Albert Barnes Commentary Matthew 5

MATTHEW CHAPTER 5

Seeing the multitudes The great numbers that came to attend on his ministry. The substance of this discourse is recorded in the sixth chapter of Luke. It is commonly called the sermon on the mount. It is not improbable that it was repeated, in substance, on different occasions, and to different people. At those times, parts of it might have been omitted, and Luke may have recorded it as it was pronounced on one of these occasions. See Barnes on Luke 6:17-20.

Went up into a mountain. This mountain, or hill, was somewhere in the vicinity of Capernaum, but where precisely is not mentioned. He ascended the hill, doubtless, because it was more convenient to address the multitude from an eminence, than on the same level with them. A hill or mountain is still shown a short distance to the northwest of the ancient site of Capernaum, which tradition reports to have been the place where this sermon was delivered, and which is called on the maps the Mount of Beatitudes. But there is no positive evidence that this is the place where this discourse was uttered.

And when he was set. This was the common mode of teaching among the Jews (Luke 4:20; Luke 5:3; John 8:2; Acts 13:14; Acts 16:13).

His disciples came. The word disciples means learners; those who are taught. Here it refers to those who attended on the ministry of Jesus, and does not imply that they were all Christians. See John 6:66.

Blessed are the poor in spirit. The word blessed means happy, referring to that which produces true happiness, from whatever source it may come.

Poor in spirit. Luke says simply, blessed are THE poor. It has been disputed whether Christ meant the poor in reference to the things of this life, or the humble. The gospel is said to be preached to the poor (Luke 4:18; Matthew 11:5). It was predicted that the Messiah would preach to the poor (Isaiah 61:1).

It is said that they have special advantages for being saved (Matthew 19:23; Luke 18:24). The state of such persons is therefore comparatively blessed, or happy. Riches produce care, anxiety, and dangers, and not the least of these is the danger of losing heaven through them.

To be poor in spirit is to have a humble opinion of ourselves; to be aware that we are sinners and have no righteousness of our own; to be willing to be saved only by the rich grace and mercy of God; to be willing to be where God places us, to bear what He lays on us, to go where He tells us, and to die when He commands; and to be willing to be in His hands and to feel that we deserve no favor from Him.

This spiritual poverty is opposed to pride, vanity, and ambition. Such are happy:

1. Because there is more real enjoyment in thinking of ourselves as we are, than in being filled with pride and vanity.
2. Because such Jesus chooses to bless, and on them He confers His favors here.
3. Because theirs will be the kingdom of heaven hereafter.

It is remarkable that Jesus began His ministry in this manner, so unlike all others. Other teachers had taught that happiness was to be found in honor, or riches, or splendor, or sensual pleasure. Jesus overlooked all those things and fixed His eye on the poor and the humble, saying that happiness was to be found in the lowly vale of poverty more than in the pomp and splendors of life.

Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This means either that they have special advantages for entering the kingdom of heaven and of becoming Christians here, or that they will enter heaven hereafter. Both these ideas are probably included.

A state of poverty—a state where we are despised or unhonored by people—is a state where people are most ready to seek the comforts of religion here, or a home in the heavens hereafter. (See Barnes on Matthew 2:2).

Blessed are they that mourn. This is capable of two meanings: either that those are blessed who are afflicted with the loss of friends or possessions; or that those who mourn over sin are blessed. As Christ came to preach repentance, to induce people to mourn over their sins and to forsake them, it is probable that he had the latter particularly in view (2 Corinthians 7:10).

At the same time, it is true that the gospel only can give true comfort to those in affliction (Isaiah 61:1–3; Luke 4:18). Other sources of consolation do not reach the deep sorrows of the soul. They may blunt the sensibilities of the mind; they may produce a sullen and reluctant submission to what we cannot help; but they do not point to the true source of comfort. In the God of mercy only; in the Savior; in the peace that flows from the hope of a better world, and there only, is there comfort (2 Corinthians 3:17–18; 2 Corinthians 5:1).

