Book of Matthew
Commentary
Commentary
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Author: Christopher J. E. Johnson Published: Mar 26, 2025 [creationliberty.com] |
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More chapters will be added in the future.
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Introduction
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
-Matthew 28:19-20
These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
-1 John 2:26-27
If you would like more information on these topics, I recommend the following resources here at creationliberty.com:
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The Book of Matthew, named after the author and evangelist, Matthew, who was chosen by Jesus Christ to be one of His initial twelve disciples, is the account of Matthew, guided by the Holy Ghost (John 14:26), to deliver to us the Gospel of Jesus Christ, His ministry, deeds, birth, and death, that the message of repentance for the remission of sins would be passed down through every generation thereafter, that lost sinners may find eternal life in Christ. Matthew, who was first called Levi (Luke 5:27, or Matthew Levi), was of Jewish heritage, but was a tax collector, an occupation greatly hated by the Jews, was later called in person by the Lord Jesus to be an apostle of the Gospel of Grace, and wrote this down roughly a decade after Christ's resurrection from the dead.
Chapter 1
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[v1] The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Though this book is called "Matthew" after the writer, as was also done with the writers of the prophecies of the Old Testament, so we can more easily distinguish them from one another according to their time, place, people, and context, this book would be called "The Generation of Jesus Christ" according to Matthew himself; the focus obviously being about the Lord Jesus Christ, His deeds, His doctrine, and His suffering. Matthew includes that Jesus was "the son of David," which every formerly educated Jew knows is their name for the Messiah, and "the son of Abraham" because he was the first to which the promise of the seed of faith was made (Gen 22:18), which gave more detail that aside from just being born of the seed of a woman in the first promise (Gen 3:15), Christ would be born as a descendent of Abraham.[v2] Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
Although Ishmael was born before Isaac, and others born after Isaac, God told Abraham that "in Isaac shall they seed be called" (Gen 21:12), which means the seed of the promise would come from Isaac's lineage. The seed did not go from Isaac to Esau because Esau despised his birthright (Gen 25:32-24), which also meant that he cared nothing for the Messiah who would come from the seed of promise, and so the seed passed from Isaac to Jacob, who God also named Israel, from which the country adopted its name. (Isa 49:3)Although Joseph was a type of Christ, it is through Judah (or Judas, which is the same person referred to here) that the seed of promise came because the Scriptures tell us that "it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda." (Heb 7:14) And though it was from the tribe of Judah that the Messiah came, the Scriptures tell us that the seed of promise is considered to come from all Israelites. (Rom 9:4)
[v3] And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;
The seed came through Pharez (or Phares), the son of Judah, and though his twin brother Zarah (or Zara) is mentioned here, it is not because they were twins that Zarah is mentioned here (because otherwise, Esau would have been mentioned for the same reason, and he was not), but rather, it seems Zarah was mentioned because of Genesis 38:27-30, in which Zarah started to come out first, but withdrew his hand, and Pharez came out first instead. Pharez begat Esrom, who is also called Hezron in Ruth 4:18, which is the same name spelled two different ways, and he begat Aram, which is Ram (Ruth 4:19), and one of Ram's sons was Elihu, the same man who grew angry and rebuked Job and his other three friends when they tried to justify Job to be righteous in his own eyes. (Job 32:2)[v4] And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;
This follows the account of the Ruth 4:20, that Ram (or Aram) begat Amminadab (or Aminadab), and that Amminadab begat Nahshon (or Naasson), who was captain of the tribe as documented in the book of Numbers, and that Nahshon begat Salmon, or Salma, as he is called in 1 Chronicles 2:11.[v5] And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;
Here, it is confirmed that Salmon begat Boaz (or Booz) from his marriage to Rahab (or Rachab), the same Rahab who helped the Hebrew spies escape from Jericho. (Jos 2:1) Boaz and Ruth were married as indicated in the book of Ruth, and begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse, although there may have been a few generations between Obed and Jesse, but it is through Jesse that the seed was to come as prophesied in Isaiah 11:1.[v6] And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;
David was the youngest of the sons of Jesse, and was despised for it by his brethren, and overlooked by his father, who showed favor to his elder brethren, but as is the nature of God to show mercy and kindness on the downtrodden, God blessed David and made him king, and the first king of the tribe of Judah. David then begat Solomon through Bathsheba who was not named in this passage, likely due to the sins by both her (i.e. she was naked on the rooftop during a time of day that she should not have been, drawing in temptation from others) and David (i.e. he had Uriah [or Urias] killed to claim Bathsheba), and although David's first son with Bathsheba was slain by the Lord as punishment for their sins (2Sa 12:14-15), David and Bathsheba begat Solomon, who would claim the mantle of king after his father's death.[v7] And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;
Solomon begat Rehoboam (or Roboam), who became king after his father's death. (1Ki 11:43) Rehoboam begat Abia (or Abijam [1Ki 14:31], or Abijah [2Ch 12:16]), and Abia begat Asa, who was one of the few good kings of Israel.[v8] And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;
Asa begat Josaphat (1Ki 15:24), and Josaphat begat Joram (1Ki 22:50), and Joram begat Ozias (or Uzziah, 2Ch 26:1), but Uzziah was not the direct son of Joram; rather, he was the great grandson of Joram, and this is likely omitted by the Holy Ghost through Matthew because of the curse on the households, to the third and fourth generation, of those who practiced idolatry. (Exd 20:5)[v9] And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;
Uzziah begat Joatham (or Jotham, 2Ki 15:7), Joatham begat Achaz (or Ahaz, 2Ki 15:38), and Achaz bgat Ezekias (or Hezekiah, 2Ki 16:20) who was another of the good kings of Israel, and God added 15 years added to the days of his life. (Isa 38:5)[v10] And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;
Hezekiah begat Manassas (or Manasseh, 2Ki 20:21), Manasseh begat Amon (2Ki 21:19), and Amon begat Josias (or Josiah, 2Ki 22:1).[v11] And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:
Josiah begat Jechonias, or Jehoiakim, whose name was Eliakim before he was renamed by Pharaohnecho (2Ki 23:34), or Necho II. Jehoiakim's brethren (1Ch 3:15), Johanan, Zedekiah, and Shallum (or Jehoahaz, 2Ki 23:30), were likely mentioned here only to distinguish Jechonias (or Jehoiakim) from another Jechonias of the same name in the next verse, who did not have brethren, and it should be noted that neither Josiah nor Jehoiakim were carried away into Babylon because they were dead by that time, but rather, it was his brethren who were captive, which is what Matthew noted to help us with the timeline.[v12] And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;
Jechonias (or Jehoiachin, 2Ki 24:6), was the son of Jehoiakim mentioned in the previous verse, and he begat Salathiel (or Shealtiel, Hag 1:1). Salathiel begat Zorobabel (or Zerubbabel, Ezra 3:2), which has caused some controversy since Zerubbabel was not the immediate son of Salathiel (i.e. he was the son of Pedaiah, 1Ch 3:19) so he was either his grandson, or he adopted his brother's son. (1Ch 3:17)[v13] And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor;
Zorobabel begat Abiud, who is not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament, but is likely the eldest son, Meshullam (1Ch 3:19), since it was common for the Jews to have two names while under Babylonian captivity, as did Daniel. (Dan 1:7) Abiud begat Eliakim, and from this point, the rest of the genealogical account listed in this first chapter is taken from the records of the Jews, and is not mentioned elsewhere in Scripture.[v14] And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud;
[v15] And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob;
[v16] And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Both Joseph and Mary were from the family of David, and both were poor, nor had any great reputation among the Jews because the family of David was in a poor condition at the time, and not highly respected. This was a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 11:1, that there would come "a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots," symbolizing that the line of Jesse had been cut down from its previous splendor, and from the lowly roots Jesus would come with tenderness, but without attractiveness nor beauty (Isa 53:2), and "who is called Christ," meaning "Anointed" by God, who is the prophesied Messiah that would come througth the seed of Abraham.[v17] So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
Matthew summarized the genealogy into three parts, the first under the patriarchs, prophets, and judges, the second under kings, and the third under princes and priests, thereby dividing the 42 generations into groups of 14, as had been done by other authors in that day.Amminadab - Naasson - Salmon - Boaz - Obed - Jesse - David
Solomon - Roboam - Abia - Asa - Josaphat - Joram - Ozias
Joatham - Achaz - Ezekias - Manasses - Amon - Josias - Jechonias
Jechonias - Salathiel - Zorobabel - Abiud - Ehakim - Azor - Sadoc
Achim - Eliud - Eleazar - Matthan - Jacob - Joseph - Jesus
[v18] Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
The phrase "on this wise" means "after this manner," meaning that the following is a description of the events that proceeded. Mary was engaged to marry Joseph, but the marriage had not yet been finalized with a declaration since preparations had to be made by Joseph to bring a woman into his household, and during this time, she became pregnant with a child.The account of an angel's visitation with Mary is not provided here, but is given in the first chapter of Luke. (Luke 1:28-35) Mary was informed by the angel of the Lord that she was pregnant with a child conceived by the Holy Ghost, while yet still be a virgin, and she would have relayed this information to her soon-to-be husband, as it may have caused a scandel, by which he might accuse her of adultery.
It is unclear whether or not Mary was showing, but it is likely that her belly was showing the signs of a child within her at the time she confronted Joseph since she had spent three months with her cousin, Elizabeth. (Luke 1:56) Thus, the likely version of events that Joseph and Mary were engaged, then she left to spend three months with her cousin while Joseph made arrangements, and upon her return, she was clearly pregnant, and had no choice but to explain the situation at that point.
