Writer: Matthew (Mattityahu) = Gift of God

Telónés (Publican) A contracted tax collector for Roman Empire

Matthew 4:17, 23-25 17 From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”……. 23 Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. 24 News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon possessed or epileptic or paralyzed—he healed them all. 25 Large crowds followed him wherever he went—people from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, from all over Judea, and from east of the Jordan River

Blessed = Makarios (Greek) = Ashrei/Asher (Hebrew) Happy, Joyful, Praiseworthy, Blessed, Fortunate, ‘O the gladness of’…in the deepest, fullest, richest, most spiritual sense…

“Blessed = Ashrei OT References

Deuteronomy 33:29

I Kings 10:8

II Chronicles 9:7

Job 5:17

Psalm 1:1; 2:12; 32:1-2; 33:12; 34:8; 40:4; 41:1; 65:4; 84:4-5,12; 89:15; 94:12; 106:3; 112:1; 118:26; 119:1-2; 127:5; 128:1; 137:8-9; 144:15; 146:5

Proverbs 3:13; 8:34; 20:7; 28:14

Isaiah 30:18; 56:2

Daniel 12:12

Rabbi Yeshua’s ‘Sermon on the Mount’ contains the very character & lifestyle expected amongst HIS talmidim (disciples). This expected reality is impossible to achieve without the power & the presence of the Holy Spirit in one’s life.

QUOTES:

“The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly it is the least obeyed. It is the nearest thing to a manifesto that he ever uttered, for it is his own description of what he wanted his followers to be and to do. To my mind no two words sum up its intention better, or indicate more clearly its challenge to the modern world, than the expression ‘Christian counter-culture’.” - John Stott

“The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of principles to be obeyed apart from identification with Jesus Christ. The Sermon on the Mount is a statement of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is getting His way with us.” – Oswald Chambers