Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 5:4
Blessed [are] they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
4. mourn ] Those who mourn for sin are primarily intended; but the secondary meaning, “those who are in suffering and distress,” is not excluded. The first meaning is illustrated by 2Co 7:10, “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Blessed are they that mourn – This is capable of two meanings: either, that those are blessed who are afflicted with the loss of friends or possessions, or that they who mourn over sin are blessed. As Christ came to preach repentance, to induce people to mourn over their sins and to forsake them, it is probable that he had the latter particularly in view. Compare 2Co 7:10. At the same time, it is true that the gospel only can give true comfort to those in affliction, Isa 61:1-3; Luk 4:18. Other sources of consolation do not reach the deep sorrows of the soul. They may blunt the sensibilities of the mind; they may produce a sullen and reluctant submission to what we cannot help: but they do not point to the true source of comfort. In the God of mercy only; in the Saviour; in the peace that flows from the hope of a better world, and there only, is there consolation, 2Co 3:17-18; 2Co 5:1. Those that mourn thus shall be comforted. So those that grieve over sin; that sorrow that they have committed it, and are afflicted and wounded that they have offended God, shall find comfort in the gospel. Through the merciful Saviour those sins may be forgiven. In him the weary and heavy-ladened soul shall find peace Mat 11:28-30; and the presence of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, shall sustain them here Joh 14:26-27, and in heaven all their tears shall be wiped away, Rev 21:4.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 5:4
They that mourn.
The mourners who are not entitled to the blessings here named
I. Those who indulge the sorrow of discontent.
II. The inordinate sorrow for worldly losses.
III. Sorrow for wounded pride.
IV. A despairing spirit as to their acceptance with God. Those who are blessed:-
1. There is a mourning arising from a sense of having offended God.
2. Those who mourn under the afflicting dispensations of Gods providence.
3. A few words to those who enjoy worldly contentment: you are no mourners.
4. May God give us grace to mourn so as to be comforted. (H. Alford, M. A.)
Spiritual mourning
I. What we are to understand by the mourning mentioned.
1. It is not the mourning of a melancholy disposition.
2. It is not sorrow over temporal distress.
3. It is not sorrow in adversity.
4. It is not sorrow because of disappointed hopes. It arises purely from religion.
II. What are the causes of this mourning?
1. Sin is one-
(1) Because it dishonours God;
(2) Because it cleaves to himself.
(3) The prevalence of sin causes him to mourn
(4) because of the punishment it shall receive.
2. Another cause of his mourning is the absence of spiritual joys.
3. Another cause is the imperfect and afflicted state of the Church.
III. The import of the gracious promise made by the Saviour.
1. Spiritual mourners shall be comforted by an assurance of their personal interest in Christ.
2. By the assurance that the causes of their present mourning shall be removed.
3. By the expression of Divine approbation.
4. If the Christian be thus comforted here, what must be his comfort in heaven?
To conclude.
1. How mistaken is the world in its decisions! It supposes the mourner miserable; he only has joy.
2. Are you a spiritual mourner? (J. Jordan.)
The blessed mourners
I. Their character. We do not say that piety is never clothed in the garb of sorrow. The things which excite grief in the ungodly cause it in the godly. But while the sorrow is common, they do not mourn in the same spirit. Sorrow for sin chiefly meant in the text: no source of sorrow equal to this. Mourn for the sins of others; their own small attainment in grace.
1. Their sorrow is sincere.
2. It is bitter, not superficial.
3. It is godly.
4. They mourn in faith.
II. Their blessedness.
1. They may think that they are far from being in a blessed state.
2. By whom shall they be comforted? By God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
3. How shall comfort be imparted to them? By clear views of Christ and of His grace, etc.
4. By what means does God usually comfort the mourners? Prayer, worship, work, converse, sacrament. (D. Rees.)
The blessedness of sanctified sorrow
I. What that mourning is which Christ thus pronounces blessed. Not every kind of mourning. There is the sorrow of the world that worketh death:-
1. Such is the mourning that springs from a bad source. From pride or discontent.
2. Such is the mourning that is the expression of a bad spirit. But
(1) Blessed are they who mourn for themselves;
(2) Who mourn for their Christian brethren;
(3) Who mourn for the Church;
(4) Who mourn for the world.
II. What is the blessedness of that comfort which the redeemer here assures us is attached to this mourning.
1. It is present and positive.
2. There are comparative and contrasted blessings connected with this sorrow; the situation of such is less dangerous than that of others.
3. It is less equivocal than that of others. Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.
4. This blessedness is peculiar to themselves. (Dr. T. Raffles.)
Zions mourners comforted
Administration of Divine comfort to the subjects of godly contrition, the benevolent purpose of Messiah (Isa 61:3; Luk 4:18). Immediately on entering His ministry the prediction was accomplished.