[v19] Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
This verse makes it clear that Joseph did not believe her story, and assumed she had committed adultery, as would any man, but since she had come to tell him these things before any damage had been done, he intended to break off the engagement quietly, without making a public spectacle, because if he had made a public announcement, it would have pressed the local magistrate to issue punishment, which according to Israeli law was death by stoning. (Deut 22:23) Even if, in the event she was raped, she did not tell anyone about it for months, knowing she was pregnant, and thus, it would have been concluded that she was a willing participant, and an execution would have been unavoidable, and Joseph, being just and kind, intended to show her mercy by providing a bill of divorce, which, although they were not yet officially married, was still required because their espoused word had already been given.[v20] But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
Just as Joseph had thought of what he would do with Mary, an angel of God came to Joseph in a dream, and addressed him as a son of David, to emphasize his lineage from which Joseph knew (and had faith) the seed of the Messiah would come. Joseph feared to take Mary as a wife because of the reproach and scandal it might bring on his household, but the angel instructed him not to fear this because what Mary told him was the truth, and that their family would be greatly blessed by the Lord since the child was conceived of the Holy Ghost.[v21] And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
At that time, there was no other method of knowing that the child would be a boy unless by divine revelation, and Joseph was commanded to name him Jesus, which is interpreted "Saviour" (Acts 13:23) because He is the prophesied Messiah to save His people from their sins. The angel specifically noted that Christ would save "his people" from their sins, but it should not be taken to mean the entire world, nor the Israelites, for the great majority of them have died in their sins, faithless, or of a fake and prideful faith, the wages of which are death (Rom 6:23), but the elect of God is meant, the spiritual seed of Abraham, which are all those who come to repentance and faith in Christ alone, to be made saints by the washing of His blood on their souls to become new creatures in Him. (2Co 5:17)[v22] Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
This was not said by the angel, but by Matthew, pointing out that the events that took place would not have been done except by the guiding of the Holy Ghost, to fulfill the prophecies, that the world might know that these events were guided by the Almighty God to keep His promise to men.[v23] Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Matthew mimicks the method of Isaiah, drawing attention to the point by saying "Behold!" A virgin women has become pregnant, which would be impossible by any other method available to them at that time, and Mary would give birth to a son, who Joseph and his wife would call "Emmanuel," which means "God with us" because this child is the Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, and the Savior of men. This confirms the prophecy of Isaiah 9:6 that "unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace," and that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." (John 1:14)[v24] Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
This dream may have been sleep induced by God on him for a short time, and so he awoke and did as the angel had instructed him, ridding himself of any thought of putting Mary away, and marrying her as originally planned.[v25] And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
This was a modest way of saying that Joseph did not have sexual relations with his wife until after Jesus had been born, so to maintain her virginity through the birth, to fulfill the Scriptures. Christ is called Mary's "firstborn" specifically because He was the first child to pass through her womb, but He is the "firstborn" of God in the sense of authority, that He is the King of Kings. (Psa 89:27)Chapter 2
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[v1] Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
Bethlehem of Judea is mentioned specifically to distinguish it from Bethlehem of Zabulon mentioned in Joshua 19:15, and this was acknowledged by the Jews because they expected him to be born in Bethlehem as indicated in verse five. The name 'Bethlehem' is interpreted "house of bread," as Jesus is the bread of life which came down from heaven. (John 6:48)This king is Herod I, also called Herod the Ascalonite according to Jewish scholars, and is to be distinguished from another Herod mentioned in later chapters. Herod I reigned 37 years, and Christ was born in the 35th year of his reign, in the year 3928 according to the Jewish calender, or in other words, 3,928 years after the creation of the universe.
It is unknown exactly where the wise men came from, and although some speculate they were magi (i.e. soothsayers, astrologers, magicians, wizards, etc) who came from Chaldea, that notion contradicts the passage because Chaldea was north of Judea, not east. When Matthew wrote "when Jesus was born," it is meant that the time of His birth was drawing near, not that the wise men would have departed after His birth, which (with their gear and animals) would have likely taken months to traverse, perhaps even a year depending on the distance and terrain.
[v2] Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
The wise men of the east asked anyone they could find where they could find the King of the Jews, the context of which would have been generally known to the Jews. When they said they had seen his star in the east, it is not meant that the star was east of them, but that they were in the east when they had seen it.Some have tried to write this off as a naturally occuring event, such as a comet, but these were learned men who would have been able to tell the difference. They recognized this was a significant star that was new, and did not show up on any of their charts. Furthermore, there was likely another magi or wise man in an eastern country who was of Jewish heritage, who knew the Scriptures from his childhood and the prophecies of the King of Kings, or perhaps a book from a Jewish author they had which summarized the prophecies, which is how the wise men knew to ask for Him, and why they sought to bring him divine honors.
[v3] When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
Word got back to Herod about the inquiries of the wise men, which did not excite him because he was not interested in the mercy and salvation of God, but rather, he was troubled because he feared losing his power, especially because he was a foreigner, who had no claim to the Jewish throne. The people were also troubled due to the fear of war that may come upon the city over battle for the throne, and they may also have been deeply concerned about Herod's response to this news, knowing that he was a superstitious and cruel lord.[v4] And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
This was an extremely large gathering of men, which included not just the sanhedrim (i.e. the 71 chief Pharisees and Sadducees), but also many other chief priests from various groups, including the "scribes of the people," which were scribes that were elected by the people (outside of the authority of the Levites, who were the priests) as copiers of the law, to produce written copies of the Torah for the people to read and study. Herod did not ask, but demanded with his authority to tell where the Messiah was prophesied to be born, so to have Him killed.[v5] And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
Without having to consult one another, it was quickly answered (because it was common knowledge among them) that Christ would be born in Bethlehem of Judea, as foretold by the Holy Spirit through Micah.[v6] And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
This is a rough quote of Micah 5:2, which says "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah [fruitful, or fully, 'fruitful house of bread'], though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." Despite the vicious denials of Christ by the Jews over the past 2,000 years, it is well known that the Messiah was to come out of Bethlehem, as they must admit, Christ did, else they embarass themselves to deny the facts of their own historical accounts.[v7] Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
Although it seemed rather unnecessary to call in every priest and scribe in the city, Herod wanted to be sure of the prophecy, that no religious figure might betray him with false information, and once he had confirmed it under the guise of innocent curiousity, he called the inquiring wise men to a meeting that they would give to him, to the best of their knowledge, the precise timing of the star, so he would know when to strike.[v8] And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
It is curious why Herod did not send officers with the wise men to Bethlehem, but not only was this the will of God, Bethlehem was only about 5 miles (8km) outside of Jerusalem, so for them to find the child and bring word back would only have taken a day, or two at most. Furthermore, if any of the priests or scribes went with the wise men, it may have been seen by Herod as an act of defiency, that they might seek to betray him to those sympathetic to Christ's cause, and some may have been glad to hear of the Messiah's arrival, and therefore, did not want to help Herod in any way by their participation.Herod ordered the wise men to continue on their journey to Bethlehem to look for the child, and that his intention was to worship the child also, but this was a ruse to cover his violent plan.
[v9] When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
The wise men listened intently to all the things the king had told them because he was pointing them in the direction of their goal. After they departed, the star, which apparently had disappeared from their site for a time (which caused them to have to stop and ask for directions), had reappeared and led them in the direction of Jesus. This light, appearing to be a star, moved over where Jesus was resting with his family.[v10] When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
It would have been expected, after traveling such a great distance from a foreign land, that many Jews would have joined them in the search for the Messiah, and the wise men may have been surprised that no one else was looking for Christ when they arrived. This seems to be a reflection of the general prophecy that the Gentiles would seek that which the Jews would not. The community's apathy towards their quest may have been a great disappointment to the wise men, and they were saddened that their calculations may have been wrong, but when the star appeared again, they were delighted and renewed in hope to find what they came looking for.[v11] And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
Mary was with the child in a house, which they were unable to find at first, upon entering the city, so she had to give birth in a stable, and laid the newborn Jesus in a manger, which is a trough for feeding animals. (Luke 2:7) It is presumed that after this point, Joseph left her to try and find lodging, and after he did, he came back to retrieve them and bring them into the house he had found for them to stay, the same house the wise men discovered them on arrival.This account contradicts the pagan Christmas depictions of the wise men visiting Mary and Jesus in a stable. I have a free-to-read book called Christmas: Rejecting Jesus here at creationliberty.com that describes this in more detail.
This verse does not mention Joseph being in the house at the time, and he may have been out taking care of business, procuring food and supplies, which may have been providential, since the wise men would come in to see the Messiah with his mother, and no father, since He was conceived of the Holy Ghost. The wise men presented their gifts to the King, which may have been taken from a combination of Genesis 43:11 (i.e. myrrh) and Isaiah 60:6 (i.e. gold and incense). Gold is a precious metal, frankincense is a resin harvested from Boswellia trees and used in perfumes, and myrrh is a resin harvested from Commiphora trees and is used in medicine and incense.
[v12] And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
It is presumed that the wise men found lodging for the night in Bethlehem, and during the night the Lord God communicated to them that they should not report back their findings to Herod. It is not known to us whether they had made a promise to Herod, but God gave the final command, and so they thought it best to depart, and that is the last we know of what happened to them, or if the Gospel of Salvation had any effect on them in the future.[v13] And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
Soon after the wise men left, the angel once again communicated with Joseph in a dream, and gave him instructions to take his wife and "the young child" (who the angel did not call Joseph's son because He was the Son of God) and quickly move to Egypt for a time. Traveling with a new born baby a great distance is very taxing, and to take him to Egypt was likely the shortest and safest path. Joseph was commanded by God to remain in Egypt until instructed otherwise because Herod sought to kill Jesus before His time, in that Jesus was to be killed in ministry for mankind, but it was not to be at the hands of a childish and bloodthirsty king.[v14] When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:
When Joseph woke up from his dream, he took Jesus and Mary in the middle of the night, not daring to wait until morning because, by then, Herod would have sent officers to seek the child. This time of year was likely the summer (since the people had to travel to pay taxes, and to issue a tax demand on the people during the winter months, while it was harder to travel, would not be as successful), and during summer months in Egypt were very hot, so traveling by night, or at least, in the evening to early night, when the temperature was cooler, would have been preferable when carrying a baby. It is unknown what part of Egypt Joseph decided to find a home, but it was likely one of the larger cities because it would be easier for him to find work as a carpenter, and it would be easier to blend in so they would not be found, since Jewish officers had no jurisdiction in Egypt.[v15] And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
The death of Herod came soon after this time, so that Joseph, Mary, and Jesus only spent a few months in Egypt. Thereby, the prophecy of Hosea 11:1 was fulfilled, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." This is meant that the nation of Israel was a child in the sense of selfishness, rebelliousness, and disobedience, and yet, God showed His great kindess by selflessly sending His Son, who should be known by many signs, one of them of being called out of Egypt.[v16] Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.
Herod perceived he was mocked in the sense of being disrespected and tricked by the wise men, which indicates they gave him their word, but departed before reporting their findings, he reacted in anger and fear that he might lose his crown. His overreaction to the situation is staggering to say the least, as few people in any nation have had to face something so horrifying and barbaric as having officers enter their homes, slay their babies, and leave, and it would take having soldiers of a vile sort, who had no natural affection.The slaughter took place in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas, and some records indicate that even Herod's son was killed in the chaos. He chose the age of two years old and under because the child could not have exceeded that age according to the information he had gathered from the wise men.
