1620 | Matthew 5:31
Divorce
31“ It has been said,‘ Any one who divorc es his wife must give her a cer tif i cate of di vorce.’ a h 32 But I tell you that any one who di vorc es his wife, ex cept for sex u al im mo ral i ty, makes her the vic tim of adultery, and any one who mar ries a di vorced woman commits adultery. i
Oaths
33“ Again, you have heard that it was said
to the peo ple long ago,‘ Do not break your oath, j but ful fill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ k 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: l ei ther by heav en, for it is God’ s throne; m 35 or by the earth, for it is his foot stool; or by Je ru sa lem, for it is the city of the Great King. n 36 And do not swear by your head, for you can not make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is sim ply‘ Yes’ or‘ No’; o any thing beyond this comes from the evil one. b p
5:31 h Dt 24:1‐4 5:32 i Lk 16:18 5:33 j Lev 19:12 k Nu 30:2;
Dt 23:21; Mt 23:16‐22 5:34 l Jas 5:12 m Isa 66:1;
Mt 23:22 5:35 n Ps 48:2 5:37 o Jas 5:12 p Mt 6:13; 13:19,
38; Jn 17:15; 2Th 3:3; 1Jn 2:13, 14; 3:12; 5:18, 19 5:38 q Ex 21:24; Lev 24:20; Dt 19:21
5:39 r Lk 6:29; Ro 12:17, 19; 1Co 6:7; 1Pe 3:9 5:42 s Dt 15:8; Lk 6:30 5:43 t Lev 19:18 u Dt 23:6
5:44 v Lk 6:27, 28; 23:34; Ac 7:60; Ro 12:14; 1Co 4:12; 1Pe 2:23 5:45 w ver 9 x Job 25:3
5:46 y Lk 6:32 5:48 z Lev 19:2; 1Pe 1:16 one slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the oth er cheek also. r 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If any one forc es you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to bor row from you. s
Love for Enemies
43“ You have heard that it was said,
‘ Love your neigh bor d t and hate your enemy.’ u 44 But I tell you, love your en e mies and pray for those who per se cute you, v
45 that you may be chil dren w of your Father in heav en. He caus es his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righ teous and the un righ teous. x
46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? y Are not even the tax col lec tors do ing that? 47 And if you greet only your own peo ple, what are you do ing more than oth ers? Do not even pa gans do that? 48 Be per fect, there fore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. z
Eye for Eye
38“ You have heard that it was said,‘ Eye
for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ c q 39 But I tell you, do not re sist an evil per son. If anya 31 Deut. 24:1 b 37 Or from evil c 38 Exodus 21:24; Lev. 24:20; Deut. 19:21 d 43 Lev. 19:18 underline his point: one must do whatever is necessary to evade destruction. Jesus probably mentions the eye first( v. 29) because of the sin just mentioned( v. 28). 5:31 certificate of divorce. Cf. Dt 24:1; such a certificate allowed a wife to remarry; the key element of such certificates was the phrase,“ You are now free to marry another man”( sometimes abbreviated,“ You are now free”). 5:32 except for sexual immorality. One school of Pharisees( the school of Hillel) allowed divorce for any reason; the other( the school of Shammai) allowed it only for“ sexual immorality”( as here). A legal divorce permitted remarriage, but without a valid divorce, a wife’ s new marriage was invalid, hence adulterous.( In a Jewish legal setting the wife’ s divorce was more at issue than the husband’ s because Jewish law in principle permitted men to have multiple wives.) Jesus here depicts divorce as invalid, apart from the partner’ s infidelity. Because Jesus often used graphic hyperbole( see note on v. 30), offered general statements that might be qualified in some cases( see note on 1Co 7:15), and elsewhere treated the dissolution of marriage as genuine( though normally wrong; cf. Mt 19:6; Jn 4:18), some view the present statement as hyperbole. Hyperbole was meant to graphically reinforce the point, here the warning against breaking one’ s marriage. 5:33 Do not break your oath. An oath invoked a deity’ s witness that one was telling the truth. Here Jesus alludes to texts such as Lev 19:12; Nu 30:2; Dt 23:21 – 22. 5:34 – 35 do not swear an oath at all. A few radical sages and sects forbade oaths, demanding that one’ s integrity be so great that oaths were unnecessary. Other Jewish people sometimes tried to evade the curse incurred in broken oaths by swearing by something less than God. heaven.“ Heaven” is God’ s throne and“ earth” his footstool in Isa 66:1;“ Jerusalem” is“ the city of the Great King” in Ps 48:2. 5:36 cannot make even one hair white or black. People could not control signs of aging. 5:38 Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth. The principle of equal justice enshrined in“ eye for eye” appeared widely in ancient law; although only in Israel did it apply across class lines( see note on Lev 24:20). In a number of ancient legal collections, this rule appears beside rules pertaining to being struck on the cheek( v. 39). 5:39 slaps you on the right cheek. The backhanded blow on the right cheek was meant primarily as an insult, a challenge to the honor of the person struck. The striker could be taken to court and fined for this offense. 5:40 hand over your coat. The coat was the one possession that a creditor could not legally seize from a debtor( Ex 22:26 – 27; Dt 24:12 – 13). The very poor might have only a single coat; in such cases, surrendering both the inner and outer garments might leave one naked. In this case, an element of hyperbole might be involved, and / or( as some suggest) it might include shaming one’ s aggressor with such extensive cooperation. 5:41 forces you to go one mile. Roman soldiers, viewed as members of the hostile occupying army, sometimes forced civilians to carry gear for them. Jesus envisions shocking compliance, voluntary cooperation far beyond what the soldier demands. 5:43 hate your enemy. The command to love one’ s neighbor is explicit in Lev 19:18. The command to hate enemies, while emphasized by some contemporary Jewish sects, was not explicit in Scripture, but extrapolated from pious examples there( Ps 31:6; 119:113; 139:21). 5:44 Some ancient thinkers advocated nonresistance, often on the grounds that anything that could be taken away did not really matter. Jesus’ words go even deeper: to love one’ s enemies. 5:45 that you may be children of your Father. Ancient moralists, not only Jews but also some Gentiles, often urged imitation of the perfect, divine example. 5:46 even the tax collectors. For mainstream Galileans and Judeans, tax collectors( see note on 9:9) and Gentiles were negative examples. 5:47 greet. See note on 23:7,8. 5:48 Be perfect. Ancient speakers and writers sometimes