I. The mourners addressed. The nature, cause, and evidences of their sorrow.
II. The consolation promised. Spiritual, seasonable, abundant, gracious (2Ch 30:9; Isa 55:7-9; Hos 6:1; Zec 1:3-4; Luk 15:7-10; Luk 17:21; Luk 17:24; Luk 17:32). (Anon.)
I. The mourning intended. Not murmuring, natural sorrow, or grief, but the sorrow connected with sin-godly sorrow-the mourning in the house of affliction, and mourning in Zion-sighing over the abominations of the people, etc.
II. The blessing promised. The sorrow, whatever its nature, shall not overwhelm. The comfort is certain. (W. Barker.)
I. What is the sorrow that is blessed? Not the vulgar sorrow that every man feels, etc. But-
1. Sorrow at the recollection and the sense of sin-for sin rather than for the consequences-secret sins-sin seen in the light of Christs countenance-godly sorrow.
2. Sorrow because of the sins that we see around us (Jer 9:18; Psa 119:36). Sins of the world, and sins of the Church-inconsistency, etc.
3. Sorrow because of the little progress of Christianity.
4. That we are able to do so little.
5. Sorrow that makes one sometimes long to be absent from the body, etc.
II. They who sorrow thus shall be comforted. There is a comfort in such sorrow, as well as beyond it. Such sorrow is blessed in its endurance, and at the close of it. It is Divine, complete, unalloyed comfort. (Dr. J. Gumming.)
The mourning here intended is that which arises from the due consideration of our own sins, and the sins of others.
I. Such was the godly sorrow of David (Psa 51:4).
1. The same kind was that of the woman who was a sinner, and whose conversion is briefly related by St. Luke (chap. 7.).
2. Peter mourned when his Lord looked on him after his cruel denial. He went out and wept bitterly.
3. Such was the sorrow of the Corinthians (2Co 7:11).
II. The generous spirit of the Christian deeply mourns the sins of others.
1. Thus saith the pious king of Israel: I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved, etc.
2. Such was the lamentation of Jeremiah (Jer 9:1-2).
3. The most perfect illustration of holy sorrow is seen in our Lord (Luk 19:41-42). (J. E. Good.)
The mourning which will entitle a man to blessedness hath these qualifications
I. It is spontaneous and free.
1. It must come as water out of a spring, not as fire from flint.
2. Tears for sin must be like the myrrh which drops from the tree freely, without cutting or forcing.
II. It is spiritual, that is when we mourn for sin more than suffering. We must mourn for sin as it is
(1) An act of hostility and enmity that
(2) affronts and resists the Holy Ghost;
(3) An ingratitude, in its unkindness against God;
(4) A privation that keeps good things from us, and hinders our communion with God.
III. It sends the soul to God. When the prodigal son repented, he went to his father.
IV. It is for sin in particular. There must, be a particular repentance before we have a general pardon.
V. It is with hope. Believing that though our tears drop to the earth, our faith must reach heaven.
VI. It is joined with self-loathing.
VII. It must be purifying. Our tears must, make us more holy. The waters of holy mourning are like the river Jordan, wherein Naaman washed, and was cleansed of his leprosy.
VIII. It must be joined with hatred of sin. We must not only abstain from sin, but abhor it. The dove hates the least feather of the hawk; a true mourner hates the least motion to sin.
IX. It is joined with restitution. If we have eclipsed the good name of others, we are bound to ask them forgiveness; if we have wronged them by unjust, fraudulent dealing, we must make them compensation.
X. It must be speedy.
XI. It must be constant. The waters of repentance must not overflow in the morning, at the first hearing of the gospel; and at mid-day, in the midst of health and prosperity, grow cold and be ready to freeze. It must be a dally weeping, a daily mourning. (Thomas Watson.)
Spiritual comforts are pure
They are not muddied with guilt, nor mixed with fear-they are the pure wine of the Spirit; what the mourner feels is joy, and nothing but joy. The comforts God gives His mourners are-
I. Sweet. The love of God shed into the heart is said to be better than wine (Son 1:2).
II. They are holy. Divine comforts give the soul more acquaintance with God.
III. They are satisfying. They fill the heart and make it run over.
IV. They are powerful. Strong cordials.
1. They strengthen for duty.
2. Support, under affliction.
V. They are abiding; abound in us, and so abide ever with us. Worldly comforts are still upon the wing, ready to fly. The comforts of the Spirit are immortal and eternal. Oh, how rare and superlative are these comforts! (Thomas Watson.)
Mourners comforted
I. The grief which is here specified. It will be proper:-
1. To ascertain its cause.
(1) He is led to view the immense debt of obedience due to the blessed God as the Sovereign Ruler of the universe.
(2) The awful consequences attending the non-payment of this debt.
(3) His utter inability to make restitution.
2. To ascertain its character.
(1) It is voluntary and sincere; not forced or artificial.
(2) It is deep, not superficial.