[v17] Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,
This is referring to Jeremiah 31:15, as quoted in the next verse, "Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not."[v18] In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
Rama (or Ramah) was a town among the tribe of Benjamin (Jos 18:21, Jos 18:25), which was close to Bethlehem, that was of the tribe of Judah, and near both of them was the grave of Rachel. (Gen 35:19) Thus, Ramah, being near Bethlehem, was a victim of the massacre, and so Rachel is said in the sense of the daughters of Rachel, through her son Benjamin, and their grief was so great, it is fitting that this prophecy says that there was no comfort to be had among the mothers, and though not mentioned, I am certain that the wrath of the fathers was hot, but as men tend to suffer silently, the cries of the women are not withheld, which is why the women are emphasized in this verse.[v19] But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
According to Jewish records, Herod died on the seventh day of Cisleu, which is roughly November 5th according to the Gregorian calender, and this is documented by the Jews because it was a day of celebration. Josephus described Herod as having colic (i.e. painful muscular contractions), itching skin all over his body, dropsy (i.e. extreme swelling, most commonly in the arms and legs), respitory problems, extreme fever, ulcers, and many other ailments all at once. The news of Herod's death was brought to Joseph by the angel of the Lord in another dream.[v20] Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life.
Joseph was instructed to depart from Egypt to go back to Israel, and does not specify where in Israel, but simply relays that it is safe to return to his country. The angel says "they are dead," indicating that there were others who may have sought to kill Jesus, one of them being Antipater, the son of Herod, who Herod had killed a few days before his death, and thus, any revenge that Antipater might have sought against Jesus died with him and his father.[v21] And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
Joseph immediately took Mary and Jesus, and came back to Israel as instructed, which he was probably relieved to do, as it would be difficult to have to stay away from home for an extended time without knowing when you could return, but this should be seen as an act of strict obedience to the Lord, because Matthew does not indicate that Joseph took any time to settle any other business he had, and departed quickly as soon as he awoke from the dream.[v22] But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:
Archelaus was another son of Herod, declared Herod's successor before his death, and Jewish records indicate that he just as cruel as his father, which caused Joseph to fear for the safety of Mary and Jesus. However, not wanting to disobey the commandments of the angel of the Lord, he returned to Israel, but settled in Galilee instead (roughly 100mi or 160km north of Jerusalem), where another of Herod's sons, Herod Antipas, was governor, and was said to be a more temperate ruler, so Joseph and his family could hide and raise Jesus in peace.[v23] And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
This was done to fulfill the prophecy that the Messiah would be "a Branch" (Isa 11:1), and this is subtle because, although it is common (even among the Jews) that Christ was called "Jesus the Nazarene," or "Jesus of Nazareth," many people today do not understand that in Hebrew, the word 'Netzer' means "branch" or "root," and that Nazareth (or Natzareth) was named because of the many trees that grow there. Therefore, Isaiah's prophecy that "a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots" is fulfilled by the Messiah, a descendant of Jesse, being a Branch, or Nazarene.Chapter 3
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[v1] In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
Like Jesus, John's name was given to him by the Lord before his birth (Luke 1:13), and his mother was Elizabeth, Mary's cousin. John was the first to administer Christ's ordinance of baptism, and therefore he became known as "John the Baptist," as he was known to the Jews in that day.By preaching in the wilderness, it is meant that John was preaching to towns in the wilderness, away from the main roads and larger cities, some of which are mentioned in Joshua. (Jos 15:61-62) The event recorded in this chapter happened when John and Jesus were both about 30 years old (Luke 3:23), which is when a male is considered to be an adult according to Jewish tradition.
[v2] And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The doctrine of repentance (i.e. grief and godly sorrow of wrongdoing) and remission (i.e. pardon/forgiveness) of sins was preached by John to all those in Israel who would hear (Mar 1:4), and it was a stark constrast to the doctrine they were used to hearing from the priests and scribes. The priests and scribes were teaching holiness through the works of the law, which they declared with their mouths to strictly keep, although they missed the weightier matters of righteous judgment, mercy, and charity (Mat 23:23), which means they did not keep the law because they ignored the culmination of the law, which was to love the Lord God and their neighbors as themselves. (Lev 19:18)(Read There is No Saving Grace Without Repentance here at creationliberty.com for more details.)
Because the leaders of religion among the Jews taught them that they were holy because of their works and lineage, the preaching of repentance was the opposite, meaning that they were not holy because of their works and lineage, and they should come in humility, with grief of their sin. When John said "the kingdom of heaven is at hand," it is not meant in the sense of the Kingdom of Heaven where God resides, but rather, it is meant the church, and with the church, the dispensation of the Gospel of Christ, which would begin with the promised Messiah.
[v3] For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
That is, John is quoting from Isaiah 40:3, which says "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." John was not crying in the sense of tears, but of a strong and loud voice, calling them to repentance of their sins, then to have faith in the mercy of God, and then to conversion, which is to amend their lives by turning from sin and having their minds changed, which is the straight and narrow path that Christ will soon begin to preach. (Mat 7:13-14)[v4] And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
Matthew then continues by describing John the Baptist, which is important to demonstrate that he was a fulfillment of the prophesies of the Messiah, namely, that Elijah the prophet would preceed Christ. The prophets used to wear what the Bible calls "rough garments" (Zec 13:4), such as camel's hair, which provided an outer sign of inner humility (or presumably so, since people often faked being a prophet with rough garments, as indicated in Zechariah 13), and he wore a leather girdle, which Elijah also did. (2Ki 1:8)John also ate locusts for meat, which should not be misinterpreted as anything except the insect, since locusts were permitted to be eaten under the Mosiac law, as the context of Leviticus 11:22 clearly indicates. The wild honey mentioned here would be that produced by bees, and it is not that John would have to break open a life-threatening hive to get it, but rather, honey occasionally falls to the ground, as indicated in 1st Samuel 14:25.
[v5] Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,
Not that the entire city and all of the country showed up at once, but many Jews, when they heard about John, went to visit him, and he often had large crowds surrounding him, since there had not been a prophet in hundreds of years. The multitudes came to see his strange dress, and hear the newly introduced doctrine of baptism with the message of repentance for the remission of sins, and some believed he might be the promised Messiah.[v6] And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.
That is, they were baptized in the waters of the river Jordan (Mark 1:5), and this would have been done by full body immersion into the water, as opposed to the "sprinkling" of false religion. Baptism is a cleansing, not in the physical sense, but in the spiritual, and thus, baptism presupposes one's spirit to be filthy, and the participant is cleansed, not physically, but a cleansing of the soul and regeneration of the Holy Ghost. (Tts 3:5) The call to repentance comes to a general confession of sins, that they had a sense of their guilt, acknowledged it, and had sorrow of their evil deeds, which would only be done by those of age, having understanding of these principles, which excludes young children or babies, making the practice of "infant baptism" a nonsensical process of religious depravity.(Read "The Biblical Understanding of Baptism" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)
[v7] But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
The word 'Pharisee' indicates a group "divided" or "separated," taken after the name Pharez in Genesis 38:29, which means to separate in the sense of "to make breach." The meaning of this is that the Pharisees saw themselves as a sect divided (or sanctified) away from the rest of society to be dedicated to the study of God's Word, to be strict observers of the law, and they became feared by the people since they did everything they could to always be seen of men to be pious, and they had such sway with the Jews who mostly revered them, even governments somewhat feared them.The word 'Sadducee' is derived from a man named Sadok, who taught that there was no future rewards or punishments in the next life, and so his followers renounced the traditions of elders, denying the providence of God guiding man (i.e. that all men do are by their free will alone). Because of these principle, the Sadducees adopted many false doctrines, such as the rejection of the resurrection of the dead, and the rejection of spirits, including both angels and the souls of men.
When saw a great many Pharisees and Sadducees, who could be identified by their attire, since they did their works to be seen of men (Mat 23:5), come to witness the baptisms of repentant men, it is presumable that (at minimum) some of them had a desire to be baptized by John, which would have only been for show, to increase their preeminence among the people. Therefore, John appropriately rebuked the impenitent hypocrites by appropriately labeling them a "generation of vipers," which is worse than a snake, in that vipers have longer teeth that sink deeper into the sink, and once a viper takes hold, it is very difficult to remove unless killed.
Vipers are beautiful outward, often having a mesmerizing and shiny skin, but they are deadly creatures by their nature, and likewise, in their malice and hypocrisy, the Pharisees and Sadducees were spiritually deadly (Mat 23:27), not only having no access to eternal life because of their pride and conceit, but also preventing those who would enter to go in. (Mat 23:13) The wrath to come is God's destruction on the world in the final days, which will be suffered by those who rejected the Gospel of Christ, from which they might have been saved if they had not persecuted God, who came (by His mercy) in the flesh to save them.
[v8] Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
The "fruits" of repentance are works (Acts 26:20), and those should be works worthy of one who claims to have a penitent heart. (Luke 3:8) The fallacy of modern churchgoers is the false doctrine that repent means "to turn from sin" or "to change one's mind," which are not repentance, but rather, those are the "fruits of repentance," meaning that if a man sorrowful for what he has done against God, and has received God's mercy (i.e. the remission of sins), he should go and sin no more. (John 8:11)This is why, upon receiving the Holy Ghost for the first time, Peter preached first repentance, then baptism afterwards (Acts 2:38), and it is also why Paul preached to Corinth that their godly sorrow not only led to their salvation in Christ (2Co 7:10), but it also produced in them the fruits of repentance. (2Co 7:11) Thus, John refused to baptize those who he knew, by the evidence of their doctrine in combination with their works, were impenitent, because without the humility of repentance, there is only pride, and God has declared that He will not save the proud of heart. (Jms 4:6)
[v9] And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
The reason repentance for the remission of sins, and works to prove their repentant hearts, was an offense to the Pharisees and Sadducees (as well as others who followed their corrupt philosophy) is because they believed they were already secure in their salvation by being born into the Hebrew bloodline. By the mercy and gifts of the wisdom of God, John already knew how the hypocrites would respond, holding up blood relation to Abraham as their righteousness, and John preempted them by declaring the truth, that God can raise up faithful children from rocks, the same stones that were used to craft the idols of the heathen, and this argument destroys any notion that one can be baptized as birth, simply because the child's parents were believers, because each man and woman is held accountable to his or her faith and understanding, or lack thereof.[v10] And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
The tree in this example is the philosophy of wicked men, which includes the corrupt ideology of the Pharisees and Sadducees, in which they think themselves immune from the righteous judgment of God because of their lineage, but John assures them that "the axe is laid unto the root" of those trees. This means that God has begun the process, through His Son, Jesus Christ, to do a work that will put an end to the destructive, devilish religions, and cast those who follow them into hellfire after they suffer the Day of Wrath at the end of this world.[v11] I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
This indicates that, perhaps, some of the Pharisees and Sadducees were baptized by John, by coming to confess their sins, but he still refused to baptized those who clearly were impenitent. There are some who trick us into thinking they are repentant by speaking a recipe of words they think we want to hear, which the Holy Ghost allows us to be deceived for a time, according to His purposes, and even the apostles themselves were deceived at times, like when Peter had baptized Simon the sorcerer, but later, it turned out that he had no repentance of sin in his heart, and only followed Peter to gain influence. (Acts 8:12-23)However, John told the Pharisees and Sadducees that, even though some of them may have been baptized by him under the doctrine of repentance for the remission of sins, they were in need of something much greater by the power of the Holy Ghost. The man who proceeded him would be the Lord Jesus Christ, the prophesied Messiah, who would baptize us with the Holy Ghost, which is what we need to be born again in Christ, to have our spirits born anew, and this cannot be done by circumventing repentance with crafty words.
