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Introduction

Across history, various rabbis have been known for their particular teaching; notable perhaps for emphasis on a particular aspect of Torah or focus on a specific attribute God’s nature, or a unique interpretation on an historical event. Disciples are supposed to be able to articulate their rabbi’s particular teaching. More than that; their lives are supposed toreflect that teaching.

Yeshua, too, has a specific body of teaching attributed to Him. The essentials of it are contained in what we commonly call ‘The Sermon on the Mount’. Understand that Yeshua gave these dicta far more than just one time. On multiple occasions He would have taught one or a few of them as a particular situation called for it. But at one point Matthew records that Yeshua gave a much longer sermon – the essentials of His teaching.

Politicians love to cite the “Sermon on the Mount” when they’re put on the spot about what Bible passage they like best. But in reality: the Sermon on the Mount is far and away the most difficult teaching ever given, in terms of our inability to attain to it. Recently we finished the section dealing with the “Beatitudes” – which is what the politicians usually have in mind when they pay lip service to it, because it offers a lot of comfort.

But now we are embarking on a much more difficult section of Yeshua’s teaching, and it is likely to make us uncomfortable. Then again, Messiah’s purpose isn’t to give us a life of ease, but to mold and shape our character to conform to the standards of the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s been said that Adonai has a way of comforting the afflicted, and afflicting the comfortable. And the refining process is almost always hard; just as gold is purified by fire and coal is transformed into a diamond through enormous geological pressure and intense heat over a period of time.

Overview of the seven-part series:

I. Blessed are they… (The Beatitudes, part 1) (5:1-9)

II. Blessed are YOU… (The Beatitudes, part 2) (5:10-12)

III. Who we are and aren’t (5:13-20)

IV. You have heard… But I say! (Yeshua’s Torah) (5:21-48)

V. When you… (give, pray, fast) (6:1-18)

VI. The futility of materialism (6:19-34)

VII. Things that could keep you out of Heaven (hypocrisy, following the crowd, false teachers, refusal to act on Yeshua’s teaching) (7:1-29)

IV. You have heard… But I say! (Yeshua’s Torah) (5:21-48)

A. Verses 21-32 (this week)

(hatred=murder, reconciling with adversaries, lust=adultery, divorce)

B. Verses 33-48 (God willing, next week)

(futility of vows, mercy triumphs over judgment, loving our enemies)

Verses 21-22

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”

“You have heard that the ancients were told…”

In the ancient world, most people didn’t have direct access to Torah scrolls. Literacy was uncommon, and most people learned their literature through repeated hearing. So most Jewish people learned the Torah through its public reading in the synagogues, which is why Yeshua says, “You have heard”. He then cites #6 of the Aseret HaDibrot – the Ten Commandments, given by God to Israel at Sinai after our Exodus from Egypt; namely, “You shall not commit murder.” Naturally, this commandment has all of God’s authority backing it up.

Not so the phrase “whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court”. This addition may have been an attempt by the rabbis to mitigate against capital punishment. But the Scriptures are clear, both in Genesis 9 and Exodus 21, that murder earned one the death penalty. Yeshua’s purpose here, however, isn’t merely to correct a form of revisionism. Instead, He is going to confront the shallow externalism that had come to characterize the Judaism of the rabbis. He is about to take things to the heart level. One writer called it a “radical intensification of the demands of the Law”. But the way He does it will utterly astound His hearers. Consider these startling and audacious words:

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder…’”

“But I say to you!”

Imagine the reaction of those gathered on that Galilean hillside to hear this young carpenter-turned-rabbi. I can just hear them saying, “‘But I say to you?’ Who do you think you are that you can override the Torah?” This, in fact, raises an extremely important point. It is a long-held teaching of the rabbis that on any matter of Torah about which there might be dispute or ambiguity, when Messiah comes, all things will be settled. His will be the final word on the Torah. And why not, since, according to the Prophets, the Messiah existed with the Father from all eternity?

So each time Yeshua says, “You have heard it said” and cites the Torah and then says, “But I say to you…” you need to understand that He is making a clear, unambiguous claim to be the long-awaited Messiah, and His word is the final word on all matters of Torah, and everything else! So let’s continue and see how He deals with the command not to murder.

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”

Now, we need to see this teaching in the larger context of all of the New Covenant Scriptures. Anger in and of itself isn’t wrong. It is an emotion given us by God, but it needs to be submitted to God. Rabbi Paul wrote, “Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” It is one thing to be justifiably angry over a situation. It is another thing to treat people abusively, or to harbor an ongoing grudge against someone.