(3) It is evangelical and spiritual.
(4) It is characterized by a hatred and an abandonment of sin.
II. The consolation with which it is associated. They shall be comforted. This intimates certainty as well as the futurity of the comfort. But some may ask-
1. What is this consolation? It arises from the satisfaction Christ has made; none so rich, free, and satisfying as this.
2. Whence does this comfort proceed? From the free favour of God.
3. How is this comfort applied? It is the work of the Holy Spirit. (R. May.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Blessed are they that mourn] That is, those who, feeling their spiritual poverty, mourn after God, lamenting the iniquity that separated them from the fountain of blessedness. Every one flies from sorrow, and seeks after joy, and yet true joy must necessarily be the fruit of sorrow. The whole need not (do not feel the need of) the physician, but they that are sick do; i.e. they who are sensible of their disease. Only such persons as are deeply convinced of the sinfulness of sin, feel tho plague of their own heart, and turn with disgust from all worldly consolations, because of their insufficiency to render them happy, have God’s promise of solid comfort. They SHALL BE comforted, says Christ, , from , near, and , I call. He will call them to himself, and speak the words of pardon, peace, and life eternal, to their hearts. See this notion of the word expressed fully by our Lord, Mt 11:28, COME UNTO ME all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The world is mistaken in accounting the jocund and merry companions the only happy men; their mirth is madness, and their joy will be like crackling of thorns under a pot: but those are rather the happy men, who mourn; yea, such are most certainly happy, who mourn out of duty in the sense of their own sins, or of the sins of others, or who mourn out of choice rather to suffer afflictions and persecutions with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season. Though such sufferings do excite in them natural passions, yet it is a blessed mourning, for those are the blessed tears which God will wipe at last from his peoples eyes, and such are these.
They shall be comforted, either in this life, with the consolations of the Spirit, or with their Masters joy in the life that is to come, Isa 61:3; Joh 16:20; Jam 1:12. So as this promise, and declaration of blessedness, is not to be extended to all mourners, but only to such as God hath made so, or who in duty have made themselves so, obeying some command of God, for sympathizing with Gods glory, or with his afflicted people, Rom 12:15, or testifying their repentance for their sins; for there is a mourning which is a mere natural effect of passion, and a worldly sorrow which worketh unto death, as well as a godly sorrow working repentance to salvation, 2Co 7:10.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. Blessed are they that mourn: forthey shall be comfortedThis “mourning” must not betaken loosely for that feeling which is wrung from men under pressureof the ills of life, nor yet strictly for sorrow on account ofcommitted sins. Evidently it is that entire feeling which the senseof our spiritual poverty begets; and so the second beatitude is butthe complement of the first. The one is the intellectual, the otherthe emotional aspect of the same thing. It is poverty of spirit thatsays, “I am undone”; and it is the mourning which thiscauses that makes it break forth in the form of a lamentation”Woeis me! for I am undone.” Hence this class are termed “mournersin Zion,” or, as we might express it, religious mourners,in sharp contrast with all other sorts (Isa 61:1-3;Isa 66:2). Religion, according tothe Bible, is neither a set of intellectual convictions nor a bundleof emotional feelings, but a compound of both, the former givingbirth to the latter. Thus closely do the first two beatitudes cohere.The mourners shall be “comforted.” Even now they get beautyfor ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for thespirit of heaviness. Sowing in tears, they reap even here in joy.Still, all present comfort, even the best, is partial, interrupted,short-lived. But the days of our mourning shall soon be ended, andthen God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes. Then, in thefullest sense, shall the mourners be “comforted.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Blessed are they that mourn,…. For sin, for their own sins; the sin of their nature, indwelling sin, which is always working in them, and is a continual grief of mind to them; the unbelief of their hearts, notwithstanding the many instances, declarations, promises, and discoveries of grace made unto them; their daily infirmities, and many sins of life, because they are committed against a God of love, grace, and mercy, grieve the Spirit, and dishonour the Gospel of Christ: who mourn also for the sins of others, for the sins of the world, the profaneness and wickedness that abound in it; and more especially for the sins of professors, by reason of which, the name of God, and ways of Christ, are evil spoken of: who likewise mourn under afflictions, spiritual ones, temptations, desertions, and declensions; temporal ones, their own, which they receive, either more immediately from the hand of God, or from men; such as they endure for the sake of Christ, and the profession of his Gospel; and who sympathize with others in their afflictions. These, how sorrowful and distressed soever they may appear, are blessed
for they shall be comforted: here in this life, by the God of all comfort, by Christ the comforter; by the Spirit of God, whose work and office it is to comfort; by the Scriptures of truth, which are written for their consolation; by the promises of the Gospel, through which the heirs of promise have strong consolation; by the ordinances of it, which are breasts of consolation; and by the ministers of the word, who have a commission from the Lord to speak comfortably to them; and then are they comforted, when they have the discoveries of the love of God, manifestations of pardoning grace, through the blood of Christ, and enjoy the divine presence: and they shall be comforted hereafter; when freed from all the troubles of this life, they shall be blessed with uninterrupted communion with Father, Son, and Spirit, and with the happy society of angels and glorified saints. Isa 61:1 seems to be referred to, both in this, and in the preceding verse.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
They that mourn ( ). This is another paradox. This verb “is most frequent in the LXX for mourning for the dead, and for the sorrows and sins of others” (McNeile). “There can be no comfort where there is no grief” (Bruce). Sorrow should make us look for the heart and hand of God and so find the comfort latent in the grief.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
They that mourn [] . Signifying grief manifested; too deep for concealment. Hence it is often joined with klaiein, to weep audibly (Mr 16:10; Jas 4:9).
