were fishers. g Luke v. 10. I will make h ch. ix. 35. ich ix. 35: xxiv. 14. Mark i. 14 (various reading) only. you 19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and gfishers of men. 20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. 21 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. 22 And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. 23 h And Jesus went about all synagogues, and preaching the but not invariably, attached to our Lord. I believe that the disciple whom Jesus loved was in His company during the whole of the events in John ii. iii. iv. and v., and on His return from Judæa with His disciples, John having for a time returned to his business, as our Lord was now resident in Capernaum, received, as here related, this more solemn and final call. We must remember, that the disciples would naturally have gone up to Jerusalem at the Passover, John ii. 23, without a call from the Lord, and by what they saw there would become more firmly attached to him. The circumstance related in John xxi., that even after they were assured of the Resurrection, the Apostles returned to their occupation as fishermen, gives additional probability to the usual explanation of the call in our text. 20. left their nets, and followed him] i. e. from this time they were constant followers of the Lord. But when He happened to be in the neighbourhood of their homes, they resumed their fishing; cf. Luke v. 1—11, which occurrence was, in my belief, different from, and later than the one related in our text. See notes there. : 23-25.] HE MAKES A CIRCUIT OF GALILEE. (Mark i. 39: Luke iv. 44, ordinarily but qu.? There is no necessity for believing this circuit of Galilee to be identical with those, even if we read Galilee in the passage in Luke. Our Lord made many such circuits.) 23. synagogues] These were the places of religious assembly among the Jews after the return from the captivity. Tradition, and the Targums, ascribe a very early origin to synagogues: and Deut. xxxi. 11, and Ps. lxxiv. 8, are cited as testimonies of it. But the former passage does not necessarily imply it: and it is doubtful whether that Psalm was not itself written after the captivity. They are generally supposed to have originated in Babylon, and thence to have been Galilee, teaching in their gospel of the kingdom, brought, at the return, into the mother land. See Neh. viii. 1-8. At the Christian era there were synagogues in every town, and in some larger towns several. See Acts ix. 2, 20. In Jerusalem, according to the Rabbinical writings, there were upwards of 450. (See Acts vi. 9, and note.) The people assembled in them on sabbath and festival days, and in later times also on the second and fifth days of each week, for public prayer and the hearing of portions of Scripture. See Luke iv. 16: Acts xiii. 15. The officers of the synagogues were (1) the ruler of the synagogue, Luke viii. 49; xiii. 14: Acts xviii. 8, 17, who had the care of public order, and the arrangement of the service; (2) the Elders, Luke vii. 3: Mark v. 22: Acts xiii. 15, who seem to have formed a sort of council under the presidency of the Ruler; (3) the legate or angel of the assembly, who was the reader of prayers, and also secretary and messenger of the synagogues; (4) the minister (Luke iv. 20), or chapel clerk, whose office was to prepare the books for reading, to sweep, open, and shut the synagogue. Besides these, there appear to have been alms-gatherers. The synagogue was fitted up with seats, of which the first row were an object of ambition with the scribes (ch. xxiii. 6). A pulpit for the reader, lamps, and a chest for keeping the sacred books, appear to complete the furniture of the ancient synagogue. Punishments, e. g. scourging, were inflicted in the synagogues. (See ch. x. 17; xxiii. 34: Luke ix. 49: Acts xxii. 19; xxvi. 11.) The catechizing also of children seems to have taken place there, as also disputations on religious questions. Our Lord was allowed to read and teach in the synagogues, although of mean extraction according to the flesh, because of His miracles, and His supposed character as the professed leader and teacher of a religious sect. preach ing the gospel] For the exact meaning of and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of dis- these words, compare the declaration in CHAPP. V. VI. VII.] THE SERMON ON have heard immediately after his call as an Apostle, take place before that call.Then (b) this discourse was spoken on a mountain,-that, after descending from a mountain, in the plain. Possibly this may be got over, by rendering St. Luke's expression " on a level place." See note on Luke: and the citation from Stanley below. And again (c), the two discourses are, though containing much common matter, widely different. Of 107 verses in Matt., Luke contains only thirty: his four beatitudes are balanced by as many woes and in his text, parts