are despoiled of our goods, Matthew 5:40.

Thirdly, When our bodies are forced to undergo all kinds of toils, vexations,
and torments, Matthew 5:41.

The way to improve the injustice of man to our own advantage, is to exercise
under it meekness, gentleness, and long-suffering, without which disposition of
mind, no man can either be happy here or hereafter; for he that avenges himself
must lose the mind of Christ, and thus suffer an injury ten thousand times greater
than he can ever receive from man. Revenge, at such an expense, is dear indeed.

Matthew 5:42

Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow—To give
and lend freely to all who are in need, is a general precept from which we are
only excused by our inability to perform it. Men are more or less obliged to it as
they are more or less able, as the want is more or less pressing, as they are more
or less burthened with common poor, or with necessitous relatives. In all these
matters, both prudence and charity must be consulted. That God, who makes use
of the beggar’s hand to ask our charity, is the same from whom we ourselves beg
our daily bread: and dare we refuse HIM! Let us show at least mildness and
compassion, when we can do no more; and if we cannot or will not relieve a poor
man, let us never give him an ill word nor an ill look. If we do not relieve him,
we have no right to insult him.

To give and to lend, are two duties of charity which Christ joins together, and
which he sets on equal footing. A rich man is one of God’s stewards: God has
given him money for the poor, and he cannot deny it without an act of injustice.
But no man, from what is called a principle of charity or generosity, should give
that in alms which belongs to his creditors. Generosity is godlike; but justice has
ever, both in law and Gospel, the first claim.

A loan is often more beneficial than an absolute gift: first, because it flatters
less the vanity of him who lends; secondly, it spares more the shame of him who
is in real want; and, thirdly, it gives less encouragement to the idleness of him
who may not be very honest. However, no advantage should be taken of the
necessities of the borrower: he who does so is, at least, half a murderer. The
lending which our Lord here inculcates is that which requires no more than the
restoration of the principal in a convenient time: otherwise to live upon trust is
the sure way to pay double.

Matthew 5:43

Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy—Instead of ðëçóéïí
neighbor, the Codex Graevii, a MS. of the eleventh century, reads öéëïí friend.
Thou shalt love thy friend, and hate thine enemy. This was certainly the meaning
which the Jews put on it: for neighbor, with them, implied those of the Jewish
race, and all others were, considered by them as natural enemies. Besides, it is
evident that ðëçóéïí, among the Hellenistic Jews, meant friend merely: Christ
uses it precisely in this sense in Luke 10:36, in answer to the question asked by a
certain lawyer, Matthew 5:29. Who of the three was neighbor (ðëçóéïí friend) to
him who fell among the thieves? He who showed him mercy; i.e. he who acted
the friendly part. In Hebrew, òø reaò, signifies friend, which word is translated
ðëçóéïí by the LXX. in more than one hundred places. Among the Greeks it was
a very comprehensive term, and signified every man, not even an enemy
excepted, as Raphelius, on this verse, has shown from Polybius. The Jews
thought themselves authorized to kill any Jew who apostatized; and, though they
could not do injury to the Gentiles, in whose country they sojourned, yet they
were bound to suffer them to perish, if they saw them in danger of death. 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.” Maimon. This shows that by neighbor
they understood a Jew; one who was of the same blood and religion with
themselves.

Matthew 5:44

Love your enemies—This is the most sublime piece of morality ever given to
man. Has it appeared unreasonable and absurd to some? It has. And why?
Because it is natural to man to avenge himself, and plague those who plague him;
and he will ever find abundant excuse for his conduct, in the repeated evils he
receives from others; for men are naturally hostile to each other. Jesus Christ
design’s to make men happy. Now he is necessarily miserable who hates another.
Our Lord prohibits that only which, from its nature, is opposed to man’s
happiness. This is therefore one of the most reasonable precepts in the universe.
But who can obey it? None but he who has the mind of Christ. But I have it not.
Seek it from God; it is that kingdom of heaven which Christ came to establish
upon earth. See on Matthew 3:2 (note). This one precept is a sufficient proof of
the holiness of the Gospel, and of the truth of the Christian religion. Every false
religion flatters man, and accommodates itself to his pride and his passions. None
but God could have imposed a yoke so contrary to self-love; and nothing but the
supreme eternal love can enable men to practice a precept so insupportable to
corrupt nature. Sentiments like this are found among Asiatic writers, and in select
cases were strongly applied; but as a general command this was never given by
them, or any other people. It is not an absolute command in any of the books
which they consider to be Divinely inspired. Sir William Jones lays by far too
much stress on the casual introduction of such sentiments as this in the Asiatic
writers. See his WORKS, vol. i. p. 168, where the sentiment is connected with
circumstances both extravagant and unnatural; and thus it is nullified by the
pretended recommendation.

Bless them that curse you—Åõëïãåéôå, give them good words for their bad
words. See the note on Genesis 2:3.

Do good to them that hate you—Give your enemy every proof that you love
him. We must not love in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

Pray for them which despitefully use you—Åðçñåáæïíôùí from åðé
against, and Áñçò Mars, the heathen god of war. Those who are making
continual war upon you, and constantly harassing and calumniating you. Pray for
them—This is another exquisitely reasonable precept. I cannot change that
wicked man’s heart; and while it is unchanged he will continue to harass me:
God alone can change it: then I must implore him to do that which will at once
secure the poor man’s salvation, and contribute so much to my own peace.

And persecute you—Äéùêïíôùí, those who press hard on and pursue you
with hatred and malice accompanied with repeated acts of enmity.

In this verse our Lord shows us that a man may be our enemy in three different
ways.

First, in his heart, by hatred.

Secondly, in his words by cursing or using direful imprecations
(êáôáñùìåíïõò) against us.

Thirdly, in his actions, by continually harassing and abusing us.

He shows us also how we are to behave to those.

The hatred of the first we are to meet with love.

The cursings or evil words of the second, we are to meet with good words
and blessings.

And the repeated injurious acts of the third, we are to meet with continual
prayer to God for the man’s salvation.

Matthew 5:45

That ye may be the children of your Father—Instead of ›éïé children, some
MSS., the latter Persic version, and several of the primitive fathers, read •ìïéïé,
that ye may be like to, or resemble, your Father who is in heaven. This is
certainly our Lord’s meaning. As a man’s child is called his, because a partaker
of his own nature, so a holy person is said to be a child of God, because he is a
partaker of the Divine nature.

He maketh his sun to rise on the evil—“There is nothing greater than to
imitate God in doing good to our enemies. All the creatures of God pronounce
the sentence of condemnation on the revengeful: and this sentence is written by
the rays of the sun, and with the drops of rain, and indeed by all the natural good
things, the use of which God freely gives to his enemies.” If God had not loved
us while we were his enemies, we could never have become his children: and we
shall cease to be such, as soon as we cease to imitate him.

Matthew 5:46

For if ye love them which love you—He who loves only his friends, does
nothing for God’s sake. He who loves for the sake of pleasure or interest, pays
himself. God has no enemy which he hates but sin; we should have no other.

The publicans—That is, tax-gatherers, ôåëùíáé, from ôåëïò a tax, and
ùíåïìáé I buy or farm. A farmer or collector of the taxes or public revenues. Of
these there were two classes; the superior, who were Romans of the equestrian
order; and the inferior, those mentioned in the Gospels, who it appears were
mostly Jews.

This class of men was detestable among the Romans, the Greeks, and the Jews,
for their intolerable rapacity and avarice. 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. They were
something like the tythe-farmers of certain college-livings in some counties of
England, as Lancashire, etc.—a principal cause of the public burthens and
discontent. One quotation, of the many produced by Kypke, will amply show in
what detestation they were held among the Greeks. Theocritus being asked,
Which of the wild beasts were the most cruel? answered, Åí ìåí ôïéò ïñåóéí
áñêôïé êáé ëåïíôåò· åí äå ôáéò ðïëåóéí, ÔÅËÙÍÁÉ êáé óõêïöáíôáé. Bears
and lions, in the mountains; and TAX-GATHERERS and calumniators, in cities.

Matthew 5:47

And if ye salute your brethren only—Instead of áäåëöïõò brethren,
upwards of one hundred MSS., and several of them of great authority and
antiquity, have öéëïõò friends. The Armenian Slavonic, and Gothic versions,
with the later Syriac, and some of the primitive fathers, agree in this reading. I
scarcely know which to prefer; as brother is more conformable to the Jewish
mode of address, it should be retained in the text: the other reading, however,
tends to confirm that of the Codex Graevii on Matthew 5:43.

On the subject of giving and receiving salutations in Asiatic countries, Mr.
Harmer, Observat. vol. ii. p. 327, etc., edit. 1808, has collected much valuable
information: the following extract will be sufficient to elucidate our Lord’s
meaning.

“Dr. Doddridge supposes that the salutation our Lord refers to,
Matthew 5:47, If ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more
than others? do not even the publicans so? means embracing,
though it is a different word. I would observe, that it is made use
of in the Septuagint to express that action of endearment; and
which is made use of by an apocryphal writer, (Ecclus. 30:19),
whereas, the word we translate salute is of a much more general
nature: this, I apprehend, arose from his being struck with the
thought, that it could never be necessary to caution his disciples,
not to restrain the civilities of a common salutation to those of
their own religious party. Juvenal, when he satirizes the Jews of
the apostolic age for their religious opinions, and represents them
as unfriendly, and even malevolent, to other people, Sat. 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.

“Nor shall we wonder at this, or think it requisite to suppose the
word we translate salute (áóðáæïìáé) and which certainly,
sometimes at least, signifies nothing more than making use of
some friendly words upon meeting with people, must here signify
something more particular, since we find some of the present
inhabitants of the east seem to want this admonition of our Lord.
‘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. The
answer is, Aleikum essalam, With you be peace. Aged
people are inclined to add to these words, And the mercy and
blessing of God. The Mohammedans of Egypt and Syria never
salute a Christian in this manner; they content themselves with
saying to them, Good day to you; or, Friend, how do you do? The
Arabs of Yemen, who seldom see any Christians, are not so
zealous but that sometimes they will give them the Salam
aleikum.’

“Presently after he says: ‘For a long time I thought the
Mohammedan custom, of saluting Christians in a different manner
from that made use of to those of their own profession, was an
effect of their pride and religious bigotry. I saluted them
sometimes with the Salam aleikum, and I had often only the
common answer. At length I observed in Natolia, that the
Christians themselves might probably be the cause that
Mohammedans did not make the same return to their civilities that
they did to those of their own religion. For the Greek merchants,
with whom I traveled in that country, did not seem pleased with
my saluting Mohammedans in the Mohammedan manner. And
when they were not known to be Christians, by those Turks whom
they met with in their journeying, (it being allowed Christian
travelers in these provinces to wear a white turban, Christians in
common being obliged to wear the sash of their turbans white
striped with blue, that banditti might take them at a distance for
Turks, and people of courage), they never answered those that
addressed them with the compliment of Salam aleikum. One
would not, perhaps, suspect that similar customs obtain in our
times, among Europeans: but I find that the Roman Catholics of
some provinces of Germany never address the Protestants that live
among them with the compliment JESUS CHRIST be praised; and,
when such a thing happens by mistake, the Protestants do not
return it after the manner in use among Catholics, For ever and
ever. Amen!’

“After this, the words of our Lord in the close of the fifth of
Matthew want no farther commentary. The Jews would not
address the usual compliment of Peace be to you, to either
heathens or publicans; the publicans of the Jewish nation would
use it to their countrymen that were publicans, but not to heathens;
though the more rigid Jews would not do it to them, any more than
to heathens: our Lord required his disciples to lay aside the
moroseness of Jews, and express more extensive benevolence in
their salutations. There seems to be nothing of embracing thought
of in this case, though that, doubtless, was practised anciently
among relations, and intimate friends, as it is among modern
Asiatics.”

If not to salute be a heathenish indifference, to hide hatred under outward
civilities is a diabolic treachery. To pretend much love and affection for those for
whom we have neither—to use towards them complimentary phrases, to which
we affix no meaning, but that they mean, nothing, is highly offensive in the sight
of that God by whom actions are weighed and words judged.

Do not—the publicans—Ôåëùíáé,—but åèíéêïé heathens, is adopted by
Griesbach, instead of ôåëùíáé, on the authority of Codd. Vatican. & Bezae, and
several others; together with the Coptic, Syriac later, and Syriac Jerusalem; two
Arabic, Persic, Slavonic; all the Itala but one; Vulgate, Saxon, and several of the
primitive fathers.

Matthew 5:48

Be ye therefore perfect—as your Father—God himself is the grand law, sole
giver, and only pattern of the perfection which he recommends to his children.
The words are very emphatic, åóåóèå ïõí õìåéò ôåëåéïé, Ye shall be therefore
perfect—ye shall be filled with the spirit of that God whose name is Mercy, and
whose nature is love. God has many imitators of his power, independence,
justice, etc., but few of his love, condescension, and kindness. He calls himself
LOVE, to teach us that in this consists that perfection, the attainment of which he
has made both our duty and privilege: for these words of our Lord include both a
command and a promise.

