Quotes & Notes on:     Matthew 5:1   

• John Wesley's Notes:
   And seeing the multitudes-At some distance, as they were coming to him from every quarter.
  
  He went up into the mountain-Which was near: where there was room for them all.
  
  His disciples-not only his twelve disciples, but all who desired to learn of him.
   

• The Fourfold Gospel:

  And when he had sat down, his disciples came unto him. In sitting he followed the custom of Jewish teachers. The instruction of Jesus was at no time embellished with oratorical action. He relied upon the truth contained in his words, not upon the manner in which he uttered it.
   

• Treasury of Scripture Knowledge:

  1 Christ's sermon on the mount.
  3 Who are blessed;
  13 the salt of the earth;
  14 the light of the world.
  17 He came to fulfil the law.
  21 What it is to kill;
  27 to commit adultery;
  33 to swear.
  38 He exhorts to suffer wrong,
  43 to love our enemies;
  48 and to labour after perfection.
  
  
  * seeing. Mt 4:25; 13:2; Mr 4:1
  * he went. Mt 15:29; Mr 3:13,20; Joh 6:2,3
  * his. Mt 4:18-22; 10:2-4; Lu 6:13-16
   

• Robertson's Word Pictures:
   He went up into the mountain (anebê eis to oros). Not "a" mountain as the Authorized Version has it. The Greek article is poorly handled in most English versions. We do not know what mountain it was. It was the one there where Jesus and the crowds were. "Delitzsch calls the Mount of Beatitudes the Sinai of the New Testament" (Vincent). He apparently went up to get in closer contact with the disciples, "seeing the multitudes." Luke (Lu 6:12) says that he went out into the mountain to pray, Mark (Mr 3:13) that he went up and called the twelve. All three purposes are true. Luke adds that after a whole night in prayer and after the choice of the twelve Jesus came down to a level place on the mountain and spoke to the multitudes from Judea to Phoenicia. The crowds are great in both Matthew and in Luke and include disciples and the other crowds. There is no real difficulty in considering the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew and the Sermon on the Plain in Luke as one and the same. See full discussion in my Harmony of the Gospels.
   

• William Burkitt's Notes:

  Observe here, 1. The preacher; he, that is, Christ, the great prophet and teacher of his church.
  
  Observe, 2. The place where he preached, upon a mountain; probably for conveniency to himself, and advantage to his auditors; though some will have a mystery in it; that as the law at first was given on a mountain, so Christ would now explain it upon a mountain; or to shew the sublimity of his doctrine and precepts.
  
  Observe, 3. The posture in which he preached, sitting: When he was set, he taught, according to the custom of the Jewish doctors who sat, to shew their authority.
  
  Observe, 4. The sermon itself, which begins with beatitudes and blessings, and is accompanied with promises of reward. Not as the law was delivered on Mount Sinai, with threatenings and thunder, with fire and earthquake, but in a still and soft voice. Our Lord's lips are full of grace, they drop as the honeycomb. Blessings and promises are our encouragements to obedience.
   

• Family Bible Notes:

  (No comment on this verse).
   

• 1599 Geneva Bible Notes:
  (No comment on this verse).
   

• People's New Testament Commentary:

   Seeing the multitudes. We gather from Lu 6:12 that the Lord passed the night in the mountain in prayer; in the morning he chose and ordained the twelve; he then came down to the plain, where he found a vast multitude, whom he taught.
  
  Went up into a mountain. Thought to be the "Horns of Hattin," a mountain about seven miles south of Capernaum, near the Sea of Galilee.
  
  When he was set. Eastern teachers usually sat while teaching.
  
  His disciples came. Not the apostles only, but all anxious to learn and follow him. Disciple means a learner.
   

• Albert Barnes' Commentary:

   Seeing the multitudes The great numbers that came to attend on his ministry. The substance of this discourse is recorded in the sixth chapter of Luke. It is commonly called the sermon on the mount. It is not improbable that it was repeated, in substance, on different occasions, and to different people. At those times, parts of it might have been omitted, and Luke may have recorded it as it was pronounced on one of these occasions. See Barnes for Lu 6:17.
  
  Went up into a mountain. This mountain, or hill, was somewhere in the vicinity of Capernaum, but where precisely is not mentioned. He ascended the hill, doubtless, because it was more convenient to address the multitude from an eminence, than on the same level with them. A hill or mountain is still shown a short distance to the northwest of the ancient site of Capernaum, which tradition reports to have been the place where this sermon was delivered, and which is called on the maps the Mount of Beatitudes. But there is no positive evidence that this is the place where this discourse was uttered.
  