John notes that he is the not the Messiah that many suspected him to be, because he said that the shoes of Christ "I am not worthy to bear," or as Luke noted, "whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose" (Acts 13:25), which means that he was not worthy to remove the shoes of Christ, to even handle the clothing covered in dirt that was worn by Him, and though this was the work of a servant to a Lord, he was not worthy to even do that much. Although this passage is often correlated with the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, in which the Holy Ghost gave them utterance with tongues of fire, it would make more sense that this passage is referring to Isaiah 66:15, which the scribes were familiar with, that declared that God would "come with fire" in furious anger, and "his rebuke with flames of fire," to indicate that this Messiah is the Lord God come in the flesh.
[v12] Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
This is not meant as a fan that increases the heat of a flame, but a fan which was an instrument used to cleanse wheat from straw. The instrument had teeth, like a rake but fewer in number, that would sift through the fine grain and remove chaff, which is the dry, scaly parts of a plant, which are not good for consumption because they are undigestable by men.This is an analogy that Jesus would come to judge righteous judgment to separate His disciples from those who feigned repentance, which is the purging of the threshing floor mentioned in Isaiah 21:10. The Lord Jesus Christ will fan them, and the wind shall carry them away. (Isa 41:16) It was tradition in Jewish culture to gather the chaff and burn it, and thus, God will do with the chaff of the unrepentant—those who have no understanding of their need for godly sorrow of sins—on the Day of Judgment, throwing them into the furnace of fire that burns forever. (Rev 20:10-15)
[v13] Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
After the point, John continued to baptize and preach the gospel of repentance for the remission of sins, and after a time, perhaps months at the least, to prepare the way for the Lord to come, Jesus came from Galilee, specifically from Nazareth (Mark 1:9), where he had lived most of this life. This raises question as to why Jesus did this because Jesus needed no repentance since He had no sin (Num 23:19, 1Sa 15:29), nor does water immesion cleanse sin (as the zealots of false religion believe), but rather, the two reason that can be reconciled in Scripture is that the baptism of Christ by John was to establish the truth of John's ministry, that he would preceed and make way for the Messiah to come, and also to establish this ritual of baptism to be done when a Christian has been born again, as an outward symbol of inward repentance.(Read "The Biblical Understanding of Baptism" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)
[v14] But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
We must presume that John knew that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, by having His understanding opened by the Lord God to know it, because this was before he witnessed the Spirit of God descend upon Christ. (John 1:33) John "forbad him," which is not to be taken that John was rebellious against the commandment of God, but rather, in humility, pleaded with Christ not to have him do this work because it was unbecoming of a sinner, as we are as men, worth less than the dust of the ground from which we are made, filthier than animals or rags, to even dream of doing such a thing as performing a cleansing ritual for the holy, sinless King of Kings.[v15] And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
Though this was disobedience to His initial command, Jesus understood that John's hestitance was due to the greatest love and honor he could have for the Lord, that the majesty of God might not be tarnished by the hands of men, but Jesus gently commanded him to "suffer it to be so now," or to allow and endure it to happen out of charity towards men, that the righteousness of Christ would be fulfilled towards men, so that they could be imputed with His righteousness, not through water baptism, which is only a symbolic act, but by the baptism of the Holy Ghost. This is the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and Omega, humbling himself in an awesome display of his kindness and lowliness of mind, an example to all of us in the church, that anything we think is humility among us is nothing compared to Christ's, and thus, John performed his duty to baptize Jesus.[v16] And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
It would be common sense that if Jesus was in the water, that he would exit the water as well, but I can see two reasons that Jesus "went up straightway out of the water" may have been mentioned by Matthew. The first is that this indicates the Christ had work to do from this point, and that He began that right away, and the second reason is that this indicates Christ was in the waters of the Jordan completely, not standing with His feet on the shallow side of the river while John splashed water in His face, once again contradicting the false ideologies of the vile Catholic cult (and their various denominations), who believe they gain grace through the ritual of water sprinkling.(Read Corruptions of Christianity: Catholicism here at creationliberty.com for more details.)
After exiting the waters of the Jordan, the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus like a dove, which would be to descend quickly, then slowly as approaching the intended destination. This not only moved in a similar fashion, but according to Luke 3:22, the light was in "a bodily shape like a dove," which is a symbol of innocence, purity, and humility, as well as a symbol of good tidings, as the dove that brought good news to Noah on the Ark. (Gen 8:11)
[v17] And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
A great voice was heard, which is indicated because it came "from heaven," declaring that this man, the Christ, is the Son of God, which is writtng by Matthew as a declaration to John, while in other apostles wrote it as a declaration to Jesus, namely, "Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Mark 1:11) This is not a contradiction, as it was said for all who were present, and we might consider that both may have been true, but written from two perspectives. God emphasizes His pleasure in His Son, as opposed to a created being, such as angels or men, distinguishing Jesus as being one with the Lord God, the very essence and entity of the everlasting Father. (Isa 9:6)Chapter 4
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[v1] Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Presumably, John returned to his work of preaching repentance for the remission of sins and baptism, while Jesus was led by the Spirit of God, and Mark 1:12 notes the Spirit "driveth," indicating that the Spirit of God led Him from an inner compulsion or urge to go to a location in the wilderness. This would have been the remote, mountainous regions of the wilderness, as opposed to the wilderness where John preached, which were the towns therein.By "the devil," it is meant in the singular form, for there are many devils (i.e. fallen angels), and so it is meant Satan, the father of lies. (John 8:44) Being led by the Spirit of God, this means God arranged for both His Son and Satan to have this interaction.
[v2] And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Moses fasted 40 days before delivering the law to the Hebrews (Exd 34:28), Elijah fasted 40 days before going on the quest the Lord tasked him to do, and now Jesus fasted 40 days before beginning His ministry. When the 40 days "were ended" (Luke 4:2), it seems obvious that Jesus would be hungry, but it seems this note was added by the Holy Ghost to relay to us that Jesus was hungered as a man would be after such a time, showing that He suffered as a man, disciplined Himself as a man, and had weakness in the flesh as a man.[v3] And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
That is, Satan, the devil (who is called "the tempter," 1Th 3:5), came to Jesus at this precise moment of weakness, striking with strategic precision, when Jesus had little physical strength left in His body. Satan had been tempting Jesus the entirety of the 40 days (Mark 1:13), but he chose this moment for his final attack to tempt Jesus to turn from His plan to be crucified for the saints. Although it may be confusing to some as to why Satan said "if," being that He knew that Christ is the Son of God, and the other devils also knew this to be fact (Luke 4:41), Satan wants to be glorified and worshiped, to be above that of Almighty, and so to tell Jesus what to do, even as something as absurdly simple for God to do, like turning stone to bread, and watch Him do as Satan instructed, would be enough to achieve that goal.[v4] But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Jesus is referring to Deuteronomy 8:3, and the reason for quoting this passage is not because the body lives by bread and the soul lives by the Word of God, albeit a true statement. The purpose of this passage is to convey the same as was convey to the Hebrews in Deut 8:3, that God can accomplish whatever He wills by any means He pleases, even creating bread out of nothing and raining it from the sky, so that changing the molecular structure of what already exists is not the limitation of His power, and thus, if He wanted food, He could make it so that His body would be instantly restored with a thought, yet, He chose to suffer to resist the temptations of the devil for our sake, that we would acknowledge that the Living God is the source of all goodness, truth, and mercy, and that we should look to no other for our help, especially in desperate times.[v5] Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
This does not indicate a trance or vision, but rather, Satan, by divine permission from the Father and Son, allowed him to take Jesus through the air into Jerusalem, and place Him atop the highest point of the temple.[v6] And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
This is the same manner of temptation, only in a different way, in that Satan did not throw Christ down of his own will and power, because he had no permission to harm Jesus, but wanted Jesus to do so of His own will, and used Psalm 91:11 to quote the Scriptures as Jesus did to him, to make himself appear holy in his philosophy, and goad Jesus into doing what he wanted. If Jesus had to prove that His angels, who did protect Him around the clock, would protect Him if he threw Himself down, it would only mean that He distrusted the Word of the Father (which is also His own Word, since Jesus is God), and there was no reason to do that, nor was there any reason to put on a show, which is why Satan chose to bring Jesus to Jerusalem, where there would be an audience, thereby having Jesus introduce Himself in a flashy manner, which contradicted the humble manner God the Father wanted Him to be seen and heard for the purpose of the Gospel.[v7] Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Jesus did not rebuke Satan for an incorrect usage of God's Word, nor any misinterpretation, but rather, Jesus used correlating Scripture (Deut 6:16) to expose his malicious intent. By the use of this Scripture, it is clear that Jesus is God because He applied it to Satan's temptation against Himself, and the word 'tempt' in this context is an attempt to test (or put on trial) the power, will, or mercy of God, so it was irrevlant whether or not the devil spoke the truth because his purpose was to use the truth to tempt Jesus into doing something that was opposed to His charitable will that was for the good of men.[v8] Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
The Bible does not tell us to which mountain Satan took Jesus, but it would have been one of the tallest mountains in the region to show him "all the kingdoms of the world," which is not said in the sense of the entire planet, for no one can see all the kingdoms of the planet from a single mountaintop, but rather, this is said in the sense of the world of the Jews, across all of Israel, similar to how Luke wrote that "all the world should be taxed" by Caesar (Luke 2:1-3), which means only those within the kingdom of Rome, not those beyond its reach. The glory of them is said in the carnal sense, in which we view something as glorious, or rather, the devil may view it in that way, which are nothing but "small dust" in comparison to the glory of the Lord. (Isa 40:15)[v9] And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Satan pretends that these things belong to him, as if he is the Son of God (to whom all things were created by and for, Col 1:16), and as if he was all powerful to dispense ruling authority. The arrogance of this statement is so overwhelming, it falls into the category of comedy, and baffles the mind how such stupidity could come out of the mouth of a creature so strategic, but when we consider how a being is optionless in the presence of the Lord, stupidity is a default setting. Satan is not satisfied to be worshiped only of men, but he also wants to be worshiped by God, to take the throne of God for himself, which cannot be reasonably described in any other manner except blasphemous insanity.[v10] Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Jesus had spoken with extreme patience until this point, where He had enough of Satan's conceit and impudence, and would tolerate it no longer. Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy 6:13, which clearly indicates that Satan is not God, nor could he ever become Him, and thus, we have no need to fear Satan, we should only fear the Living God, to tremble at His Word (Isa 66:2), and serve Him, as any servant who feared his Master would serve only His Master because, as Jesus will preach later, no man can serve two masters. (Mat 6:24)[v11] Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
After testing Christ when He was at His weakest in bodily strength, Jesus commanded Satan to leave, and he had no choice but to comply, until God may allow him another opportunity. It logically follows that by ministering unto Jesus, or rather, serving Him, the angels brought Him food to eat because that was His need, as angels also did for Elijah when he was in need. (1Ki 19:4-7)[v12] Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
There are more details about this later in the book of Matthew, but John had been imprisoned for speaking the truth to a public official who did not appreciate the open rebuke, as men rarely do. (Mat 14:1-5, Pro 27:5) When Jesus heard about this, He went to Galilee, which was not for safety reasons as Joseph had done when protecting Mary and Jesus, but for the purpose of gathering His disciples.[v13] And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
Jesus left Nazareth where He was raised, where He had taught the Word of God to the people (Luke 4:16), and He went to Capernaum, which was a city in Galilee. (Luke 4:31) Capernaum was a coastal city on the north side of the sea of Galilee, which bordered the land of the two tribes of Zabulon (or Zebulun) and Nephthalim (or Naphtali).[v14] That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
This is referring to Isaiah 9:1.[v15] The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
Isaiah 9:1 speaks of the "vexation" of Zebulun and Naphtali in the days when Tiglathpileser, the king of Assyria, took them captive. (2Ki 15:29) Because of their tribulation, they would be greatly pleased that the Messiah would begin His public ministry in their land, and choose disciples from among their people.[v16] The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
