A Brief Interlude
As we look at the Beatitudes, I want to suggest these are being given to be interpreted on multiple levels. There is the plain meaning and then there is a deeper meaning which has a broader application. Christianity has a very minted view of Scripture. The general teaching is that one way of interpreting the text is correct. All other views are then deemed incorrect. This is due to our Greek mindset in which there is only one solution to a problem. Everything is linear.
In an Eastern/Hebraic mindset, there are multiple answers to a question. They see Scripture as having layers. This is the plain meaning of the text. Then there is a deeper level, a level which is hinted at. Then there are two more levels which find deeper and more spiritual meanings to the text. In Judaism, there are many, many interpretations of Scripture. The interpretations are studied and considered as a person reads the Bible text. I feel most Christian often cannot appreciate the depth and richness of our Bible since they believe things only have one meaning.
It is important to note, everything in the Bible has at least two meanings. One is the immediate plain meaning. The words are meant for Jesus’ audience at that time in history. There is also a deeper meaning, one which is broader and is meant for generations past, present and future. Let’s try to look at the Beatitudes and analyze how thee texts applies specifically for Jesus’ audience and also how it may apply to us now.
In the first Beatitude, Jesus speaks of the poor in spirit. This is a reference to the people in the crowd who had the honor title among the sect of the Essenes. If we look a bit deeper, the poor in spirit among the Essenes (by their definition) received the Holy Spirit. In a later sense, all who truly receive the Holy Spirit can be considered as included among the poor in spirit. And thus they can be made happy and joyful (blessed) now and eternally.
In the second Beatitude, those who mourn will be comforted. For the plain meaning, the mourners are grieving over the destruction of the Holy Land, the Temple and the oppression of the Israelites by foreign enemies such as the Assyrians, Babylonians, Romans, etc. The comforting is that even in this they can have personal peace because there is hope that God will remove the pagan occupiers. At a deeper level, the mourners are those worshiper of God who are mourning over the detraction of the entire earth due to being disobedient to God, wickedness and unfaithfulness. The mourners are the righteous and all them can look forward to being comforted when the LORD comes in power and glory to destroy evil and rule with justice and mercy over all the earth.
In the third Beatitude, the meek will inherit the earth. On the surface, it is the Israelites in the audience who are powerless before the occupation of Rome. They are being told they will receive the inheritance God promised to them before their ancestors left Egypt. At a deeper level, the powerless follower of Jesus, will together receive the event larger inheritance promised by God to be co-rulers along with Jesus over all the earth’s inhabitants. This co-rulership is the fulfillment of the promise of the first Beatitude that the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
Back to the Beatitudes
Verse 6: The fourth Beatitude is “How blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” The idea of hunger and thirsting after righteousness is not about food and drink. It is a spiritual longing. But this longing is not one of passivity: it speaks of an active search and work to find it. The question to be answered about this Beatitude it: whose righteousness is being sought? What kind of righteousness is being thirsted for? Is it a human righteousness? That is, is it something that is accomplished by means of our good work and deeds?
The answer is, the righteousness Jesus is referring to is God’s righteousness. He is borrowing from a Psalm of David. Psalm 107:2-9
2The redeemed of the LORD shall say so,
Those whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy
3And gathered from the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.
4They wandered in the wilderness in a desert region;
They did not find a way to an inhabited city.
5They were hungry and thirsty;
Their souls felt weak within them.
6Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble;
He saved them from their distresses.
7He also had them walk on a straight way,
To go to an inhabited city.
8They shall give thanks to the LORD for His mercy,
And for His wonders to the sons of mankind!
9For He has satisfied the thirsty soul,
And He has filled the hungry soul with what is good.
Notice that it is God’s redeemed who are being addressed. From the surface, the redeemed represent all the Israelites (because 1400 years earlier all the tribes of Israel were redeemed from Egypt). The wandering in the desert recalls the wilderness journey of the Exodus. God rescued them and then they were finally prepared, He took them to a city where they could live. That city was Jerusalem. God also satisfied the hungry Israelites by giving them manna to eat, the entire time they were wandering. He provided them with water as needed, often in miraculous ways.
At a deeper meaning, the redeemed are all the people who have been redeemed from their sins by placing their trust In God and Jesus. Before we did that, we were wandering aimlessly in a desert of sin and purposelessness. We were hungry and thirsty for deliverance from out emptiness and from eternal death. But God has satisfied the thirst and satisfied the hunger of our souls, and had given us life eternal with Him.
The metaphor of hunger and thirst represents a deep down seeking of God. To understand what God’s righteousness is, let’s read Isaiah 32, which gives us a deeper understanding.
1Behold, a king will reign righteously,
And officials will rule justly.
2Each will be like a refuge from the wind
And a shelter from the storm,
Like streams of water in a dry country,
Like the shade of a huge rock in an exhausted land.
3Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded,
And the ears of those who hear will listen.
4The mind of the rash will discern the truth,
And the tongue of the stammerers will hurry to speak clearly.
5No longer will the fool be called noble,
Or the rogue be spoken of as generous.
6For a fool speaks nonsense,
And his heart inclines toward wickedness:
To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the LORD,
To keep the hungry person unsatisfied
And to withhold drink from the thirsty.
7As for a rogue, his weapons are evil;
He devises wicked schemes
To destroy the poor with slander,
Even though the needy one speaks what is right.
8But the noble person devises noble plans;
And by noble plans he stands.
9Rise up, you women who are at ease,
And hear my voice;
Listen to my word,
You complacent daughters.
10Within a year and a few days
You will be troubled, you complacent daughters;
For the vintage is ended,
And the fruit gathering will not come.
11Tremble, you women who are at ease;
Be troubled, you complacent daughters;
Strip, undress, and put sackcloth on your waist,
12Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,
13For the land of my people in which thorns and briars will come up;
Indeed, for all the joyful houses and for the jubilant city.
14For the palace has been neglected, the populated city abandoned.
Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever,
A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks,
15Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high,
And the wilderness becomes a fertile field,
And the fertile field is considered as a forest.
16Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
And righteousness will remain in the fertile field.
17And the work of righteousness will be peace,
And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.
18Then my people will live in a peaceful settlement,
In secure dwellings, and in undisturbed resting places;
19And it will hail when the forest comes down,
And the city will be utterly laid low.
20How blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters,
Who let the ox and the donkey out freely.
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