Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 5:6

"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." — Matthew 5:6 (ASV)

Those who hunger and thirst—In this, we seem to hear the lesson our Lord learned from His recent experience in the wilderness. The craving of bodily hunger has become a parable of that higher yearning for righteousness, a thirsting for God, like a deer desires the water brooks. This yearning is certain, in the end, to reach its full fruition.

Desires for earthly goods are frustrated or end in satiety and weariness. To this spiritual hunger alone belongs the promise that those who hunger and thirst in this way will surely be filled. The same thoughts meet us again in the Gospel of John, which in many respects is so different from that of St. Matthew (John 4:32).