Matthew 5:12 - Exposition

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad ( χαίρετε καὶ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε ). Our Lord uses no weaker expressions than those which describe the joy of the saints over the marriage of the Lamb ( Revelation 19:7 ). The first word expresses joy as such, the second its effect in stirring the emotions; this thought St. Luke carries still further in σκιρτήσατε . (For joy felt under persecution, cf. Acts 5:41 .) For great . The order of the Greek, ὅτι ὀ μισθὸς ὑμῶν πολύς , does not bear out the emphatic position assigned to "great" in the English Versions from Tyndale downwards (except Rheims), including Revised Version. Is your reward . The doctrine of recompense, which has so large a place in Jewish thought (for a not often-sire example, cf. 'Ab.,' 2.19, Taylor) comes also in Christ's teaching. In Matthew 20:1-16 reward is expressly divested of its merely legal side, and exhibited as ultimately dependent on the will of the great Householder. But here it is mentioned without reference to the difficulties involved in the conception. These difficulties centre round the thought of obligation from God to man. But it may be doubted whether these difficulties are not caused by too exclusively regarding the metaphor of contracting, instead of considering the fact indicated by the metaphor. In God's kingdom every action has a corresponding effect, and this effect is the more certain in proportion as the action is in the sphere of morality. The idea of "quantity" hardly enters into the relation of such cause and effect. It is a question of moral correspondence. But such effect may not unfitly be called by the metaphors "hire," "reward," because, on the one hand, it is the result of conditions of moral service, and, on the other, such terms imply a Personal Will at the back of the effect, as well as a will on the part of the human "servant." (For the subject in other connexions, cf. Weiss, 'Bibl. Theol.,' § 32; cf. also verse 46; Matthew 6:1 , Matthew 6:2 , Matthew 6:4 , Matthew 6:5 , Matthew 6:6 .) In heaven . Our Lord says, "your reward is great ," because the effect of your exercise of moral powers will be received in a sphere where the accidents of the surroundings will entirely correspond to moral influences. The effect of your present faithfulness, etc., will be seen in the reception Of powers of work and usefulness and enjoyment, beside which those possessed on earth will appear small. On earth the opportunities, etc., are but "few things;" hereafter they will be "many things" ( Matthew 25:21 ). For . Not as giving a reason for the assurance of reward (apparently Meyer and Weiss), but for the command, "rejoice," and be exceeding glad, and perhaps also for the predicate "blessed." Rejoice if persecuted, for such persecutions prove you to be the true successors of the prophets, your predecessors in like faithfulness (cf. James 5:10 ). So . By reproach, e.g. Elijah ( 1 Kings 18:17 ), Amos ( Amos 7:12 , Amos 7:13 ); by persecution, e.g. Hanani ( 2 Chronicles 16:10 ), Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 37:15 ); by saying all manner of evil, e.g. Amos ( Amos 7:10 ), Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 37:13 ), Daniel ( Daniel 6:13 ). Which were before you. Added, surely, not as a mere temporal fact, but to indicate spiritual relationship ( vide supra ) .