Shall be comforted. See on Joh 14:16.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Blessed are they that mourn:” (makarioi hoi penthountes) “Blessed or spiritually prosperous are those who mourn;” Forsaking all, totally changing one’s course of life, is accompanied by mourning, by grief, in the flesh, but not without Divine comfort, help, and spiritual maturity. Temporary mourning, that often accompanies Spiritual decisions, is not without profit; Even our Lord wept, Joh 11:35.
2) “For they shall be comforted.” (hoti autou paraklethesontai) “Because they shall be comforted,” by the God of all comfort, 2Co 1:3-4. Who comforts us in all our tribulations, or all our trembling and mourning moments. Isa 61:2-3; Joh 16:20. “Your sorrow shall be turned into joy.” Those who that day mourned among those new-called and chosen “Kingdom of heaven” disciples were assured that spiritual prosperity and comfort for mourning belonged to them.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
4. Happy are they that mourn. This statement is closely connected with the preceding one, and is a sort of appendage or confirmation of it. The ordinary belief is, that calamities render a man unhappy. This arises from the consideration, that they constantly bring along with them mourning and grief. Now, nothing is supposed to be more inconsistent with happiness than mourning. But Christ does not merely affirm that mourners are not unhappy. He shows, that their very mourning contributes to a happy life, by preparing them to receive eternal joy, and by furnishing them with excitements to seek true comfort in God alone. Accordingly, Paul says,
“
We glory in tribulations also knowing that tribulation produces patience, and patience experience, and experience hope: and hope maketh not ashamed,” (Rom 5:3.)
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) They that mourn.The verb is commonly coupled with weeping (Mar. 16:10; Luk. 6:25; Jas. 4:9; Rev. 18:15-19). Here, as before, there is an implied, though not an expressed, limitation. The mourning is not the sorrow of the world that worketh death (2Co. 7:10) for failure, suffering, and the consequences of sin, but the sorrow which flows out in the tears that cleanse, the mourning over sin itself and the stain which it has left upon the soul.
They shall be comforted.The pronoun is emphatic. The promise implies the special comfort (including counsel) which the mourner needs; comforted he shall be with the sense of pardon and peace, of restored purity and freedom. We cannot separate the promise from the word which Christendom has chosen (we need not now discuss its accuracy) to express the work of the Holy Ghost the Comforter, still less from the yearning expectation that then prevailed among such of our Lords hearers as were looking for the consolationi.e., the comfortof Israel (Luk. 2:25).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. They that mourn Of course all the terms are to be understood as within the sphere of religion. The mourning is not secular, but religious grief penitence. As sin is the only essential evil, so this mourning is for sin. And for sin the only comfort is forgiveness and divine favour. Penitence is a blessed receptivity of the true blessedness.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Blessed ones, those who mourn, for they will be comforted.’
This is not saying that it is good to be in mourning because the result will be that someone is sure to comfort us. It rather has in mind Isaiah 40 (‘comfort, comfort, my people’) where the people of God were mourning over their sin, and God promised that finally He would come to them and encourage and strengthen them, and lift them up. He would take them in His arms like a shepherd and would ‘comfort’ them (Isa 40:11). In the same way the Anointed Prophet will come ‘to comfort (encourage, strengthen, establish) all who mourn’ (Isa 61:2) and to give them ‘the oil of joy for mourning’ (Isa 61:3), words which Jesus must surely have in mind here. These mourners, then, are those who are looking for ‘the consolation’ at the hand of the Lord of what are at present a downtrodden remnant who represent the true Israel (Luk 2:25). They are discovering that ‘the Lord is near to those who are broken-hearted and who are contrite in spirit’ (Psa 34:18; compare Psa 51:17; Isa 57:1; Isa 66:2). And they have been brought into that blessed state by God so that through it they may be freed from their sins and brought through to enjoying the sustaining presence of God, which was a position that must now with God’s encouragement and strength (‘comfort’) be constantly maintained. And the result is that both now and in the future life they will continue to be ‘comforted’ and made strong (see Isa 49:15).