“Can we be fully saved from sin in this world?” is an important question, to
which this text gives a satisfactory answer: “Ye shall be perfect, as your Father,
who is in heaven, is perfect.”—As in his infinite nature there is no sin, nothing
but goodness and love, so in your finite nature there shall dwell no sin, for the
law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus shall make you free from the law of sin and
death, Romans 8:2. God shall live in, fill, and rule your hearts; and, in what He
fills and influences, neither Satan nor sin can have any part. If men, slighting
their own mercies, cry out, This is impossible!—whom does this arguing
reprove—God, who, on this ground, has given a command, the fulfillment of
which is impossible. “But who can bring a clean out of an unclean thing?” God
Almighty—and, however inveterate the disease of sin may be, the grace of the
Lord Jesus can fully cure it; and who will say, that he who laid down his life for
our souls will not use his power completely to effect that salvation which he has
died to procure. “But where is the person thus saved?” Wherever he is found who
loves God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and his neighbor as
himself; and, for the honor of Christianity and its AUTHOR, may we not hope
there are many such in the Church of God, not known indeed by any profession
of this kind which they make, but by a surer testimony, that of uniformly holy
tempers, piety to God, and beneficence to man?

Dr. Lightfoot is not perfectly satisfied with the usual mode of interpreting the
22nd verse of this chapter. I subjoin the substance of what he says. Having given
a general exposition of the word brother, which the Jews understood as
signifying none but an Israelite—åíï÷ïò, which we translate is in danger of, and
which he shows the Jews used to signify, is exposed to, merits, or is guilty of—
and the word gehenna, hell—fire, which he explains as I have done above, he
comes to the three offenses, and their sentences.

The FIRST is causeless anger, which he thinks too plain to require explanation;
but into the two following he enters in considerable detail:—

“The SECOND. Whosoever shall say to his brother, ‘Racha,’ a nickname, or
scornful title usual, which they disdainfully put one upon another, and very
commonly; and therefore our Savior has mentioned this word, the rather because
it was of so common use among them. Take these few examples:—

“A certain man sought to betake himself to repentance (and
restitution). His wife said to him, ‘Rekah, if thou make
restitution, even thy girdle about thee is not thine own, etc.’
Tanchum, fol. 5.

“Rabbi Jochanan was teaching concerning the building of
Jerusalem with sapphires and diamonds, etc. One of his scholars
laughed him to scorn. But afterwards, being convinced of the truth
of the thing, he saith to him, ‘Rabbi, do thou expound, for it is fit
for thee to expound: as thou saidst, so have I seen it.’ he saith to
him, ‘Rekah, hadst thou not seen, thou wouldst not have believed,
etc.’ Midras Tillin, fol. 38, col. 4.

“To what is the thing like? To a king of flesh and blood, who
took to wife a king’s daughter: he saith to her, ‘Wait and fill me a
cup;’ but she would not: whereupon he was angry, and put her
away; she went, and was married to a sordid fellow; and he saith
to her, ‘Wait, and fill me a cup;’ she said unto him, ‘Rekah, I am
a king’s daughter, etc.’ Idem in Psalm 137.

“A Gentile saith to an Israelite, ‘I have a choice dish for thee to
eat of.’ He saith, ‘What is it ?’ He answers, ‘Swine’s flesh.’ he
saith to him, ‘Rekah, even what you kill of clean beasts is
forbidden us, much more this.’ Tanchum, fol. 18, col. 4.

“The THIRD offense is to say to a brother, ‘Thou fool,’ which, how to
distinguish from racha, which signifies an empty fellow, were some difficulty,
but that Solomon is a good dictionary here for us, who takes the term continually
here for a wicked wretch and reprobate, and in opposition to spiritual wisdom: so
that in the first clause is condemned causeless anger; in the second, scornful
taunting and reproaching of a brother; and, in the last, calling him a reprobate
and wicked, or uncharitably censuring his spiritual and eternal estate. And this
last does more especially hit the scribes and Pharisees, who arrogated to
themselves only to be called íéîëç 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.

“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.

“1st. That they accounted the command, Thou shalt not kill, to aim only at
actual murder. So that in their collecting the six hundred and thirteen precepts out
of the law, they understand that command to mean but this: ‘That one should not
kill an Israelite,’ and accordingly they allotted this only violation of it to
judgments; against this wild gloss and practice, he speaks in the first clause: Ye
have heard it said, Thou shalt not kill, and he that killeth, or committeth actual
murder, is liable to judgment, and ye extend the violation of that command no
farther; but I say to you, that causeless anger against thy brother is a violation of
that command, and even that maketh a man liable to judgment.

2nd. They allotted that murder only to be judged by the council, or Sanhedrin,
that was committed by a man in propria persona: let them speak their
own sense, etc. Talm. in Sanhedrin, per. 9.

“‘Any one that kills his neighbor with his hand, as if he strike him with a
sword, or with a stone that kills him, or strangle him till he die, or burn him in the
fire, seeing that he kills him any how in his own person, lo! such a one must be
put to death by the Sanhedrin; but he that hires another to kill his neighbor, or
that sends his servants, and they kill him, or that violently thrusts him before a
lion, or the like, and the beast kills him—any one of these is a shedder of blood,
and the guilt of shedding of blood is upon him, and he is liable to death by the
hand of Heaven, but he is not to be put to death by the Sanhedrin. And whence is
the proof that it must be thus! Because it is said, He that sheddeth man’s blood,
by man shall his blood be shed. This is he that slays a man himself, and not by
the hand of another. Your blood of your lives will I require. This is he that slays
himself. At the hand of every beast will I require it. This is he that delivers up his
neighbor before a beast to be rent in pieces. At the hand of man, even at the hand
of every man’s brother, will I require the life of man. This is he that hires others
to kill his neighbor: In this interpretation, requiring is spoken of all the three;
behold, their judgment is delivered over to Heaven (or God). And all these man-
slayers and the like, who are not liable to death by the Sanhedrin, if the king of
Israel will slay them by the judgment of the kingdom, and the law of nations, he
may, etc.’ Maym. ubi supr. per. 2.

“You may observe in these wretched traditions a twofold killing, and a twofold
judgment: a man’s killing another in his own person, and with his own hand, and
such a one liable to the judgment of the Sanhedrin, to be put to death by them, as
a murderer; and a man that killed another by proxy, not with his own hand, not
hiring another to kill him, or turning a beast or serpent upon him to kill him. This
man is not to be judged and executed by the Sanhedrin, but, referred and reserved
only to the judgment of God. 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. In the former verse, Christ
speaks their sense, and in the first clause of this, his own, in application to it. Ye
have heard it said, that any man that kills is liable to the judgment of God; but I
say unto you, that he that is but angry with his brother without a cause is liable to
the judgment of God. You have heard it said, that he only that commits murder
with his own hand is liable to the council, or Sanhedrin, as a murderer; but I say
unto you, that he that but calls his brother racha, as common a word as ye make
it, and a thing of nothing, he is liable to be judged by the Sanhedrin.

“Lastly, he that saith to his brother, Thou fool, wicked one, or cast-away, shall
be in danger of hell-fire, åíï÷ïò åéò ãååííáí ðõñïò. There are two observable
things in the words. The first is the change of case from what was before; there it
was said ôç êñéóåé ôù óõíåäñéù, but here, åéò ãååííáí. It is but an emphatical
raising of the sense, to make it the more feeling and to speak home. He that saith
to his brother, Raka, shall be in danger of the council; but he that says, Thou
fool, shall be in danger of a penalty even to hell-fire. And thus our Savior equals
the sin and penalty in a very just parable. In just anger, with God’s just anger and
judgment; public reproach, with public correction by the council; and censuring
for a child of hell, to the fire of hell.

“2nd. It is not said åéò ðõñ ãååííçò, To the fire of hell, but åéò ãååííáò ðõñïò,
To a hell of fire; in which expression he sets the emphasis still higher. 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. Then they poured boiling lead into his mouth, which went down into his
belly, and so burnt his bowels. Talm. in Sanhedrin. per. 7.

“Now, having spoken in the clause before, of being judged by the Sanhedrin,
whose most terrible penalty was this burning, he doth in this clause raise the
penalty higher; namely, of burning in hell; not with a little scalding lead, but
even with a hell of fire.” It is possible that our Lord might have reference to such
customs as these.

Matthew 6:1

Matthew 6

Of alms-giving, vv. 1-5. Of prayer, vv. 6-8. The Lord’s prayer, or model according to
which Christians should pray, vv. 9-13. Of forgiveness, vv. 14, 15. Of fasting, vv. 16, 17.
Of laying up treasures, vv. 18-21. Of the single eye, vv. 22, 23. The impossibility of
serving two masters, v. 24. Of contentment and confidence in the Divine providence, vv.
25-32. Directions about seeking the kingdom of God, vv. 33, 34.

NOTES ON CHAPTER 6

Matthew 6:1

That ye do not your alms—Äéêáéïóõíçí õìùí ìç ðïéåéí, perform not your
acts of righteousness—such as alms-giving, fasting, and prayer, mentioned
immediately after. Instead of äéêáéïóõíçí, righteousness, or acts of
righteousness, the reading in the text, that which has been commonly received is
åëåçìïóõíçí, alms. But the first reading has been inserted in several editions,
and is supported by the Codd. Vatican and Bezae, some others, and several
versions, all the Itala except one, and the Vulgate. The Latin fathers have
justitiam, a word of the same meaning. Mr. Gregory has amply proved,
ä÷ãö tsidekeh, righteousness, was a common word for alms among the
Jews. Works, 4th. p. 58, 1671. R. D. Kimchi says that ä÷ãö tsidekeh, Isaiah
59:14, means alms-giving; and the phrase ä÷ãö ïúð natan tsidekah, is
used by the Jews to signify the giving of alms. The following passages from Dr.
Lightfoot show that it was thus commonly used among the Jewish writers:—

“It is questioned,” says he, “whether Matthew wrote Åëåçìïóõíçí, alms, or
Äéêáéïóõíçí, righteousness. I answer:—

“I. That, our Savior certainly said ä÷ãö tsidekah, righteousness, (or, in
Syriac àú÷ãæ zidkatha), I make no doubt at all; but, that that word could not
be otherwise understood by the common people than of alms, there is as little
doubt to be made. For although the word ä÷ãö tsidekah, according to the
idiom of the Old Testament, signifies nothing else than righteousness; yet now,
when our Savior spoke these words, it signified nothing so much as alms.

“II. Christ used also the same word àú÷ãæ zidkatha, righteousness, in
time three verses next following, and Matthew used the word åëåçìïóõíçí,
alms; but by what right, I beseech you, should he call it äéêáéïóõíçí,
righteousness, in the first verse, and åëåçìïóõíçí, alms, in the following; when
Christ every where used one and the same word? Matthew might not change in
Greek, where our Savior had not changed in Syriac: therefore we must say that
the Lord Jesus used the word ä÷ãö tsidekeh or àú÷ãæ zidkatha, in
these four first verses; but that, speaking in the dialect of common people, he was
understood by the common people to speak of alms. Now they called alms by the
name of righteousness, for the fathers of the traditions taught, and the common
people believed, that alms contributed very much to justification. Hear the Jewish
chair in this matter—

For one farthing given to a poor man in alms, a man is made
partaker of the beatific vision: where it renders these words, Psalm
17:15, I shall behold thy face in righteousness, after this manner, I
shall behold thy face, BECAUSE OF ALMS. Bava. Bathra.

“This money goeth for alms, that my sons may live, and that I
may obtain the world to come. Bab. Rosh. Hashshanah.

“A man’s table now expiates by alms, as heretofore the altar did
by sacrifice. Beracoth.

“If you afford alms out of your purse, God will keep you from
all damage and harm. Hieros. Peah.

“MONOBAZES the king bestowed his goods liberally upon the poor, and had
these words spoken to him by his kinsmen and friends—

‘Your ancestors increased both their own riches, and those that
were left them by their fathers; but you waste both your own and
those of your ancestors.’

To whom he answered—

‘My fathers laid up their wealth on earth: I lay up mine in
heaven. As it is written, Truth shall flourish out of the earth, but
Righteousness shall look down from heaven. My fathers laid up
treasures that bear no fruit; but I lay up such as bear fruit. As it is
said, It shall be well with the just, for they shall eat the fruit of
their own works. My fathers treasured up, when power was in
their hands; but I where it is not.

As it is said, Justice and judgment is the habitation of his throne.
My fathers heaped up for others; I for myself. As it is said, And
this shall be to thee for righteousness. They scraped together for
this world. I for the world to come. As it is said, Righteousness
shall deliver from death.’ Ibid.

These things are also recited in the Babylonian Talmud.

“You see plainly in what sense he understands righteousness,
namely, in the sense of alms: and that sense not so much framed in
his own imagination, as in that of the whole nation, and which the
royal catachumen had imbibed from the Pharisees his teachers.

