_CHRIST CONTINUETH HIS SERMON ON THE MOUNT; SPEAKING OF ALMS, PRAYER, FORGIVING OUR BRETHREN, FASTING, WHERE OUR TREASURE IS TO BE LAID UP, OF A SERVING GOD AND MAMMON: EXHORTETH NOT TO BE CAREFUL FOR WORLDLY THINGS, BUT TO SEEK THE KINGDOM OF GOD._ _Anno Domini 30._... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE HEED THAT YE DO NOT YOUR ALMS— _Your righteousness._ Our translators have put _alms_ in the text; but doubting, upon good grounds, whether that was the true reading, they have for _alms_ put in the margin _righteousness,_ that is to say, _justice,_ as it stands in the Vulgate; a reading support... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THOU DOEST THINE ALMS— _When you do good offices._ Heylin. The term ελεημοσυνη, which we render _alms,_ has a much larger signification, and imports all acts of kindness by which we can benefit others. In all these our Lord warns us against ostentation, and the desire of applause; and not only... [ Continue Reading ]
LET NOT THY LEFT HAND KNOW— This is a kind of proverbial expression, which may be explained to this effect: "Let no one, no, not even your most intimate acquaintance, know what you do; be ignorant of it yourselves, or forget it immediately as far as possible." It is said that the poors' chest stood... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THOU PRAYEST— Our Lord is here treating of private prayer; for which reason his rules must not be extended to public devotion. The Jews of old observed stated hours of prayer: the Scripture mentions three of them; _first_, the _third hour,_ answering to our nine o'clock, when the morning sa... [ Continue Reading ]
ENTER INTO THY CLOSET— That is, "perform thy private devotions without noise or shew; by which it will appear, that thou art influenced by a true sense of duty." The word ταμιειον, _closet,_ signifies any retired part of the house, any _secret_ or _separate place;_ and Mr. Blair piously conjectures,... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WHEN YE PRAY, USE NOT VAIN REPETITIONS— The original word βαττολογησητε, is derived from one _Battus,_ who was a great babbler. (see Ovid's Metamorph. 2. ver. 688.); and signifying "to use a vain multiplicity and repetition of words." See Mintert, Beza, and Hammond. The word is very applicable t... [ Continue Reading ]
BE NOT YE THEREFORE LIKE UNTO THEM— This argument would be forcible against all prayer in general, if prayer were considered only as a means of making our wants known to God; whereas it is no more than an act of obedience to our heavenly Father, who has _commanded_ us to pray to him, chap. Matthew 7... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER THIS MANNER, THEREFORE, PRAY YE— The Lord Jesus Christ gives his disciples a form of prayer, as was usually done by the Jewish masters; John the Baptist had taught his disciples to pray, Luke 11:1. It is to be observed, that this prayer is almost wholly taken out of the Jewish liturgies, and f... [ Continue Reading ]
THY KINGDOM COME— 2. The _kingdom of God_ being universal and everlasting (Psalms 145:13.), these words cannot be understoodof it; but of the kingdom of the Messiah, which is also called _The kingdom of God,_ ch. Matthew 3:2. There are in the coming of this kingdom several steps to be observed:—The... [ Continue Reading ]
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD— 4. The word επιουσιον rendered _daily_ in our version, is nowhere else to be found; neither in the LXX, nor in any Greek author, nor in any place of the New Testament, except in this part of the Lord's Prayer. Commentators differ much in their interpretation of it.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS, &C.— 5. We may observe, that this is the only petition in this prayer upon which our Lord enlarges, and indeed it is a petition of the greater consequence, and the more to be attended to by us, as we ourselves ask that which is the greatest of all things from God, even the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION— _And do not bring us into temptation, but rescue us from the evil one._ Doddridge. _Abandon us not to temptation._ Campbell. This might be translated, _"And lead us not into temptation, but so as to deliver us from the evil;_ either by removing the temptation itself... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IF YE FORGIVE, &C.— From what our Lord here says, we are not to imagine that the forgiving of injuries will entitle us to pardon: it only places us in a condition to receive it through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, all negative declarations being in their own nature absolute, he... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER, WHEN YE FAST, &C.— Our Lord goes on to apply the general advice, before given, to private fasting as well as to private prayer. The Greek word σκυθρωπος properly denotes a _fretful_ and _angry countenance;_ but here it signifies a "face disfigured with mortification and fasting." The LXX h... [ Continue Reading ]
ANOINT THINE HEAD— That is to say, "Affect nothing which is uncommon; and, rather than put on a _sad countenance,_ which may shew to all around you that you fast, _wash_, on the contrary, _your face, and anoint your head."_ Except in times of deep mourning, or public fasting, when they used dust and... [ Continue Reading ]
LAY NOT UP, &C.— By taking a general review of what we have been hitherto taught in this divine sermon, we shall be led more distinctly to the meaning of the words now before us. After the beatitudes, our Saviour goes on to treat of _justice,_ that is, duty in general. And first he shews the extent... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LIGHT OF THE BODY IS THE EYE—SINGLE—EVIL— The _eye is the lamp of the body;—clear_ or _pure;—bad_ or _vitiated._ Heylin. Mr. Locke has observed, that the _modes of thinking,_ as he speaks, that is to say, the several operations of the human mind, are in all languages expressed by figurative term... [ Continue Reading ]
NO MAN CAN SERVE, &C.—_MAMMON_— _Mammon_ is a Syriac word for _riches,_ which our Lord beautifully represents as a person whom the folly of men had deified. It is well known that the Greeks had a fictitious god of wealth; but I cannot find, says Dr. Doddridge, that he was ever worshipped in Syria un... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE I SAY UNTO YOU, TAKE NO THOUGHT, &C.— _Be not solicitous_ [and so wherever it occurs]. _Is not the life more than food?_ The Greek μεριμνατε, imports such anxietyas causes an intestine strife, by contrary reasonings with opposite hopes and fears. This is so strictly the sense of the origin... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH OF YOU, BY TAKING THOUGHT, &C.— _Who of you, by his solicitude, can prolong his life one hour?_ A version strictly literal would be, _can add any length to his age;_ for the Greek word ηλικια signifies both _age_ and _stature_, and is to be rendered by either, as the occasion requires. Our tra... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY TOIL NOT, NEITHER DO THEY SPIN— The expression ου κοπια, _they toil not,_ denotes _rural_ labour, and therefore is beautifully used in a discourse of _clothing,_ the materials of which are produced by agriculture. As the Eastern princes were often clothed in _white robes_ (and they were general... [ Continue Reading ]
IF GOD SO CLOTHE—OVEN, &C.— The original word αμφιεννυσιν, which we render _clothe,_ Dr. Doddridge well observes, expresses properly the putting on a complete dress, which surrounds the body on all sides, and is used with peculiar beautyfor that elegant yet strong external membrane, which, like the... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR AFTER ALL THESE THINGS DO THE GENTILES SEEK— It was the general character of the heathens, that they neither prayed to their gods, nor laboured themselves for any other blessings than the temporal ones here mentioned; as all their prayers and hymns to their deities abundantly prove, and as we le... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD, &C.— That is, true religion; the _advantages_ of the kingdom of God; _righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost,_ Romans 14:17 the treasures mentioned in Matthew 6:20. Compare 1 Kings 3:11. _And his righteousness,_ that is to say, the image of God and all... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE THEREFORE NO THOUGHT; &C.— "Since the extent and efficacy of Divine Providence are so great, and since you are the objects of its peculiar care, you need not vex yourselves about futurity;" _for the morrow_denotes future time in general._The morrow,_ continues our Lord, _shall take thought for... [ Continue Reading ]