of the sermon are introduced by sayings, which do not precede them in Matt. (e. g. Luke vi. 39 ff., 45 ff.), but which naturally connect with them. (II) St. Luke epitomized this discourse, leaving out whatever was unsuitable for his Gentile readers, e. g. ch. v. 17-38. But this is improbable: for Luke in several verses is fuller than Matthew, and the whole discourse, as related by him, is connected and consecutive. (III) The two discourses are wholly distinct. This view is maintained by Greswell, vol. ii. Diss. xi., and principally from the arguments above noticed. But it also is not without grave difficulties, especially if we suppose, as most do, that Luke had the Gospel of Matthew before him. That two discourses wholly distinct should contain so much in common, seems unlikely and unnatural. It is hardly credible that two great public special occasions should be selected by the Lord near the commencement of His ministry, and two discourses delivered to the same audience, not identical, which might have been very probable, and impressive from that very circumstance,-nor consecutive, nor explanatory the one of the other, but only coinciding in fragments, and not even as two different reports at the distance of some years might be expected to do. Add n ch. xlii. 35 (from Ps. Ixxviii. 35. mountain and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: 2 and he "opened his "mouth, and taught them, Acts viii. 2). to this, that those parts of the discourses in which Luke and Matthew agree, occur in both in almost the same order, and that the beginning and conclusion of both are the same. (IV) St. Matthew gives a general compendium of the sayings of our Lord during this part of His ministry, of which St. Luke's discourse formed a portion, or perhaps was another shorter compendium. But the last stated objection applies with still greater force to this hypothesis, and renders it indeed quite untenable. Besides, it labours under the chronological difficulty in all its bearings. And to one who has observed throughout the close contextual connexion of the parts in this discourse, it will be quite incredible that they should be a mere collection of sayings, set down at hazard. See notes throughout. (V) The apparent discrepancies are sometimes reconciled by remembering, that there is no fixed time mentioned in any Evangelist for the special ordination of the Apostles, and that it is very doubtful whether they were at any set moment so ordained all together. Thus Matthew may have been a usual hearer of our Lord, and present with the whole of the Apostles, as related in Luke, though not yet formally summoned as related in Matt. ix. 9 ff. The introduction of the discourse in Luke by the words "And it came to pass in those days" (which I maintain to be, on Luke vi. 12, not only possibly, but expressly indefinite, and to indicate that the event so introduced may have happened at any time during the current great period of our Lord's ministry, before, during, or after, those last narrated,) allows us great latitude in assigning Luke's discourse to any precise time. This, however, leaves the difficulties (above stated under I) in supposing the discourses identical, in force, except the chronological one.-With regard to the many sayings of this sermon which occur, dispersed up and down, in Luke, see notes in their respective places, which will explain my view as to their connexion and original times of utter ance, in each several instance. See also notes on Luke vi. 20-49. 1. the mountain] Either some hill near Capernaum well known by this name, and called by it in the reff. to Mark and Luke, (tradition, not earlier probably than the Crusades, which points out a hill between Capernaum and Tiberias as the Mount of Beatitudes, near the present Saphet, is in such a matter worthless as an authority. But the situation seems to modern travellers [see Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 368] "so strikingly to coincide with the intimations of the gospel narrative, as almost to force the inference that in this instance the eye of those who selected the spot was for once rightly guided. It is the only height seen in this direction from the shores of the lake of Gennesareth. The plain on which it stands is easily accessible from the lake, and from that plain to the summit is but a few minutes' walk. The platform at the top is evidently suitable for the collection of a multitude, and corresponds precisely to the level place' to which He would come down' as from one of its higher horns to address the people. Its situation is central both to the peasants of the Galilæan hills, and the fishermen of the Galilæan lake, between which it stands, and would therefore be a natural resort both to Jesus and His disciples when they retired for solitude from the shores of the sea, and also to the crowds who assembled from Galilee, from Decapolis, from Jerusalem, from Judæa, and from beyond Jordan.' None of the other mountains in the neighbourhood could answer equally well to this description, inasmuch as they are merged into the uniform barrier of hills round the lake: whereas this stands separate-' the mountain,' which alone could lay claim to a distinct name, with the exception of the one height of Tabor, which is too distant to answer the requirements,") or the mountain district, certainly imported by the word in ch. xiv. 23.