Matthew 5:4

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN: FOR THEY SHALL BE COMFORTED. [Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Tregelles place this verse after , but on evidence decidedly inferior, in our judgment, to that for the received order. And certainly the order of the ideas is in favour of the common arrangement; while in , and , the "mourners" come immediately after the "poor."] This "mourning" must not be taken loosely for that feeling which is wrung from men under pressure of the ills of life, nor yet strictly far sorrow on account of committed sins. Evidently it is that entire feeling which the sense of our spiritual poverty begets; and so the second beatitude is but the complement of the f...

4._Happy are they that mourn. _This statement is closely connected with the preceding one, and is a sort of appendage or confirmation of it. The ordinary belief is, that calamities render a man unhappy. This arises from the consideration, that they constantly bring along with them _mourning _and grief. Now, nothing is supposed to be more inconsistent with happiness than _mourning. _But Christ does not merely affirm that _mourners _are not unhappy. He shows, that their very _mourning _contributes to a _happy _life, by preparing them to receive eternal joy, and by furnishing them with excitements to seek true _comfort _in God alone. Accordingly, Paul says, “We glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation produces patience, and patience experience, and experience hope: and hope maketh not ashamed,” (Romans 5:3.)...

3-12 Our Saviour here gives eight characters of blessed people, which represent to us the principal graces of a Christian. 1. The poor in spirit are happy. These bring their minds to their condition, when it is a low condition. They are humble and lowly in their own eyes. They see their want, bewail their guilt, and thirst after a Redeemer. The kingdom of grace is of such; the kingdom of glory is for them. 2. Those that mourn are happy. That godly sorrow which worketh true repentance, watchfulness, a humble mind, and continual dependence for acceptance on the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, with constant seeking the Holy Spirit, to cleanse away the remaining evil, seems here to be intended. Heaven is the joy of our Lord; a mountain of joy, to which our way is through a vale of tears. Such mourners shall be comforted by their God. 3. The meek are happy. The meek are those who quietly submi...

Verse Matthew 5:4. _BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN_] That is, those who, feeling their _spiritual poverty_, mourn after God, lamenting the iniquity that separated them from the fountain of blessedness. Every one flies from _sorrow_, and seeks after _joy_, and yet true joy must necessarily be the _fruit of sorrow_. The whole need not (do not _feel_ the need of) the physician, but they that are _sick_ do; i.e. they who are sensible of their disease. Only such persons as are deeply convinced of the sinfulness of sin, feel tho plague of their own heart, and turn with disgust from all worldly consolations, because of their insufficiency to render them _happy_, have God's promise of solid comfort. _They_ SHALL BE _comforted_, says Christ, παρακληθησονται, from παρα, _near_, and καλεω, _I_ _call_. He will _call them to himself_, and...

BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN - This is capable of two meanings: either, that those are blessed who are afflicted with the loss of friends or possessions, or that they who mourn over sin are blessed. As Christ came to preach repentance, to induce people to mourn over their sins and to forsake them, it is probable that he had the latter particularly in view. Compare 2 Corinthians 7:10. At the same time, it is true that the gospel only can give true comfort to those in affliction, Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18. Other sources of consolation do not reach the deep sorrows of the soul. They may blunt the sensibilities of the mind; they may produce a sullen and reluctant submission to what we cannot help:

EXPOSITION MATTHEW 5:1 AND SEEING THE MULTITUDES; _i.e. _those spoken of in Matthew 4:25—the multitudes who were at that point of time following him. HE WENT UP. From the lower ground by the lake. INTO A MOUNTAIN; Revised Version, _into the mountain _(εἰς τὸ ὄρος);_ i.e. _not any special mountain, but "the mountain nearest the place spoken of—the mountain near by" (Thayer); in contrast to any lower place, whether that was itself fairly high ground (as probably Luke 9:28) or the shore of the lake. The actual spot here referred to may have been far from, or, and more probably ...

BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN,.... For sin, for their own sins; the sin of their nature, indwelling sin, which is always working in them, and is a continual grief of mind to them; the unbelief of their hearts, notwithstanding the many instances, declarations, promises, and discoveries of grace made unto them; their daily infirmities, and many sins of life, because they are committed against a God of love, grace, and mercy, grieve the Spirit, and dishonour the Gospel of Christ: who mourn also for the sins of others, for the sins of the world, the profaneness and wickedness that abound in it; and more especially for the sins of professors, by reason of which, the name of God, and ways of Christ, are evil spoken of: who likewise mourn under afflictions, spiritual ones, temptations, desertions, and declensions; temporal ones, their own, which they receive, either more immediately from the hand...

Matthew 5:1. _And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain:_ For convenience, and quietude, and to be out of the way of traffic, he went up into a mountain. Elevated doctrines would seem most at home on the high places of the earth. Matthew 5:1. _And when he was set,_ For that was the mode of Eastern teaching, Matthew 5:1. _His disciples came unto him:_ They made the inner ring around him, and others gathered around them. Matthew 5:2. _And he opened his mouth, and taught them,_ Chrysostom says that he taught them even when he did not open his

MATTHEW 5:4-5 maka,rioi … paraklhqh,sontai) (5) maka,rioi … th.n gh/n) {B} If verses Matthew 5:3 and Matthew 5:5 had originally stood together, with their rhetorical antithesis of heaven and earth, it is unlikely that any scribe would have thrust ver. Matthew 5:4 between them. On the other hand, as early as the second century copyists reversed the order of the two beatitudes so as to produce such an antithesis and to bring...

5. THE PROCLAMATION OF THE KING CONCERNING HIS KINGDOM. CHAPTER S 5-7 _ 1. The Characteristics of the heirs of the Kingdom.(Matthew 5:1 .) 2. The Confirmation of the Law and its Expansion.(Matthew 5:17 .)_ CHAPTER 5 In the closing of the last chapter we saw our Lord Jesus Christ surrounded by a great multitude of people, which followed Him and who were attracted by the King's presence, before whom the various diseases had to flee. If we turn to the eighth chapter we find the continuation of these scenes we had in the last half of the fourth chapter. Between these two Chapter s are three very important ones, which are as such found only in this Gospel. The contents of the fifth, sixth and seventh Chapter s are in the form of a continued discourse of our Lord, commonly called “t