9 Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.

10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for for righteousness' sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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 are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost

vor of God. In the East, kings very rarely made their appearance in public; and in some countries, to go into the presence of a monarch without being expressly invited, would expose a person to death. See Esther 4:11. Hence, to be admitted to the presence of the king, was a very propitious circumstance. The expression, therefore, to see God, is equivalent to the expression, to enjoy his favor.

9. The peace-makers; those who are ready to interpose their kind offices for maintaining mutual peace, and for restoring harmony when it has been interrupted. | Children of God. They resemble God in their disposition, and will be acknowledged and treated by him as his children. The spirit of peace and good will, uniformly cherished amid provocations as well as in other circumstances, is no slight evidence of a person's being under the influence of pure religion. The spirit of discord and war, whether on a large scale or a small one, finds no countenance in the principles of Him, who is appropriately styled Prince of peace. 10. The kingdom of heaven. See on

v. 3.

12. The prophets, &c.; such as Elijah (1 Kings 18: 17. 19: 1-18. 21: 20); Elisha (2 Kings 2: 23); Jeremiah (Jer. 20: 2, 10. 26: 8-15. 32: 3. 37: 11-15. 38: 4-13); Daniel (Dan. 6: 1–17).

Such declarations as are contained in these introductory verses, were well adapted to excite the attention of the people, as containing new sentiments;

to correct false notions, so generally indulged, concerning human happiness and concerning the design of the Messiah's coming; to lead the people to spiritual views and to a just estimate of holiness and of heavenly good.

13. It would now seem that the Saviour directed his remarks more particularly to those whom he designed soon to send forth as his heralds and as teachers of his religion; while yet the thoughts expressed would also be applicable to all his followers. The suit of the earth. Salt has a purifying and preserving efficacy. So it would be incumbent on the apostles, by teaching, and on all the disciples, by example, to exert a salutary influence on the sentiments and characters of men. || Lost his savor; become tasteless and powerless. The salt found in the Valley of Salt, near Aleppo in Syria, loses its saltness by exposure to the sun, rain, and air. The salt made in Judea from the water of the Dead Sea was probably liable to be thus spoiled. It may be proper to remark here, that the word his is used throughout the Bible, with reference to things, as well as to persons. || Wherewith shall it be salted? how can it be endued with a saline quality, and become useful for the purposes of salt? much as to say, it is valueless, and will be rejected. So the apostles and other disciples, unless religious truth and holy principles dwelt in them, would be valueless as to salutarv religious influence, and would bring on themselves the disapprobation of God.

as

14 Ye are the light of the| world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

15 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.

14. The light of the world. The darkness of moral and religious ignorance had covered the earth; but by means of the apostles of Jesus, the light of truth was to shine on the world. Jesus was emphatically "the light of the world." John 9: 5. 8: 12. In an inferior sense, his disciples also were the light of the world, for they were to communicate to men the truths of his religion. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. So the disciples

of Christ would attract notice.

15. A candle; more in accordance with Eastern customs, a lamp. || Bushel; any large measure. | Candlestick; lamp-stand.

16. Glorify your Father; ascribe praise to God. The holy and useful lives of the Saviour's followers reflect praise on the religion which they profess, and thus cause honor to be paid to God, from whom this religion pro

ceeded.

17. The divine teacher next proceeded to correct some of the erroneous views of moral and religious duty which had been handed down from former times, and which were, in his day, maintained by the Scribes and Pharisees, the religious guides of the people. These views arose chiefly from a wrong interpretation of the Mosaic statutes, and from the authority of certain traditions. Jesus maintained the immutable nature of the funda- | mental principles enforced in the books of the Old Testament; corrected certain erroneous views of those principles; showed the very broad and extensive application of them; and gave such additional precepts, in regard to them, as the more elevated and complete nature of his religion rendered necessary. To destroy; to

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

abrogate, to render null and void.

The law or the prophets; the writings of the Old Testament, as divided into the law of Moses, or the Pentateuch, and the prophetical books, or the rest of the Old Testament. Compare Matt. 12: 5. Luke 2: 23. 16: 29, 31. 24: 27, 44. Though Jesus came as the predicted king, and acknowledged not the authority of the Scribes and Pharisees, at that time the religious teachers; though he stood by himself, and gave instructions and precepts on his own authority,—yet he did not annul the great principles contained in the law of Moses and in the writings of the prophets. || To fulfil; to fill up, to complete, to carry out to perfection, and leave nothing to be added or to be altered. All religious teachers who had preceded the Messiah had left much incomplete, both as to the statement of principles, and the manifestation of the principles in actual practice. It was reserved for the Messiah to present the full light, of which before only some glimpses had been discerned. The dispensation by Moses and the prophets was preparatory to that of the Messiah, looking forward to it, and having reference to it, as the grand completion of the whole scheme of divine revelation. The Messiah came, then, not to annul, but to complete; not to abrogate any fundamental religious principles, but to carry out those principles to perfection. Whatever was abrogated by the Messiah's coming was merely of an external, circumstantial nature, and was abrogated on the ground of having answered all its purposes, and of having become needless, now that He had come, for whose coming they were preparatory.

19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least

That our Saviour had reference here to the moral, and not to the ceremonial, part of the Old Testament, appears from the illustrations contained in the following verses (21-48).