  And when he was set. This was the common mode of teaching among the Jews, Lu 4:20; 5:3; Joh 8:2; Ac 13:14; 16:13.
  
  His disciples came. The word disciples means learners; those who are taught. Here it is put for those who attended on the ministry of Jesus, and does not imply that they were all Christians. See Joh 6:66.
  
   

• Jamieson-Faussett Brown:

   That this is the same Discourse as that in Lu 6:17-49 --only reported more fully by Matthew, and less fully, as well as with considerable variation, by Luke--is the opinion of many very able critics (of the Greek commentators; of CALVIN, GROTIUS, MALDONATUS--Who stands almost alone among Romish commentators; and of most moderns, as THOLUCK, MEYER, DE WETTE, TISCHENDORF, STIER, WIESELER, ROBINSON). The prevailing opinion of these critics is that Luke's is the original form of the discourse, to which Matthew has added a number of sayings, uttered on other occasions, in order to give at one view the great outlines of our Lord's ethical teaching. But that they are two distinct discourses--the one delivered about the close of His first missionary tour, and the other after a second such tour and the solemn choice of the Twelve--is the judgment of others who have given much attention to such matters (of most Romish commentators, including ERASMUS; and among the moderns, of LANGE, GRESWELL, BIRKS, WEBSTER and WILKINSON. The question is left undecided by ALFORD). AUGUSTINE'S opinion--that they were both delivered on one occasion, Matthew's on the mountain, and to the disciples; Luke's in the plain, and to the promiscuous multitude--is so clumsy and artificial as hardly to deserve notice. To us the weight of argument appears to lie with those who think them two separate discourses. It seems hard to conceive that Matthew should have put this discourse before his own calling, if it was not uttered till long after, and was spoken in his own hearing as one of the newly chosen Twelve. Add to this, that Matthew introduces his discourse amidst very definite markings of time, which fix it to our Lord's first preaching tour; while that of Luke, which is expressly said to have been delivered immediately after the choice of the Twelve, could not have been spoken till long after the time noted by Matthew. It is hard, too, to see how either discourse can well be regarded as the expansion or contraction of the other. And as it is beyond dispute that our Lord repeated some of His weightier sayings in different forms, and with varied applications, it ought not to surprise us that, after the lapse of perhaps a year--when, having spent a whole night on the hill in prayer to God, and set the Twelve apart, He found Himself surrounded by crowds of people, few of whom probably had heard the Sermon on the Mount, and fewer still remembered much of it--He should go over its principal points again, with just as much sameness as to show their enduring gravity, but at the same time with that difference which shows His exhaustless fertility as the great Prophet of the Church.
   

• Spurgeon Commentary on Matthew:

  This is the natural order of royal action. The King is anointed, comes among the people to show his power, and afterwards acts as a Legislator, and sets forth his statutes.
  
  For retirement, fresh air, and wide space, the King seeks the hill-side. It was suitable that such elevated ethics should be taught from a mountain. A natural hill suited his truthful teaching better than a pulpit of marble would have done. Those who desired to follow him as disciples gathered closely about the seated Rabbi, who occupied the throne of instruction in their midst; and then in outer circles “the multitudes” stood to listen.
   

• Spurgeon Devotional Commentary:

  Where he could find a suitable position for an audience. How different was this hill of the gospel from the Sinai of the law! Israel trembled before a mountain of curses, we rejoice in the mount of beatitudes.
  
  Sitting was the usual posture of an oriental teacher; he spoke as from the chair of authority, and his learners gathered at his feet.
   

• Adam Clarke's Commentary:

   And seeing the multitudes] , these multitudes, viz. those mentioned in the preceding verse, which should make the first verse of this chapter.
  
  He went up into a mountain] That he might have the greater advantage of speaking, so as to be heard by that great concourse of people which followed him. It is very probable that nothing more is meant here than a small hill or eminence. Had he been on a high mountain they could not have heard; and, had he been at a great distance, he would not have sat down. See ACC for Mt 5:14.
  
  And when he was set] The usual posture of public teachers among the Jews, and among many other people. Hence sitting was a synonymous term for teaching among the rabbins.
  
  His disciples] The word signifies literally a scholar. Those who originally followed Christ, considered him in the light of a Divine teacher; and conscious of their ignorance, and the importance of his teaching, they put themselves under his tuition, that they might be instructed in heavenly things. Having been taught the mysteries of the kingdom of God, they became closely attached to their Divine Master, imitating his life and manners; and recommending his salvation to all the circle of their acquaintance. This is still the characteristic of a genuine disciple of Christ.

   

• Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary:

  None will find happiness in this world or the next, who do not seek it from Christ by the rule of his word. He taught them what was the evil they should abhor, and what the good they should seek and abound in.