“Behold the justifying and saving virtue of alms, from the very
work done according to the doctrine of the Pharisaical chair! And
hence, the opinion of this efficacy of alms so far prevailed with
the deceived people, that they pointed out alms by no other name
(confined within one single word) than ä÷ãö tsidekah,
righteousness. Perhaps those words of our Savior are spoken in
derision of this doctrine. Yea, give those things which ye have in
alms, and behold all things shall be clean to you, Luke 11:41.
With good reason indeed exhorting them to give alms; but yet
withal striking at the covetousness of the Pharisees, and confuting
their vain opinion of being clean by the washing of their hands,
from their own opinion of the efficacy of alms. As if he had said,
“Ye assert that alms justifies and saves, and therefore ye call it by
the name of righteousness; why therefore do ye affect cleanliness
by the washing of hands; and not rather by the performance of
charity?” LIGHTFOOT’S Works, vol. ii. p. 153.

Before men—Our Lord does not forbid public alms-giving, fasting, and
prayer, but simply censures those vain and hypocritical persons who do these
things publicly that they may be seen of men, and receive from them the
reputation of saints, etc.

Matthew 6:2

Therefore when thou doest thine alms—In the first verse the exhortation is
general: Take YE heed. In this verse the address is pointed—and THOU—man—
woman—who readest—hearest.

Do not sound a trumpet—It is very likely that this was literally practised
among the Pharisees, who seemed to live on the public esteem, and were
excessively self-righteous and vain. Having something to distribute by way of
alms, it is very probable they caused this to be published by blowing a trumpet or
horn, under pretense of collecting the poor; though with no other design than to
gratify their own ambition. There is a custom in the east not much unlike this.
“The derveeshes carry horns with them, which they frequently blow, when any
thing is given to them, in honor of the donor. It is not impossible that some of the
poor Jews who begged alms might be furnished like the Persian derveeshes, who
are a sort of religious beggars, and that these hypocrites might be disposed to
confine their alms-giving to those that they knew would pay them this honor.”
HARMER’S Observat. vol. i. p. 474.

It must be granted, that in the Jewish writings there is no such practice referred
to as that which I have supposed above, viz. blowing a trumpet to gather the
poor, or the poor blowing a horn when relieved. Hence some learned men have
thought that the word øôåù shopher, a trumpet, refers to the hole in the public
alms chest, into which the money was dropped which was allotted for the service
of the poor. Such holes, because they were wide at one end and grew gradually
narrow towards the other, were actually termed úåøôåù shopheroth,
trumpets, by the rabbins; of this Schoettgen furnishes several examples. An
ostentatious man, who wished to attract the notice of those around him, would
throw in his money with some force into these trumpet-resembling holes, and
thus he might be said øôåù óáëðéæåéí, to sound the trumpet. The Jerusalem
Gemara, tract Shekalim, describes these úåøôåù shopheroth thus—These
trumpet holes were crooked, narrow above and wide below, in order to prevent
fraud. As our Lord only uses the words, ìç óáëðéóçò, it may be tantamount to
our term jingle. Do not make a public ostentatious jingle of that money which
you give to public charities. Pride and hypocrisy are the things here reprehended.
The Pharisees, no doubt, felt the weight of the reproof. Still the words may be
taken in their literal meaning, as we know that the Moslimans, who nearly
resemble the ancient Pharisees in the ostentation, bigotry, and cruelty of their
character, are accustomed, in their festival of Muhurram, to erect stages in the
public streets, and, by the sound of a trumpet, call the poor together to receive
alms of rice, and other kinds of food. See WARD.

Works of charity and mercy should be done as much in private as is consistent
with the advancement of the glory of God, and the effectual relief of the poor.

In the synagogues and in the streets—That such chests or boxes, for
receiving the alms of well-disposed people, were placed in the synagogues, we
may readily believe; but what were the streets? Schoettgen supposes that courts
or avenues in the temple and in the synagogues may be intended—places where
the people were accustomed to walk, for air, amusement, etc., for it is not to be
supposed that such chests were fixed in the public streets.

They have their reward—That is, the honor and esteem of men which they
sought. God is under no obligation to them—they did nothing with an eye to his
glory, and from HIM they can expect no recompense. They had their recompense
in this life; and could expect none in the world to come.

Matthew 6:3

Let not thy left hand know—In many cases, works of charity must be hidden
from even our nearest relatives, who, if they knew, would hinder us from doing
what God has given us power and inclination to perform. We must go even
farther; and conceal them as far as is possible from ourselves, by not thinking of
them, or eyeing them with complacency. They are given to GOD, and should be
hidden in HIM.

Matthew 6:4

Which seeth in secret—We should ever remember that the eye of the Lord is
upon us, and that he sees not only the act, but also every motive that led to it.

Shall reward thee openly—Will give thee the fullest proofs of his acceptance
of thy work of faith, and labor of love, by increasing that substance which, for his
sake, thou sharest with the poor; and will manifest his approbation in thy own
heart, by the witness of his Spirit.

Matthew 6:5

And when thou prayest—Ïôáí ðñïóåõ÷ç. Ðñïóåõ÷ç, prayer, is
compounded of ðñïò with, and åõ÷ç a vow, because to pray right, a man binds
himself to God, as by a vow, to live to his glory, if he will grant him his grace,
etc. Åõ÷ïìáé signifies to pour out prayers or vows, from åõ well, and ÷åù, I pour
out; probably alluding to the offerings or libations which were poured out before,
or on the altar. A proper idea of prayer is, a pouring out of the soul unto God, as a
free-will offering, solemnly and eternally dedicated to him, accompanied with the
most earnest desire that it may know, love, and serve him alone. He that comes
thus to God will ever be heard and blessed. Prayer is the language of dependence;
he who prays not, is endeavoring to live independently of God: this was the first
curse, and continues to be the great curse of mankind. In the beginning, Satan
said, Eat this fruit; ye shall then be as God; i.e. ye shall be independent: the man
hearkened to his voice, sin entered into the world, and notwithstanding the full
manifestation of the deception, the ruinous system is still pursued; man will, if
possible, live independently of God; hence he either prays not at all, or uses the
language without the spirit of prayer. The following verses contain so fine a
view, and so just a definition, of prayer, that I think the pious reader will be glad
to find them here.

WHAT IS PRAYER?

Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,

Unuttered or expressed,

The motion of a hidden fire

That trembles in the breast:

Prayer is the burden of a sigh,

The falling of a tear,

The upward gleaming of an eye,

When none but God is near

Prayer is the simplest form of speech

That infant lips can try;

Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach

The Majesty on high:

Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath,

The Christian’s native air,

His watch-word at the gates of death,

He enters heaven by prayer

Prayer is the contrite sinner’s voice,

Returning from his ways,

While angels in their songs rejoice,

And say, Behold he prays!

The saints in prayer appear as one,

In word, in deed, in mind,

When with the Father and the Son

Their fellowship they find

Nor prayer is made on earth alone:

The Holy Spirit pleads;

And Jesus, on th’ eternal throne,

For sinners intercedes

“O Thou, by whom we come to God!

The Life, the Truth, the Way,

The path of prayer thyself hast trod,

Lord, teach us how to pray!”

MONTGOMERY

Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites—Õðïêñéôáé. From õðï under, and
êñéíïìáé to be judged, thought: properly a stage-player, who acts under a mask,
personating a character different from his own; a counterfeit, a dissembler; one
who would be thought to be different from what he really is. A person who
wishes to be taken for a follower of God, but who has nothing of religion except
the outside.

Love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets—
The Jewish phylacterical prayers were long, and the canonical hours obliged
them to repeat these prayers wherever they happened to be; and the Pharisees,
who were full of vain glory, contrived to be overtaken in the streets by the
canonical hour, that they might be seen by the people, and applauded for their
great and conscientious piety. See Lightfoot. As they had no piety but that which
was outward, they endeavored to let it fully appear, that they might make the
most of it among the people. It would not have answered their end to kneel
before God, for then they might have been unnoticed by men; and consequently
have lost that reward which they had in view: viz. the esteem and applause of the
multitude. This hypocritical pretension to devotion is common among the
Asiatics. Both Hindoos and Mohammedans love to pray in the most public
places, at the landing places of rivers, in the public streets, on the roofs of the
covered boats, without the least endeavor to conceal their outside devotion, that
they may be seen of men.

Matthew 6:6

But thou, when thou prayest—This is a very impressive and emphatic
address. But THOU! whosoever thou art, Jew, Pharisee, Christian—enter into thy
closet. Prayer is the most secret intercourse of the soul with God, and as it were
the conversation of one heart with another. The world is too profane and
treacherous to be of the secret. We must shut the door against it: endeavor to
forget it, with all the affairs which busy and amuse it. Prayer requires retirement,
at least of the heart; for this may be fitly termed the closet in the house of God,
which house the body of every real Christian is, 1 Corinthians 3:16. To this
closet we ought to retire even in public prayer, and in the midst of company.

Reward thee openly—What goodness is there equal to this of God to give, not
only what we ask, and more than we ask, but to reward even prayer itself! How
great advantage is it to serve a prince who places prayers in the number of
services, and reckons to his subjects’ account, even their trust and confidence in
begging all things of him!

Matthew 6:7

Use not vain repetitions—Ìç âáôôïëïãçóçôå, Suidas explains this word
well: “ðïëõëïãéá, much speaking, from one Battus, who made very prolix
hymns, in which the same idea frequently recurred.” “A frequent repetition of
awful and striking words may often be the result of earnestness and fervor. See
Daniel 9:3-20; but great length of prayer, which will of course involve much
sameness and idle repetition, naturally creates fatigue and carelessness in the
worshipper, and seems to suppose ignorance or inattention in the Deity; a fault
against which our Lord more particularly wishes to secure them.” See Matthew
6:8. This judicious note is from the late Mr. Gilbert Wakefield, who illustrates it
with the following quotation from the Heautontimorumenos of Terence:

Ohe! jam decine Deos, uxor, gratulando OBTUNDERE,

Tuam esse inventam gnatam: nisi illos ex TUO
INGENIO judicas,

Ut nil credas INTELLIGERE, nisi idem DICTUM SIT
CENTIES

“Pray thee, wife, cease from STUNNING the gods with
thanksgivings, because thy child is in safety; unless thou judgest
of them from thyself, that they cannot UNDERSTAND a thing,
unless they are told of it a HUNDRED TIMES.” Heaut. ver. 880.

Prayer requires more of the heart than of the tongue. The eloquence of prayer
consists in the fervency of desire, and the simplicity of faith. The abundance of
fine thoughts, studied and vehement motions, and the order and politeness of the
expressions, are things which compose a mere human harangue, not an humble
and Christian prayer. Our trust and confidence ought to proceed from that which
God is able to do in us, and not from that which we can say to him. It is
abominable, says the HEDAYAH, that a person offering up prayers to God, should
say, “I beseech thee, by the glory of thy heavens!” or, “by the splendor of thy
throne!” for a style of this nature would lead to suspect that the Almighty derived
glory from the heavens; whereas the heavens are created, but God with all his
attributes is eternal and inimitable. HEDAYAH, vol. iv. p. 121.

This is the sentiment of a Mohammedan; and yet for this vain repetition the
Mohammedans are peculiarly remarkable; they often use such words as the
following:—

O God, O God, O God, O God!—

O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord!—

O living, O immortal, O living, O immortal,

O living, O immortal, O living, O immortal!—

O Creator of the heavens and the earth!—

O thou who art endowed with majesty and authority!

O wonderful, etc.

I have extracted the above from a form of prayer used by Tippo Sahib, which I
met with in a book of devotion in which there were several prayers written with
his own hand, and signed with his own name.

Of this vain repetition in civil matters, among the Jews, many instances might
be given, and not a few examples might be found among Christians. The
heathens abounded with them: see several quoted by Lightfoot.—

Let the parricide be dragged!

We beseech thee, Augustus, let the parricide be dragged!

This is the thing we ask, let the parricide be dragged!

Hear us, Caesar; let the false accusers be cast to the lion!

Hear us, Caesar, let the false accusers be condemned to the lion!

Hear us, Caesar, etc.

It was a maxim among the Jews, that “he who multiplies prayer, must be
heard.”

This is correct, if it only imply perseverance in supplication; but if it be used to
signify the multiplying of words, or even forms of prayer, it will necessarily
produce the evil which our Lord reprehends: Be not as the heathen—use not vain
repetition, etc. Even the Christian Churches in India have copied this vain
repetition work; and in it the Roman Catholic, the Armenian, and the Greek
Churches strive to excel.

As the heathen—The Vatican MS. reads õðïêñéôáé, like the hypocrites.
Unmeaning words, useless repetitions, and complimentary phrases in prayer, are
in general the result of heathenism, hypocrisy, or ignorance.

Matthew 6:8

Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of—Prayer is not designed
to inform God, but to give man a sight of his misery; to humble his heart, to
excite his desire, to inflame his faith, to animate his hope, to raise his soul from
earth to heaven, and to put him in mind that THERE is his Father, his country, and
inheritance.

