NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER FIVE

Part IV

While the story you just read may sound somewhat cryptic, the point is that apparently the Philosopher was referring to a copy of Matthew’s Gospel, and this Rabbi couple wanted to prove him wrong. Even back then, a donkey was considered an animal of lesser intelligence than others. So when the Rabbi’s wife complimented this Jewish Christian for his wisdom, her Rabbi husband wanted him to know that even a donkey was smarter than he was. But one reason I included this was to show that by the time this Jewish verbal tradition document containing this story was written, there already existed the fact that the writings of the Gospels were being read by the Jews of that day. No wonder Jesus was confident enough to say God’s Word would not pass away until every part was fulfilled according to His plan for mankind. The ingenious writer of Psalm 119 also expresses this belief: “Lord, your word continues forever in heaven. You are loyal forever and ever. You made the earth, and it still stands…”Long ago, I learned from your rules that you made them to last forever. ”¹

Our Lord’s favorite writer, Isaiah, said it best: “Grass dies and flowers fall, but the word of our God lasts forever.”² Not only would the demands of the law concerning the payment for sin be carried out through our Lord’s sacrifice, death, resurrection, and ascension back into heaven, but His promise to return and eventually set up His kingdom here on earth to rule and reign a thousand years. But what changes the whole picture here is that Jesus puts His own imprimatur by the way He says: “I give you My word.”³ The KJV has: “For verily I say unto you.” The NIV puts it: “I tell you the truth.” But the original Greek has it, “For amen I say to you.” The Aramaic Version reads: “For truly say I to you” the oldest Hebrew text Gospel of Matthew has: “Truly I say to you.”⁴ English translators decided to render “amen” as “verily” or “truly” when it appears at the beginning of a sentence, and “amen” when it is put at the end. The prophet Jeremiah uses “amen” this way: “Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in front of the priests and all the people standing in Adonai’s house — the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May ADONAI do it! May ADONAI fulfill the words you have prophesied and bring back from Babylon to this place the articles from ADONAI’S house and all the people who were carried away captive!”⁵

It is interesting to see how the Jews used it in their writings. For instance, in the oldest Palestinian Talmud we read where a woman accused of infidelity answers: “Amen, she says, I have not committed adultery with this particular man, and Amen, I have not committed adultery with any other man.”⁶ Also in another case of unfaithfulness, the accused says: “Amen, I have not gone aside while engaged, married, awaiting levirate marriage, or wholly taken in levirate marriage.”⁷ Then in the Mishnah we have this example concerning the misappropriation of a bank deposit: “Amen – if witnesses testify against him that he himself had misused it, he pays only the principal.”⁸ This is repeated when it is a question of whether or not the deposit was stolen, when the guardian replies: “Amen – if witnesses testify against him that he himself had stolen it, he has to repay double.”⁹ Also, we read that: “Rabbi Jose ben Hanina said: ‘Amen’ implies taking an oath.”¹⁰ From this then we see that when “Amen” is used it implies making a promise, accepting a promise, or confirming a promise. So in Jesus’ case, He was making a promise. This teaching is upheld by a venerable Rabbi who says: “Whether one takes an oath falsely on his own initiative or is placed under oath by another person and answers Amen to his statements, he is held accountable.”¹¹ With this understanding we may take Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 1:20 to read: “Amen to all God’s promises in Christ, and through Christ to the glory of God we say, Amen!”

