Chú giải Kinh Thánh

That ye do not your alms - Δικαιοσυνην υμων μη ποιειν, perform not your acts of righteousness - such as alms-giving, fasting, and prayer, mentioned immediately after. Instead of δικαιοσυνην, righteousness, or acts of righteousness, the reading in the text, that which has been commonly received is ελεημοσυνην, alms. But the first reading has been inserted in several editions, and is supported by the Codd. Vatican and Bezae, some others, and several versions, all the Itala except one, and the Vulgate. The Latin fathers have justitiam, a word of the same meaning. Mr. Gregory has amply proved, צדקה tsidekeh, righteousness, was a common word for alms among the Jews. Works, 4th. p. 58, 1671. R. D. Kimchi says that צדקה tsidekeh, Isaiah 59:14, means alms-giving; and the phrase נתן צדקה natan tsidekah, is used by the Jews to signify the giving of alms. The following passages from Dr. Lightfoot show that it was thus commonly used among the Jewish writers: -

"It is questioned," says he, "whether Matthew wrote Ελεημοσυνην, alms, or Δικαιοσυνην, righteousness. I:answer: -

"I. That, our Savior certainly said צדקה tsidekah, righteousness, (or, in Syriac זדקתא zidkatha), I make no doubt at all; but, that that word could not be otherwise understood by the common people than of alms, there is as little doubt to be made. For although the word צדקה tsidekah, according to the idiom of the Old Testament, signifies nothing else than righteousness; yet now, when our Savior spoke these words, it signified nothing so much as alms.

"II. Christ used also the same word זדקתא zidkatha, righteousness, in time three verses next following, and Matthew used the word ελεημοσυνην, alms; but by what right, I beseech you, should he call it δικαιοσυνην, righteousness, in the first verse, and ελεημοσυνην, alms, in the following; when Christ every where used one and the same word? Matthew might not change in Greek, where our Savior had not changed in Syriac: therefore we must say that the Lord Jesus used the word צדקה tsidekeh or זדקתא zidkatha, in these four first verses; but that, speaking in the dialect of common people, he was understood by the common people to speak of alms. Now they called alms by the name of righteousness, for the fathers of the traditions taught, and the common people believed, that alms contributed very much to justification. Hear the Jewish chair in this matter -

For one farthing given to a poor man in alms, a man is made partaker of the beatific vision: where it renders these words, Psalm 17:15, I shall behold thy face in righteousness, after this manner, I shall behold thy face, Because Of Alms. Bava. Bathra.

"This money goeth for alms, that my sons may live, and that I may obtain the world to come. Bab. Rosh. Hashshanah.

"A man's table now expiates by alms, as heretofore the altar did by sacrifice. Beracoth.

"If you afford alms out of your purse, God will keep you from all damage and harm. Hieros. Peah.

"Monobazes the king bestowed his goods liberally upon the poor, and had these words spoken to him by his kinsmen and friends -

'Your ancestors increased both their own riches, and those that were left them by their fathers; but you waste both your own and those of your ancestors.'

To whom he answered -

'My fathers laid up their wealth on earth: I lay up mine in heaven. As it is written, Truth shall flourish out of the earth, but Righteousness shall look down from heaven. My fathers laid up treasures that bear no fruit; but I lay up such as bear fruit. As it is said, It shall be well with the just, for they shall eat the fruit of their own works. My fathers treasured up, when power was in their hands; but I where it is not.

As it is said, Justice and judgment is the habitation of his throne. My fathers heaped up for others; I for myself. As it is said, And this shall be to thee for righteousness. They scraped together for this world. I for the world to come. As it is said, Righteousness shall deliver from death.' Ibid.

These things are also recited in the Babylonian Talmud.

"You see plainly in what sense he understands righteousness, namely, in the sense of alms: and that sense not so much framed in his own imagination, as in that of the whole nation, and which the royal catachumen had imbibed from the Pharisees his teachers.