In the preceding verses we may see three faults, which our Lord commands us
to avoid in prayer:—

1st. HYPOCRISY. Be not as the hypocrites. Matthew 6:5.

2ndly. DISSIPATION. Enter into thy closet. Matthew 6:6.

3rdly. MUCH SPEAKING, or UNMEANING REPETITION, Be not like the
heathens. Matthew 6:7.

Matthew 6:9

After this manner therefore pray ye—Forms of prayer were frequent among
the Jews; and every public teacher gave one to his disciples. Some forms were
drawn out to a considerable length, and from these abridgments were made: to
the latter sort the following prayer properly belongs, and consequently, besides
its own very important use, it is a plan for a more extended devotion. What
satisfaction must it be to learn from God himself, with what words, and in what
manner, he would have us pray to him, so as not to pray in vain! A king, who
draws up the petition which he allows to be presented to himself, has doubtless
the fullest determination to grant the request. We do not sufficiently consider the
value of this prayer; the respect and attention which it requires; the preference to
be given to it; its fullness and perfection: the frequent use we should make of it;
and the spirit which we should bring with it. “Lord, teach us how to pray!” is a
prayer necessary to prayer; for unless we are divinely instructed in the manner,
and influenced by the spirit of true devotion, even the prayer taught us by Jesus
Christ may be repeated without profit to our souls.

Our Father—It was a maxim of the Jews, that a man should not pray alone,
but join with the Church; by which they particularly meant that he should,
whether alone or with the synagogue, use the plural number as comprehending
all the followers of God. Hence, they say, Let none pray the short prayer, i.e. as
the gloss expounds it, the prayer in the singular, but in the plural number. See
Lightfoot on this place.

This prayer was evidently made in a peculiar manner for the children of God.
And hence we are taught to say, not MY Father, but OUR Father.

The heart, says one, of a child of God, is a brotherly heart, in respect of all
other Christians: it asks nothing but in the spirit of unity, fellowship, and
Christian charity; desiring that for its brethren which it desires for itself.

The word Father, placed here at the beginning of this prayer, includes two
grand ideas, which should serve as a foundation to all our petitions:

1st. That tender and respectful love which we should feel for God, such as that
which children feel for their fathers.

2dly. That strong confidence in God’s love to us, such as fathers have for their
children.

Thus all the petitions in this prayer stand in strictest reference to the word
Father; the first three referring to the love we have for God; and the three last, to
that confidence which we have in the love he bears to us.

The relation we stand in to this first and best of beings dictates to us reverence
for his person, zeal for his honor, obedience to his will, submission to his
dispensations and chastisements, and resemblance to his nature.

Which art in heaven—The phrase íéîùáù åðéáà, abinu
sheboshemayim, our Father who art in heaven, was very common among the
ancient Jews; and was used by them precisely in the same sense as it is used here
by our Lord.

This phrase in the Scriptures seems used to express:

1st. His OMNIPRESENCE. The heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. 1 Kings
8:27: that is, Thou fillest immensity.

2dly. His MAJESTY and DOMINION over his creatures. Art thou not God in
heaven, and rulest thou not over all the kingdoms of the heathen? 2
Chronicles 20:6.

3dly. His POWER and MIGHT. Art thou not God in heaven, and in thy hand is
there not power and might, so that no creature is able to withstand thee! 2
Chronicles 20:6. Our God is in heaven, and hath done whatsoever he
pleased. Psalm 115:3.

4thly. His OMNISCIENCE. The Lord’s throne is in heaven, his eyes behold, his
eye-lids try the children of men. Psalm 11:4. The Lord looketh down from
heaven, he beholdeth all the sons of men. Psalm 33:13-15.

5thly. His infinite PURITY and HOLINESS. Look down from thy holy habitation,
etc. Deuteronomy 26:15. Thou art the high and lofty One, who inhabiteth
eternity, whose name is holy. Isaiah 57:15.

Hallowed—Áãéáóèçôù. Áãéáæù· from á negative, and ãç, the earth, a thing
separated from the earth, or from earthly purposes and employments. As the
word sanctified, or hallowed, in Scripture, is frequently used for the consecration
of a thing or person to a holy use or office, as the Levites, first-born, tabernacle,
temple, and their utensils, which were all set apart from every earthly, common,
or profane use, and employed wholly in the service of God, so the Divine
Majesty may be said to be sanctified by us, in analogy to those things, viz. when,
we separate him from, and in our conceptions and desires exalt him above, earth
and all things.

Thy name—That is, GOD himself, with all the attributes of his Divine nature—
his power, wisdom, justice, mercy, etc.

We hallow God’s name,

1st. With our lips, when all our conversation is holy, and we speak of those
things which are meet to minister grace to the hearers.

2dly. In our thoughts, when we suppress every rising evil, and have our
tempers regulated by his grace and Spirit.

3dly. In our lives, when we begin, continue, and end our works to his glory. If
we have an eye to God in all we perform, then every act of our common
employment will be an act of religious worship.

4thly. In our families, when we endeavor to bring up our children in the
discipline and admonition or the Lord; instructing also our servants in the
way of righteousness.

5thly. In a particular calling or business, when we separate the falsity,
deception, and lying, commonly practised, from it; buying and selling as in
the sight of the holy and just God.

Matthew 6:10

Thy kingdom come—The ancient Jews scrupled not to say: He prays not at
all, in whose prayers there is no mention of the kingdom of God. Hence, they
were accustomed to say, “Let him cause his kingdom to reign, and his
redemption to flourish: and let the Messiah speedily come and deliver his
people.”

The universal sway of the scepter of Christ:—God has promised that the
kingdom of Christ shall be exalted above all kingdoms. Daniel 7:14-27. That it
shall overcome all others, and be at last the universal empire. Isaiah 9:7. Connect
this with the explanation given of this phrase, Matthew 3:2.

Thy will be done—This petition is properly added to the preceding; for when
the kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy, in the Holy Spirit, is established in
the heart, there is then an ample provision made for the fulfillment of the Divine
will.

The will of God is infinitely good, wise, and holy; to have it fulfilled in and
among men, is to have infinite goodness, wisdom, and holiness diffused
throughout the universe; and earth made the counterpart of heaven.

As it is in heaven—The Jews maintained, that they were the angels of God
upon earth, as these pure spirits were angels of God in heaven; hence they said,
“As the angels sanctify the Divine name in heaven, so the Israelites sanctify the
Divine name, upon earth.” See Schoettgen.

Observe,

1st. The salvation of the soul is the result of two wills conjoined: the will of
God, and the will of man. If God will not the salvation of man, he cannot
be saved: If, man will not the salvation God has prepared for him, he
cannot be delivered from his sins.

2dly. This petition certainly points out a deliverance from all sin; for nothing
that is unholy can consist with the Divine will, and if this be fulfilled in
man, surely sin shall be banished from his soul.

3dly. This is farther evident from these words, as it is in heaven; i.e. as the
angels do it: viz. with all zeal, diligence, love, delight, and perseverance.

4thly. Does not the petition plainly imply, we may live without sinning against
God? Surely the holy angels never mingle iniquity with their loving
obedience; and as our Lord teaches us to pray, that we do his will here as
they do it in heaven, can it be thought he would put a petition in our
mouths, the fulfillment of which was impossible?

5thly. This certainly destroys the assertion: “There is no such state of
purification, to be attained here, in which it may be said, the soul is
redeemed from sinful passions and desires;” for it is on EARTH that we are
commanded to pray that this will, which is our sanctification, may be done.

6thly. Our souls can never be truly happy, till our WILLS be entirely subjected
to, and become one with, the will of God.

7thly. How can any person offer this petition to his Maker, who thinks of
nothing less than the performance of the will of God, and of nothing more
than doing his own?

Some see the mystery of the Trinity in the three preceding petitions. The first
being, addressed to the Father, as the source of all holiness. The second, to the
Son, who establishes the kingdom of God upon earth. The third, to the Holy
Spirit, who by his energy works in men to will and to perform.

To offer these three petitions with success at the throne of God, three graces,
essential to our salvation, must be brought into exercise; and, indeed, the
petitions themselves necessarily suppose them.

FAITH, Our Father—for he that cometh to God, must believe that he is.

HOPE, Thy kingdom come—For this grace has for its object good things to
come.

LOVE, Thy will be done—For love is the incentive to and principle of all
obedience to God, and beneficence to man.

Matthew 6:11

Give us this day our daily bread—The word åðéïõóéáí has greatly perplexed
critics and commentators. I find upwards of thirty different explanations of it. It
is found in no Greek writer before the evangelists, and Origen says expressly,
that it was formed by them, áëë’ åïéêå ðåðëáóèáé õðï ôùí åõáããåëéóôùí. The
interpretation of Theophylact, one of the best of the Greek fathers, has ever
appeared to me to be the most correct, Áñôïò åðé ôç ïõóéu êáé óõóôáóåé çìùí
áõôáñêçò, Bread, sufficient for our substance and support, i.e. That quantity of
food which is necessary to support our health and strength, by being changed into
the substance of our bodies. Its composition is of åðé and ïõóéá, proper or
sufficient for support. Mr. Wakefield thinks it probable, that the word was
originally written åðé ïõóéáí, which coalesced by degrees, till they became the
åðéïõóéïí of the MSS. There is probably an allusion here to the custom of
travelers in the east, who were wont to reserve a part of the food given them the
preceding evening to serve for their breakfast or dinner the next day. But as this
was not sufficient for the whole day, they were therefore obliged to depend on
the providence of God for the additional supply. In Luke 15:12, 13, ïõóéá
signifies, what a person has to live on; and nothing can be more natural than to
understand the compound åðéïõóéïò, of that additional supply which the traveler
needs, to complete the provision necessary for a day’s eating, over and above
what he had then in his possession. See Harmer.

The word is so very peculiar and expressive, and seems to have been made on
purpose by the evangelists, that more than mere bodily nourishment seems to be
intended by it. Indeed, many of the primitive fathers understood it as
comprehending that daily supply of grace which the soul requires to keep it in
health and vigor: He who uses the petition would do well to keep both in view.
Observe

1.God is the author and dispenser of all temporal as well as spiritual good.

2.We have merited no kind of good from his hand, and therefore must
receive it as a free gift: Give us, etc.

3.We must depend on him daily for support; we are not permitted to ask any
thing for to-morrow: give us to-day.

4.That petition of the ancient Jews is excellent: “Lord, the necessities of thy
people Israel are many, and their knowledge small, so that they know not
how to disclose their necessities: Let it be thy good pleasure to give to
every man, what sufficeth for food!” Thus they expressed their
dependence, and left it to God to determine what was best and most
suitable.

We must ask only that which is essential to our support, God having promised
neither luxuries nor superfluities.

Matthew 6:12

And forgive us our debts—Sin is represented here under the notion of a debt,
and as our sins are many, they are called here debts. God made man that he might
live to his glory, and gave him a law to walk by; and if, when he does any thing
that tends not to glorify God, he contracts a debt with Divine Justice, how much
more is he debtor when he breaks the law by actual transgression! It has been
justly observed, “All the attributes of God are reasons of obedience to man; those
attributes are infinite; every sin is an act of ingratitude or rebellion against all
these attributes; therefore sin is infinitely sinful.”

Forgive us—Man has nothing to pay: if his debts are not forgiven, they must
stand charged against him for ever, as he is absolutely insolvent. Forgiveness,
therefore, must come from the free mercy of God in Christ: and how strange is it
we cannot have the old debt canceled, without (by that very means) contracting a
new one, as great as the old! but the credit is transferred from Justice to Mercy.
While sinners we are in debt to infinite Justice; when pardoned, in debt to endless
Mercy: and as a continuance in a state of grace necessarily implies a continual
communication of mercy, so the debt goes on increasing ad infinitum. Strange
economy in the Divine procedure, which by rendering a man an infinite debtor,
keeps him eternally dependent on his Creator! How good is God! And what does
this state of dependence imply? A union with, and participation of, the fountain
of eternal goodness and felicity!

As we forgive our debtors—It was a maxim among the ancient Jews, that no
man should lie down in his bed, without forgiving those who had offended him.
That man condemns himself to suffer eternal punishment, who makes use of this
prayer with revenge and hatred in his heart. He who will not attend to a condition
so advantageous to himself (remitting a hundred pence to his debtor, that his own
creditor may remit him 10,000 talents) is a madman, who, to oblige his neighbor
to suffer an hour, is himself determined to suffer everlastingly! This condition of
forgiving our neighbor, though it cannot possibly merit any thing, yet it is that
condition without which God will pardon no man. See Matthew 6:14, 15.

