Cu. V.] MATTHEW. 383
1. A mountain (7d épos). The Rev. recognizes the force of the definite article, and renders “ the mountain,” that particular mountain in the place where Jesus saw the multitudes. The mountain itself cannot be identified. Delitzsch calls the Mount of Beatitudes “The Sinai of the New Testament.”
When he was set (xaSicavros), following Tyndale. Reyv., more literally, when he had sat down (compare Wye., when he had sete). After the manner of the rabbis, he seated himself ere he began to teach.
2. Taught (édéacxev). The imperfect signifies began to teach.
3. Blessed (uaxdpior). As this word and its cognates occur at least fifty-five times in the New Testament, it is important to understand its history, which is interesting because it is one of those numerous words which exhibit the influence of Chris- tian association and usage in enlarging and dignifying their meaning. It is commonly rendered blessed, both in the A. V. and Rey., and that rendering might properly be given it in every instance.
Its root is supposed to be a word meaning great, and its earlier meaning appears to be limited to outward prosperity ; so that it is used at times as synonymous with rch. It scarcely varies from this meaning in its frequent applications to the Grecian gods, since the popular Greek ideal of divine blessed- ness was not essentially moral. The gods were blessed because of their power and dignity, not because of their holiness.“ In general,” says Mr. Gladstone (“ Homer and the Homeric Age ”) “the chief note of deity with Homer is emancipation from the restraints of moral law. Though the Homeric gods have not yet ceased to be the vindicators of morality upon earth, they have personally ceased to observe its rules, either for or among
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34 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. V.
themselves. As compared with men, in conduct they are gen- erally characterized by superior force and intellect, but by infe- rior morality.”
In its peculiar application to the dead, there is indicated the despair of earthly happiness underlying the thought of even the cheerful and mercurial Greek. Hence the word was used as synonymous with dead. Only the dead could be called truly blessed. Thus Sophocles (“ GEdipus Tyrannus”) :
‘¢ From hence the lesson learn ye To reckon no man happy till ye witness The closing day ; until he pass the border Which severs life from death, unscathed by sorrow.”
. And again (“ Gidipus at Colonus ”) :
‘Happiest beyond compare, Never to taste of life: Happiest in order next, Being born, with quickest speed Thither again to turn From whence we came.”
Nevertheless, even in its pagan use, the word was not alto- gether without a moral background. The Greeks recognized a prosperity which waited on the observance of the laws of natu- ral morality, and an avenging Fate which pursued and punished their violation. This conception appears often in the works of the tragedians; for instance, in the “(Cidipus Tyrannus” of Sophocles, where the main motive is the judgment which waits upon even unwitting violations of natural ties. Still, this prosperity is external, consisting either in wealth, or power, or exemption from calamity.
With the philosophers a moral element comes definitely into the word. The conception rises from outward propriety to in- ward correctness as the essence of happiness. But in all of them, from Socrates onward, virtue depends primarily upon: knowledge ; so that to be happy is, first of all, to know. It is thus apparent that the Greek philosophy had no conception of sim in the Bible sense. As virtue depended on knowledge, sin was the outcome of ignorance, and virtue and its consequent
Cu. V.] MATTHEW. 35
happiness were therefore the prerogative of the fewand the learned.
The biblical use of the word lifted it into the region of the spiritual, as distinguished from the merely intellectual, and be- sides, intrusted to it alone the task of representing ie higher conception. The pagan word for happiness (eddaovla, under the protection of a good genius or daemon) nowhere occurs in the New Testament nor in the Scriptures, having fallen into disrepute because the word daemon, which originally meant a deity, good or evil, had acquired among the Jews the bad sense which we attach to demon. Happiness, or better, dlessedness, was therefore Peprescnted both in the Old and in ae New Testa- ment by this word paxdpios. In the Old Testament the idea involves more of outward prosperity than in the New Testa- ment, yet it almost universally occurs in connections which emphasize, as its principal element, a sense of God’s approval, founded in righteousness which rests ultimately on love to God.’ '°!