"Behold the justifying and saving virtue of alms, from the very work done according to the doctrine of the Pharisaical chair! And hence, the opinion of this efficacy of alms so far prevailed with the deceived people, that they pointed out alms by no other name (confined within one single word) than צדקה tsidekah, righteousness. Perhaps those words of our Savior are spoken in derision of this doctrine. Yea, give those things which ye have in alms, and behold all things shall be clean to you, Luke 11:41. With good reason indeed exhorting them to give alms; but yet withal striking at the covetousness of the Pharisees, and confuting their vain opinion of being clean by the washing of their hands, from their own opinion of the efficacy of alms. As if he had said, "Ye assert that alms justifies and saves, and therefore ye call it by the name of righteousness; why therefore do ye affect cleanliness by the washing of hands; and not rather by the performance of charity?" Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. p. 153.

Before men - Our Lord does not forbid public alms-giving, fasting, and prayer, but simply censures those vain and hypocritical persons who do these things publicly that they may be seen of men, and receive from them the reputation of saints, etc.

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men,.... Some copies read, "take heed that ye do not your righteousness", &c. which is a very good reading: but then, by "righteousness", is not meant righteousness, as comprehending all other righteous acts, as particularly alms, prayer, and fasting, hereafter mentioned; but alms only; nothing being more common with the Jews than to call alms "righteousness": and whatever word Matthew made use of, there is no doubt to be made of it, but this was the word Christ used. Now alms was so called, because it is a righteous action, which ought to be performed; and to withhold from the poor what is meet, is to deal unrighteously: hence we read of the "mammon of unrighteousness"; by which is meant, not money unrighteously got, but that which is unrighteously kept from the poor: also it might be so called, because the Jews very much placed their justifying righteousness before God in the performance of it: let us first see how, according to them, it was to be done, and then what confidence they placed in it, and how much they made use of it. The account Maimonides (f) gives is as follows, who observes: that

"we are bound to take heed to the commandment of alms more than all the affirmative commands; because alms is a sign of a "righteous" man, the seed of Abraham our father; as it is said, in Genesis 18:19. Nor is the throne of Israel established, nor can the law of truth stand, but by alms; as it is said, Proverbs 16:19. Nor shall Israel be redeemed, but by alms, according to Isaiah 1:27. There are (says he) eight degrees in giving alms, the one above another; the highest, than which there is none higher, is this; when one relieves an Israelite, and gives him a gift, or lends to him, or takes him into partnership, or finds him work, so that he strengthens his hands before he stands in need of asking; and of this it is said, and "thou shalt relieve him, a stranger and a sojourner, that he may live with thee": which is as much as to say, relieve him before he falls, and is brought to necessity. The next to this is, when a man gives alms to the poor, and he knows not to whom he gives; nor does the poor man know of whom he receives; for, behold, this is doing it for the sake of it; as the chamber of secrets, which was in the sanctuary, into which righteous men privately put, and the poor children of good men were privately supported: and the next to this is, when a man puts into the alms chest: and a man does not put into the alms chest except he knows that the governor is faithful and wise, and knows how to manage as should be; such an one as R. Chananiah ben Tradion. The next to this is, when the giver knows to whom he gives, but the poor man does not know from whom he receives; as the great ones of the wise men, who used to go secretly, and cast their money at the doors of the poor; and this is right to do, and a good method it is when the governors of alms do not dispose aright. The next to this is, when the poor man knows of whom he takes, but does not know the giver; as the great men among the wise men, who used to bind up their money in linen cloths, and put them behind them, and the poor came and took them, that they might not be ashamed. The next to this is, when a man puts it into his hands before he asks. The next to this is, when he gives to him after he has asked. The next to this is, when he gives to him less than is proper, with a pleasant countenance. The next to this is, when he gives with grief.''

Now this work, or duty, they magnify at a very great rate: not content to say (g), that

"he that does alms, does that which is more excellent than all offerings;''

they further affirm (h), that

"giving of alms and beneficence , "are equal to the whole law";''

or, it is all one as if a man performed the whole law. Moreover, they give (i) out,

"that whoever takes of his goods, and does alms with them, he shall be delivered from the "damnation of hell".''

Yea, they reckon that this gives a right and title to eternal life (k).

"He that says, let this "sela", or "shekel", be for alms, that his children may live, and that he may be worthy of the life of the world to come, lo! this is , "a perfect righteous man".''

Or, as elsewhere (l) expressed,

"let this sela be for alms, that my son may live, and that he may be a son of the world to come; lo! this is a perfect righteous man.''