Matthew 6:13

And lead us not into temptation—That is, bring us not in to sore trial.
Ðåéñáóìïí, which may be here rendered sore trial, comes from ðåéñù, to pierce
through, as with a spear, or spit, used so by some of the best Greek writers.
Several of the primitive fathers understood it something in this way; and have
therefore added quam ferre non possimus, “which we cannot bear.” The
word not only implies violent assaults from Satan, but also sorely afflictive
circumstances, none of which we have, as yet, grace or fortitude sufficient to
bear. Bring us not in, or lead us not in. This is a mere Hebraism: God is said to do
a thing which he only permits or suffers to be done.

The process of temptation is often as follows:

1st. A simple evil thought.

2ndly. A strong imagination, or impression made on the imagination, by the
thing to which we are tempted.

3dly. Delight in viewing it.

4thly. Consent of the will to perform it. Thus lust is conceived, sin is finished,
and death brought forth. James 1:15.

See also on Matthew 4:1 (note). A man may be tempted without entering into
the temptation: entering into it implies giving way, closing in with, and
embracing it.

But deliver us from evil—Áðï ôïõ ðïíçñïõ, from the wicked one. Satan is
expressly called ï ðïíçñïò, the wicked one. Matthew 13:19, 38, compare with
Mark 4:15; Luke 8:12. This epithet of Satan comes from ðïíïò, labor, sorrow,
misery, because of the drudgery which is found in the way of sin, the sorrow that
accompanies the commission of it, and the misery which is entailed upon it, and
in which it ends.

It is said in the MISHNA, Titus. Beracoth, that Rabbi Judah was wont to pray
thus: “Let it be thy good pleasure to deliver us from impudent men, and from
impudence: from an evil man and an evil chance; from an evil affection, an evil
companion, and an evil neighbor: from Satan the destroyer, from a hard
judgment, and a hard adversary.” See Lightfoot.

Deliver us—Ñõóáé çìáò—a very expressive word—break our chains, and
loose our bands—snatch, pluck us from the evil, and its calamitous issue.

For thine is the kingdom, etc.—The whole of this doxology is rejected by
Wetstein, Griesbach, and the most eminent critics. The authorities on which it is
rejected may be seen in Griesbach and, Wetstein, particularly in the second
edition of Griesbach’s Testament, who is fully of opinion that it never made a
part of the sacred text. It is variously written in several MSS., and omitted by
most of the fathers, both Greek and Latin. As the doxology is at least very
ancient, and was in use among the Jews, as well as all the other petitions of this
excellent prayer, it should not, in my opinion, be left out of the text, merely
because some MSS. have omitted it, and it has been variously written in others.
See various forms of this doxology, taken from the ancient Jewish writers, in
Lightfoot and Schoettgen.

By the kingdom, we may understand that mentioned Matthew 6:10, and
explained Matthew 3:2.

By power, that energy by which the kingdom is governed and maintained.

By glory, the honor that shall redound to God in consequence of the
maintenance of the kingdom of grace, in the salvation of men.

For ever and ever—Åéò ôïõò áéùíáò, to the for evers. Well expressed by our
common translation—ever in our ancient use of the word taking in the whole
duration of time; the second ever, the whole of eternity. May thy name have the
glory both in this world, and in that which is to come! The original word áéùí
comes from áåé always, and ùí being, or existence. This is Aristotle’s definition
of it. See the note on Genesis 21:33. There is no word in any language which
more forcibly points out the grand characteristic of eternity—that which always
exists. It is often used to signify a limited time, the end of which is not known;
but this use of it is only an accommodated one; and it is the grammatical and
proper sense of it which must be resorted to in any controversy concerning the
word. We sometimes use the phrase for evermore: i.e. for ever and more, which
signifies the whole of time, and the more or interminable duration beyond it. See
on Matthew 25:46 (note).

Amen—This word is Hebrew, ïîà, and signifies faithful or true. Some
suppose the word is formed from the initial letters of íàð êìî éðåãà adoni
melech neetnan, My Lord, the faithful King. The word itself implies a
confident resting of the soul in God, with the fullest assurance that all these
petitions shall be fulfilled to every one who prays according to the directions
given before by our blessed Lord.

The very learned Mr. Gregory has shown that our Lord collected this prayer
out of the Jewish Euchologies, and gives us the whole form as follows:—

“Our Father who art in heaven, be gracious unto us! O Lord our
God, hallowed be thy name, and let the remembrance of Thee be
glorified in heaven above, and in the earth here below! Let thy
kingdom reign over us now, and for ever! The holy men of old
said, remit and forgive unto all men whatsoever they have done
against me! And lead us not into the hands of temptation, but
deliver us from the evil thing! For thine is the kingdom, and thou
shalt reign in glory for ever and for evermore.” Gregory’s Works,
4th. 1671, p. 162.

See this proved at large in the collections of Lightfoot and Schoettgenius.

Matthew 6:14

If ye forgive men—He who shows mercy to men receives mercy from God.
For a king to forgive his subjects a hundred millions of treasons against his
person and authority, on this one condition, that they wilt henceforth live
peaceably with him and with each other, is what we shall never see; and yet this
is but the shadow of that which Christ promises on his Father’s part to all true
penitents. A man can have little regard for his salvation, who refuses to have it on
such advantageous terms. See Quesnel.

Matthew 6:15

But if ye forgive not—He who does not awake at the sound of so loud a voice,
is not asleep but dead. A vindictive man excludes himself from all hope of
eternal life, and himself seals his own damnation.

Trespasses—Ðáñáðôùìáôá, from ðáñá and ðéðôù, to fall off. What a
remarkable difference there is between this word and ïöåéëçìáôá, debts, in
Matthew 6:12! Men’s sins against us are only their stumblings, or fallings off
from the duties they owe us; but our’s are debts to God’s justice, which we can
never discharge. It can be no great difficulty to forgive those, especially when we
consider that in many respects we have failed as much, in certain duties which
we owed to others, as they have done in those which they owed us. “But I have
given him no provocation.” Perhaps thou art angry, and art not a proper judge in
the matter; but, however it may be, it is thy interest to forgive, if thou expectest
forgiveness from God. On this important subject I will subjoin an extract from
Mason’s Self-knowledge, page 248, 1755.

“Athenodorus, the philosopher by reason of his old age, begged
leave to retire from the court of Augustus, which the emperor
granted. In his compliments of leave, he said, ‘Remember, Caesar,
whenever thou art angry, that thou say or do nothing before thou
hast distinctly repeated to thyself the twenty-four letters of the
alphabet.’ On which Caesar caught him by the hand, and said, ‘I
have need of thy presence still:’ and kept him a year longer. This
was excellent advice from a heathen; but a Christian may
prescribe to himself a wiser rule. When thou art angry, answer not
till thou hast repeated the fifth petition of our Lord’s prayer—
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors: and our Lord’s
comment upon it—For if ye forgive not men their trespasses,
neither will your heavenly father forgive your trespasses.”

PRAYER to God is considered among the Mohammedans in a very important
point of view. It is declared by the Mosliman doctors to be the corner stone of
RELIGION, and the pillar of FAITH. It is not, say they, a thing of mere form, but
requires that the heart and understanding should accompany it, without which
they pronounce it to be of no avail. They direct prayer to be performed five times
in the twenty-four hours.

1.Between day-break and sun-rise;

2.Immediately after noon;

3.Immediately before sun-set;

4.In the evening before dark; and

5.Before the first watch of the night.

They hold the following points to be essentially requisite to the efficacy of
prayer:—

1.That the person be free from every species of defilement.

2.That all sumptuous and gaudy apparel be laid aside.

3.That the attention accompany the act, and be not suffered to wander to any
other object.

4.That the prayer be performed with the face toward the temple of MECCA.
HEDAYAH. Prel. Dis. pp. 53, 54.

There are few points here but the follower of Christ may seriously consider and
profitably practice.

Matthew 6:16

When ye fast—A fast is termed by the Greeks íçéò, from íç not, and åóèåéí
to eat; hence fast means, a total abstinence from food for a certain time.
Abstaining from flesh, and living on fish, vegetables, etc., is no fast, or may be
rather considered a burlesque on fasting. Many pretend to take the true definition
of a fast from Isaiah 58:3, and say that it means a fast from sin. This is a mistake;
there is no such term in the Bible as fasting from sin; the very idea is ridiculous
and absurd, as if sin were a part of our daily food. In the fast mentioned by the
prophet, the people were to divide their bread with the hungry, Isaiah 58:7; but
could they eat their bread, and give it too? No man should save by a fast: he
should give all the food he might have eaten to the poor. He who saves a day’s
expense by a fast, commits an abomination before the Lord. See more on
Matthew 9:15 (note).

As the hypocrites—of a sad countenance—Óêõèñùðïé, either from
óêõèñïò sour, crabbed, and ùø the countenance; or from Óêõèçò a Scythian, a
morose, gloomy, austere phiz, like that of a Scythian or Tartar. A hypocrite has
always a difficult part to act: when he wishes to appear as a penitent, not having
any godly sorrow at heart, he is obliged to counterfeit it the best way he can, by a
gloomy and austere look.

Matthew 6:17

Anoint thine head and wash thy face—These were forbidden in the Jewish
canon on days of fasting and humiliation; and hypocrites availed themselves of
this ordinance, that they might appear to fast. Our Lord, therefore, cautions us
against this: as if he had said, Affect nothing—dress in thy ordinary manner, and
let the whole of thy deportment prove that thou desirest to recommend my soul to
God, and not thy face to men. That factitious mourning, which consists in putting
on black clothes, crapes, etc., is utterly inconsistent with the simplicity of the
Gospel of Christ; and if practised in reference to spiritual matters, is certainly
forbidden here: but sin is so common, and so boldly persisted in, that not even a
crape is put on, as an evidence of deploring its influence, or of sorrow for having
committed it.

Matthew 6:18

Thy father which seeth in secret—Let us not be afraid that our hearts can be
concealed from God; but let us fear lest he perceive them to be more desirous of
the praise of men than they are of that glory which comes from Him.

Openly—Åí ôù öáíåñù. These words are omitted by nine MSS. in uncial
letters; and by more than one hundred others, by most of the versions, and by
several of the primitive fathers. As it is supported by no adequate authority,
Bengel, Wetstein, Griesbach, and others, have left it out of the text.

Matthew 6:19

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth—What blindness is it for a
man to lay up that as a treasure which must necessarily perish! A heart designed
for God and eternity is terribly degraded by being fixed on those things which are
subject to corruption. “But may we not lay up treasure innocently?” Yes.

1st. If you can do it without setting your heart on it, which is almost
impossible: and

2dly. If there be neither widows nor orphans, destitute nor distressed persons in
the place where you live.

“But there is a portion which belongs to my children; shall I distribute that
among the poor?” If it belongs to your children, it is not yours, and therefore you
have no right to dispose of it. “But I have a certain sum in stock, etc.; shall I take
that and divide it among the poor?” By no means; for, by doing so, you would
put it out of your power to do good after the present division: keep your
principal, and devote, if you possibly can spare it, the product to the poor; and
thus you shall have the continual ability to do good. In the mean time take care
not to shut up your bowels of compassion against a brother in distress; if you do,
the love of God cannot dwell in you.

Rust—Or canker, âñùóéò, from âñùóêù, I eat, consume. This word cannot be
properly applied to rust, but to any thing that consumes or cankers clothes or
metals. There is a saying exactly similar to this in the Institutes of MENU:
speaking of the presents made to Brahmins, he says, “It is a gem which neither
thieves nor foes take away, and which never perishes.” Chapter of Government,
Institute 83.

Where thieves do not break through—Äéïñõóóïõóé, literally dig through,
i.e. the wall, in order to get into the house. This was not a difficult matter, as the
house was generally made of mud and straw, kneaded together like the cobb
houses in Cornwall, and other places. See Clarke on Matthew 7:27 (note).

Matthew 6:20

Lay up—treasures in heaven—“The only way to render perishing goods
eternal, to secure stately furniture from moths, and the richest metals from
canker, and precious stones from thieves, is to transmit them to heaven by acts of
charity. This is a kind of bill of exchange which cannot fail of acceptance, but
through our own fault.” Quesnel.

It is certain we have not the smallest portion of temporal good, but what we
have received from the unmerited bounty of God: and if we give back to him all
we have received, yet still there is no merit that can fairly attach to the act, as the
goods were the Lord’s; for I am not to suppose that I can purchase any thing from
a man by his own property. On this ground the doctrine of human merit is one of
the most absurd that ever was published among men, or credited by sinners. Yet
he who supposes he can purchase heaven by giving that meat which was left at
his own table, and that of his servants; or by giving a garment which he could no
longer in decency wear, must have a base ignorant soul, and a very mean opinion
of the heaven he hopes for. But shall not such works as these be rewarded? Yes,
yes, God will take care to give you all that your refuse victuals and old clothes
are worth. Yet he, who through love to God and man, divides his bread with the
hungry, and covers the naked with a garment, shall not lose his reward; a reward
which the mercy of God appoints, but to which, in strict justice, he can lay no
claim.

Matthew 6:21

Where your treasure is—If God be the treasure of our souls, our hearts, i.e.
our affections and desires will be placed on things above. An earthly minded man
proves that his treasure is below; a heavenly minded man shows that his treasure
is above.