The people of Galilee were in darkness, meaning that they were ignorant and blind, and there were many sinners among them, which means there were many who were in danger of hellfire, but Christ, being the light of the world (John 8:12), came to them in His great kindness without them having to ask, coming to them in their broken and filthy state, opened their eyes, and healed them.[v17] From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
When it says "from that time," it is referring to the time of Satan's temptation, not the first time He ever preached because He had preached before in Nazareth (Luke 4:16), and He had preached and made disciples before John was imprisoned. (John 4:1) Jesus preached repentance as John did, which is to call men to godly sorrow of their sin (2Co 7:10), and also that the "kingdom of heaven" had arrived, which is the church, and in correlation, the gospel of grace through repentance and faith that would be preached by the church. (Mark 1:14-15)[v18] And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
Jesus was not walking on the beach for enjoyment, but for a specific purpose, to find two brothers, related by blood, Simon (or Simeon, Acts 15:14), who would later be called "Peter" (Mat 16:18), and Andrew. They were seen by Jesus either casting the net to catch fish, or to clean the net (Luke 5:2), or perhaps both, because they were fishermen, whose profession was to catch fish, which had few requirements other than endurance and patience, meaning that men who are in this line of work are often not well educated, and are typically lower class citizens who are looked down upon by the upper heirarchy of society, who scoff at the dirty and smelly work of the fishers, despite the fact that those of high status rely on that work for their food.[v19] And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
It is theoretical that Simon and Andrew were students of John the Baptist (John 1:35), and it is possible they had briefly studied with Christ for one day during their discipleship with John (John 1:37), which would make sense as to why they were heeding the voice of someone they knew, as opposed to a random man that appeared on the beach. If this theory were true, then they would have returned to their profession as fishermen after John had been put in prison.Due to the lowly nature of their profession, Christ's calling to make them "fishers of men" was a higher calling, to do a work with a greater purpose. The analogy was that the "fish" they would catch were the souls of men (Mat 13:47), and that they would not be able to do this work on their own, rather, only by the blessings and permission of Christ, which was the purpose of showing them that they could catch fish if they followed His instructions. (John 21:6)
[v20] And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.
That is, once Christ had called them to work for the Kingdom of God, they immediately left their occupation, boat, supplies, homes, and families to follow Him.[v21] And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.
As Jesus continued walking on the coastline, He came to the sons of Zebedee (which seems to be the same name as Zebadiah) at a time when they were making repairs to their nets; John, who would go on to write the book of John, as well as First, Second, and Third John, and his brother James. Jesus called them to become His disciples in the same manner as Simon and Andrew.[v22] And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
They not only left their nets as Simon and Andrew did, but they left more since their father had more wealth because he had hired servants on a larger ship. (Mark 1:20)[v23] And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Galilee was looked down upon by the rest of Israel for having poor, illiterate, and people full of sin and illness, which demonstrates the great mercy of Christ to go first to those who are the most sick and in need of a physician. (Luke 5:31) Jesus did not creep secretly into houses (2Ti 3:6), but He taught them boldly in the temples, preaching repentance and faith in the doctrine of grace for the remission of sins, while He miraculously healed them of "all manner of sickness," which is not to say that all in Galilee were healed; rather, it should be read that He healed every sort of sickness He willed to heal, not being limited in the scope of His power.[v24] And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.
Word spread in Syria about the deeds of Jesus, that he healed sick of all sorts, both in disease and other "torments" such as mad or retarded men. Jesus cast devils out of those possessed with them, lunaticks (which were at type of insane men who had mental afflictions with the change of the moon), and those with palsy, which is a loss of voluntary muscular control, all of which were (and still are) common among sinful people who did not have a mind that considered the Lord, being afflicted because their inconvenient practices were the cause of many of their ailments. (Rom 1:28)[v25] And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.
Although some followed Jesus because of their faith, and they wanted to hear more of his doctrine, others followed him only to be healed, or to be entertained by His miracles, while others followed him with ill intent, seeking how they might stop Him, or bring Him under the submission to their worldly hierachy, that they could use Him for their own gain. Decapolis was a region of a few cities, one of which was Damascus, lands beyond Jordan, and of course, Jerusalem and Judea, all of which came mulititudes to see Jesus for various purposes.Chapter 5
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[v1] And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
These are the crowds of people mentioned at the end of the previous chapter, and when He saw them, Jesus went up a mountain an unspecified distance, for an unspecified reason, but we might speculate that it was to be alone for prayer as He sometimes did, or because the crowds were tumultuous, which was not ideal for teaching. When Jesus sat down in the manner which was done to teach (Luke 4:20), "his disciples came unto him," which were not just the twelve, but rather, a multitude from Judea, Jerusalem, and other cities. (Luke 6:17)[v2] And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
This is not said because we do not know that one must open his mouth to teach, but rather, Jesus opened His mouth with purpose, to project a strong voice that could be clearly understood by all those listening. What He proceeds to teach is directed in part to His called disciples, while other parts are directed to the multitude.[v3] Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The world seems to constantly be in a state of depression, and desperate to find joy, but for those of us who have been born again in Christ, we do not need to look for joy, nor worry that others might "steal it" from us, because we have it in overflowing abundance from the Holy Ghost, even in times of persecution and tribulation. Jesus Christ gives instructions on how men might be happy, because to be blessed means to be happy in the world due to a spiritual happiness that comes to the saints as a gift from Him.
blessed (adj): happy; prosperous in worldly affairs; enjoying spiritual happiness and the favor of God
(See 'blessed', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Mar 19, 2025, [webstersdictionary1828.com])
[v4] Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
This is often taken out of context to mean that all who mourn, for anything in the world, shall have comfort, which is a general proverb that all who mourn in their grief will find a degree of relief in their hearts (Ecc 7:3), but that is not what is meant by Jesus in this passage. Jesus came preaching repentance, which is godly sorrow of sins, and so those who mourn because of their sins, whether current or past, is a persistent grief in their minds, knowing that their deeds were an outside sign of their inward violation of the law of grace, which in turn grieves the Spirit of God—furthermore to mourn the sin of the world, who daily dishonor Christ, having vexation that the world speaks evil of those who preach the goodness and truth of the Lord Jesus Christ (1Pe 3:16)—only they shall be fully comforted in this life by the Holy Ghost, and in the next life, to enjoy eternal peace and fellowship with Christ and the saints, where there shall be no more tears. (Rev 21:4)[v5] Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
The meek are those who are temperate, and slow to anger, as the Lord (Psa 145:8), who are courteous to others because they consider themselves to be base and lowly among men, to be vilest of offenders, and unworthy of the graces of others. Though prideful men general hate thsoe who speak the truth about them, they often speak highly of humility, as it is a desired trait even among the world.A meek man tends to be quiet in his duties, considering himself to be the most inferior among Christians, and anything good about his character or works is always attributed to the grace of God, for only the Lord Jesus Christ can make a man truly humble in spirit. These who have received the gift of humility by the Holy Ghost "shall inherit the earth," not in the sense of the borders of Israel, nor the entire planet in its current form, but the new earth to come after the second coming of Christ. (2Pe 3:13), where the saints will reign with Christ for a thousand years. (Rev 20:6)
[v6] Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
This does not mean to desire righteousness in the sense of a rigorous observance of the law, or to achieve a moral superiority as the Jews or Catholics perceive of themselves, nor in the sense of general governing justice for the oppressed, but rather, it is a desire for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us by grace through faith, what Paul later calls "the righteousness of faith." (Rom 4:11) Those who look to it and desire it with a ravenous hunger "shall be filled" with Christ's righteousness, having that hunger satiated, being made happy with it, and never needing nor desiring to seek any other alleged form of righteousness among men.[v7] Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
That is, happy are those who show mercy to others, to sympathize with the poor in need, to give help when necessary, to readily assist with cheerfulness and affection, to show kindness to the ignorant, being apt to teach (1Ti 3:2), to rebuke their sin that they might know it and come to repentance (2Ti 4:2, Pro 27:5), forgiving the repentance of any injuries, overlooking offenses of the unrepentant when possible, praying for the kindness of God on our enemies (Luke 6:28), and comforting others in their time of affliction. This is the desire of the Lord Jesus Christ (Mat 9:13), and not only does He give us mercy when we are saved, but He also gives us the gift of a merciful heart, whereby we have desire to show mercy as we were shown mercy first by Him, and therefore, as we practice mercy, we will also receive it, not only in our time of need in this world, but in eternal abundance in the Kingdom of God.[v8] Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Not that a man in the flesh can be pure of heart in this life beacuse the hearts of men are filled with lusts and deceit (Jer 17:9, 1Jo 2:16), and cannot be entirely purged from sin until after the death of the flesh, but we can be given the purity of Christ, having our spirits washed clean by His blood (Rev 1:5), and though we are imperfect in the sense that we will not be complete until translated into the Kingdom of God (Col 1:13), we have been purified by Christ, and by this gift, we desire to exhibit that purity in our words and actions. (1Jo 1:7) Therefore, being purified by Christ, we shall see God, not only in His generous mercy, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, beauty, and goodness, but also in the Kingdom of Christ to come, where will be free from all the impurities of sin, darkness, and suffering.[v9] Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Not between God and men, for the only mediator between God and men is Jesus Christ (1Ti 2:5), but between all men, to live as peaceably among them as possible. (Rom 12:18) Whereas Christ is the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6), it stands to reason that those who follow the Prince of Peace would desire peace, and therefore, those who have been given a heart of peace by the Prince of it are called the children of God because they reflect the heart of their Father. (Gal 4:6)[v10] Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
persecute (adj): to pursue in a manner to injure, vex or afflict; to harass with unjust punishment or penalties for supposed offenses; to inflict pain from hatred or malignity; appropriately, to afflict, harass, or destroy for adherence to a particular creed or system of religious principles, or to a mode of worship
(See 'persecute', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Mar 19, 2025, [webstersdictionary1828.com])
[v11] Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
This verse is not generalized as wisdom and understanding for all men, that they would be blessed if they come to repentance and faith in Christ, and is now targeted to His disciples. This indicates not only that they will be instructed to speak things that will result in men exhibiting contempt, but also that the disciples of Christ, despite them being the children of God, would be subject to reproach, railing insults, persecution, and "all manner of evil," and Christians have indeed been charged with false accusations over the past 2,000 years, with some of the worst things wicked men could invent, such as whoredom, torture, sodomy, incest, murder, and an assortment of other evils. These false accusations and persecutions are brought against Christians for the sake of Jesus Christ, or for the sake of His name and His interests, which is the Gospel and the church, and they will be blessed, in that they will walk away happy and assured in the truth of the Word of God, while their accusers will be unhappy.[v12] Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Be extremely glad and filled with joy, Jesus said, and cheerfully suffer it because the reward that follows in heaven is a gift of grace, given by the Lord who is merciful and kind, most especially to His faithful saints. Prophets such as Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and others were heavily persecuted and defamed, and as they now enjoy the eternal rewards for their suffering, so shall we, enduring it until the end. (Jms 5:11)[v13] Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Jesus compares His disciples to salt, which, being a common mineral, has well known qualities. Salt is good for one's health, and is vital to assist in the body's many functions, just as charity and alms. Salt is savoury, and brings out flavor, which is pleasing to the tongue, just as grace is pleasing to the soul. Salt also irritates open wounds, just as those who hear the preaching of the Word are often irritated.Although salt does not lose savour, just as a Christian does not lose God's grace, if it were to lose it, or in the analogy, if a Christian were to have grace from God, but do no good works for the Lord, nor speak the truth of the Word, then they are useless as salt that has lost its savour. Thus the salt having no savour is indicative of one who has never been born again, not of one who would lose their salvation, which is impossible. (Rom 8:38-39)
If salt has no savour, what more is it than tiny rocks? Without its primary function, it would be useless to all creatures, and therefore ignored, to be walked over like any other common stone, and likewise, when someone claims to be of Christ, but has no grace, charity, mercy, or forgiveness, they become not only useless, but a burden, considered nothing by society, and eventually removed from the church.