Thus, you see, they looked upon it as their righteousness; and what made them heirs of heaven, and gave them a title to eternal glory. Now our Lord advises them to take heed, as what would be of bad consequence, and very detrimental to them, that they did not their alms before men,

to be seen of them; not but alms may be lawfully done before, or in the sight of men, and a good end may be answered by it; namely, to stir up others to acts of liberality; but then this must not be done with this view, to be seen of men, in order to gain their applause, and a good name among them,

otherwise, ye have no reward of your Father, which is in heaven. You expect a reward, and a very great one, for your alms; but if you do them only to raise your credit, and gain esteem among men, you have your reward already with men: nor must you expect any from God, since you seek not his glory, but your own. When a man's self, and not the glory of God, is the chief end of any action, that cannot be called a good work, nor will it have any reward; whereas a good work, which springs from a principle of grace, and is directed to the glory of God, will have a reward, not of debt, but of grace, from whence it arises.

(f) Hilch. Mattanot Anayim, c. 10. sect. 1. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. (g) T. Bab. Succa, fol. 49. 2.((h) T. Hieros. Peah, fol. 15. 2, 3.((i) T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 7. 1, 2.((k) T. Bab. Roshhashanah, fol. 4. 1. Bava Bathra, fol. 10. 2.((l) T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 8. 1, 2.

Matthew 6:1-4 Christ continuing his sermon, giveth directions about

alms giving,

Matthew 6:5-13 prayer,

Matthew 6:14-15 forgiving our brethren,

Matthew 6:16-18 fasting,

Matthew 6:19-21 laying up treasure in heaven,

Matthew 6:22-23 keeping a single eye,

Matthew 6:24-31 and exhorteth not to be anxious about worldly things,

but principally to seek God’s kingdom and

righteousness.

Alms are any acts of kindness freely done by us for the relief of any that are in distress and misery, which, when they are done from a principle of love to God, his precepts commanding them, obedience in faith to his promises made to the giving of them, and that he may be glorified, are truly good works, acts of religion, and acceptable to God, Acts 10:31, though meritorious of nothing from him; otherwise they are merely acts of humanity and morality, to the reward of which God is by no promise obliged. Therefore Christ’s disciples are obliged to take heed, that in the doing of their alms, though they may do them before men, God may he glorified, Philippians 2:15 1 Peter 2:12; yet they do them not before men on purpose that they should take notice of them, and applaud them for them, for God rewardeth no action of which he is not the end.

Verses 1-18. - The relation of our Lord and his disciples to the religion of the day (continued); vide Matthew 5:17, note. (b) Our Lord turns from cases which could be directly deduced from the Law to those which belonged only to recognized religious duty. Of these he instances three: alms (vers. 2-4), prayer (vers. 5-8, 9-15), fasting (vers. 16-18). It is, indeed, true that the performance of these duties on special occasions was implied in the Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 26:12-15); but there are no regulations concerning their observance in ordinary and daily life. These were matters of custom and tradition; to this the Law, in its original aim and method, did not extend. There was therefore the more need for the Law to be supplemented by the instructions of the Jewish leaders. These our Lord does not reject, but only corrects. Verse 1. - Matthew only. Take heed; προσέχετε [δέ] (Westcott and Hort). If "but" is genuine, as is on the whole more probable, our Lord places this warning in close relation to the preceding charge. Aim at "perfection," but beware of mere show. Rather you must consider the estimate that will be formed of you by your Father which is in heaven. That ye do not your alms; Revised Version, your righteousness (so the manuscripts). Although one of the Hebrew words for "righteousness" (צרקה) was used especially for the righteousness of almsgiving (cf. Deuteronomy 6:25, LXX.; and 'Psalms of Solomon,' 9:6, where see Professor Ryle's and Mr. James's note), yet it is improbable that τὴν δικαιοσύνην should here be rendered "alms," because

(1) it has this meaning nowhere else in the New Testament;

(2) the word for "alms" (ἐλεημοσύνη) comes in the next verse;