Matthew 6:22

The light of the body is the eye—That is, the eye is to the body what the sun
is to the universe in the day time, or a lamp or candle to a house at night.

If—thine eye be single—Áðëïõò, simple, uncompounded; i.e. so perfect in its
structure as to see objects distinctly and clearly, and not confusedly, or in
different places to what they are, as is often the case in certain disorders of the
eye; one object appearing two or more—or else in a different situation, and of a
different color to what it really is. This state of the eye is termed, Matthew 6:23,
ðïíçñïò evil, i.e. diseased or defective. An evil eye was a phrase in use, among
the ancient Jews, to denote an envious, covetous man or disposition; a man who
repined at his neighbor’s prosperity, loved his own money, and would do nothing
in the way of charity for God’s sake. Our blessed Lord, however, extends and
sublimes this meaning, and uses the sound eye as a metaphor to point out that
simplicity of intention, and purity of affection with which men should pursue the
supreme good. We cannot draw more than one straight line between two
indivisible points. We aim at happiness: it is found only in one thing, the
indivisible and eternal GOD. It the line of simple intention be drawn straight to
him, and the soul walk by it, with purity of affection, the whole man shall be
light in the Lord; the rays of that excellent glory shall irradiate the mind, and
through the whole spirit shall the Divine nature be transfused. But if a person
who enjoyed this heavenly treasure permit his simplicity of intention to deviate
from heavenly to earthly good; and his purity of affection to be contaminated by
worldly ambition, secular profits, and animal gratifications; then, the light which
was in him becomes darkness, i.e. his spiritual discernment departs, and his union
with God is destroyed: all is only a palpable obscure; and, like a man who has
totally lost his sight, he walks without direction, certainty, or comfort. This state
is most forcibly intimated in our Lord’s exclamation, How great a darkness! Who
can adequately describe the misery and wretchedness of that soul which has lost
its union with the fountain of all good, and, in losing this, has lost the possibility
of happiness till the simple eye be once more given, and the straight line once
more drawn.

Matthew 6:24

No man can serve two masters—The master of our heart may be fitly termed
the love that reigns in it. We serve that only which we love supremely. A man
cannot be in perfect indifference betwixt two objects which are incompatible: he
is inclined to despise and hate whatever he does not love supremely, when the
necessity of a choice presents itself.

He will hate the one and love the other—The word hate has the same sense
here as it has in many places of Scripture; it merely signifies to love less—so
Jacob loved Rachel, but hated Leah; i.e. he loved Leah much less than he loved
Rachel. God himself uses it precisely in the same sense: Jacob have I loved, but
Esau have I hated; i.e. I have loved the posterity of Esau less than I have loved
the posterity of Jacob: which means no more than that God, in the course of his
providence, gave to the Jews greater earthly privileges than he gave to the
Edomites, and chose to make them the progenitors of the Messiah, though they
ultimately, through their own obstinacy, derived no more benefit from this
privilege than the Edomites did. How strange is it, that with such evidence before
their eyes, men will apply this loving and hating to degrees of inclusion and
exclusion, in which neither the justice nor mercy of God are honored!

Ye cannot serve God and mammon—ïåîî mamon is used for money in the
Targum of Onkelos, Exodus 18:21; and in that of Jonathan, Judges 5:19; 1
Samuel 8:3. The Syriac word àðåîî mamona is used in the same sense, Exodus
21:30. Dr. Castel deduces these words from the Hebrew ïîà aman, to trust,
confide; because men are apt to trust in riches. Mammon may therefore be
considered any thing a man confides in. Augustine observes, “that mammon, in
the Punic or Carthaginian language, signified gain.” Lucrum Punic'e8
mammon dicitur. The word plainly denotes riches, Luke 16:9, 11, in which
latter verse mention is made not only of the deceitful mammon, (ôù áäéêù), but
also of the true (ôï áëçèéíïí). St. Luke’s phrase, ìáìùíá áäéêéáò, very exactly
answers to the Chaldee ø÷ùã ïåîî mamon dishekar, which is often used in
the Targums. See more in Wetstein and Parkhurst.

Some suppose there was an idol of this name, and Kircher mentions such a one
in his Oedip. Egyptiacus. See Castel.

Our blessed Lord shows here the utter impossibility of loving the world and
loving God at the same time; or, in other words, that a man of the world cannot
be a truly religious character. He who gives his heart to the world robs God of it,
and, in snatching at the shadow of earthly good, loses substantial and eternal
blessedness. How dangerous is it to set our hearts upon riches, seeing it is so easy
to make them our God!

Matthew 6:25

Therefore—Äéá ôïõôï, on this account; viz., that ye may not serve mammon,
but have unshaken confidence in God, I say unto you,—

Take no thought—Be not anxiously careful, ìç ìåñéìíáôå; this is the proper
meaning of the word. ìåñéìíá anxious solicitude, from ìåñéæåéí ôïí íïõí
dividing or distracting the mind. My old MS. Bible renders it, be not bysy to your
liif. Prudent care is never forbidden by our Lord, but only that anxious distracting
solicitude, which, by dividing the mind, and drawing it different ways, renders it
utterly incapable of attending to any solemn or important concern. To be
anxiously careful concerning the means of subsistence is to lose all satisfaction
and comfort in the things which God gives, and to act as a mere infidel. On the
other hand, to rely so much upon providence as not to use the very powers and
faculties with which the Divine Being has endowed us, is to tempt God. If we
labor without placing our confidence in our labor, but expect all from the
blessing of God, we obey his will, co-operate with his providence, set the springs
of it a-going on our behalf, and thus imitate Christ and his followers by a sedate
care and an industrious confidence.

In this and the following verses, our Lord lays down several reasons why men
should not disquiet themselves about the wants of life, or concerning the future.

The first is, the experience of greater benefits already received. Is not the life
more than meat, and the body than raiment? Can he who gave us our body, and
breathed into it the breath of life, before we could ask them from him, refuse us
that which is necessary to preserve both, and when we ask it in humble
confidence?

The clause what ye must eat, is omitted by two MSS., most of the ancient
versions, and by many of the primitive fathers. Griesbach has left it in the text
with a note of doubtfulness. It occurs again in Matthew 6:31, and there is no
variation in any of the MSS. in that place. Instead of, Is not the life more than,
etc., we should read, Of more value; so the word ðëåéïí is used in Numbers
22:15, and by the best Greek writers; and in the same sense it is used in Matthew
21:37. See the note there.

Matthew 6:26

Behold the fowls of the air—The second reason why we should not be
anxiously concerned about the future, is the example of the smaller animals,
which the providence of God feeds without their own labor; though he be not
their father. We never knew an earthly father take care of his fowls, and neglect
his children; and shall we fear this from our heavenly Father? God forbid! That
man is utterly unworthy to have God for his father, who depends less upon his
goodness, wisdom, and power, than upon a crop of corn, which may be spoiled
either in the field or in the barn. If our great Creator have made us capable of
knowing, loving, and enjoying himself eternally, what may we not expect from
him, after so great a gift?

They sow not, neither do they reap—There is a saying among the rabbins
almost similar to this—“Hast thou ever seen a beast or a fowl that had a
workshop? yet they are fed without labor and without anxiety. They were created
for the service of man, and man was created that he might serve his Creator. Man
also would have been supported without labor and anxiety, had he not corrupted
his ways. Hast thou ever seen a lion carrying burthens, a stag gathering summer
fruits, a fox selling merchandise, or a wolf selling oil, that they might thus gain
their support? And yet they are fed without care or labor. Arguing therefore from
the less to the greater, if they which were created that they might serve me, are
nourished without labor and anxiety, how much more I, who have been created
that I might serve my Maker! What therefore is the cause, why I should be
obliged to labor in order to get my daily bread? Answer, SIN.” This is a curious
and important extract, and is highly worthy of the reader’s attention. See
Schoettgen.

Matthew 6:27

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?—The
third reason against these carking cares is the unprofitableness of human
solicitude, unless God vouchsafe to bless it. What can our uneasiness do but
render us still more unworthy of the Divine care? The passage from distrust to
apostasy is very short and easy; and a man is not far from murmuring against
Providence, who is dissatisfied with its conduct. We should depend as fully upon
God for the preservation of his gifts as for the gifts themselves.

Cubit unto his stature?—I think çëéêéáí should be rendered age here, and so
our translators have rendered the word in John 9:21, áõôïò çëéêéáí å÷åé he is of
age. A very learned writer observes, that no difficulty can arise from applying
ðç÷õí a cubit, a measure of extension, to time, and the age of man: as place and
time are both quantities, and capable of increase and diminution, and, as no fixed
material standard can be employed in the mensuration of the fleeting particles of
time, it was natural and necessary, in the construction of language, to apply
parallel terms to the discrimination of time and place. Accordingly, we find the
same words indifferently used to denote time and place in every known tongue.
Lord, let me know the MEASURE of my days! Thou hast made my days HAND-
BREADTHS, Psalm 39:5. Many examples might be adduced from the Greek and
Roman writers. Besides, it is evident that the phrase of adding one cubit is
proverbial, denoting something minute; and is therefore applicable to the smallest
possible portion of time; but, in a literal acceptation, the addition of a cubit to the
stature, would be a great and extraordinary accession of height. See Wakefield.

Matthew 6:28

And why take ye thought for raiment?—Or, why are ye anxiously careful
about raiment? The fourth reason against such inquietudes is the example of
inanimate creatures: The herbs and flowers of the field have their being,
nourishment, exquisite flavors, and beautiful hues from God himself. They are
not only without anxious care, but also without care or thought of every kind.
Your being, its excellence and usefulness, do not depend on your anxious
concern: they spring as truly from the beneficence and continual superintendence
of God, as the flowers of the field do; and were you brought into such a situation,
as to be as utterly incapable of contributing to your own preservation and support
as the lilies of the field are to theirs, your heavenly Father could augment your
substance, and preserve your being, when for his glory and your own advantage.

Consider—Diligently consider this, êáôáìáèåôå, lay it earnestly to heart, and
let your confidence be unshaken in the God of infinite bounty and love.

Matthew 6:29

Solomon in all his glory—Some suppose that as the robes of state worn by the
eastern kings were usually white, as were those of the nobles among the Jews,
that therefore the lily was chosen for the comparison.

Matthew 6:30

If God so clothe the grass of the field—Christ confounds both the luxury of
the rich in their superfluities, and the distrust of the poor as to the necessaries of
life. Let man, who is made for God and eternity, learn from a flower of the field
how low the care of Providence stoops. All our inquietudes and distrusts proceed
from lack of faith: that supplies all wants. The poor are not really such, but
because they are destitute of faith.

To-morrow is cast into the oven—The inhabitants of the east, to this day,
make use of dry straw, withered herbs, and stubble, to heat their ovens. Some
have translated the original word êëéâáíïí, a still, and intimate that our Lord
alludes to the distillation of herbs for medicinal purposes; but this is certainly
contrary to the scope of our Lord’s argument, which runs thus: If God covers
with so much glory things of no farther value than to serve the meanest uses, will
he not take care of his servants, who are so precious in his sight, and designed for
such important services in the world? See Harmer’s Observations.

Matthew 6:31

What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? etc.—These three inquiries
engross the whole attention of those who are living without God in the world.
The belly and back of a worldling are his compound god; and these he worships
in the lust of the flesh, in the lust of the eye, and in the pride of life.

Matthew 6:32

For after all these things do the Gentiles seek—The fifth reason against
solicitude about the future is—that to concern ourselves about these wants with
anxiety, as if there was no such thing as a providence in the world; with great
affection towards earthly enjoyments, as if we expected no other; and without
praying to God or consulting his will, as if we could do any thing without him:
this is to imitate the worst kind of heathens, who live without hope, and without
God in the world.

Seek—Åðéæçôåé from åðé, intensive, and æçôåù, I seek, to seek intensely,
earnestly, again and again: the true characteristic of the worldly man; his soul is
never satisfied—give! give! is the ceaseless language of his earth-born heart.

Your heavenly Father knoweth, etc.—The sixth reason against this anxiety
about the future is—because God, our heavenly Father, is infinite in wisdom, and
knows all our wants. It is the property of a wise and tender father to provide
necessaries, and not superfluities, for his children. Not to expect the former is an
offense to his goodness; to expect the latter is injurious to his wisdom.

Matthew 6:33

But seek ye first the kingdom of God—See on Matthew 3:7 (note).

His righteousness—That holiness of heart and purity of life which God
requires of those who profess to be subjects of that spiritual kingdom mentioned
above. See on Matthew 5:20 (note).

The seventh reason against these worldly cares and fears is—because the
business of our salvation ought to engross us entirely: hither all our desires,
cares, and inquiries ought to tend. Grace is the way to glory—holiness the way to
happiness. If men be not righteous, there is no heaven to be had: if they be, they
shall have heaven and earth too; for godliness has the promise of both lives. 1
Timothy 6:3.