- See a full description of the locality in Tholuck, Bergpredigt, ed. 3, pp. 63 ff. his disciples] in the wider sense: including those of the Apostles already called, and all who had, either for a long or a short time, attached themselves to him as hearers. See John vi. 66. 2. opened his mouth] as in reff., a solemn introduction to some discourse or advice of importance. them] i. e. his disciples. The discourse (see vv. 13, 14, 20, 48; ch. vi. 9; vii. 6) was spoken directly to the disciples, but (see vii. 28, 29) also generally to the multitudes. is a divine commentary on the words with which His own and the Baptist's preaching opened: "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." It divides itself into various great sections, which see below. It their's is the mourn: for saying, 3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for 4 Blessed are they that kingdom of heaven. they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful: for 'they shall obtain 3-16.] THE DESCRIPTION OF THE LORD'S DISCIPLES, THEIR BLESSEDNESS, AND DIGNITY. 3. the poor in spirit] "He said not, the poor in possessions, but in spirit: i. e. the lowly in purpose and in soul." Euthymius. “What is 'the poor in spirit?' the humble and contrite in heart." Chrys.-The meaning of voluntary poverty, as that of the religious orders, given by some of the Fathers, and by many Romish interpreters, is out of the question. As little can the bare literal sense of the words, which Julian scoffed at, be understood: viz. those who are illfurnished in mind, and uneducated. See Rev. iii. 17. The idea (De Wette) is not improbable, that our Lord may have had a reference to the poor and subjugated Jewish people around him, once members of the theocracy, and now expectants of the Messiah's temporal kingdom; and, from their condition and hopes, taken occasion to preach to them the deeper spiritual truth. their's is the kingdom of heaven] See Luke iv. 17-21: James ii. 5. The kingdom must here be understood in its widest sense: as the combination of all rights of Christian citizenship in this world, and eternal blessedness in the next, ch. vi. 33. But Tholuck well observes, that all the senses of "the kingdom of God," or "of heaven,' or" of Christ," are only different sides of the same great idea-the subjection of all things to God in Christ. 4.] The spiritual qualification in the former verse must be carried on to this, and the mourning understood to mean not only that on account of sin, but all such as happens to a man in the spiritual life. All such mourners are blessed for the Father of mercies and God of all consolation being their covenant God, His comfort shall overbear all their mourning, and taste the sweeter for it. In Luke ii. 25, the Messiah's coming is called "the consolation of Israel." This beatitude is by many editors placed after ver. 5. But the authority is by no means decisive, and I cannot see how the logical coherence of the sentence is improved by it.-In placing these two beatitudes first, the Lord follows the order in Isa. Ixi. 1, which He proclaimed mercy. in the synagogue at Nazareth, Luke iv. 18. 5. the meek] A citation from Ps. xxxvii. 11. The usual dividers and allotters of the earth being mighty and proud conquerors, and the Messiah being expected as such a conqueror, this announcement that the meek should inherit the earth, struck at the root of the temporal expectations of power and wealth in the Messiah's kingdom. This meekness is not mere outward lowliness of demeanour, but that true meekness of Eph. iv. 2, whose active side is love, and its passive side long-suffering. On the promise, compare Isa. lvii. 13-15; lx. 21; 1 Cor. iii. 22. That kingdom of God which begins in the hearts of the disciples of Christ, and is not "of (sprung from) this world," shall work onwards till it shall become actually a kingdom over this earth, and its subjects shall inherit the earth first in its millennial, and finally in its renewed and blessed state for ever. 6.] See Ps. cvii. 9; lxv. 4; xxii. 26: Isa. xli. 17. This hunger and thirst is the true sign of that new life on which those born of the Spirit (John iii. 3, 5) have entered; and it is after righteousness, i. e. perfect conformity to the holy will of God. This was His meat, John iv. 34. They shall be satisfied—in the new heaven and new earth, in which dwelleth righte ousness, 2 Pet. iii. 13. Compare the remarkable parallel Ps. xvii. 15. This hunger and thirst after righteousness, is admirably set forth in the three first petitions of the Lord's prayer,-‘Hallowed be Thy name-Thy kingdom come-Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.' 