By Roy B. Blizzard
For the last several weeks, we have been looking at the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. This week, we are going to look at the last of the Beatitudes with which we will be dealing, Matthew 5:10.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
This is, to my way of thinking, the most interesting of the Beatitudes. There are actually four mistakes in translation in this one little passage.
- First of all, this is not about persecution.
- Secondly, righteousness does not mean righteousness.
- Thirdly, it is not in the future tense, but as we have seen with all of the other Beatitudes, it is in the present tense.
- Fourthly, one does not possess the kingdom.
The Dead Sea Scrolls actually cleared up this passage for us in that the word persecuted that is used in the English translations is actually a remez or hint back at Isaiah 51:1. It would be interesting for you to turn in your Bible to Isaiah 51:1 and see how it is translated in your English text. The text from which I am reading is the Jewish Publication Society, which says:
Hearken to me you that follow after righteousness, you that seek the Lord.
Of course, the two phrases are parallelisms. You that follow after righteousness is the same as or synonymous with you that seek the Lord.
The Hebrew text is Rodfey Tzedek. Here we have an interesting Hebrew word: radaf from the Hebrew root resh dalet peh. It can mean either persecute or chase. It is used in the context of a military force pursuing an enemy in order to lay hands on them and subdue them; thus the word persecute. But it also has a secondary meaning, which is to run after or chase. Here in this passage, it is not about persecution. It should be correctly understood as:
Blessed are those who are running after or pursuing to lay hold on the righteousness of God.
Of course, righteousness is our word Tzedekah that we have seen many times in our study that does not mean holiness, but rather charity and refers to principally man’s actions to his fellow man.
Blessed are those who are pursuing or running after God’s righteousness. Blessed are those who are seeking the Lord for it is these who make up the Kingdom of God.
Jesus, perhaps, is saying the scriptures call upon all men to seek the salvation of the world:
I, too, say how blessed are those determined to see God’s salvation for a lost world for these are the people I call the Kingdom of God.
Notice that each Beatitude is synonymous to the next. They are synonymous parallelisms and as we mentioned in the beginning, the Beatitudes are attitudes for Kingdom people to be in.
The Beatitudes are a description of what kind of people make up God’s Kingdom now.