All these things shall be added unto you—The very blunt note of old Mr.
Trapp, on this passage, is worthy of serious attention. All things shall be added.
“They shall be cast in as an overplus, or as small advantages to the main bargain;
as paper and pack-thread are given where we buy spice and fruit, or an inch of
measure to an ell of cloth.” This was a very common saying among the Jews:
“Seek that, to which other things are necessarily connected.” “A king said to his
particular friend, ‘Ask what thou wilt, and I will give it unto thee.’ He thought
within himself, ‘If I ask to be made a general I shall readily obtain it. I will ask
something to which all these things shall be added:’ he therefore said, ‘Give me
thy daughter to wife.’ This he did knowing that all the dignities of the kingdom
should be added unto this gift.” See in Schoettgen.

To this verse, probably, belong the following words, quoted often by Clement,
Origen, and Eusebius, as the words of Christ: áéôåéôå ôá ìåãáëá, êáé ôá ìéêñá
õìéí ðñïóôåèçóåôáé· êáé áéôåéôå ôá åðïõñáíéá, êáé ôá åðéãåéá
ðñïóôåèçóåôáé õìéí. “Ask great things, and little things shall be added unto
you; ask heavenly things, and earthly things shall be added unto you.”

Matthew 6:34

Take therefore no thought—That is, Be not therefore anxiously careful.

The eighth and last reason, against this preposterous conduct, is—that carking
care is not only useless in itself, but renders us miserable beforehand. The future
falls under the cognizance of God alone: we encroach, therefore, upon his rights,
when we would fain foresee all that may happen to us, and secure ourselves from
it by our cares. How much good is omitted, how many evils caused, how many
duties neglected, how many innocent persons deserted, how many good works
destroyed, how many truths suppressed, and how many acts of injustice
authorized by those timorous forecasts of what may happen; and those faithless
apprehensions concerning the future! Let us do now what God requires of us, and
trust the consequences to him. The future time which God would have us foresee
and provide for is that of judgment and eternity: and it is about this alone that we
are careless!

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof—Áñêåôïí ôç ½ìåñá ½ êáêéá
áõôçò, Sufficient for each day is its own calamity. Each day has its peculiar
trials: we should meet them with confidence in God. As we should live but a day
at a time, so we should take care to suffer no more evils in one day than are
necessarily attached to it. He who neglects the present for the future is acting
opposite to the order of God, his own interest, and to every dictate of sound
wisdom. Let us live for eternity, and we shall secure all that is valuable in time.

There are many valuable reflections in the Abbe Quesnel’s work, on this
chapter; and from it several of the preceding have been derived.

Matthew 7:1

Matthew 7

Our Lord warns men against rash judgment and uncharitable censures, vv. 1-5. Shows
that holy things must not be profaned, v. 6; gives encouragement to fervent persevering
prayer, vv. 7-11. Shows how men should deal with each other, v. 12. Exhorts the people
to enter in at the strait gate, vv. 13, 14; to beware of false teachers, who are to be known
by their fruits, vv. 15-20. Shows that no man shall be saved by his mere profession of
Christianity, however specious, vv. 22, 23. The parable of the wise man who built his
house upon a rock, vv. 24, 25. Of the foolish man who built his house, without a
foundation, on the sand, vv. 26, 27. Christ concludes his sermon, and the people are
astonished at his doctrine, vv. 28, 29.

NOTES ON CHAPTER 7

Matthew 7:1

Judge not, that ye be not judged—These exhortations are pointed against
rash, harsh, and uncharitable judgments, the thinking evil, where no evil seems,
and speaking of it accordingly. The Jews were highly criminal here, and yet had
very excellent maxims against it, as may be seen in Schoettgen. This is one of the
most important exhortations in the whole of this excellent sermon. By a secret
and criminal disposition of nature, man endeavors to elevate himself above
others, and, to do it more effectually, depresses them. His jealous and envious
heart wishes that there may be no good quality found but in himself, that he alone
may be esteemed. Such is the state of every unconverted man; and it is from this
criminal disposition, that evil surmises, rash judgments, precipitate decisions, and
all other unjust procedures against our neighbor, flow.

Matthew 7:2

For with what judgment—He who is severe on others will naturally excite
their severity against himself. The censures and calumnies which we have
suffered are probably the just reward of those which we have dealt out to others.

Matthew 7:3

And why beholdest thou the mote—Êáñöïò might be translated the splinter:
for splinter bears some analogy to beam, but mote does not. I should prefer this
word (which has been adopted by some learned men) on the authority of
Hesychius, who is a host in such matters; Êáñöïò, êåñáéá îõëïõ ëåðôç,
Karphos is a thin piece of wood, a splinter. It often happens that the faults
which we consider as of the first enormity in others are, to our own iniquities, as
a chip is, when compared to a large beam. On one side, self-love blinds us to
ourselves; and, on the other, envy and malice give us piercing eyes in respect of
others. When we shall have as much zeal to correct ourselves, as we have
inclination to reprove and correct others, we shall know our own defects better
than now we know those of our neighbor. There is a caution very similar to this
of our Lord given by a heathen:—

Cum tua praevideas oculis mala lippus inunctis:

Cur in amicorum vitiis tam cernis acutum,

Quam aut aquila, aut serpens Epidaurius?

Hor. Sat. lib. 1. sat. 3. l. 25-27

“When you can so readily overlook your own wickedness, why
are you more clear-sighted than the eagle or serpent of Epidaurus,
in spying out the failings of your friends?”

But the saying was very common among the Jews, as may be seen in Lightfoot.

Matthew 7:4

Or how wilt thou say—That man is utterly unfit to show the way of life to
others who is himself walking in the way of death.

Matthew 7:5

Thou hypocrite—A hypocrite, who professes to be what he is not, (viz. a true
Christian), is obliged, for the support of the character he has assumed, to imitate
all the dispositions and actions of a Christian; consequently he must reprove sin,
and endeavor to show an uncommon affection for the glory of God. Our Lord
unmasks this vile pretender to saintship, and shows him that his hidden
hypocrisy, covered with the garb of external sanctity, is more abominable in the
sight of God than the openly professed and practised iniquity of the profligate.

In after times, the Jews made a very bad use of this saying: “I wonder,” said
Rabbi Zarphon, “whether there be any in this age that will suffer reproof? If one
say to another, Cast out the mote out of thine eye, he is immediately ready to
answer, Cast out the beam that is in thine own eye.”

This proverbial mode of speech the Gloss interprets thus: “Cast out? íéñ÷
kisim, the mote, that is, the little sin, that is in thy hand: to which he answered,
Cast out the great sin that is in thine. So they could not reprove, because all were
sinners.” See Lightfoot.

Matthew 7:6

Give not that which is holy—Ôï áãéïí, the holy or sacred thing; i.e. any
thing, especially, of the sacrificial kind, which had been consecrated to God. The
members of this sentence should be transposed thus:—

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,

Lest they turn again and rend you:

Neither cast ye your pearls before swine,

Lest they trample them under their feet

The propriety of this transposition is self-evident. There are many such
transpositions as these, both in sacred and profane writers. The following is very
remarkable:—

“I am black but comely;

“As the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.”

That is,

“I am black as the tents of Kedar,

“Comely as the curtains of Solomon.”

See many proofs of this sort of writing in Mr. WAKEFIELD’S Commentary.

As a general meaning of this passage, we may just say: “The sacrament of the
Lord’s supper, and other holy ordinances which are only instituted for the
genuine followers of Christ, are not to be dispensed to those who are continually
returning like the snarling ill-natured dog to their easily predominant sins of rash
judgment, barking at and tearing the characters of others by evil speaking, back
biting and slandering; nor to him who, like the swine, is frequently returning to
wallow in the mud of sensual gratifications and impurities.”

Matthew 7:7

Ask—seek—knock—These three words include the ideas of want, loss, and
earnestness.

Ask: turn, beggar at, the door of mercy; thou art destitute of all spiritual good,
and it is God alone who can give it to thee; and thou hast no claim but what
his mercy has given thee on itself.

Seek: Thou hast lost thy God, thy paradise, thy soul.—Look about thee—leave
no stone unturned there is no peace, no final salvation for thee till thou get
thy soul restored to the favor and image of God.

Knock: Be in earnest—be importunate: Eternity is at hand! and, if thou die in
thy sins, where God is thou shalt never come.

Ask with confidence and humility.

Seek with care and application.

Knock with earnestness and perseverance.

Matthew 7:8

For every one that asketh receiveth—Prayer is always heard after one
manner or other. No soul can pray in vain that prays as directed above. The truth
and faithfulness of the Lord Jesus are pledged for its success.—Ye SHALL
receive—ye SHALL find—it SHALL be opened. These words are as strongly
binding on the side of God, as thou shalt do no murder is on the side of man.
Bring Christ’s word, and Christ’s sacrifice with thee, and not one of Heaven’s
blessings can be denied thee. See on Luke 11:9 (note).

Matthew 7:9

Or what man is there—whom if his son—Men are exhorted to come unto
God, with the persuasion that he is a most gracious and compassionate Parent,
who possesses all heavenly and earthly good, knows what is necessary for each
of his creatures, and is infinitely ready to communicate that which they need
most.

Will he give him a stone?—Will he not readily give him bread if he have it?
This was a proverb in other countries; a benefit grudgingly given by an
avaricious man is called by Seneca, panem lapidosum, stony bread. Hence
that saying in Plautus: Altera manu, fert lapidem, panem
ostentat altera.—In one hand he brings a stone, and stretches out bread in
the other.

Matthew 7:11

If ye, then, being evil—Ðïíçñïé ïíôåò, who are radically and diabolically
depraved, yet feel yourselves led, by natural affection, to give those things to
your children which are necessary to support their lives, how much more will
your Father who is in heaven, whose nature is infinite goodness, mercy, and
grace, give good things—his grace and Spirit (ðíåõìá áãéïí, the Holy Ghost,
Luke 11:13), to them who ask him? What a picture is here given of the goodness
of God! Reader, ask thy soul, could this heavenly Father reprobate to
unconditional eternal damnation any creature he has made? He who can believe
that he has, may believe any thing: but still GOD IS LOVE.

Matthew 7:12

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men—This is a most sublime
precept, and highly worthy of the grandeur and beneficence of the just God who
gave it. The general meaning of it is this: “Guided by justice and mercy, do unto
all men as you would have them to do to you, were your circumstances and theirs
reversed.” Yet this saying may be misunderstood. “If the prisoner should ask the
judge, ‘whether he would be content to be hanged, were he in his case,’ he would
answer, ‘No.’ Then, says the prisoner, do as you would be done to.—Neither of
them must do as private men; but the judge must do by him as they have publicly
agreed: that is, both judge and prisoner have consented to a law, that if either of
them steal he shall be hanged.”—Selden. None but he whose heart is filled with
love to God and all mankind can keep this precept, either in its spirit or letter.
Self-love will feel itself sadly cramped when brought within the limits of this
precept; but God hath spoken it: it is the spirit and design of the law and the
prophets; the sum of all that is laid down in the Sacred Writings, relative to
men’s conduct toward each other. It seems as if God had written it upon the
hearts of all men, for sayings of this kind may be found among all nations,
Jewish, Christian, and Heathen. See many examples in Wetstein’s notes.

Matthew 7:13

Enter ye in at the strait gate—Our Savior seems to allude here to the
distinction between the public and private ways mentioned by the Jewish
lawyers. The public roads were allowed to be sixteen cubits broad, the private
ways only four. The words in the original are very emphatic: Enter in (to the
kingdom of heaven) through THIS strait gate, äéá ôçò óôåíçò ðõëçò, i.e. of doing
to every one as you would he should do unto you; for this alone seems to be the
strait gate which our Lord alludes to.

For wide is the gate—And very broad, åõñõ÷ùñïò, from åõñõò, broad, and
÷ùñïò, a place, a spacious roomy place, that leadeth forward, áðáãïõóá, into
THAT destruction, åéò ôçí áðùëåéáí, meaning eternal misery; intimating, that it
is much more congenial, to the revengeful, covetous heart of fallen man, to take
every advantage of another, and to enrich himself at his expense, rather than to
walk according to the rule laid down before, by our blessed Lord, and that acting
contrary to it is the way to everlasting misery. With those who say it means
repentance, and forsaking sin, I can have no controversy. That is certainly a gate,
and a strait one too, through which every sinner must turn to God, in order to find
salvation. But the doing to every one as we would they should do unto us, is a
gate extremely strait, and very difficult, to every unregenerate mind.

Matthew 7:14

Because strait is the gate—Instead of ïôé because, I should prefer ôé how,
which reading is supported by a great majority of the best MSS., versions, and
fathers. How strait is that gate! This mode of expression more forcibly points out
the difficulty of the way to the kingdom. How strange is it that men should be
unwilling to give up their worldly interests to secure their everlasting salvation!
And yet no interest need be abandoned, but that which is produced by injustice
and unkindness. Reason, as well as God, says, such people should be excluded
from a place of blessedness. He who shows no mercy (and much more he who
shows no justice) shall have judgment without mercy. James 2:13.