[v14] Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
This is not to say that we are light of ourselves, but rather, we have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and because we are washed clean with His blood, we have His light, and therefore, we Christians are the light of the world because of His light. This is speaking not of physical light, which the world has by the grace of God, but rather, it is a spiritual light, which turns others towards the righteousness of Christ. (Dan 12:3)A city that is constructed on elevated land cannot be hidden from view, which was meant for the disciples to understand that the Gospel was to be in plain view, not to be concealed by the instruction or influence of any man. They were intended to be on full display, for all to see, and they had no need to back down or try to avoid the accusations of religious leadership.
[v15] Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
That is, there no sense in lighting a candle and concealing it by burying it, not under a "bush" as some have incorrectly interpreted, but a "bushel," which is substantial portion of dry measure, typically grain. Jesus is explaining that it would be nonsensical to light a candle an then hid it under a pile of grain, which not only conceals it, but extiguishes the light.The candle analogy works well here since candles must be maintained, they are subject to theft (as was common in that day), and the light of candles most often burns brightest before the end of the life of the flame. Therefore, the ministers of the Gospel are not to be fearful or lazy, to stand boldly to declare the Gospel of Salvation even when surrounded by so much darkness (1Th 2:2), so the light of Christ can be seen by all, just as a candle is put into a candlestick, which is raised tall to provide light to the whole house.
[v16] Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Jesus then explains the full meaning, that the light of the Gospel He gave them was not meant only for themselves, but for others to see and hear. This is done not only by the preaching of the Word, but the care of it, the dedication to the truth, an exemplary work ethic, and charity in all things, to glorify God the Father through Jesus Christ, that we would be examples to demonstrate the regeneration of our spirits given to us by grace, and that others would see that light and find the way to salvation.[v17] Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Knowing the hearts and minds of the crowd, Jesus addresses their growing concern that, by this preaching, He would push aside the preaching of the Mosaic law and prophets, whereby they would be rendered meaningless, and of course, the concerns of the scribes and religious leaders who dedicated their lives to the preservation of the Jewish commentary about the law and prophets, but He reassured them not to think in their minds that what He preached rejected or destroyed the law and prophets. Rather, Jesus came to fulfill the prophecies of the prophets, as well as their instructions from the Lord to keep the moral law of Moses, and the promises therein, because the law is established by faith (Rom 3:30-31), and charity is the end result of faith, as Jesus will speak of again later in Matthew 7:12.[v18] For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Jesus reassures them by saying "verily," or with certainty, not that the Lord cannot be trusted to His Word, for He cannot lie (Tts 1:2), but as a promise to those who did not believe who He is. Until the great noise and fervent heat of the end of the world should come (2Pe 3:10), every dot, dash, spike, or any other signifying features of the individual letters of the Hebrew language would pass, which is meant in the sense that even the smallest of details is taken into consideration, meaning that even the least among all the commandments should be accomplished in its fulfillment before the end.[v19] Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
This is said as a general rebuke of the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees in Israel. For example, the sanhedrim (the council of Jewish leaders) gave themselves power to (with the exception of idolatry) temporarily grant immunity from a particular law, and exonerate that person or group from consequences (and supposedly, they even permitted the Gentiles to trangress laws done in private, apart from laws that carried the punishment of death), and because of this, they became hypocrites who not only broke the law when it was convenient for them, but also taught others that it was acceptable.Thus, Jesus said they would be called "least in the kingdom of heaven," which is not to say that they would be least in the sense that they were in low of station within the church, but that these hypocrites would have no place in the church because to be least in this context means that they are thought about the least, and to be the least considered would to be completely unknown, being unworthy of the fancy titles they gave one another. However, to those who teach the fullness and truth of the doctrine, and put it to practice in obedience to the Lord, they shall be "called great in the church because the Lord loves patience, temperance, moderation, and humility, and rewards those who practice what they preach, both in this life and the next.
[v20] For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
The structure of this verse is clear that the crowd is being addressed because many among them highly revered the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, and so not only did the previous verse rebuke the religious leaders for their hypocrisy, but because the crowd viewed them as the pinnacle of religious living, Jesus warned them that their righteousness had to go far above and beyond those who they revered, most particularly the Pharisees, which was the strictest religious sect. Jesus warns that if they do not succeed in becoming more righteous than the Pharisees, then they will be rejected from the kingdom of heaven, which means they will end up in hell, and though this may have been puzzling to many in the crowd, by the grace of God giving us understanding through His Word, we know that the answer to the puzzle is the Lord Jesus Christ, who imputes to us His righteousness, which not only infinitely superior to any righteousness a man could do, but it is the ONLY righteousness one can receive to become part of the church and gain entrance to the Kingdom of God.[v21] Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
Jesus is referring to the Torah (Exd 20:13, which they heard by the reading of their elders generation after generation, and they also heard the commentary of the law by their elders, which reads that "A murderer who strikes his neighbor with a stone or with an iron so that he dies; if one pressed down a person while he is in water or in fire, preventing him from coming out, until he dies--he is guilty." The murderer would be put to death (via stoning) by the "house of judgment" which refers to the sandhedrim, who were the appointed judges, and that makes perfect sense.(See Talmud, Book 8: Tract Sanhedrin, Michael L. Rodkinson, 1918, Mishna II, retrieved Mar 21, 2025, [https://sacred-texts.com/jud/t08/t0812.htm])
However, there are other stipulations added by this same Jewish commentator, in the same paragraph, such as, "If he sets a dog or a serpent upon him, he is not guilty of a capital crime." So if a man murders his neighbor directly, he is in danger of judgment, but if he murders his neighbor indirectly, by having an animal do the job for him, he is (according to their own teachings) not in danger of judgment, which is nonsensical, and there are many more strange addendums with ridiculous exceptions, whereby those Jews who knew the law's commentary (which was followed more rigorously than the Scriptures) could find loop holes to circumvent punishment for obvious criminal activity.
[v22] But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Based on the hypocrisy I described in the previous verse, Jesus then pulls the rug out from under them by addressing the "thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb 4:12) The word 'brother' in this passage is intended to be a neighbor, used in the senes of the tribes of Israel, whose founders were "brothers," and so to be angry with one's neighbor without a just cause, meaning that there was no reasonable cause to the anger, "shall be in danger of the judgment," which is not referring to the sandhedrim, but rather, the danger that comes with the judgment of God, which is indicated in the context of the latter part of this verse.When Jesus said, "whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca," this was a Jewish expression for which there was no English equivalent, but it was a term of contention reproach, signifying a stupid and worthless man. If this was spoken to the council of the sanhedrim in a murder trial, the criminal would be in danger of execution by their judgment, which demonstrates that even the hypocrites will not tolerate disrespect to righteous judgment.
fool (n): one who is destitute of reason, or the common powers of understanding; an idiot; a person who acts absurdly; one who does not exercise his reason; one who pursues a course contrary to the dictates of wisdom; in scripture, fool is often used for a wicked or depraved person; one who acts contrary to sound wisdom in his moral deportment; one who follows his own inclinations, who prefers trifling and temporary pleasures to the service of God and eternal happiness
(See 'fool', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Mar 21, 2025, [webstersdictionary1828.com])
(Read "Hell is Real and Many People Are Going There" here at creationliberty.com for more details.)
[v23] Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Bringing a gift to the altar of the Temple was traditionally done as a free will offering of penance for a wrongdoing, but Jesus notes that, if while approaching the Temple, that man remembers the crime against his neighbor, and any contentious words he may have said against his neighbor, calling him a "fool" for righteously judging his crime, then he should proceed as instructed in the next verse.[v24] Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Either the gift can be left with someone trustworthy during the busy seasons of the Temple, or during off seasons, when there was little traffic, the man might leave it there and return later to partake in ceremony of the gift offering, but either way, he should drop what he is doing and first go to his neighbor to plead for forgiveness and extend his offering of good will and peace. Jesus said this because His nature, as God, is love, mercy, charity, peace, and reconciliation, and this shows us that the Lord prefers these things far more than sacrifice (Mat 9:13), so that a man should temporarily put his gift to the altar of God on hold to "first be reconciled" to his neighbor, and then after peace has been made, return to the altar to present the gift the to Lord.[v25] Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
The adversary here is not referring to God, although we should be in agreement with Him, but rather, the context tells us that the adversary is the offended neighbor, who the man wronged, and who is demanding restitution for loss. If the man is "in the way with him," meaning that the offender is in negotiation with the neighbor, or the neighbor brought in a mediator to settle the matters out of court, then the offending man should agree with his neighbor, lest things escalate and bigger consequences come down on his head.If the neighbor brought the matter to the magistrate of a courtroom, he could force the offender to show up to court and be judged there, where he may be judged by the fullest extent of the law, and that is much harsher judgment and consequence than dealing with a neighbor on friendly terms. Although there is no such thing as a debtor's prison in the Mosaic law (because debtors must be able to be free to work in order to pay the debts they owe), the Jews and Romans obviously had them, and so whereas peace and reconciliation could result in forgiveness of some debt, a judge in a courtroom may result in full restitution, plus interest, plus court fees, plus pain and suffering to the neighbor, fines, and jail time.
