The Sermon on the Mount is very much a Jewish style collection and there are some parallels between Jesus’ teaching and discussions of the Law found in the Mishnah. For example, exchanging coins for tithes (Mt. 21:12, Maaser Sheni 2:7, Sheqalim), rules for healing on the Sabbath (in Shabbat, cf. Luke 6:6-11), fasting (in Taanit, cf Mt. 6:16-18), Marriage and divorce, (Ketubot, cf Mt. 5:31-32, 1 Cor. 7), Vows (Nedarim, cf Mt. 5:33-37), etc. Several of the “you have hear it said” topics in the Sermon seem very much based on the same sorts of rabbinic interests in the Mishnah.
This tells us something important about Jesus’ style of teaching: it was not unlike contemporary Jewish teachers. But more than this, it tells us something about Matthew’s collection of Jesus’ sayings into the Sermon on the Mount. Perhaps we can think of the discourses in…
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James' Ramblings 