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Matthew

About this book
Chapter 5

1 When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain. After he sat down his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to teach them by saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.⁠ 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.⁠ 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.⁠ 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.⁠ 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.⁠ 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.⁠ 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.⁠ 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.⁠ 11 Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely on account of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad because your reward is great in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.⁠ 13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people!⁠ 14 You are the light of the world.⁠ A city located on a hill cannot be hidden.⁠ 15 People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.⁠ 16 In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven.⁠ 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them.⁠ 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place.⁠ 19 So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven! 21 “You have heard that it was said to an older generation, ‘Do not murder,’ and ‘whoever murders will be subjected to judgment.’⁠ 22 But I say to you that anyone who is angry with a brother will be subjected to judgment.⁠ And whoever insults a brother will be brought before the council, and whoever says ‘Fool’ will be sent to fiery hell.⁠ 23 So then, if you bring your gift to the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you,⁠ 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your gift. 25 Reach agreement quickly with your accuser while on the way to court, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the warden, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 I tell you the truth, you will never get out of there until you have paid the last penny! 27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.⁠ 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away! It is better to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into hell. 30 If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is better to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into hell.⁠ 31 “It was said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a legal document.’⁠ 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.⁠ 33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to an older generation, ‘Do not break an oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’⁠ 34 But I say to you, do not take oaths at all—not by heaven, because it is the throne of God,⁠ 35 not by earth because it is his footstool, and not by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. 36 Do not take an oath by your head because you are not able to make one hair white or black. 37 Let your word be ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no.’⁠ More than this is from the evil one.⁠ 38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’⁠ 39 But I say to you, do not resist the evildoer. But whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well.⁠ 40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your coat also. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not reject the one who wants to borrow from you.⁠ 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’⁠ 44 But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you,⁠ 45 so that you may be like your Father in heaven,⁠ since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.⁠ 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they? 47 And if you only greet your brothers, what more do you do? Even the Gentiles do the same, don’t they?⁠ 48 So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Kallah 2 and Matthew 5:28

Rabbinic · New Testament

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Summary

In Matthew 5, Jesus considers a lustful look to be equivalent to adultery. This is similar to Rabbinic tradition in tractate Kallah, following a Jewish tradition of "putting a fence around the Torah" making it more difficult to disobey.

Passages

Kallah 2

Rabbinic · Minor Tractate
He who pays money to a woman, counting from his hand into her hand in order to gaze at her, even if he be like Moses our teacher who received the Torah from Mount Sinai, will not be exempt from the penalty of Gehinnom; as it is stated, Hand to hand, the evil man shall not be unpunished. Prov. 11, 21, My hand upon it! Behold Scripture declares, And we have brought the Lord’s offering, what every man hath gotten, of jewels of gold, armlets, and bracelets, signet-rings, ear-rings, and girdles, to make atonement for our souls before the Lord. Num. 31, 50. ‘Eẓadah (armlets) means a garter; ẓamid (bracelets) silk cloaks; ‘agil (ear-rings) a cast of the female breasts; kumaz (girdles) a cast of the womb. To make atonement for our souls: Moses said to Israel, ‘Perhaps you have returned to your former sinful lapse’. Their association with the women of Midian; cf. Shab. 64a. They replied to him, ‘There lacketh not one man of us’. ‘If so,’ he retorted, ‘why this atonement?’ They replied, ‘We may have escaped sin, but we have not escaped sinful thoughts’. Why [did they offer] signet-rings? Because whoever gazes intentionally at a woman is as though he had intercourse with her. Hence the Rabbis declared: Whoever touches a woman’s little finger is as though he touched ‘that place’.
100 BCE – 900 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Kallah

Matthew 5:28

New Testament
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away! It is better to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into hell. 30 If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is better to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into hell.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... The commandment is again quoted verbatim from LXX Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18. It is concerned specifically with a man who has sexual relations with another man’s wife. The “woman” in Jesus’ declaration is thus to be understood also as another man’s wife, and the looking “in order to desire her,” specifically of wanting (and planning?) sexual relations (hence my translation “wants to have sex with her” above). The focus is thus not (as some tender adolescent consciences have read it) on sexual attraction as such, but on the desire for (and perhaps the planning of) an illicit sexual liaison (compare Exodus 20:17, “you shall not covet your neighbor’s ... wife,” where LXX uses the same verb, epithymeō). The famous sin of David (2 Samuel 11:2-4), where such a desire led not only to adultery but also to murder, would naturally come to mind as a lurid scriptural example. The danger of looking lustfully at women is the subject of many Jewish sayings (e.g., Job 31:1, 9; Proverbs 6:25; Sirach 9:5, 8; Testament of Benjamin 8:2), and the idea that the desire is tantamount to the deed is hinted at in, for example, Testament of Reuben 5:6; T. Iss. 7:2 and explicit in the extracanonical tractate Kallah (“whoever gazes intentionally at a woman is as though he had intercourse with her”); according to b. Yoma 29a it is even worse ..."
R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2007), 233–234.
"... In its association of vision and phallus, however, the Yerushalmi goes further than the kind of manual vision envisaged in Cixous’ description. This Palestinian tradition crystallizes earlier Jewish traditions, such as those found in Matthew 5:28 and Leviticus Rabbah 23:12, which emphasize the sinfulness of the illicit sexual gaze ..."
Rachel Neis, The Sense of Sight in Rabbinic Culture: Jewish Ways of Seeing in Late Antiquity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 120.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Kallah 2 and Matthew 5:28

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