And he opened his mouth— This phrase denotes speaking in a solemn and authoritative manner, intimating the importance of what is going to be delivered, and is not always used as a pleonasm. Comp. Judges 11:35-36. Job 3:1; Job 33:2.Matthew 13:35.Acts 8:35; Acts 10:34. In order to enter into the beauty of this discourse, it is necessary to consider it as addressed not merely to the apostles, but to Christ's disciples in general, and to vast numbers of people, who, affected with the sight or fame of his miracles, were now assembled around him; probably expecting that he would immediately declare himself the Messiah, and full of those false notions of his kingdom which so generally prevailed. Dr. Blair, in his excellent discourses on this sermon, has shewn beyond all others, how directly the beginning of it is levelled against these prejudices; calculated, as the whole of it is, to correct those erroneous notions of the Messiah's kingdom, which were so common, and which would prove so pernicious to those who were governed by them. He has also observed, as it is very necessary to do, what a beautiful correspondence there is between the characters described in these beatitudes, and the blessings connected with them. Jesus began his sermon with the doctrine of happiness; a subject which the teachers of wisdom have always considered as the principal thing in morals; and for that reason they have laboured to give their true disciples an idea of it. Most of the Jews seem to have considered the enjoyments of sense, as the sovereign good. Riches, mirth, revenge, women, conquest, liberty, fame, and other things of the same kind, afforded them such pleasures, that they wished for no better in the Messiah's kingdom, which theyalmost all considered as a secular one: even the apostles themselves long retained this notion of a temporal kingdom, and were at first too much influenced by the expectation of the honours, profits, and pleasures attending the posts which they expected under him. Therefore, to shew his hearers in general, and his disciples in particular, the grossness of their error, our Lord declared that the higher happiness of men consists in the graces of the spirit; because from the possession and exercise of them,thepurest pleasures result,—pleasures, which satisfy the great God himself, and constitute his ineffable felicity. See Wetstein, Doddridge, and Macknight.
It may be proper, before we enter upon this discourse, to observe, once for all, that whoever examines the discourses of our Lord with attention, may find in them a certain character and way of speaking, in a great measure peculiar to himself. This manner, by which our Saviour's discourses are distinguishable, consists in raising matter of instruction and moral reflection from the objects which presented themselves to him and his audience while he was speaking. Hence his sermons to the multitude, and his conversation with his disciples, allude perpetually to the time of the year, to the place where he is, to the objects that surround him, to the occupation and circumstances of those whom he addresses, or to the state of public affairs, &c. Thus the blessed Jesus in the spring went into the fields, where he sat down on an eminence, and made this discourse, which is full of observations arising from things which presented themselves to his view. Hence, when he exhorts hisdisciples to trust in God, he bids them behold, εμβλεψατε, look upon, the birds of the air, which were then flying about them, and were fed by Providence, though they did not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns. Consider, says our blessed Lord, Matthew 5:28 take notice of the lilies of the field, which were then blown, and were so beautifully clothed by the same power, and yet toiled not like the husbandmen, who were then at work. Being in a place where they had a wide prospect of a cultivated land, he bade them observe how God caused the sun to shine, and the rain to descend upon the fields and gardens, even of the wicked and ungrateful; and he continued to convey his doctrine to them under rural images; speaking of good trees, and corrupt trees; of knowing men by their fruits; wolves in sheep's clothing; grapes not growing upon thorns, nor figs on thistles; of the folly of casting precious things to dogs and swine; of good measure pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, and a variety of other particulars, which will occur to every reader's observation. From this peculiarityin the style and genius of our Saviour's discourses, we may conclude that the writers of the gospel have given us always the substance, and often the very words of our Lord's sermons; and we may also plainly see in the discourses of the Lord Jesus Christ his great design,—which was to instruct; therefore he conveys knowledge in a familiar way: he adapts his language to his hearers. He speaks to their eyes, and to their ears. He chooses images and comparisons which would strike them most powerfully,and make the most lasting impression upon their minds. See Jortin's Discourses, p. 212 and the note on Matthew 5:14.