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Matthew

About this book
Chapter 7

1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.⁠ 2 For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive.⁠ 3 Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own?⁠ 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while there is a beam in your own? 5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.⁠ 6 Do not give what is holy to dogs⁠ or throw your pearls before pigs;⁠ otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces.⁠ 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;⁠ knock and the door will be opened for you.⁠ 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.⁠ 9 Is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!⁠ 12 In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you,⁠ for this fulfills the law and the prophets.⁠ 13 “Enter through the narrow gate because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.⁠ 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it! 15 “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves.⁠ 16 You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they?⁠ 17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit.⁠ 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.⁠ 20 So then, you will recognize them by their fruit. 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’⁠ will enter into the kingdom of heaven—only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.⁠ 22 On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many powerful deeds in your name?’ 23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’⁠ 24 “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on rock.⁠ 25 The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, but it did not collapse because its foundation had been laid on rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, and it collapsed—it was utterly destroyed!” 28 When Jesus finished saying these things,⁠ the crowds were amazed by his teaching,⁠ 29 because he taught them like one who had authority, not like their experts in the law.

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Compare Matthew 7:3 and Kiddushin 70a

New Testament · Rabbinic

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Summary

In Matthew 7, Jesus exposes a critic who notices another person's small fault but ignores a larger personal fault. Rabbinic tradition in tractate Kiddushin uses similar language, connecting judgment of others with a failure to examine oneself.

Passages

Matthew 7:3

New Testament
1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive. 3 Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while there is a beam in your own? 5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

Kiddushin 70a

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
And Rabba bar Rav Adda says, and some say Rabbi Salla says that Rav Hamnuna says: In the case of anyone who marries a woman who is not suited for him to marry due to her lineage, Elijah binds him in the manner that those liable to receive lashes are bound, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, straps him. And a Sage taught: Concerning all of them, Elijah writes and the Holy One, Blessed be He, signs the following: Woe to he who disqualifies his offspring, and who brings a flaw to his family lineage, and who marries a woman who is not halakhically suited for him to marry. Elijah binds him and the Holy One, Blessed be He, straps him. He further said: And anyone who disqualifies others by stating that their lineage is flawed, that is a sign that he himself is of flawed lineage. Another indication that one’s lineage is flawed is that he never speaks in praise of others. And Shmuel says: If one habitually claims that others are flawed, he disqualifies himself with his own flaw. The flaw he accuses them of having is in fact the one that he has.
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Kiddushin

References

"... Although they make up only 20 percent of the independent units, the longer sayings of Jesus comprise about 56 percent of the extent of the Synoptic logia. These longer units are almost entirely parabolic. Apparently most of them were not spontaneous creations, but were constructed consciously and with great care, as the presence of a strophic structure and sometimes even parallelisms reveals. In the gospels the Greek word parabole like its Hebrew equivalent mashal covers a wide range of forms from a simple illustration or comparison to an elaborate allegory. Some of these parables of Jesus have a simple didactic purpose. Like the teaching summaries, they are short, and the illustrative material is very understandable to the listeners (e.g. Matthew 7:3–5). Other parables include exaggerated or unreal elements making them enigmatic in some way. Not in all cases is this due to allegorizing tendencies in the communities after Easter. Some of the parables touch on the 'mystery of the kingdom of God' (Mark 4:10–12) and are apocalyptic revelations rather than simple didactic illustrations. Some metaphors like God as a king (Matthew 22:2) or the prophets as servants (Mark 12:1–5) were already conventionalized in Judaism ..."
Craig A. Evans, ed., Encyclopedia of the Historical Jesus (New York: Routledge, 2008), 628.

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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  • He seeks out the wisdom of all the ancients, and is concerned with prophecies; 2 he preserves the sayings of the famous and penetrates the subtleties of parables; 3 he seeks out the hidden meanings of proverbs and is at home with the obscurities of parables.
    - Yeshua ben Eleazar Ben Sirach of Jerus ...

    David Green, September 19, 2024

Matthew 7:3 and Kiddushin 70a

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