Евангелие от Матфея 5:22: Анализ и толкования

Verse of the Bible

Matthew 5:22 is the twenty second verse of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. It is the first of what have traditionally been known as the 6 Antitheses. In this one, Jesus compares the current interpretation of "You shall not murder" from the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17) with his own interpretation.

This verse asserts that just as great a crime as murder itself is the anger that leads to it. Schweizer notes that this view is not particularly new to Jesus, appearing in the Old Testament at places such as and in works such as Sirach, the Slavonic Enoch, Pesahim, and Nedraim. A similar teaching also appears at Gundry notes that "I say to you" is one of Matthew's favourite phrases, used 68 times. Schweizer feels it is used here to link to the word of God in the previous verse. Harrington notes that brother does not literally refer to sibling, or even to just the small group of followers or disciples. Rather he states that the verse should be read as referring to all Israelites or all human beings. France disagrees, feeling that in this particular verse Jesus is referring only to the group of disciples. Early manuscripts are divided between whether this verse should read "whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment" or "whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment." The two versions are significantly different in implication and most modern scholars feel that "without a cause" was a later addition by a copyist trying to make the statement less radical. This was also the view of some Church Fathers.

The word Raca is original to the Greek manuscript; however, it is not a Greek word. The most common view is that it is a reference to the Aramaic word reka, which literally means "empty one", but probably meant "empty headed," or "foolish." Scholars seem divided on how grievous an insult it was: Hill feels it was very grievous while France thinks it was a minor slur. The word translated as fool is the Greek moros, which has a similar meaning to the Aramaic reka. However moros also was used to mean godless, and thus could be much more severe a term than reka. The reading of godless can explain why the punishment is more severe. Jesus uses the term himself in when he is deriding the Pharisees. Although, under the word rq רק and rqq רקק which was defined as a spittle according to a Hebrew and English lexicon of the old testament by Francis Brown et al. Although the word is still used today in modern Arabic, especially by speakers of Levant region Arabic. The word reeq means the water of mouth. This verse has also recently become part of the debate over the New Testament view of homosexuality. Some scholars have argued that raca can mean effeminate, and was a term of abuse for homosexuals. Similarly moros can also refer to a homosexual aggressor; as From Semitic cognates Warren Johansson argued that the word was an Aramaic pejorative, similar to the English words faggot or fairy. By these interpretations Jesus could be specifically condemning homophobia. Most scholars reject this view , considering it more likely that the terms were meant as general insults, rather than specific attacks on homosexuals. See also the Bible and homosexuality and Homosexuality in Gospel of Matthew.

While some scholars have searched for one, the offenses in the verse do not seem to increase in severity. By contrast the verse contains an escalating scale of punishment. Those that are angry with their brother are said to be subject to judgment. This is often interpreted as the judgement of the local council, which would mete out justice in a community. The council is generally seen as a reference to the Sanhedrin, the council of leading religious thinkers that acted as the central court in Jerusalem. Most controversial is what fate is implied by the third punishment. In Greek the word used is Gehenna, it refers to a valley south of Jerusalem where there was an ever burning rubbish fire, and where in the past human sacrifices were committed. In the Old Testament, followers of various Ba'als and gods in the Canaanite pantheon, including Moloch, sacrificed their children by fire, especially in the area Tophet (, ). Thereafter it was deemed to be cursed (Jeremiah 7:31, 19:2–6). Some scholars believe this to be a metaphor for damnation and for Hell, and traditionally it was translated this way. Albright and Mann reject this view and conclude that Jesus was here literally referring to the valley and the potential of being thrown in there as punishment.