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| The Mount of Beatitudes on the Sea of Galilee |
If you have read along with me, you have learned that I believe that everything in the New Testament can be found in the Old Testament. That isn't a new radical idea either, it's just that you don't hear people talking about it a lot. You are far more likely to hear the opposite which is, "I don't read the Old Testament. God was so harsh back then. I only follow the teachings of Jesus." Or they will say, "The Old Testament shows God's judgment but The New Testament shows God's love." People who say things like this show their ignorance of the Word.
What people tend to forget is that Jesus didn't just magically appear on the scene and change out the Word of God. He IS the Word of God. When God said in the Old Testament, "Wipe out the Amalekites!" that was the Word of God, aka Jesus, speaking.
Anyway, something I like to do is find the words or teachings of Jesus in specific passages in the Old Testament. Call it a hobby. I already wrote on the Old Testament roots of the Lord's Prayer and I felt like I really had to get my head out of the prophets (Hosea was blowing my mind). So I figured I would write about the Old Testament roots of the Beatitudes.
In the book of Matthew beginning at chapter 5, Jesus had developed quite a following. One day, He went up on a mount and began to teach. The first recorded phrase we have from this sermon is, "Blessed are ...."
In the Latin Vulgate, each of these verses begin with the word, 'beati'. Beati means blessed or happy and you can see that this is were we get the word beautiful. The Greek word has the same meaning but didn't stick like the Latin word 'beatitudo', which means blessedness.
Moses was given ten commandments and all ten of them began with, "Thou shalt, " and "Thou shalt not." The first four of the ten had to do with one's relationship to God and the last six are to do with one's relationship to others.
The Beatitudes, however, were more about what you are, than what you do. First, there were only eight as opposed to ten but they too were divided. The first four were about relationship to God and the second four were about relationship to others.
Second, they set the sermon up quite nicely because, before it was over, Jesus would tell the people that anger was the equivalent of murder and that lust was the equivalent of adultery. In other words, you may not have killed your brother out of that intense anger but the hatred in your heart was the same in the eyes of God as if you had.
It was the same with lust. You didn't have to carry out the act to be guilty in the eyes of God. Jesus was trying to show people the true intent of the Law, which was to realize we couldn't live up to it on our own. Again, throughout the ministry of Jesus, it was all about the heart; who you are and not what you do.
Now that we have covered the background, let's get right to it:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of god.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sakd for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3-10
Many of these are from the same passage from Isaiah 61 that Jesus refers to in the synagogue when He says, Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing (Luke 4:17-21). It is everyone's go to. That scripture says:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
I'll leave it to you to work that out because the correlation is pretty obvious and I want to look at other scriptures as well. Where do we in the Old Testament do we see poor in spirit or something like that?
First, what is poor in spirit anyway. I think, based on the reward promised, it is someone who knows they have nothing without God. They know they are, "Wretched, poor, miserable, blind, and naked (Revelation 3:17). Jesus is speaking of spiritual poverty here. We actually see it mostly in the Psalms. For instance:
For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and He has not hidden His face from him, but has heard, when he cried to Him. Psalm 22:24
Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Psalm 25:16
But I am poor and needy: make hast unto me, O God: Thou art my help and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying. Psalm 70:5
We see a strong allusion to 'poor in spirit' not only in the above passage from Isaiah, but in these Psalms as well. But, the actual term 'poor in spirit' doesn't appear in the Old Testament. The thing is though, it does appear in the Dead Sea Scrolls (War Scroll XIV. 8), which says,
Blessed be the God of Israel...He has...steadied the trembling knee; He has braced the back of the smitten. Among the poor in spirit [there is power] over the hard of heart.
Pretty cool, huh?
Again, we see those that mourn mentioned in the passage from Isaiah, but is it anywhere else? And, what are the mourners mourning? I think it is beyond mourning for personal loss.
Psalm 147:3 says,
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
So, we see that God does care about personal loss, but could Jesus be talking about something more spiritual? I think maybe so.
He said to him, "Walk through the streets of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of all who weep and sigh because of the detestable sins being committed in their city. Ezekiel 9:4
I think that our sorrow over the sin in the world is part of the mourning that brings the blessing of God's comfort.
The meek shall inherit the earth is a direct quote from Psalm 37:11 and meek means gentle and humble. The Bible says that Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth (Numbers 12:3). God would have wiped out the Israelites several times but Moses fell on his face before God and prayed that they be spared. God called David a man after His own heart, but He spoke to Moses as a friend (Exodus 33:11).
The beatitude that blesses those that hunger and thirst for righteousness is all over the place in the Old Testament, at least in types and shadows. Consider mana in the wilderness and water from the rock. But, we can find direct references in the Psalms and Proverbs. Here are a few examples:
For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Psalm 107:9
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? Psalm 42:2
O God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is. Psalm 63:1
The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul: but the belly of the wicked shall want. Proverbs 13:25
These are just a few examples of many found.
That concludes the first four Beatitudes that refer to our relationship to God. The takeaway is, be poor in spirit, meek, hate sin, and hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Now, on to the final four that concern our relationships with others. The first one exhorts us to be merciful so that we shall obtain mercy. Psalm 37 has this one covered. As a matter of fact, in Psalm 37, not only do the merciful receive the blessing, but the meek as well.
The next one is one of my favorites. We can ask the question asked in Psalm 24:
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
In other words, "Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God."
The next one is the most difficult to link just by a verse or two; Doctrine? Yes. Theory? Yes; and this is all over the New Testament. But, is it really in the Old? Yes. I'm going to look at David for this one.
Everyone assumes that David fought because he loved to fight, and he may have; but, if you pay attention, every time David goes into battle, he asks God if it is His will. He also spared Saul at least twice when he had the chance to kill him.
Remember, Saul hated David and was on a mission to kill him. David absolutely refused to harm God's anointed even though he himself had been anointed as well (1 Samuel 24:3-7 and 1 Samuel 26). As was stated before, this was the man after God's own heart. He took action when necessary but did all he could to live in peace with his enemies.
Other verses for consideration are;
And David went out to meet them, and answered and said unto them, "If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you: but if ye be come to betray me to mine enemies, seeing there is no wrong in mine hands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it. 1 Chronicles 12:17
Who is the man who delights in life, who desires to see good days? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34:12-14
It is hard for me not to go into the New Testament on this one because Jesus made peace between us and God. He is, after all, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) We, as His disciples, are to make peace as well. But, I'm sticking to the Old Testament for now.
Now for the final Beatitude,
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
This is another one that is hard to pin a verse to, but it is very present in the Old Testament and Jesus reaffirms that the persecuted will receive a reward. He later accuses the Pharisees of killing the prophets and is most likely referring to Zechariah son of Jehoiada, whom they stoned in the court of the house of the Lord,
Consider also the prophet Jeremiah who recorded, or at least his scribe recorded, his own beating and imprisonment. Nehemiah also records the persecution of the prophets in Nehemiah 9:26.
The Old Testament is full of verses to comfort and reassure the persecuted. God doesn't overlook the persecution of His people.
Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting. He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed, shall indeed come again with a shout of joy bring his sheaves with him. Psalm 126: 5-6
My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. Psalm 31:15
Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Psalm 35:3
How about we finish up with a little wrath for the sake of the persecuted?
Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people: for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will render vengeance to His adversaries, and will be merciful unto His land, and to His people. Deuteronomy 32:43
I'm reading Galatians now trying to stay out of the prophets for a bit. I'll probably be writing on that soon. In the mean time, Thanks for stopping by! God bless you and yours.
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