We may include here also the thought found in Psa 119:136, ‘My eyes shed streams of tears because men do not keep your Law’. Here the mourning is of a godly sort caused by the fact that other men and women do not love God’s Law. Those who are His are always constrained in this way. Nothing grieves them more than the failure of men and women to respond to and love God’s word. It is the result of the Psalmist himself having become contrite in spirit. For further Old Testament examples of mourning over sin see Ezr 10:6; Psa 51:4; Eze 9:4; Dan 9:19-20.
Thus the idea here is that those who are disturbed about their sinfulness, and about the sinfulness of others, to such an extent that it has caused them to mourn over it and seek Jesus, are like this because they have been truly blessed by God, and the result is that they will have found in Him the encouragement and strength that they need. They are thus seen to have truly repented. And they will therefore also enjoy His Great Comfort, both now and in the Last Day (Isa 40:1; Isa 49:13; Isa 51:3; Isa 51:12-13 etc.).
So we are here already seeing the kind of people who make up Jesus’ disciples. They are humble and lowly, and aware of sin. And they have recognised in Jesus the One Who has come to save His people from their sins (Mat 1:21). And that is why they are seen as being those who have been blessed by God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Closely connected with this thought is the next:
v. 4. Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted. The disciples are subject to conditions and circumstances which cause, which bring about, mourning, Luk 6:21-25; Joh 16:20; Act 14:22. But the chief reason for their lamenting lies in the fact that they feel their spiritual poverty, grieving over the barrenness of their carnal nature, that separates them from the fountain of blessedness. This grief on account of the absence, because of the loss of spiritual possessions, is a deep and burdensome sorrow. It realizes, in keen repentance, sin and its results, both in him who grieves and in others. Its evil effects, however, shall be prevented lest they lead into despair. “As also Christ places just these words, and promises the consolation that they do not despair in their grief, nor let their heart’s joy be taken entirely and extinguished, but mingle such mourning with the comfort and refreshment; otherwise, if they never had any comfort or joy, they would have to become faint and withered. ” And therefore they will be comforted. Their bitter sorrow will be converted into ultimate, abounding consolation and gladness, Rom 14:17. The very Messianic kingdom with its message of hope is called the comfort of Israel, Luk 2:25.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 5:4. Blessed are they that mourn “Either for their own sins, or for other men’s, and who are steadily and habitually serious; they shall be comforted, most solidly and deeply in this world, and eternally in heaven. What they now sow in tears, they shall reap in joy.” See 1Co 5:2 and Bengelius. Possibly our Saviour might refer still farther in this blessing to the mourning rightly improved on account of afflictions; and in this light nothing can be more true than the present aphorism; because, if any thing under the grace of God brings a man to holiness, it is affliction; the natural tendency thereof being to give him a feeling of the vanity of the world, and consequently to convince him how necessary it is that he should seek his happiness in things more solid and durable. Affliction awakens serious thoughts in the mind, composes it into a grave and settled frame, very different from the levity which prosperity inspires; gives it a fellow-feeling of the sorrows of others, and makes it, when accompanied by the operation of the Divine Spirit, sensible of the evil of departing from God, the source and centre of its joy. See Macknight.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 5:4 . ] Comp. Isa 61:2 ; Isa 57:17 f. After Chrysostom, these have frequently been understood as those who mourned over their own sins and those of others. These are not excluded, but they are not exclusively or specially meant by the general expression (Keim). They are generally those who are in suffering and distress . Think, for example, of Lazarus, of the persecuted Christians (Joh 16:20 ; Heb 12:11 ), of the suffering repentant ones (2Co 7:9 ), and so on; for that no unchristian , no , is meant, is (2Co 7:10 ) understood of itself from the whole surroundings. The shall, Rom 8:18 , 2Co 4:17 , Joh 14:13 , be comforted as a matter of fact in the Messiah’s kingdom by the enjoyment of its blessedness (Luk 2:25 ; Luk 16:25 ), therefore the Messiah Himself is also called (Schoettgen, Hor. II. p. 18; Wetstein, I. p. 665). According to the beatitudes, which all refer to the Messiah’s kingdom, there is no mention of temporal comfort by the promise of the forgiveness of sins, and so on. This in answer to Kienlen in the Stud. u. Kritik. 1848, p. 681.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Ver. 4. Blessed are they that mourn ] For sin, with a funeral sorrow (as the word signifieth), such as is expressed by crying and weeping, Luk 6:25 , such as was that at Megiddo, for the loss of good Josiah; or as when a man mourns for his only son, Zec 12:10 . ( , luctus ex morte amicorum. Steph. As the widow of Nain; as Jacob for Joseph; as David for his Absalom.) This is the work of the Spirit of grace and of supplication: for till the winds do blow these waters cannot flow, Psa 147:18 . He convinceth the heart of sin, and makes it to become a very Hadadrimmon for deep soaking sorrow, upon the sight of him whom they have pierced, Zec 12:10 . When a man shall look upon his sins, as the weapons, and himself as the traitor, that put to death the Lord of life, this causeth that sorrow according to God, that worketh repentance never to be repented of, 2Co 7:10 .