The Greek word here conveys, not a momentary flaring up of anger, but a menacing inward hostility and lingering desire to hurt someone. The point is, it is more than external acts that are weighed in God’s scale; even the inner attitude of the heart is on open display. It is the heart, after all, that drives the actions of the hand.

And it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. Yeshua says that anyone who calls his brother a “good-for-nothing” (Aramaic raca conveys the idea: “I spit on you!”) is guilty enough to have to appear before the Sanhedrin. To call someone “You fool” (the word moros doesn’t mean a lack of intelligence, but moral deficiency – in other words, calling a person’s character into question) is to put yourself in danger of damnation. This may be related to the sin of lashon hara – public defamation of another person, which diminishes their humanity in the eyes of others, and thus endangers them.

The literal translation is “Gehenna of fire”. The Hinnom valley (ravine) was located outside the wall of the southeast corner of Jerusalem. It was the place where people brought their trash to be burned. In earlier times, it was a place where the Jebusite inhabitants burned their children as sacrifices to Molech. Because of the never-ending supply of trash, the fire there never went out, and it served as a symbol of eternal divine punishment. The point is that defaming someone’s character is a very dangerous thing to do!

Now, the vast majority of human beings can claim never to have murdered anybody. Big deal! But the vast majority of us have at some point (or many points) called other people “good-for-nothing” or worse… far worse. In the privacy of my car I’ve had some choice words for idiot drivers (see, there I go!). I’ve said some unflattering things about certain politicians and egomaniacal dolts (but I repeat myself). This teaching is so disconcerting because, outward actions aside, my very heart is under the microscope! Are you as grateful for the grace of God as I am?

Modern rabbis stress the importance of actions and minimize the importance of faith or one’s inner motivation. They frequently mischaracterize Yeshua’s teaching. But according to Yeshua, it isn’t one or the other; yes, your actions very much matter, but so does the condition of your heart. Messiah hasn’t made things easier – He’s made them much, much harder!

So how does this impact on our relationship with our Maker – and with each other (since you probably noticed that the word ‘brother’ is used twice)? The verses that follow form the practical outworking of what we’ve just read, giving us very sage advice. Look with me at verses 23 and 24.

Verses 23-24

“Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”

Yeshua is telling us that reconciliation must take precedence over religious activity. If you would presume to offer some kind of worship to God, but you know full well there are unresolved issues between you and someone else, you need to go fix that relationship first! Otherwise you are, in effect, offering a blemished, defective sacrifice to God. In fact, the Mishnah (Yoma 8:9) teaches that even Yom Kippur – The Day of Atonement, will not avail for offenses against one’s neighbor that haven’t been rectified.

The principle of settling accounts with one another is one of the reasons Rabbi Paul stressed the need to approach the Table of the Lord with the assurance that our hearts are right. It is why we take time to confess our sins before we participate in Aruchat Adonai – which we will be doing in just a little while. Does someone have a legitimate grievance against you? Go make it right, and right away.

There are to be no unsettled accounts when you appear before God to offer worship. If you’ve wronged somebody, and you know it, set that offering aside and go find that other person and apologize and ask forgiveness. Notice that Yeshua says “leave your offering there before the altar”. What you intended to give to God you still need to make good on. But first things first: our horizontal relationships need to be in the best possible order before we direct ourselves vertically.

Scripture tells us, “to the extent that it depends on you, live at peace with all men”. This theme continues into the next two verses.

Verses 25-26

“Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.”

In this illustration, as with the previous example, you are the guilty party. You are the one who has either offended a brother, or in this case, has an unpaid debt about which the other party is taking you to court. But the lesson is one and the same: do everything in your power to be reconciled to the other person. If an apology is in order, make it – and don’t qualify it. If money is owed, pay it in full, or pay all that you can and make arrangements to pay the entire balance within a reasonable amount of time.

Yeshua is making reference to debtor’s prison, which was not at all a Jewish practice. It was considered especially offensive, since a man in prison cannot possibly earn money to pay off a debt. The point is, make every effort to settle disputes on a personal level, and without delay, because the alternative may prove disastrous. All it takes is one judge who’s had a really rotten day, and now you appear before him for sentencing, and he’s fed up and feeling less than charitable. You could find yourself in a world of hurt!

