The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 159

baps, hardly to be excluded (contrast Weise, tion that natural birth 88 Israelites involve& • Me.tthiusev.'), is at least swe.llowed up in the full blessings of sons of God: of, • Ab.,' the thought of the full e.nd final revele.tion. iii. 22 (Taylor). ThOBe who e.re pure in heart, e.nd oare not Ver. 10.-Whioh a.re persecuted; which for such eighb! as lee.d men into sin, o.re un- have been persecuted (Revised Version); ol consciously prepRring ihemsel ves for the 5r51&1-yµ.l110<- "Those who are he.re.seed, great spiritual si~ht-tbe beatific vision hunted, spoiled. The term is properly used (Rev. xxii. 4c; of. l John iii. 2). In Heb. xii. of wild bee.sts pursued by hunters, or of an 14 bolinese (b.;,1«rrµ.&s) is an indispensable enemy or malefactor in flight" (Wetstein), quality for such a vi•ion of "the Lord." Our Lord, by the use of the perfeot, wishes Yer. 9.-The peacemakers (o/ •lP71v<rro10(). to indicate (1) the fact that they have en- More than " peaceable" ( ,lp11v,1<0<, J as. iiL dured persecution, and still stand firm; and 17; ,lp11v,6ovns, Rom. xii. 18; Ma.rk iL 50). probably (2) the condition of temporal loss This is the peaceable ohare.oter consciously to which they have been reduced by such exerted outside itself. The sa.me compound persecution. They have " suffered the loss,'' in the New Testament in Col i. 20 only : possibly, "of all things," but· they are Elp1111arorfitr«s Iha: .-oii a!µ.a.-os 'TOV a-.-a.upoii " blessed." For righteo1lS1less' sake (lv,,,,v ab.-oii ( of. Eph.1 iL 14, 15). Christians, in 5,,,,.,otr.lV11s). No o.rticle (contrast ver. 6), their measure, she.re in Christ's work, a.nd, either as indicating that for even a part of we may a.dd, can attain it generally a.s he righteousness persecution oe.u be undergone, did, only by personal suffering. Observe or, and more probably, simply dwelling on that this Heati tude must have been specially the ea.use of persecution without idealizing distasteful to the warlike Gali.Imans. Mishna, it. St. Peter also says, perhaps with e. • Ab.,' i. 13 (Taylor), "Hille! said, Be of the reference to our Lord's words, that they disciples of Abaron, loving pee.oe and who suffer 5,a: B11<a,atri'iV1111 a.re µa.1<dp10, pursuing peace," hardly refers to pee.oe- (1 Pet. iii. 14). For theirs is the kingdom maki11g, but in Mishna, • Pee.h,' i. I, "These of heaven. The same promise that we.s e.re the things whose fruit e. man eats in this given to " the poor in spirit" (ver. 3) is here world, but which have their capital reward given to the persecuted for righ teousncss' in the world to c.ome : honouring one's sake. In the former oase, poverty in the father e.nd mother, showing kindne&.'!, and sphere of the spirit obtains the fullest pos- bringing about peace between a man and sessions; here the same, promise is given to hie neighbour, but stndy of the Law is temporal loss produced by faithfulness to equivalent to them all" For they; a.l,.-al, the cause of righteousness. In ver. 3 our omitted by !It, C, D, 13, 124, La.tt., Peshito. Lord removed all occasion for intellectual Possibly it is an addition inserted from a and spiritual pride. Here he c.omforts for desire to make this Beatitude harmonize temporal e.nd social losses ( of. especially with the others. But more probably it is 2 Cor. vi 10: further see ver. 3, note). genuine, and we.s omitted by a.ocident, either Olement of Alexandria, • Strom.,' iv. 6 by homoiot. of 11/ol (Meyer), or (better) be- (p. 582, Potter) (1) confuses this a.nd the cause the scribe forgot the allTol in the preceding Bea.ti.tude: (2) gives a, curious emphatic vlol e,oii, the form of the sec.ond reading of some who alter the Gospels : clause being peculiar to this Beatitude. "Blessed are they who have been persecuted Shall be called; by God and angels and through righteousness (i½rb .-ijs B1,ca.totr6v71s), men. The ohildra of God; Revised Version, for they shall be perfect: a.nd blessed are sons of God; :i,o show that the word used they who have been persecuted for my sake, here is vlol, not .,-l,a,a.. Christ's reference for they shall have a place where they shall is, that is to say, not so much to the nature not be persecuted" (of, Westcott, 'IntroJ. as to the privileges involved in sonship. Gospp.,' Appendix C). The earthly privileges which peacemakers gi. ve up rather than disturb their peaceful Vere. 11-16.-Some critics (e.g. Godet, reb tifJns wi_th others, and in order that they Weiss) think that vers. 13-16 nre no po.rt mr,y l.,riug about peace between others, shall of the original sermon, but only o.n inter- be much more than made up to them, and weaving of sayings which were originally tl,at with the approving verdict of all. They spoken at other times. 'l'his is possible, but shall, with geuere.l approval, enter on the full priviltge, of their relation to God, who external evidence exists only in tho ca.se of is " the God of peace" (Rom. xv. 33). Dr. vers. 13 a.nd 15 (for vers. 14 and 16 are Taylor (' Ah.,' i. 19) bas an interesting note peculiar to ll'Io.tthew); a,nd even in tho c,1se on "Peace" as a Talmudic name of God. of these verses it is by no meo.na cleu.r (vide F,,r language similar to our Lord's, of. infra) that the occasions on which, uccorJ- Hos. i. 10 [LXX.J, equivalent to Rom. iL 2G. Here, as often in ihie Gospel, there ing to the other Gospels, the sayings were wny be a tacit conl.Ja.diction to the 88BODlp- uttezed a.re the more original Weiss's u- oa v. 1-48.] THE GOSPEL ACCORIJING TO ST. MA'l"l'HEW. 151