For they shall be comforted ] Besides the comfort they find in their very sorrow (for it is a sweet sign of a sanctified soul, and seals a man up to the day of redemption, Eze 9:4 ), they lay up for themselves thereby in store a good foundation of comfort “against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life,” as the apostle speaketh in another case, 1Ti 6:19 . These April showers bring on May flowers. They that here “sow in tears shall reap in joy;” they that find Christ’s feet a fountain to wash in, may expect his side a fountain to bathe in. Oh, how sweet a thing is it to stand weeping at the wounded feet of Jesus, as that good woman did! to water them with tears, to dry them with sighs, and to kiss them with our mouths! None, but those who have felt it can tell the comfort of it. The stranger meddleth not with this joy. When our merry Greeks, that laugh themselves fat, and light a candle at the devil for lightsomeness of heart, hunting after it to hell, and haunting for it ale houses, conventicles of goodfellowship, sinful and unseasonable sports, vain and waterish fooleries, &c., when these mirthmongers, I say, that take pleasure in pleasure, and jeer when they should fear, with Lot’s sons-in-law, shall be at a foul stand, and not have where to turn them, Isa 22:13 ; Isa 23:14 ; God’s mourners shall be able to “dwell with devouring fire, with everlasting burnings,” to stand before the Son of man at his second coming. Yea, as the lower the ebb, the higher the tide; so the lower any hath descended in humiliation, the higher shall he ascend then in his exaltation. Those that have helped to fill Christ’s bottle with tears, Christ shall then fill their bottle (as once he did Hagar’s) with the water of life. He looked back upon the weeping women, and comforted them, that would not vouchsafe a loving look or a word to Pilate or the priests. Not long before that, he told his disciples, “Ye shall indeed be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy,” Joh 16:20-21 . And further addeth, “A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow,” &c., comparing sorrow for sin to that of a travailing woman: 1. For bitterness and sharpness for the time, throes of the new birth. 2. For utility and benefit, it tendeth to the bringing a man child forth into the world. 3. For the hope and expectation that is in it not only of an end, but also of fruit; this makes joy in the midst of sorrows. 4. There is a certain time set for both, and a sure succession, as of day after night, and of fair weather after foul. Mourning lasteth but till morning, Psa 30:5 . Though “I fall, I shall arise;” though “I sit in darkness, the Lord shall give me light,” saith the Church, Mic 7:8 . Jabez was more honourable than his brethren, saith the text, for his mother bare him with sorrow, and called his name Jabez, that is, sorrowful. But when he called upon the God of Israel, and said, “Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast,” &c., “God granted him that which he requested,” 1Ch 4:9-10 . And so he will all such Israelites indeed, as “ask the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward,” going and weeping as they go, to seek the Lord their God, Jer 50:4-5 ; he shall wipe all tears from their eyes (as nurses do from their babes that cry after them), and enlarge, not their coasts (as Jabez), but their hearts (which is better); yea, he shall grant them their requests, as him. So that as Hannah, when she had prayed, and Eli for her, she looked no more sad, 1Sa 1:18 ; David, when he came before God in a “woeful case” many times, yet when he had poured forth his sorrowful complaint there, he rose up triumphing, as Psa 6:8-10 &c.; so shall it be with such. They go forth and weep, bearing precious seed, but shall surely return with rejoicing, and bring their sheaves with them, Psa 126:6 ; grapes of gladness (said that martyr, Philpot) when Abraham the good householder shall fill his bosom with them, in the kingdom of heaven. Then as one hour changed Joseph’s fetters into a chain of gold, his rags into robes, his stocks into a chariot, his prison into a palace, his brown bread and water into manchet and wine, -so shall God turn all his people’s sadness into gladness, all their sighing into singing, all their musing into music, all their tears into triumphs. Luctus in laetitiam convertetur, lachrymae in risum, saccus in sericum, cineres in corollas et unguentum, ieiunium in epulum, manuum retortio in applausum. He that will rejoice with this joy unspeakable, must stir up sighs that are unutterable.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4. . . ] The spiritual qualification in the former verse must be carried on to this, and the mourning understood to mean not only that on account of sin, but all such as happens to a man in the spiritual life . All such mourners are blessed: for the Father of mercies and God of all consolation being their covenant God, His comfort shall overbear all their mourning, and taste the sweeter for it. In Luk 2:25 , the Messiah’s coming is called .
This beatitude is by many editors (Lachmann, e.g.) placed after Mat 5:5 . But the authority is by no means decisive, and I cannot see how the logical coherence of the sentences is improved by it.