[v26] Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Although the corrupt Catholic cult abuses this verse out of context to a ridiculous claim of their imaginary "purgatory," in that one must spend time in a suffering limbo to pay for their sins until they can enter heaven (which violates countless doctrines of Scripture), the context is that a man who is in debt to his neighbor, and judged by the courts, shall remain in prison until all is paid, and if no one can come to pay on his behalf, he will be stuck there, which is an analogy for hell, in that those unfaithful, who were prideful and impenitent, and thought themselves to be just when they were guilty of sin, will be thrown in the prison of hell by the Judge until all debt is paid, but the debt is eternal, which means there is no escape. In other words, the demonic papacy has used a verse intended to warn them of hellfire as an excuse to avoid it, which philosophically makes them no different than the Jewish scribes and Pharisees.(Read Corruptions of Christianity: Catholicism here at creationliberty.com for more details.)
[v27] Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
In like manner to the sin of murder, the Jews heard the law (Exd 20:14) from generation to generation, and commentary on adultery, which is the sin of sexual interaction of a married person with someone other than his/her spouse.[v28] But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
This was more condemnation of the Pharisees, who prided themselves in not looking at women, and in some cases, in over-the-top, ridiculous manners of avoidance, that they would not even look at a woman's finger, feet, or the clothing she wore, and avoid them completely in the paths they walked. However, the condemnation in this sense is that they thought the averting of their eyes from any part of a woman's physical body, or to even engage with them in friendly conversation, was sinful, going to a strict adherence to mandates that are far outside the realm of reason, because they ignored the fact that God judges a man's heart (Pro 21:2), and that, despite the fact that they averted their eyes, there was still lust within themselves.[v29] And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Jesus first describes the right eye (in the sense that it may be our most favored eye), which is our sense of sight, and when used without discipline, it leads us into the lusts of the flesh, which is what we ought to cast far from ourselves, and not the eye itself. There is no Scriptural commandment nor implication nor obligation nor doctrine to mutilate one's own body, and such a thing would be offensive to the Gospel of Christ, because to mutilate oneself for sin means that you may do such horrific things to your neighbor in like manner. (Mat 7:12) Rather, Jesus is explaining this in the figurative sense, that we should cast aside all those things that come into our view which would cause us to sin, to close our eyes and deny our flesh lustful gratification, and to understand the horror and devastation of losing one's eye pales in comparison to the spiritual understanding of the horror and devastation which sin brings.[v30] And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Jesus first describes the eye, then the hand, both of which are tools used in the process of adultery, and likewise to the eye, this is said in the figurative sense, not that a man should cut off his own hand, but to take sin with the seriousness it ought to be taken, as when a man has necrosis of the hand, and it turns black with gangrene, it is cut off to save the rest of the body. This seems also to be reference to the Jewish commentators, where they give very strict rules for certain rituals or behaviors, such as the prohibition of touching of one's genitles, but few modern commentators include the teachings of the old time, that "Any man who extends his hand below his navel [before washing his hands in the morning] should have it [his arm] cut off," claiming that his uncleanness will "split open" his stomach, and he will "descend into the pit of destruction," and thus, Jesus is condemning the religious leaders for their hypocrisy to threaten mutilation over stringent, fabricated rituals, but not uphold that same strictness over the sin in their hearts.(See Sefaria, The William Davidson Talmud, Niddah 13b, retrieved Mar 21, 2025, [https://www.sefaria.org/Niddah.13b.9?lang=bi])
[v31] It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
Notice that Christ did not say "It hath been said of old time" in this verse, and that is because their forefathers did not have controversy about divorce that needed to be debated, and so this saying (which the people had been taught) was recent. This is not to say that the words themselves were not said in the Scriptures, because there was a method of divorcement in Deuteronomy 24:1, which was based on "uncleanness," and that is not said in the sense of adultery, which was punishable by death (Lev 20:10, and Jesus would judge such a situation later, John 8:3-7), but rather, it was based on a married woman who was flirtatious with other men, who is also the kind of woman who is not pleased with her husband, starts brawls, makes problems in the home, causing the man daily grief (Pro 21:9); although, divorce should still not be taken lightly in such cases, and counseling should be sought first.However, modern sects of the Pharisees and Sadducees argued about whether or not a man could put away his wife for what they perceived to be "uncleanness" by their whimsical sentiments, or frivolous and uncharitable reasons, such as a woman burning or over-salting food, a woman who had succumb to disease, or others would argue that he could divorce a woman if the husband found another woman that was more agreeable to him. Jesus will later point out that divorce was only permitted by God because the hardness of the hearts of the Jewish people (Mat 19:8), which is one of the reasons a bill (or written document) was required in proper format, to be delivered to the leaders of the community, and a formal hearing made, so that with the passage of the time it takes to process such a request, one's anger might be assuaged, and reconciliation would bring the two together again.
[v32] But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
Although there are some religious cults that argue that divorce is not permitted under any circumstance, if that were the case, Jesus would have clearly said that in this passage, but that would have violated the permission in the law that He (as God) established in Deuteronomy 24:1, and therefore, He repeats that the permission was allowed, "That whosoever shall put away his wife," or that when a man does this, the following should be considered. The first consideration is that fornication (i.e. any sexual interaction outside of a marriage covenant) is a legitmate cause for divorce, and although there may be other legitmate causes for divorce not mentioned here (such as physical abuse, which may threaten the life of the spouse and/or children), in the context of sexual sin (which is the subject of this passage), divorcing a woman means that, if she were to commit adultery by accepting the embrace of another man, he is the cause of it, loosing her to a life where she would seek another man, and because she was the lawfully wedded wife of her first husband, outside of that covenant, she would be an adultress by default, except (as Jesus said) in the case of her fornication, which (after divorce) would simply make her a harlot.[v33] Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
This was taught by their forefathers, which was based on Leviticus 19:12, which specifically refers to swearing by the name of the Lord "falsely," and that is what Jesus was also referring to in this passage, which was to put emphasis on what the Jews were concerned about when swearing, that what they said was truthful, despite the fact that they often used this for matters of no importance to given themselves an appearance of "holiness" by "fulfilling their oaths" to things which were normal, everyday occurances that would be fulfilled anyway. When Jesus added that they should "perform unto the Lord thine oaths," He was referring to Numbers 30:2, which the Jews took seriously, but the problem is that if they did not swear unto the Lord, they would not take their word seriously, and were apathetic to doing that which was not sworn specifically to God, caring not that they were liars for their wrongdoing.[v34] But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:
I have made the mistake in times past of misinterpreting this in the strictess sense, that no one can ever swear an oath unto the Lord, which is not the contextual way this should be taken, but rather, because the Jews were using the swearing of oaths unto the Lord as a pretense of righteousness, Jesus said He would rather that they did not swear these frivolous things in His name at all, nor swear by heaven, which is the seat of the Lord, and a thing He created, not the Lord Himself, and so by doing this, the Jews were trying to exclude the name of the Lord in their oath, but swearing by His creation of heaven, which is childishness of thinking in which they thought it would make them appear holy by refering to the divine kingdom, and considering not that, as Jesus would preach later, doing such things is the same as swearing unto the Lord Himself (Mat 23:22), whether they wanted to consider that to be true or not, thereby pulling the name of God into their vanity for a show of righteousness.[v35] Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
Jesus is referring to Isaiah 66:1, which indicates that the Jews also habitually swore by the earth in the same manner as heaven mentioned in the previous verse, and is also condemned by Jesus for the same reason. Because Jerusalem was declared in Scripture to be "the city of the great King" (Psa 48:2), which is speaking the Lord, where the Holy Ghost came to sit in the Holy of Holies with the Ark of the Covenant, therefore the Jews would frivolously swear by the city as well, and again, is condemned by Christ for the same reasons.[v36] Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
According to Jewish records, it was also common to swear "by thy life, and by the life of thy head," which was also done in a frivolous manner in casual conversation, and in like manner to heaven, earth, and Jerusalem, the power and fate of something as simple as their hair was not in the control of men, because we cannot, by our thoughts or will alone, change the color of our hair, for that power belongs to the Lord alone.(See Sermon Index, "Appendix 2 Extracts from the Babylon Talmud," Rabbi Jose, retrieved Mar 25, 2025, [https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/bible_books/index.php?view=book_chapter&chapter=50847])
[v37] But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
That is, when we are in daily conversation, our word should be as "Yea" or "Nay," or rather, "Yes" or "No," and we should be held to the word that we have spoken because if we go back on our word for anything other than mercy and charity, then we would be found to be liars (Col 3:9), and in violation of the law. Therefore, if there is any conviction that emphasis should to be put on our words, saying "Yes" twice or "No" twice should be sufficient enough to establish the truth, that we be not rash with out mouths. (Ecc 5:2) To go above and beyond simple words for casual conversation in this regard, to put on airs for the sake of religiousity, does not come from the Lord, nor does it make a man holy, because those words are deceit (Rom 3:13), but rather, it comes from the devil, who is the father of lies. (John 8:44)[v38] Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Although this is written in Exodus 21:24, because Jesus did not add in "of old time," and so it is likely that he is referring to the interpretations of that law by Jewish scholars, who offer some sound reason in this regard, because the argument would be that, if a man was injured to lose a third of the sight in one eye, how could the judicial system return a precise injury to the offending man to cause the loss of only one-third of the sight in one eye? Therefore, although the interpretation of this can still be direct (i.e. the loss of a hand can result in the punishment of the loss of a hand), it can also be interpreted to mean "a eye for THE COST OF an eye," and so, for example, in the case that a man might lose his foot, he may choose to have monetary compensation instead of having the other man's foot removed; therefore, the offending party would be required to pay a price equal to that as a slave at market, plus other compensations as the judge deemed fit for the loss of such a valuable and irreplaceable member.(See Parshat Mishpatim, "Maimonides on 'an eye for an eye'", Rabbi Danzig, retrieved Mar 25, 2025, [https://www.mhcny.org/parasha/1210.pdf])
As we can see, Jesus did not object to this because, once again, He (as God) established the law, but rather, He is addressing their unjust application of monetary compensation, in that they would use it as a form of revenge, and would charge the offending party fees that were far beyond what should be owed for very minor offenses. So, if a Pharisee were accidentally bumped into a received a scratch or a bruise, they might demand financial restitution for the sake of their pride, and as a means of acquiring wealth through oppression by pressuring the offender under threat in a wicked application of the law.
