Chapter 5: 1-12 Sermon on the Mount; The Beatitudes

5:1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain: and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him:
And seeing the multitudes - At some distance, as they were coming to him from every quarter. He went up into the mountain - Which was near: where there was room for them all.
He went up into a mountain - That he might have the greater advantage of speaking, so as to be heard by that great concourse of people which followed Him. It is very probable that nothing more is meant here than a small hill or eminence.

5:2 And He opened His mouth, and taught them, saying,
And He opened His mouth - He spoke with a clear and strong voice, that all the people might hear Him; and with great freedom, utterance, and cheerfulness, and things of the greatest moment and importance; and taught them; not His disciples only, but the whole multitude.

5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed.” See how Jesus begins His Sermon on the Mount, He begins with benedictions. He is a cloud that is full of rain, and that empties itself upon the earth.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, etc. - Or, happy, μακαριοι from μα or μη, not, and κηρ, fate, or death.

5:4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Let them be comforted now in the prospect of future comfort. There are no mourning hearts that mourn over sin, and mourn after God, that shall be deserted by their God: “they shall be comforted.”

5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are the meek - Happy, οι πραεις, from ῥαος, easy, those who are of a quiet, gentle spirit, in opposition to the proud and supercilious Scribes and Pharisees and their disciples.

They shall inherit the earth; it is quoted from Psalm 37:11. They shall inherit the land (so it may be read), the land of Canaan, a type of heaven. So that all the blessedness of heaven above, and all the blessings of earth beneath, are the portion of the meek.

5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
They want to be better; they are hungry and thirsty after more holiness. They boast not of personal perfection, they are hungering and thirsting after righteousness.

5:7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

The merciful - The tender - hearted: they who love all men as themselves: They shall obtain mercy - Whatever mercy therefore we desire from God, the same let us show to our brethren. He will repay us a thousand fold, the love we bear to any for His sake.

5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Blessed are the pure in heart - Not in the head; for men may have pure notions and impure hearts; not in the hand, or action, or in outward conversation only; so the Pharisees were outwardly righteous before men, but inwardly full of impurity; but "in heart".

5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
The peace makers - They that out of love to God and man do all possible good to all men.
They shall be called the children of God - it will be an evidence to themselves that they are so; 

God will own them as such, 

and herein they will resemble Him.

5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
They which are persecuted - Δεδιωγμενοι, they who are hard pressed upon and pursued with repeated acts of enmity.

for righteousness sake - on account of their righteous and godly conversation, which brings upon them the hatred and enmity of the men of the world:

5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake.
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you -These words are particularly directed to the disciples of Christ, and are designed to inform them, that they should not be exempted from reproach and persecution, and to animate and fortify them against it; and are prophetical of what they, and the first Christians particularly, were to endure for Christ's sake.

5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. 

Rejoice and be exceeding glad - Because of the honor put upon them, the glory they bring to Christ and His cause, by cheerfully suffering for it; and because of the glory and happiness that shall follow upon their sufferings:
Your reward - Even over and above the happiness that naturally and directly results from holiness.
for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you - as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, and others; 

which shows, that what should befall them was no new and strange thing, but what had been the lot of the most eminent servants of God in former ages.

Chapter 4:23-25 Ministry in Galilee

4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

And Jesus went about all Galilee - Having called four of His disciples, He took a tour throughout Galilee; a country mean and despicable, inhabited by persons poor, illiterate, vile, and wicked: such had the first fruits of Christ's ministry, and messages of His grace;
teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom - The places where He taught were "their synagogues": 

He did not creep into private houses, 

as the Pharisees then, and false apostles afterwards did; 

but He appeared openly, 

and declared his doctrine in places of public worship;

healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people - It is in the Greek text, "every sickness and every disease"; that is, all sorts of maladies, disorders and distempers, which attend the bodies of men.

4:24 And His fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and He healed them.
And His fame went throughout all Syria - For His ministry and miracles, especially the latter; wherefore they brought to him, that is, out of Syria, the sick. Syria was in some respects reckoned as the land of Israel, though in others not.
He healed them; without any means, by a word speaking; which showed him more than a man, and truly and properly God.

Christ, by curing bodily diseases, intended to show, that His great errand into the world was to cure spiritual maladies. 

He is the Sun of righteousness, 

that arises with this healing under His wings.

4:25 And there followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.

And there followed Him great multitudes of people - Some on one account, and some on another; some out of good will, others out of ill will; some for the healing of their bodies, others for the good of their souls; some to see His miracles, others to hear His doctrine.