7. merciful] We may shew mercy, not by alms only, but by words: and if we have no other way, by tears. For manifold is the form of mercy, and wide is this command: They shall obtain mercy, here, from men; and there, from God," Euthymius, expanding Chrysostom. This beatitude comprises every degree of sympathy and mutual love and help; from that fulness of it which is shed abroad in those who have been forgiven much, and therefore love much,-down to those first beginnings of the new birth, even among those who know not the Lord, s Ps. xxiv. 3, 4. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for their's is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. 13 Ye : ▾ render, sons. XXV. 8. which are brought out in ch. 37-40, where see notes. pure in heart] See Ps. xxiv. 4, 6. It is no Levitical cleanness, nor mere moral purity, that is here meant; but that inner purity, which (Acts xv. 9) is brought about by faith, has its fruit (1 Tim. i. 5) in love; which is opposed to all "double mindedness" (James i. 8), and all hypocrisy and outward colouring; so that the pure in heart are those who have their "hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience." There is an allusion to the nearer vision of God attained by progressive sanctification, of which St. Paul speaks, 2 Cor. iii. 18,begun indeed in this life, but not perfected till the next, 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 9. peacemakers] More than the peaceful' (Vulg.). It is doubtful whether the word ever has this meaning. Thus Euthymius, mostly after Chrysostom: They who not only are themselves not men of strife, but make peace between others when at strife. They shall be called sons of God, because they have imitated His only Son; whose office it is to bring together the separated and to reconcile those at variance. But even thus we do not seem to reach the full meaning, which probably is, "they that work peace;" not confining the reference to the reconciliation of persons at variance: see note on James iii. 18. shall be called] implies the reality, as in ver. 19; shall (not only be, but also) be called, i. e. recognized, in the highest sense, both generally, and by the Highest Himself, as such. Let it ever be remembered, according to the order of these beatitudes, and the assertion of James iii. 17, that the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, implying no compromise with evil. And it is in the working out of this purity that Luke xii. 51 is especially true. St. Augustine remarks, that martyrs are made not by the mere fact of suffering, but by the cause for which they suffer. And therefore it is added, for righteousness' sake.' 10. persecuted] See 1 Pet. iii. 14; iv. 14, which probably refers to this verse. The repetition of the promise in ver. 3 is a close of the string of promises as it began. 11.] With the preceding verse the beatitudes end, in their general reference, and in this our Lord addresses His disciples particularly. The actions described in this verse are the expansion of persecuted in the last. 12. your reward] A reward, not of debt, but of grace, as the parable in ch. xx. 1 ff. clearly represents it. 'An expression,' as De Wette observes, 'taken from our earthly commerce, and applied to spiritual things;' in which however we must remember, that the principal reference is to God as the giver, and not to us as the deservers: see the parable above cited, where the reward is not what was earned, but what was covenanted. These words, in heaven, must not be taken as having any bearing on the question as to the future habitation of the glorified saints. Their use in this and similar expressions is not local, but spiritual, indicating the blessed state when the kingdom of heaven shall have fully come. The local question is to be decided by wholly different testimonies of Scripture;by the general tenor of prophecy, and the analogies of the divine dealings: and all of these seem to point rather to this earth, purified and renewed, than to the heavens in any ordinary sense of the term, as the eternal habitation of the blessed. so persecuted they] For instance, Jeremiah was scourged, Jer. xx. 2; Zechariah son of Jehoiada was stoned, 2 Chron. xxiv. 21; Isaiah, according to Jewish tradition, was sawn asunder by Manasseh.-The reasoning implied in for may be thus filled up: "and great will be their reward in heaven." 13.] The transition from the preceding verses is easy and natural, from the ". persecuted for righteousness' sake," of which vv. 11, 12 were a sort of application, and the allusion to the ancient Prophets, to "ye are the salt of the earth."-Elisha healed the unwholesome |