By having this background on the use of the term “Amen,” we can better understand how serious Jesus was in making this statement about the infallibility and longevity of His words and how it impacted His Jewish listeners. Also in this rendering of verse 18 we have phrases from the King James Version in 1611 AD that remain part and parcel of our modern day English. They are: “jot” and “tittle.” It was borrowed from William Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament in 1526 AD, which reads: “One iott or one tytle of the lawe shall not scape.” But since Matthew wrote his journal in Hebrew, it’s best to look at that language for a better understanding. The “Jot” is the English equivalent of the Hebrew “Yodh”, which is the 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet [י]. It is also the smallest letter. The English pronunciation is like the letter “Y” in the English term Yahweh. The Greeks translated it as “iota”, from which we get our English transliteration. The term “tittle” is the small decorative spur or point on the upper edge of the yodh, somewhat like our dot over the “i”. “Tittle” is used by Greek grammarians as accents over letters, such as in á or è. It denotes a change in pronunciation. In English we can see this represented in how an I is changed to an L with the mark at the bottom. We also use phrases in English such as: “the dotting of the i, and the crossing of the t,” and “every iota.”

It is interesting that the Jewish scribes who copied the Massoretic Greek Text of the Hebrew Bible scrolls paid the greatest attention to the minutest of details and to each mark attached to the consonants throughout the entire text. They even numbered every letter, word, sentence, paragraph, chapter, section, and scroll to insure that the total equaled that of the text being copied before allowing it to enter the holy synagogue. So now the meaning of this passage is very clear. Not even the smallest letter or even its decorative spur will ever disappear from the “God Breathed” Word until all is fulfilled. In fact when heaven and earth are replaced by a new heaven and earth, the Word of the Lord will have accomplished its purpose and will be fulfilled in every detail even to the dot over each i. Any educated Jew, especially the scribes who heard this spoken by Jesus were aware of its special meaning. It was an integral part of their thinking and validation of the Scripture. We see this clearly in the Talmud where it says: “The law had to be taught with respect to each tittle on the letter yod.”¹²

This was so important that we find the following in a major Jewish journal that Rabbi Meir in 1305, which is a very influential document: “…containing a minute treatment of every letter, nay, of every jot and tittle, in the sacred Scroll.”¹³ This may sound like quibbling over minuscule dots and dashes to the average English reader, but to a Jew it was critical. In other words, Jesus was declaring, more than indicating, that every “i” would not lose its dot, nor would every “t” lose its “cros” before the Word of God would be declared invalid, but that He would make sure that even if the written word would become invalid due to a copiers error, His word will never be made outdated or irrelevant because of what others may miscommunicate by interpretations of what He said.

Let me illustrate this concept: During WWII, an engagement between American and Japanese naval forces in the Surigao Strait during the battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines produced a simple tactic that helped win the war. Both sides were trying to out maneuver each other to gain an advantage. Battleships of that era had large guns mounted on turrets both in the bow section and stern section of the ship. If a ship was heading straight for another ship, it could only use its forward guns because those in the rear were rendered useless since they could not fire above the main section of the ship. American reconnaissance aircraft spotted a line of Japanese ships sailing in single file like the letter I. A message was sent to the American ships to confront this line of Japanese battleships by positioning themselves ahead of them in a perpendicular line, so that the Japanese formation and the American formation created the letter T on the ocean surface. That way the American vessels could use both their forward and rear cannons firing sideways on the Japanese convoy. After they were in position, they began firing. The Japanese were caught with only the forward most ship being able to return fire straight ahead. Had the messenger to the American fleet not crossed his T, it would have become an I, and the American warships would have been at the same disadvantage as the Japanese.

How clearly this points out the critical need for getting things right so that the message going out is clear and correct. That’s how much importance the Jews gave to correctly writing each letter of the Law. In Jewish writings there is a story about Solomon’s downfall. The writer says that Solomon wanted to change one small letter in the book of Deuteronomy. So the book itself appealed to God, and the Lord answered: “Solomon and a thousand like him will be null, but not one word of yours will be nullified.’”¹⁴ As a matter of fact, one Rabbi told that God changed Sara’s name to Sarah, and Abram’s name to Abraham by simply adding an “h”, but what a difference that letter made in the meaning of their names.¹⁵ How important this is to all of us who are assigned the joy and opportunity of sharing God’s Word with others who do not know it well, that we get it right. This idea is now carried over in the next verse by Jesus to illustrate the proper obedience of the Word of God.