In placing these two beatitudes first, the Lord follows the order in Isa 61:1 , which He proclaimed in the synagogue at Nazareth, Luk 4:18 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 5:4 . . Who are they? All who on any account grieve? Then this Beatitude would give utterance to a thoroughgoing optimism. Pessimists say that there are many griefs for which there is no remedy, so many that life is not worth living. Did Jesus mean to meet this position with a direct negative, and to affirm that there is no sorrow without remedy? If not, then He propounds a puzzle provoking thoughtful scholars to ask: What grief is that which will without fail find comfort? There can be no comfort where there is no grief, for the two ideas are correlative. But in most cases there is no apparent necessary connection. Necessary connection is asserted in this aphorism, which gives us a clue to the class described as . Their peculiar sorrow roust be one which comforts itself, a grief that has the thing it grieves for in the very grief. The comfort is then no outward good. It lies in a right state of soul, and that is given in the sorrow which laments the lack of it. The sorrow reveals love of the good, and that love is possession. In so far as all kinds of sorrow tend to awaken reflection on the real good and ill of human life, and so to issue in the higher sorrow of the soul, the second Beatitude may be taken absolutely as expressing the tendency of all grief to end in consolation. , future. The comfort is latent in the very grief, but for the present there is no conscious joy, but only poignant sorrow. The joy, however, will inevitably come to birth. No noble nature abides permanently in the house of mourning. The greater the sorrow, the greater the ultimate gladness, the “joy in the Holy Ghost” mentioned by St. Paul among the essentials of the Kingdom of God (Rom 14:17 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 5:4
4″Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
Mat 5:4 “mourn” This referred to “loud wailing,” which was the strongest term for mourning in the Greek language. The context implies that the mourning was for our sin. The result of seeing one’s sin (Mat 5:3) must be repentance (Mat 5:4). It is possible, if the OT referent is Isa 61:1-3, that it was mourning in a corporate, societal sense.
“comforted” See Isa 12:1; Isa 40:1; Isa 49:13; Isa 51:3; Isa 51:12; Isa 52:9; Isa 66:13. The new age has dawned in Christ. God comforts not only the OT people of God, but all who believe/trust Jesus. The OT promises to Israel have been universalized to the whole world (cf. Joh 3:16).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Blessed. Note the Figure of speech Anaphora (App-6). The eight Beatitudes are to be contrasted with and understood by the eight “woes” of Mat 23:13-33. See App-126.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
4. . .] The spiritual qualification in the former verse must be carried on to this, and the mourning understood to mean not only that on account of sin, but all such as happens to a man in the spiritual life. All such mourners are blessed: for the Father of mercies and God of all consolation being their covenant God, His comfort shall overbear all their mourning, and taste the sweeter for it. In Luk 2:25, the Messiahs coming is called .
This beatitude is by many editors (Lachmann, e.g.) placed after Mat 5:5. But the authority is by no means decisive, and I cannot see how the logical coherence of the sentences is improved by it.
In placing these two beatitudes first, the Lord follows the order in Isa 61:1, which He proclaimed in the synagogue at Nazareth, Luk 4:18.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 5:4. , shall be comforted) The future tense indicates promises made in the Old Testament, and now to be performed; see Luk 16:25, and 2Th 2:16. The poor and the meek are joined together in Mat 5:3; Mat 5:5, as in the frequently-occurring , poor and needy, cf. also ch. Mat 11:29.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Psa 6:1-9, Psa 13:1-5, Psa 30:7-11, Psa 32:3-7, Psa 40:1-3, Psa 69:29-30, Psa 116:3-7, Psa 126:5, Psa 126:6, Isa 12:1, Isa 25:8, Isa 30:19, Isa 35:10, Isa 38:14-19, Isa 51:11, Isa 51:12, Isa 57:18, Isa 61:2, Isa 61:3, Isa 66:10, Jer 31:9-12, Jer 31:16, Jer 31:17, Eze 7:16, Eze 9:4, Zec 12:10-14, Zec 13:1, Luk 6:21, Luk 6:25, Luk 7:38, Luk 7:50, Luk 16:25, Joh 16:20-22, 2Co 1:4-7, 2Co 7:9, 2Co 7:10, Jam 1:12, Rev 7:14-17, Rev 21:4
Reciprocal: Lev 23:32 – afflict Num 29:7 – afflict 1Sa 7:2 – lamented 2Sa 15:30 – weeping Est 9:22 – from sorrow Psa 30:5 – weeping Psa 51:8 – Make Psa 90:15 – Make Ecc 7:2 – better Son 2:11 – General Isa 57:15 – with Isa 66:2 – to this Joe 2:13 – rend Mat 5:3 – Blessed Luk 22:62 – and wept Rom 7:24 – wretched 2Co 6:10 – sorrowful 2Co 7:6 – that comforteth 2Co 7:7 – mourning Jam 4:9 – afflicted
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
COMFORT FOR THE MOURNERS
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Mat 5:4
Not all sorrow wins this blessedness. There is a sorrow which is hard, which cherishes resentment against God, which broods over itself and resolves to be hopeless; such sorrow brings no comfort. The sorrow of which our Lord speaks is that which, though it is bitter and hard to bear, is yet as the sorrow of the child, it is still trustful, still holding out a hand for the touch of sympathy, still putting forth a plea for succour and help. It is not on the surface of happiness, but in the depths of sorrow that mans spirit finds the Divine Rock on which the joy and strength and encouragement of life are to be found. Consider, then, three of the sorrows which Jesus Christ declares to be blessed because they shall find strength and encouragement.