Few there be that find it—The strait gate, óôåíç ðõëç, signifies literally what
we call a wicket, i.e. a little door in a large gate. Gate, among the Jews, signifies,
metaphorically, the entrance, introduction, or means of acquiring any thing. So
they talk of the gate of repentance, the gate of prayers, and the gate of tears.
When God, say they, shut the gate of paradise against Adam, He opened to him
the gate of repentance. The way to the kingdom of God is made sufficiently
manifest—the completest assistance is promised in the way, and the greatest
encouragement to persevere to the end is held out in the everlasting Gospel. But
men are so wedded to their own passions, and so determined to follow the
imaginations of their own hearts, that still it may be said: There are few who find
the way to heaven; fewer yet who abide any time in it; fewer still who walk in it;
and fewest of all who persevere unto the end. Nothing renders this way either
narrow or difficult to any person, but sin. Let all the world leave their sins, and
all the world may walk abreast in this good way.

Matthew 7:15

Beware of false prophets—By false prophets we are to understand teachers of
erroneous doctrines, who come professing a commission from God, but whose
aim is not to bring the heavenly treasure to the people, but rather to rob them of
their earthly good. Teachers who preach for hire, having no motive to enter into
the ministry but to get a living, as it is ominously called by some, however they
may bear the garb and appearance of the innocent useful sheep, the true pastors
commissioned by the Lord Jesus, or to whatever name, class or party they may
belong, are, in the sight of the heart-searching God, no other than ravenous
wolves, whose design is to feed themselves with the fat, and clothe themselves
with the fleece, and thus ruin, instead of save, the flock.

Matthew 7:16

Ye shall know them by their fruits—Fruits, in the Scripture and Jewish
phraseology, are taken for works of any kind. “A man’s works,” says one, “are
the tongue of his heart, and tell honestly whether he is inwardly corrupt or pure.”
By these works you may distinguish (åðéãíùóåóèå) these ravenous wolves from
true pastors. The judgment formed of a man by his general conduct is a safe one:
if the judgment be not favorable to the person, that is his fault, as you have your
opinion of him from his works, i.e. the confession of his own heart.

Matthew 7:17

So every good tree—As the thorn can only produce thorns, not grapes; and the
thistle, not figs, but prickles; so an unregenerate heart will produce fruits of
degeneracy. As we perfectly know that a good tree will not produce bad fruit,
and the bad tree will not, cannot produce good fruit, so we know that the
profession of godliness, while the life is ungodly, is imposture, hypocrisy, and
deceit. A man cannot be a saint and a sinner at the same time. Let us remember,
that as the good tree means a good heart, and the good fruit, a holy life, and that
every heart is naturally vicious; so there is none but God who can pluck up the
vicious tree, create a good heart, plant, cultivate, water, and make it continually
fruitful in righteousness and true holiness.

Matthew 7:18

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit—Love to God and man is the root
of the good tree; and from this principle all its fruit is found. To teach, as some
have done, that a state of salvation may be consistent with the greatest crimes,
(such as murder and adultery in David), or that the righteous necessarily sin in all
their best works, is really to make the good tree bring forth bad fruit, and to give
the lie to the Author of eternal truth.

Matthew 7:19

Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit—What a terrible sentence is
this against Christless pastors, and Christless hearers! Every tree that produceth
not good fruit, åêêïðôåôáé, is to be now cut down; the act of excision is now
taking place: the curse of the Lord is even now on the head and the heart of every
false teacher, and impenitent hearer.

Matthew 7:20

Wherefore by their fruits, etc.—This truth is often repeated, because our
eternal interests depend so much upon it. Not to have good fruit is to have evil:
there can be no innocent sterility in the invisible tree of the heart. He that brings
forth no fruit, and he that brings forth bad fruit, are both only fit for the fire.

Matthew 7:21

Not every one—Ïõ ðáò, a Hebraism, say some, for no person. It is a
Graecism and a Latinism too: ïõ ðáíôùí èåùí, not ALL of the gods, i.e. not
ANY of the gods, HOM. Odyss. Z. 240. So TERENCE Sine omni periclo,
without ALL danger, i.e. without ANY danger. And JUVENAL: Sine omni
labe, without ALL imperfection, i.e. without ANY. See more in Mr. Wakefield.
The sense of this verse seems to be this: No person, by merely acknowledging
my authority, believing in the Divinity of my nature, professing faith in the
perfection of my righteousness, and infinite merit of my atonement, shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven—shall have any part with God in glory; but he who
doeth the will of my Father—he who gets the bad tree rooted up, the good tree
planted, and continues to bring forth fruit to the glory and praise of God. There is
a good saying among the rabbins on this subject. “A man should be as vigorous
as a panther, as swift as an eagle, as fleet as a stag, and as strong as a lion, to do
the will of his Creator.”

Matthew 7:22

Many will say to me in that day—Åêåéíç ôç çìåñá, in that very day, viz. the
day of judgment—have we not prophesied, taught, publicly preached, in thy
name; acknowledging thee to be the only Savior, and proclaiming thee as such to
others; cast out demons, impure spirits, who had taken possession of the bodies
of men; done many miracles, being assisted by supernatural agency to invert
even the course of nature, and thus prove the truth of the doctrine we preached?

Matthew 7:23

Will I profess—Ïìïëïãçóù, I will fully and plainly tell them, I never knew
you—I never approved of you; for so the word is used in many places, both in
the Old and New Testaments. You held the truth in unrighteousness, while you
preached my pure and holy doctrine; and for the sake of my own truth, and
through my love to the souls of men, I blessed your preaching; but yourselves I
could never esteem, because you were destitute of the spirit of my Gospel,
unholy in your hearts, and unrighteous in your conduct. Alas! alas! how many
preachers are there who appear prophets in their pulpits; how many writers, and
other evangelical workmen, the miracles of whose labor, learning, and doctrine,
we admire, who are nothing, and worse than nothing, before God, because they
perform not his will, but their own? What an awful consideration, that a man of
eminent gifts, whose talents are a source of public utility, should be only as a
way-mark or finger-post in the way to eternal bliss, pointing out the road to
others, without walking in it himself!

Depart from me—What a terrible word! What a dreadful separation! Depart
from ME! from the very Jesus whom you have proclaimed in union with whom
alone eternal life is to be found. For, united to Christ, all is heaven; separated
from him, all is hell.

Matthew 7:24

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine—That is, the excellent
doctrines laid down before in this and the two preceding chapters. There are
several parables or similitudes like to this in the rabbins. I shall quote but the two
following:—

Rabbi Eleasar said, “The man whose knowledge exceeds his
works, to whom is he like? He is like a tree which had many
branches, and only a few roots; and, when the stormy winds came,
it was plucked up and eradicated. But he whose good works are
greater than his knowledge, to what is he like? He is like a tree
which had few branches, and many roots; so that all the winds of
heaven could not move it from its place.” Pirke Aboth.

Elisha, the son of Abuja, said, “The man who studies much in
the law, and maintains good works, is like to a man who built a
house, laying stones at the foundation, and building brick upon
them; and, though many waters come against it, they cannot move
it from its place. But the man who studies much in the law, and
does not maintain good words, is like to a man who, in building
his house, put brick at the foundation, and laid stones upon them,
so that even gentle waters shall overthrow that house.” Aboth Rab.
Nath.

Probably our Lord had this or some parable in his eye: but how amazingly
improved in passing through his hands! In our Lord’s parable there is dignity,
majesty, and point, which we seek for in vain in the Jewish archetype.

I will liken him unto a wise man—To a prudent man—áíäñé öñïíéìù, to a
prudent man, a man of sense and understanding, who, foreseeing the evil hideth
himself, who proposes to himself the best end, and makes use of the proper
means to accomplish it. True wisdom consists in getting the building of our
salvation completed: to this end we must build on the Rock, CHRIST JESUS, and
make the building firm, by keeping close to the maxims of his Gospel, and
having our tempers and lives conformed to its word and spirit; and when, in order
to this, we lean on nothing but the grace of Christ, we then build upon a solid
rock.

Matthew 7:25

And the rain descended—floods came—winds blew—In Judea, and in all
countries in the neighborhood of the tropics, the rain sometimes falls in great
torrents, producing rivers, which sweep away the soil from the rocky hills; and
the houses, which are built of brick only dried in the sun, of which there are
whole villages in the east, literally melt away before those rains, and the land-
floods occasioned by them. There are three general kinds of trials to which the
followers of God are exposed; and to which, some think, our Lord alludes here:
First, those of temporal afflictions, coming in the course of Divine Providence:
these may be likened to the torrents of rain. Secondly, those which come from the
passions of men, and which may be likened to the impetuous rivers. Thirdly,
those which come from Satan and his angels, and which, like tempestuous
whirlwinds, threaten to carry every thing before them. He alone, whose soul is
built on the Rock of ages, stands all these shocks; and not only stands in, but
profits by them.

Matthew 7:26

And every one that heareth—and doeth them not—Was there ever a stricter
system of morality delivered by God to man, than in this sermon? He who reads
or hears it, and does not look to God to conform his soul and life to it, and
notwithstanding is hoping to enter into the kingdom of heaven, is like the fool
who built his house on the sand. When the rain, the rivers, and the winds come,
his building must fall, and his soul be crushed into the nethermost pit by its ruins.
Talking about Christ, his righteousness, merits, and atonement, while the person
is not conformed to his word and spirit, is no other than solemn self-deception.

Let it be observed, that it is not the man who hears or believes these sayings of
Christ, whose building shall stand, when the earth and its works are burnt up; but
the man who DOES them.

Many suppose that the law of Moses is abolished, merely because it is too
strict, and impossible to be observed; and that the Gospel was brought in to
liberate us from its obligations; but let all such know, that in the whole of the old
covenant nothing can be found so exceedingly strict and holy as this sermon,
which Christ lays down as the rule by which we are to walk. “Then, the fulfilling
of these precepts is the purchase of glory.” No, it is the WAY only to that glory
which has already been purchased by the blood of the Lamb. To him that
believes, all things are possible.

Matthew 7:27

And the rain descended, and the floods came, etc.—A fine illustration of
this may be seen in the case of the fishermen in Bengal, who, in the dry season,
build their huts on the beds of sand from which the rivers had retired: but when
the rain sets in suddenly; as it often does, accompanied with violent northwest
winds, and the waters pour down in torrents from the mountains; in one night,
multitudes of these buildings are swept away, and the place where they stood is
on the next morning indiscoverable.

Matthew 7:28

The people were astonished—Ïé ï÷ëïé, the multitudes; for vast crowds
attended the ministry of this most popular and faithful of all preachers. They
were astonished at his doctrine. They heard the law defined in such a manner as
they had never thought of before; and this sacred system of morality urged home
on their consciences with such clearness and authority as they had never felt
under the teaching of their scribes and Pharisees. Here is the grand difference
between the teaching of scribes and Pharisees, the self-created or men-made
ministers, and those whom GOD sends. The first may preach what is called very
good and very sound doctrine; but it comes with no authority from God to the
souls of the people: therefore, the unholy is unholy still; because preaching can
only be effectual to the conversion of men, when the unction of the Holy Spirit is
in it; and as these are not sent by the Lord, therefore they shall not profit the
people at all. Jeremiah 23:32.

From one of the royal household of George III., I have received the following
anecdote:—

The late Bishop F. of Salisbury having procured a young man of
promising abilities to preach before the king, and the young man
having, to his lordship’s apprehension, acquitted himself well, the
Bishop, in conversation with the king afterwards, wishing to get
the king’s opinion, took the liberty to say, “Does not your majesty
think that the young man who had the honor to preach before your
majesty, is likely to make a good clergyman, and has this morning
delivered a very good sermon?” To which the king, in his blunt
manner, hastily replied, “It might have been a good sermon, my
lord, for aught I know; but I consider no sermon good that has
nothing of Christ in it!”

Matthew 7:29

Having authority—They felt a commanding power and authority in his word,
i.e. his doctrine. His statements were perspicuous; his exhortations persuasive;
his doctrine sound and rational; and his arguments irresistible. These they never
felt in the trifling teachings of their most celebrated doctors, who consumed their
own time, and that of their disciples and hearers, with frivolous cases of
conscience, ridiculous distinctions, and puerile splittings of controversial hairs—
questions not calculated to minister grace to the hearers.

Several excellent MSS. and almost all the ancient versions read, êáé ïé
Öáñéóáéïé, and the Pharisees. He taught them as one having authority, like the
most eminent and distinguished teacher, and not as the scribes and Pharisees,
who had no part of that unction which he in its plenitude possessed. Thus ends a
sermon the most strict, pure, holy, profound, and sublime, ever delivered to man;
and yet so amazingly simple is the whole that almost a child may apprehend it!
Lord! write all these thy sayings upon our hearts, we beseech thee! Amen.

This document in Rich Text

In Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)

to read Hebrew, Greek or Latin text