18. Verily; truly, certainly. || Heaven and earth; the visible universe. See Gen. 1: 1. 2: 1. || Pass; pass away, perish. The expression till heaven and earth pass away, is similar to ours, till the world shall end, or, as long as the world stands. It was a received opinion among the Jews, that the earth would never be totally destroyed, but would at some time be renovated, and in this renewed form exist forever. To say, then, that a thing would not take place till heaven and earth pass away, was the same as saying, it will never take place. See Luke 16: 17 || Jot. The Greek word here employed corresponds to the name of the smallest Hebrew letter, and means the smallest thing. Tittle; a very small point, by which certain Hebrew letters are distinguished from others; they being in other respects alike. The idea expressed by each of these words is, the very smallest part. From the law; from the religion enforced in the Old Testament. Compare the word law in the preceding verse. The declaration of the Saviour is, that not the smallest thing recognized in the fundamental moral principles of the Old Testament can be annulled. || Till all be fulfilled; till the whole design of the law be effected, its promises be fulfilled, its threatenings performed, its precepts honored either by obedience or by punishment for disobedience. This phrase is regarded by some as a mere repetition, in another form, of the idea expressed by the words till heaven and earth pass away. Its meaning, then,

if this be the right view, might be expressed by the phrase til all things are done, or till every thing is done with. The same words, however, in the original, occur in Luke 21: 32, and nearly the same in Matt. 24: 34, and Mark 13: 30, in such a manner as rather to favor the view first presented. 19. Least commandments. The Saviour did not, in his own judgment, apply the word least to any of the divine commands; but here adopted the method of speaking which was common among the Pharisees. They divided the commands into the small and the great, the weighty and the light. And in making these distinc tions, they were inclined to enforce the tithing of mint, and anise, and cumin, and other external things, and to pass over justice, mercy, and the love of God. See Matt. 23: 16, 18, 23, 25. Luke 11: 42. Hence, to some of the divine commands they could attach, when it suited their conve nience, the disrespectful epithet least, that is, not worthy of much regard; and they would lead others thus to view and to treat the precepts of God. But the Saviour declared, that he who should thus treat, in his own practice and by his teaching, the commands of God, would be regarded and treated in a similar manner in the new dispensation which was now introduced; that is, he should be held as not worthy of regard, but as deserving rejection. As he treated God's law, so, in the new dispensation, he would himself be treated; he would be counted as least, as unsuitable to enjoy the blessings and honors of the Messiah's administration. In the kingdom of heaven; the Messiah's reign, the new dispensation. The Saviour did not say, such a person may

whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his

that in every city there was a tribunal of seven judges, with two Levites as attending officers. This tribunal decided causes of comparatively small moment, and is the one here spoken The judgment, then, was an inferior tribunal of the Jews.

of.

22. Widely different is the view which Jesus presented. So far from regarding only the outward act of murder as forbidden, and as exposing to punishment, he declared that a wrong state of mind, and offences considered at that time of little moment, but yet tending to the act of killing, would expose a person to punishment; that even causeless anger, disregarded as it was by those teachers, was a crime, in the judgment of God, of as great ill desert as that which they attached to the crime of murder. Compare 1 John 3:15. Brother. Among the Hebrews, this word was sometimes used with much latitude, as equivalent to our expression another person. Compare Heb. 8: 11, Lev. 19: 17; also Gen. 13: 11," the one from the other; " or, if literally translated, from his brother; 26:31, 66 one to another;" in the Hebrew, to his brother. || In danger of the judgment; exposed to the tribunal just mentioned. The idea is, that causeless anger exposes to punishment as truly as, according to the decision of these teachers, does the act of killing; and the guilt of causeless anger is as great as that which these teachers ascribe to the crime of killing. || Raca; a term of contempt, equivalent to blockhead, or, empty headed, fool. It is properly a word derived from the Hebrew language, expressed in Greek letters, and transferred to the English language. The council; that is, the Sanhedrim. This was the highest tribunal among the Jews. It consisted of seventy-two persons, and the acting high priest was generally the president. It was composed of the most distinguished men in the nation. Appeals and other

brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

weighty matters came before this tribunal. In the time of Christ, its power had been limited by the Romans; but still it held the right of passing sentence of death, though the power of executing the sentence was lodged with the Roman governor.

The idea of the Saviour is, whoever shall indulge his anger so far as to use the opprobrious epithet Raca (blockhead) contracts guilt of such a dye as these teachers would ascribe to a crime which would be carried up to the Sanhedrim, the highest court; and he exposes himself to such an increase of punishment, as that it may be likened to the punishment decreed by the Sanhedrim, when compared with the punishment decreed by the Judgment.

Thus the Saviour marks a gradation of guilt and of punishment, while yet he has not described any crime beyond anger, nor arrived to the point of saying what murder deserves. How different from the teachers to whose decisions the Jews were accustomed!

Thou fool. The word fool among the Hebrews was one of the vilest epithets they could employ. It did not so much imply a destitution of intellect, as a destitution of every good moral quality. See Ps. 14: 1. It was equivalent to the terms impious wretch, denier of God and all religion. It implied, then, in the person who used it, when speaking to another, a very high degree of anger, so high that he was willing to call upon him the reprobation of God and of man. || Hell fire. The term in the original, translated hell, is derived from two Hebrew words, signifying Valley of Hinnom. This was a valley near the southern wall of Jerusalem. In a part of this valley was a place called Topheth, where, in the later periods of the Jewish kingdom, children were made to pass through the fire in sacrifice to Moloch. 2 Kings 16: 3. Jer. 7: 31. In the reign of Josiah (2 Kings