I. The sorrow caused by death.Death in one sense withdraws those whom we love, but in another sense it reveals them; it removes from them all that was imperfect, accidental, and un-unworthy; it clears from them all the misunderstandings of this perplexing scene; it shows them to us in their true and best essential self; what God was making of them here and is making of them more perfectly elsewhere.
II. The sorrow caused by the worlds pain.Blessed, indeed, are they who know something of it. We are meant to go out into the world of human poverty and suffering, and to take some part of it into the hospitality of our own heart. In this sympathy we realise that our human race is not a mere collection of isolated atoms; it is united in one heart and life, in that deep, compassionate Heart of Humanity. In that sympathy which goes forth from human heart to human heart, we touch the Christ and, in Christ, God.
III. The sorrow caused by sin.Blessed, surely, they who know something of it. Pitiable they who know nothing of it. We talk much about religion, but we are convicted of superficiality unless there is a real sense of sin amongst us. No man knows anything of God who does not feel that his sins are an affront and an insult to the Divine holiness and patience. So long as men are content to speak easily and glibly about the evolution of humanity from imperfection to perfection, they can dispense with the sense of sin; they have no need of the Atonement in their theology. But once a man comes to know the deepest truth about himself and realises his deepest need, his cry will be, God be merciful to me a sinner. Then the Atonement becomes not a theory which he can discuss, but a Divine fact on which, with the gratitude of his whole soul, he rests.
Bishop C. G. Lang.
Illustration
I remember once turning over the pages of a remarkable collection of autographs and quotations gathered from almost every person of eminence in Europe in the latter part of the nineteenth centurykings, statesmen, poets, artists, men of science. Suddenly I found on one page, over the signature, C. H. Spurgeon, these rude and simple lines:
Eer since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love hath been my theme,
And shall be till I die.
From that book, full of the worlds wisdom, suddenly there rises strange and solitary the voice of a joy deeper and more eternal than the world can either give or understand. It is the voice of those who through sorrow for sin have come to their great encouragement.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
5:4
There could be no happiness in the fact of mourning but it is by way of contrast. The new system that Jesus was about to set up would provide the only genuine relief from the sorrows of this world.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 5:4. They that mourn, or the mourning ones. A spiritual mourning is meant. A sense of need makes men poor in spirit, but a consciousness of the positive power of sin makes them mourn. Not terror, fear of punishment, but actual sorrow that sin has power over us.
Comforted. This is a promise; hence the comfort comes not from ourselves, but from God. If repentance saved, then the promise would be: they shall comfort themselves.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. That mourning for sin is a gospel-duty: the law allows no place for repentance, though we seek it carefully with tears.
Observe, 2. The time and reason for this duty. Blessed are they that now mourn. Sorrow for sin is physic on earth, but it is food in hell. Repentance is here a grace, but there a punishment.
Observe, 3. As mourning goes before comfort, so comfort shall follow after mourning. Our godly sorrow for our own and others’ sins shall end in everlasting joy and comfort.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 5:4. Blessed [or happy] are they that mourn Namely, for their own sins and those of other men, and are steadily and habitually serious, watchful, and circumspect; for they shall be comforted Even in this world, with the consolation that arises from a sense of the forgiveness of sins, peace with God, clear discoveries of his favour, and well-grounded, lively hopes of the heavenly inheritance, and with the full enjoyment of that inheritance itself in the world to come.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
"Those who mourn" do so because they sense their spiritual bankruptcy (Mat 5:4). The Old Testament revealed that spiritual poverty results from sin. True repentance produces contrite tears more than jubilant rejoicing because the kingdom is near. The godly remnant in Jesus’ day that responded to the call of John and of Jesus wept because of Israel’s national humiliation as well as because of personal sin (cf. Ezr 10:6; Psa 51:4; Psa 119:136; Eze 9:4; Dan 9:19-20). It is this mourning over sin that resulted in personal and national humiliation that Jesus referred to here.
The promised blessing in this beatitude is future comfort for those who now mourn. The prophets connected Messiah’s appearing with the comfort of His people (Isa 40:1; Isa 66:1-3; Isa 66:13). All sorrow over personal and national humiliation because of sin will end when the King sets up His kingdom and the repentant enter into it.