(3) the emphatic position of τὴν δικαιοσύνην (μὴ ποιεῖν), in contrast to ποιῇς ἐλεημοσύνην (ver. 2), points to it being a collective expression of which the various parts are mentioned in the following verses. The form also of the sentence, "when," etc., at the head of each of the other subjects, (vers. 5,16) shows that these are co-ordinated with ver. 2. Your; in contrast to that of the typical Jews. The limitation implied in ὑμῶν, gives a more partial and probably more external meaning to "righteousness" (cf. Ezekiel 18:22, 24) than is to be seen in the corresponding phrase in 1 John 2:29; 1 John 3:7. To be seen of them (πρὸς τὸ θεαθῆναι αὐτοῖς. Having for your final purpose (cf. Ellicott on 1 Corinthians 9:18) to be gazed at by them (cf. Matthew 23:5; Acts 1:11; and T.R. of Acts 8:18; at. supra, Matthew 5:28). Otherwise (Winer, § 65:3. c). Ye have no reward (Matthew 5:12, note). Of your Father; Authorized Version margin and Revised Version, with; the thought being not that it is given by him, but that it is laid up with him (παρὰ τῷ Πατρὶ ὑμῶν). Perhaps, however, the preposition rather means "in the judgment of" (cf. 1 Peter 2:4). Your Father (Matthew 5:16. note). Notice the frequent repetition of the phrase in this context (Matthew 5:48; Matthew 6:4, 6, 8, 15, 18 bis).

VI.

(1) From the protest against the casuistry which tampered with and distorted the great primary commandments, the Sermon on the Mount passes to the defects of character and action which vitiated the religion of Pharisaism even where it was at its best. Its excellence had been that it laid stress, as the religion of Islam did afterwards, on the three great duties of the religious life, almsgiving, fasting, and prayer, rather than on sacrifices and offerings. Verbally, Pharisaism accepted on this point the widest and most spiritual teaching of the prophets, and so its home was in the Synagogue rather than the Temple, and it gained a hold on the minds of the people which the priests never gained. But a subtle evil found its way even here. Love of praise and power, rather than spontaneous love, and self-denial, and adoration, was the mainspring of their action, and so that which is the essence of all religion was absent even from the acts in which the purest and highest form of religion naturally shows itself.

Your alms.—The better MSS. give righteousness, and obviously with a far truer meaning, as the wider word which branches off afterwards into the three heads of alms, fasting, prayer. In Rabbinic language the whole was often used for the part, and “righteousness” was identified with “mercifulness,” and that with giving money. The Greek version of the LXX. often renders the Hebrew word for righteousness by “alms.” In the New Testament, however, there is no such narrowing of its meaning, and here the full significance of the word is fixed by its use in Matthew 5:20. The reading “alms” probably arose from a misconception of the real meaning of the passage, and the consequent assumption that it simply introduced the rule given in Matthew 6:2-3.

To be seen of them.—It is the motive, and not the fact of publicity, that vitiates the action. The high ideal of the disciple of Christ is to let his light shine “before men” (the self-same words are used in Matthew 5:16 as here), and yet to be indifferent to their praise or even their opinion. In most religious men there is probably a mingling of the two motives, and we dare not say at what precise stage the presence of the lower overpowers the higher. It is enough to remember that it is the little speck which may taint the whole character till it loses all its life.

Of your Father which is in heaven.—More accurately, with your Father, as meaning, “in His estimate.” The act is not done to and for Him, and therefore (speaking after the manner of men) He looks on it as having no claim to payment.

Ch. Matthew 6:1-4. Almsgiving

(2) The Kingdom of Heaven exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees in regard to (a) Almsgiving, 1–4

1. alms] The best MSS. have “righteousness;” the two words were nearly synonymous with the Jews, partly because the poor had a right to share in the produce of the land; partly because almsgiving is the most natural and obvious external work of righteousness. In the same way agapé (love), the leading Christian virtue, has lost its original breadth of meaning and has sunk to the modern and restricted sense of “charity.”

Of your Father (παρὰ)

The A. V. implies the source of the reward; but the preposition means with, by the side of; so that the true sense is, reserved for you and awaiting you by the side of your Father. Rev., rightly, with.

Take heed (προσεχετε). The Greek idiom includes "mind" (νουν) which is often expressed in ancient Greek and once in the Septuagint (Job 7:17). In the New Testament the substantive νους is understood. It means to "hold the mind on a matter," take pains, take heed. "Righteousness" (δικαιοσυνην) is the correct text in this verse. Three specimens of the Pharisaic "righteousness" are given (alms, prayer, fasting). To be seen (θεαθηνα). First aorist passive infinitive of purpose. Our word theatrical is this very word, spectacular performance. With your Father (παρα τω πατρ υμων). Literally "beside your Father," standing by his side, as he looks at it.

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