Matthew 5.4-6
Intro:
The Unlikely Ones
“Those who mourn” and who “hunger and thirst for righteousness” (vv. 4, 6) have experienced the disaster that disobedience to God has brought to the world. Because they understand their true position of weakness before God, the “meek” (v. 5) have a humility that translates into treating others with kindness.
Now Jesus begins to teach his disciples how their own lives can serve as examples to others of what the kingdom of God will look like when it comes (5:1–7:29).
5:4 those who mourn. Over both personal and corporate sins (see Ezra 9:1–4).
5:4 those who mourn. This speaks of mourning over sin, the godly sorrow that produces repentance leading to salvation without regret (2 Cor. 7:10). The “comfort” is the comfort of forgiveness and salvation (cf. Is. 40:1, 2).
The verse echoes Isaiah 61:2, which promises consolation as a part of the Messiah’s work. In God’s salvation they will find a happiness which transcends their worldly condition. The use of the passive they shall be comforted is a Semitic idiom for what God will do. So also in vv. 6, 7, 9.
Here Jesus cites Scripture (Ps 37:9, 11). Not those who try to bring in the kingdom politically or militarily but those who humbly wait on God will “inherit the earth.”
The meek echoes the same Old Testament idea as the ‘poor in spirit’. They are those who do not throw their weight about, but rely on God to give them their due. Meekness as a characteristic of Jesus’ own ministry is stressed by Matthew (11:29; 12:15–21; 21:5). The promise to the meek is quoted from Psalm 37:11 (a psalm concerned throughout with the contrasting attitudes and destiny of the ‘meek’ and the ‘wicked’). The possession of ‘the land’ there refers primarily to Palestine, though the idea is more generally of the meek supplanting the wicked.
Those who are meek (v. 5) are truly humble and gentle and have a proper appreciation of their position. (Praeis, the Gr. word rendered “meek,” is translated “gentle” in its three other usages in the NT: 11:29; 21:5; 1 Peter 3:4.)
For spiritual hunger and thirst cf. Psalm 42:1–2; Isaiah 55:1–2. For righteousness in Matthew see on 3:15; the meaning here will be that their one desire is for a relationship of obedience and trust with God.
5:4 those who mourn. Over both personal and corporate sins (see Ezra 9:1–4).