Those who mourn thus shall be comforted. So those who grieve over sin; who sorrow that they have committed it, and are afflicted and wounded because they have offended God, shall find comfort in the gospel. Through the merciful Savior, those sins may be forgiven. In him the weary and heavy-laden soul shall find peace (Matthew 11:28–30), and the presence of the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, shall sustain us here (John 14:26–27), and in heaven all tears shall be wiped away (Revelation 21:4).

The meek. Meekness is patience in the reception of injuries. It is neither meanness, nor a surrender of our rights, nor cowardice; but it is the opposite of sudden anger, of malice, of long-harbored vengeance.

Christ insisted on his right when he said, "If I have done evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?" (John 18:23). Paul, too, asserted his right when he said, "They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? Nay, verily, but let them come themselves and fetch us out" (Acts 16:37).

And yet Christ was the very model of meekness. It was one of his characteristics: "I am meek" (Matthew 11:29). So it was of Paul. No man endured more, and more patiently, than he. Yet they were not passionate; they bore it patiently. They did not harbor malice. They did not press their rights through thick and thin, and trample down the rights of others to secure their own.

Meekness is the reception of injuries with a belief that God will vindicate us. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" (Romans 12:19). It is not fitting for us to take His place, and to do what He has a right to do, and what He has promised to do.

Meekness produces peace. It is proof of true greatness of soul. It comes from a heart too great to be moved by little insults. It looks upon those who offer them with pity.

He who is constantly ruffled, who suffers every little insult or injury to throw him off his guard and to raise a storm of passion within, is at the mercy of every mortal who chooses to disturb him. He is like the troubled sea that cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

They shall inherit the earth. This might have been translated the land. It is probable that here is a reference to the manner in which the Jews commonly expressed themselves to denote any great blessing. It was promised to them that they should inherit the land of Canaan. For a long time the patriarchs looked forward to this (Genesis 15:7–8; Exodus 32:13).

They regarded it as a great blessing. It was so spoken of in the journey in the wilderness; and their hopes were crowned when they took possession of the promised land (Deuteronomy 1:38; Deuteronomy 16:20). In the time of our Savior they were in the constant habit of using the Old Testament, where this promise perpetually occurs, and they used it as a proverbial expression to denote any great blessing, perhaps as the sum of all blessings (Psalms 37:20; Isaiah 60:21).

Our Savior used it in this sense; and meant to say, not that the meek should own great property or have many lands, but that they should possess peculiar blessings. The Jews also considered the land of Canaan as a type of heaven, and of the blessings under the Messiah.

To inherit the land became, therefore, an expression denoting those blessings. When our Savior promises it here, he means that the meek shall be received into his kingdom, and partake of its blessings here, and of the glories of the heavenly Canaan hereafter. The value of meekness, even in regard to worldly property and success in life, is often exhibited in the Scriptures (Proverbs 22:24–25; Proverbs 15:1; Proverbs 25:8, 15).

It is also seen in common life that a meek, patient, mild man, is the most prospered. An impatient and quarrelsome man raises up enemies; often loses property in lawsuits; spends his time in disputes and quarrels, rather than in sober, honest industry; and is harassed, vexed, and unsuccessful in all that he does.

"Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come" (1 Timothy 4:8; 1 Timothy 6:3–6).

Blessed are they that hunger. Hunger and thirst, here, are expressive of strong desire. Nothing would better express the strong desire that we should feel to obtain righteousness than hunger and thirst. No wants are so keen, none so imperiously demand supply as these. They occur daily; and when long continued, as in the case of those shipwrecked and doomed to wander months or years over burning sands with scarcely any drink or food, nothing is more distressing. An ardent desire for anything is often represented in the Scriptures by hunger and thirst (Psalms 42:1–2; Psalms 63:1–2).

A desire for the blessings of pardon and peace—a deep sense of sin, want, and wretchedness—is also represented by thirsting (Isaiah 55:1–2). Those who are perishing for want of righteousness, who feel that they are lost sinners and strongly desire to be holy, will be filled. Never was there a desire to be holy that God was not willing to gratify. And the gospel of Christ has made provision to satisfy all who truly desire to be holy. See Isaiah 55:1-13; Isaiah 65:13; John 4:14; John 6:35; John 7:37–38; Psalms 17:15.