opened His mouth. Hebrew idiom. Figure of speech Metonymy (of Adjunct), App-6, for speaking (Job 3:1; Daniel 10:16; Acts 8:35).
taught them. See note on Mat 7:39, and the Structure, above. The Structure is the commentary showing that this teaching is connected with the proclamation of the kingdom (Matthew 5:3), and is to be interpreted by it. As the kingdom was rejected and is now in abeyance, so likewise this discourse is in abeyance with all its commands, &c, until "the gospel of the kingdom" is again proclaimed, to herald its drawing nigh. Parts of this address were repeated at different times and on different occasions. Luke nowhere professes to give the whole address in its chronological setting or entirety. Only some thirty separate verses are so repeated by Luke out of 107 verses in Matthew. The later repetitions in Luke were given in "a plain" (Luke 6:17) and after the calling of the Twelve (Luke 6:13); here the whole is given before the calling of the Twelve (Matthew 9:9). These are marks of accuracy, not of "discrepancy" as alleged. Modern critics first assume that the two accounts are identical, and then say: "No one now expects to find chronological accuracy in the evangelical records"! For the relation of the Sermon on the Mount to Psalms 15, see App-70. and to the seven "woes" of Matthew 23, see App-126.