One jot (Gk. iota)] stands for Yod, the smallest letter in the Heb. alphabet. Tittle (lit. 'little horn')] is one of those minute projections by which otherwise similar Heb. letters are distinguished: cp. Luke 16:17. The rabbis taught, 'Not a letter shall perish from the Law for ever.' 'Everything has its end: the heaven and the earth have their end; there is only one thing excepted which has no end, and that is the Law.' 'The Law shall remain eternally, world without end.' Christ uses the rabbinical language in a new meaning of His own (see above).

19. A warning against the disparagement of the OT., now so common.

20. The sense is, 'I mention doing as well as teaching, for unless you practise what you preach, you will be unable, like the Scribes and Pharisees, to enter into the kingdom of heaven.'

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