Verses 27-30

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.”

Yeshua quotes the seventh commandment, and once again claims authority as the Messiah to supersede what is written in the Torah. “You have heard that it was said… but I say to you”. And this time it’s about adultery, and once again as He defines the intent of the Law we find ourselves afoul of it. Just when I thought that maybe I was doing okay – that I’ve never cheated on my wife, Yeshua tells me that, in fact, I have… in my thought life. Yes, I have committed adultery in my heart. And I suspect I’m not the only guy here who’s guilty on this count.

But, brothers, let’s not take false comfort from the knowledge that we’ve all done this. I would remind you that in the Torah adultery was punishable by death. And sisters, while it may be less prevalent among women, I don’t think you are exempt from this kind of temptation.

If we were to limit things to the externalism of the Judaism of the rabbis, most of us could breathe a sigh of relief. But Yeshua’s teaching transcends appearances, and we find ourselves convicted. Just consider how many serial heart-level adulterers may be walking around! Again, thanks be to God for His mercy, made manifest in the atoning death of Messiah Yeshua, for that is the only hope we have to stand in the Day of Judgment!

So what is the lesson here? Is Yeshua literally telling us to pluck out our eye if it persistently wanders and leads us into sin? Are we literally to cut off our right hand if it is a source of moral failure to us? What is He saying? He is telling us to do whatever is necessary to guard our hearts from sin, for sin begins there, in the interior of the man. You don’t need to pluck out your eye or cut off your hand to guard your heart, but whatever you need to do – do it. The alternative is unthinkable – the eternal Hell. Yes, Hell is a real place, not a metaphor. Yeshua taught this as fact, and He was not mistaken.

On a practical level, avoiding adultery in the heart means making changes. Start managing your eyes and your thoughts. Turn and look the other way when you see something that might otherwise cause you to lust. Or move to another location. Move your computer away from the privacy of the basement and up to the family room. Find an accountability partner. These are things every one of us can do. Furthermore, we were given the gift of the Holy Spirit when we transferred our loyalties to Messiah Yeshua. We are not expected to gain victory through the force of human will. He will help us. But He will not do so without our honest effort. Let’s make every effort to guard our hearts, and to walk with a clear conscience.

Verses 31-32

“It was said, ‘Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce’; but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

Here again, Yeshua claims authority to supersede the Torah. Scripture makes clear that God hates divorce – precisely because He loves us, and divorce harms people. God never forbade divorce outright, but because of its destructive effect, for Israel’s sake He put parameters on it.

In the First Century, there were competing views on this. The rabbinical schools of Hillel and Shammai took very different positions on divorce. Rabbi Hillel, being much more liberal in interpretation, allowed men to divorce their wives for nearly any reason at all. If she burned the food you could divorce her; if she was disagreeable you could divorce her; if you no longer found her attractive, you could divorce her. And divorce was as simple as a three-fold declaration: “I divorce thee, I divorce thee, I divorce thee.” Rabbi Shammai, on the other hand, allowed divorce only on the basis of marital unfaithfulness.

In ancient Israel women did not have the authority to divorce their husbands, which is why nothing is said in the other direction.

What is our Master’s teaching here? Don’t divorce one another. Messiah allowed for divorce for the cause of adultery, but He didn’t mandate divorce for adultery. If repentance and reconciliation is earnestly sought, then the restoring of the marriage ought to be the goal.

Some of you were already divorced when you came to know Messiah Yeshua. In that situation, according to Scripture, in Messiah you are a “new creature” and all the old things are passed away. But carefully consider, as a child of God now, the intended permanence of marriage, and do not enter into marriage lightly.

Some of you, even as believers, were abandoned by a former spouse. In some cases it was on account of your faith. But regardless the reason, if you did everything that was in your power to preserve your marriage and were nevertheless abandoned, you do not bear any guilt. According to Rabbi Paul, you are free. But given the seriousness with which Messiah addresses this matter, and in light of the clear teaching of Scripture of marriage being ordained by God to be for an entire lifetime, do not treat the matter cavalierly.

Conclusion:

These are not easy teachings. They cut right to the heart. But they are my Master’s Instruction, and as a disciple, I am expected to know these teachings, live these teachings, and disseminate these teachings.

G. K. Chesterton said: “Christianity hasn’t been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and not tried.” May the Lord God of Israel give us the strength and courage to follow Messiah’s instruction for our lives. Certainly our lives will be the happier for it.