[v39] But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
There are some corrupt religious cults who erroneously teach that this verse means that a man cannot defend himself, nor can a man sue another man to get restitution for loss, because those things are good and just, and governments were establish by God for the purpose of bringing justice to the oppressed. (Rom 13:1-4) However, we are not to try to seek personal revenge for a wrongdoing, to return evil in the same way it was inflicted on us, and we should ignore minor offenses for the sake of charity. (Rom 12:19)Therefore if we had our eye plucked out, or our teeth knocked out, we should not immediately seek to have the same done to our enemy, but to seek restitution a lawful way through the courts, as established by God. If a Pharisee had a man slap him across the face, the Pharisee (according to the Talumdic tradition) would try to get personal revenge with monetary compensation, demanding 100 dinars (i.e. about 150 dollars in 2025 U.S. currency, or 170,000 sats [in Bitcoin] as of March of 2025), but Jesus is instructing them not to do such things, and to instead exercise longsuffering and patience, not to repay evil for evil and railing for railing. (1Pe 3:9)
(See Sefaria, Bava Kamma 90a, Mishna v13, retrieved Mar 25, 2025, [https://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Kamma.90a.13?lang=bi])
[v40] And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
The Jews had a list of many minor offenses with monetary fees, for example, "If he tore at his ear, plucked out his hair, spat at him and his spit touched him, or pulled his cloak from off him, or loosed a woman's hair in the street, he must pay 400 zuz. [i.e. dinar]," but if it was a poor man who could not pay, an "eye for an eye" put to a minor issue of material goods would demand a coat for a coat. Therefore, Jesus addressed this selfish ideology by paying revenge with kindness and charity, so that if a selfish and bickering man demanded to have your coat (or outer garment) taken away by force, it is better to not only give the outer coat willingly, but to offer the inner garment also as a means of reconciliation, that neighborly love would strike deep into his heart, causing the hateful and selfish man to act in a manner as if coals of fire were dumped on his head. (Rom 12:20)(See Sefaria, Mishnah Bava Kamma 8:6, retrieved Mar 25, 2025, [https://www.sefaria.org/English_Explanation_of_Mishnah_Bava_Kamma.8.6.1?lang=bi])
[v41] And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
This expands on the previous verse, which is not said in the sense of a friend who asks someone to walk with him, but in the manner of force, in which citizens were obligated by law to assist official messengers of the king. By law, messengers could commandeer transportation in an emergency, but if the people rejected the request and resisted by force, it would be difficult to identify them later for prosecution, which means the sharp teeth of the law was unlikely to reach the roads in the wildnerness, and those who hated the law could simply refuse. However, Jesus taught that we should not only give the messenger what he asks, but take him farther than he requested for the sake of peace and charity, and this would be under the most obligatory situation, let alone should we do such things for those in person need, which is what Jesus goes on to address in the next verse.[v42] Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
That is, "to every man" (Luke 6:30), to our neighbors, whether friend or enemy, deserving or not, be it supplies or money, be ready and willing to give cheerfully as we are able, but only within the bounds of our capability. For example, a man could ask you for a large amount of currency, but if you do not have it, you cannot give it, and furthermore, giving too much could force your children into starvation, so there are circumstances to be considered, and our duties are first to God, then to our household, then to the church, and then to our neighbors and strangers.This same charity applies to those who ask to borrow, rather than to receive a free gift. Whether we know them or not, they should not be immediately turned away, but their request should be heard with a friendly demeanor.
Luke adds that we should lend, "hoping for nothing again" (Luke 6:35), which is often misinterpreted to mean that which was borrowed should not have hope of return, which would make no sense because then it would be a free gift. Rather, we should expect return of that which was borrowed, and we can go to the law if need be, but we should not hope for rewards or praise for lending because one who would borrow from a man of moderate means is typically a poor man. We ought to lend without usury, which is extremely high interest that are condemned in the Mosaic law (Exd 22:25), and is typically done by what our modern society calls "loan sharks," who prey on the poor, and go to extreme (often violent) lengths to get the money and interest back.
[v43] Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
In this instance, Jesus is referring to Leviticus 19:18, but the reason He did not say "of old time" is because of the addendum, which is not in the law, but taught by Jewish rabbis, namely, to "hate thine enemy." It is strictly argued by many Jews today that this is a false accusation, that the Jews do not teach that it is permissable to hate one's enemy, but their own highly esteemed commentary says the following:"When one person sins against another, he should not hate him and remain silent, as it is said of the wicked, 'And Absalom did not speak to Amnon' (2 Samuel 13:22). Rather, it is a commandment to inform him and say, 'Why did you do such-and-such to me?' as it is written, 'You shall surely rebuke your fellow' (Leviticus 19:17). And if he repents and asks for forgiveness, the one forgiving should not be cruel, as it is said, 'And Abraham prayed to God' (Genesis 20:17), just as we learned in [Tractate] Bava Kamma [folio 92a]. However, if a person sees someone commit a sin and rebukes him many times, and he does not accept it,it is permitted to hate him . As it is stated in [Tractate] Pesachim [folio 113b], 'When you see the donkey of your enemy lying under its burden' (Exodus 23:5)—this refers to this matter, where he saw him commit a sin, making it permissible to hate him . And so it is written, 'The fear of the Lord is to hate evil' (Proverbs 8:13)."
(See Sefer Mitzvot Gadol, Negative Commandments 5, Sefaria, retrieved Mar 26, 2025, [https://www.sefaria.org/Sefer_Mitzvot_Gadol%2C_Negative_Commandments.5.1?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en])
Again, to emphasize this point (because Jewish scholars have been notoriously blasphemous against Christ, attempting to accuse Him of lying about them), the rabbis made exception for hatred under circumstances they deemed justified, even going so far as to say that one who beats or insults his colleague is not guilty of hatred, which is said only to allow themselves leeway under the law to do what they pleased:
"Whoever hates a fellow Jew in his heart transgresses a Torah prohibition as Leviticus 19:17 states: 'Do not hate your brother in your heart.' One is not liable for lashes for violating this prohibition, because no deed is involved. With this commandment, Scripture warns us only against hating in our hearts. However,a person who beats a colleague or insults him, although he is not permitted to do so, does not violate the prohibition, 'you shall not hate.' "
(See Chabad, De'ot - Chapter Six By Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon ("Maimonides"), retrieved Mar 26, 2025, [https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/910346/jewish/Deot-Chapter-Six.htm])
Furthermore, the term 'neighbor' was often deceptively misinterpreted by the Jews, for a neighbor is any fellow of a habitation, whether it be a neighborhood or a country, but they desired in their hearts to only consider "neighbors" to be those of the nation of Israel, and even in some regards, only those who were in agreement with a particular sect of religion among the Hebrews. Jesus would later correct a hateful Jewish lawyer with the parable of the good Samaritan (because the Samaritans had differences of religious belief from the rest of Jewish society), after the Jewish lawyer tried to justify his hatred of others by asking Jesus to define the word 'neighbor, depsite the fact that he knew well what it meant. (Luke 10:25-29)
[v44] But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Although hatred of a man's actions is completely justified because the Bible tells us we should hate evil (Psa 97:10, Pro 8:13), but one can hate a man's evil actions, while showing no hatred to his being, expressing to him pity and mercy. When the wicked rail and lash out, we can be sad for their state of affairs, for the destruction of their health that hatred brings, for the judgment of God they provoke, and that those of their household would suffer because of them. Therefore, we show them love, which not in the spiritual sense, for there is no reconciliation in the spirit without the regeneration of the Holy Ghost, but a love in the world, which is not in the sense of simply praying for God's mercy on them (albeit, is good to do as Jesus notes in this verse), rather, it is that we would bless them, that is, we would do good unto them that hate us.Jesus gave us the ultimate example of praying for others who hate and persecute us when He was being crucified by His enemies. He prayed to God the Father that He would "forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34) which shows the kindness and mercy of Jesus, even during His most extreme suffering at the hands of those who hated Him without a cause.
[v45] That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Jesus was not saying that they would become child of God by immitating Him in this regard, or that by their works they would be His children, because that only happens by regeneration of the Holy Spirit by grace through repentance and faith, but if the Jews professed themselves to be children of God, then they should act like it, and the way to do that is by showing love and charity to both good and evil, and the just and unjust. God commands the sun and the rain at His will, and thus, it is His will that evil and hateful men receive blessings in this dispensation of the world, that His goodness on them will be evidence against their wicked hearts in the Day of Judgment. (Rom 2:16)[v46] For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
This is not to say that we should not love those who love us, but that it is the easist and simplest form of natural love, to retaliate good for good, which does not merit any special appreciation or reward. The publicans were the tax collectors (the occupation of the evangelist who authored this book), and were known to be the most hateful towards the Jews because it was not uncommon for them to charge more tax than was owed, that they might steal it for themselves, therefore, they were greatly hated for their hatefulness, so Jesus used this example to show them that even those who were considered the most evil of their society loved those who loved them.[v47] And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
This is not meant in the sense of a simple greeting, nor does it mean friendly embraces, which are not wise to do with one's enemy, but rather, salutations here are meant of those words which offer wishes of good, and to inquire of their welfare, to see if all is well in the prosperity and safety of their household. The "brethren only" is not meant in the strictness sense of the term, as in direct blood relative, but in the sense of the nation, that those outside of their tribe or of Israel should receive the same friendly gestures, and once again, Jesus compares this to what was considered the most hateful among them, the tax collectors, who saluted their brethren in the same manner.[v48] Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
This perfection is not said in the sense of flawlessness, as many pastors often erroneously preach, but in the sense of a boy growing into the man his father wants him to be, as the mustard tree is the perfection of the mustard seed (Luke 13:19), which is not to say that we can be as God, for God is flawless, but we can reflect His nature as children in the sense that we can be merciful, even as our Heavenly Father is merciful. (Luke 6:36)
mercy (n): that benevolence, mildness or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook injuries, or to treat an offender better than he deserves; the disposition that tempers justice, and induces an injured person to forgive trespasses and injuries, and to forbear punishment, or inflict less than law or justice will warrant. In this sense, there is perhaps no word in our language precisely synonymous with mercy That which comes nearest to it is grace. It implies benevolence, tenderness, mildness, pity or compassion, and clemency, but exercised only towards offenders
(See 'mercy', American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828, retrieved Mar 26, 2025, [webstersdictionary1828.com])
