Ver. 1. And seeing the multitudes] As sheep without a shepherd, or as grain ripe and ready, falling, as it were, into the hands of the harvest man. The “children cried for bread, and there was none to break it,” Lamentations 4:4. His eye therefore affected his heart, and out of deep commiseration, He went up into a mountain] This mount was his pulpit, as the whole law was his text. It is said to be in the tribe of Naphtali, and called Christ’s mount to this day. As Moses went up into a mount to receive the law, so did the Messiah to expound it, and so must we to contemplate it. Sursum corda. Wind we up our hearts, which naturally bear downward, as the poise of a clock. And when he was set] Either as being weary, or as intending a longer sermon. This at his first onset upon his office, and that at his last (when he left the world and went to his Father, John 14:15-17), being the longest and liveliest that are recorded in the Gospels. He preached, no doubt, many times many hours together. But as his miracles, so his oracles, are no more of them written than might suffice to make us believe, and live through his name, John 20:31. As the prophets of old, after they had preached to the people, set down the sum of their sermons, the heads only, for the use of the Church in all ages, so did the apostles record in their diaries the chief things in our Saviour’s sermons, out of which they afterwards (by the instinct and guidance of the Spirit of God) framed this holy history. (Scultet. Annal. epist, dedic.) His disciples came unto him] To sit at his feet and hear his word. Among the Jews the Rabbi sat, termed ב שׁ וי or the sitter; the scholar, קבאתמ or one that lieth along in the dust, a token of the scholar’s humility, subjecting himself even to the feet of his teacher. Thus Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word, Luke 10:39. Thus all God’s saints are said to “sit at his feet, every one to receive his word,” Deuteronomy 33:3. Thus Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, a great doctor in Israel, Acts 22:3. And this custom it is thought St Paul laboured to bring into the Christian Church, 1 Corinthians 14.
Ver. 2. And he opened his mouth] This phrase is not superfluous (as some may conceit), but betokeneth free and full discourse, Ephesians 6:19, of some weighty and important matter, Psalms 78:2, uttered with great alacrity of spirit and vehemency of speech. And taught them, saying] He taught them sometimes (saith Theodoret) when he opened not his mouth, sc. δια του βιου και θαυματων, by his holy life and wondrous works. A mirror for ministers, who as they should open their mouths with wisdom (heaven never opened in the Revelation, but some great matter followed), so their lives should be consonant to the tenor of their teaching, a very visible comment on the audible word. Timothy must be a stamp, a standard, a pattern, a precedent to the believers, both in word and conversation (τυπος), 1 Timothy 4:12. Aaron must have both bells and pomegranates on his vesture. And ministers should (as Gideon’s soldiers) carry trumpets of sound doctrine in one hand and lamps of good living in the other. There should be a happy harmony, a constant consent between their lips and their lives, ινα συνδραμοι ο βιος τω λογω, that their doctrine and conversation may run parallel, as Isidore saith in one place; or (as he hath it more emphatically in another), ινα ο λογος η υπο της πραξεως εμψυχωμενος, that their preaching may have life put into it by their practice. Nolite, saith one, magis eloqui magna, quam vivere. Vivite concionibus, concionamini moribus: Ορθοτομειτε, ορθοποδειτε: λεγοντες πρακτικως πραττοντες λογικως: Sic vocalissimi eritis praecones, etiam cum tacetis. Speak not, but live sermons, preach by your practice: the life of teaching is the life of the teacher.
Ver. 3. Blessed] The word signifieth such as are set out of the reach of evil, in a most joyous condition, having just cause to be everlastingly merry, as being beati re et spe, blessed in hand and in hope, and such as shall shortly transire a spe ad speciem, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” They are already possessed of it, as by turf and twig. There were eighty opinions among heathens about man’s blessedness. These did but beat the bush: God hat h given us the bird in this golden sermon, μακαριοι, quasi μη κηρι υποκειμενοι; vel απο του μαλιστα χαιρειν. (Aristot.) Are the poor in spirit] Beggars in spirit (Mendici spiritu. Tertul. Qui suarum virium agnoscunt ουδενειαν, hi pauperes spiritu): such as have nothing at all of their own to support them, but being nittily needy, and not having (as we say) a cross wherewith to bless themselves, get their living by begging, and subsist merely upon alms. Such beggars God hath always about him, Matthew 26:11. And this the poets hammered at, when they feigned that litae or prayers were the daughters of Jupiter, and stood always in his presence. (Homer.) Lord, I am hell, but thou art heaven, said Hooper. I am a most hypocritical wretch, not worthy that the earth should bear me, said Bradford. I am the most unfit man for this high office of suffering for Christ that ever was appointed to it, said sincere Saunders. Oh that my life, and a thousand such wretches’ lives more (saith John Careless, martyr, in a letter to Mr Bradford), might go for yours! Oh! why doth God suffer me and such other caterpillars to live, that can do nothing but consume the alms of the Church, and take away you so worthy a workman and labourer in the Lord’s vineyard? But woe be to our sins and great unthankfulhess, &c. (Acts and Mon.) These were excellent patterns of this spiritual poverty, which our Saviour here maketh the first; and is indeed the first, second, and third of Christianity, as that which teacheth men to find out the best in God and the worst in themselves. This Christ lays as the foundation of all the following virtues. Christianity is a frame for eternity, and must therefore have a good foundation; since an error there can hardly be mended in the fabric. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven] Heaven is that true Macaria, or the blessed kingdom. So the island of Cyprus was anciently called for the abundance of commodities that it sendeth forth to other countries, of whom it craveth no help again. Marcellinus, to show the fertility thereof, saith, that Cyprus aboundeth with such plenty of all things, that, without the help of any other foreign country, it is of itself able to build a tall ship, from the keel to the topsail, and so put it to sea, furnished of all things needful. And Sextus Rufus writing thereof, saith, Cyprus famosa divitiis, paupertatem Populi Rom. ut occuparetur, sollicitavit: Cyprus, famous for riches, tempted the poor people of Rome to seize upon it. What marvel then if this kingdom of heaven solicit these poor in spirit to offer violence to it, and to take it by force, since it is all made of gold? Revelation 21:21; yea, search is made there through all the bowels of the earth to find out all the precious treasures that could be had, gold, pearls, and precious stones of all sorts. And what can these serve to? only to shadow out the glory of the walls of the New Jerusalem, and the gates, and to pave the streets of that city.