Matthew 5:1 and Matthew 5:2 are the first two verses of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. The verses introduce the Sermon on the Mount that will be recited in the next several chapters. The previous chapter concluded with large crowds "from Galilee, and from the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan" who followed Jesus to witness him healing: these verses present Jesus as seeing the crowds and going up onto a mountain to begin teaching.
Content
The original Koine Greek, according to Westcott and Hort, reads: 1:ιδων δε τους οχλους ανεβη εις το ορος και καθισαντος αυτου προσηλθαν [αυτω] οι μαθηται αυτου 2:και ανοιξας το στομα αυτου εδιδασκεν αυτους λεγων
In the King James Version of the Bible, the text reads: 1: And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: 2: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
The World English Bible translates the passage as: 1: Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him. 2: He opened his mouth and taught them, saying,
In other English translations, the Geneva Bible, New International Version (NIV) and God's Word Translation refer to "a mountain", whereas the Revised Standard Version and the New American Standard Bible refer to "the mountain". Protestant theologian Heinrich Meyer classifies interpretations of το ορος (to oros, "the mountain") as indefinite, meaning "a mountain" (Martin Luther, Kuinoel (:de:Christian Gottlieb Kühnöl)): in Meyer's view, "always incorrect" generic, meaning "the hilly district, or on the heights" (Ebrard, Friedrich Bleek) specific, meaning "the hill", the one which is situated in the place where Jesus saw the crowds (Euthymios Zigabenos, Meyer's own preference), and other referential explanations, meaning "the well-known hill" (Fritzsche, de Wette) or "the holy hill" (Ewald), "the Sinai of the New Testament" (Franz Delitzsch).
The NIV in verse 2 reads "and he began to teach them" without using the phrase "opened his mouth.
Symbolism of the mountain
The reference to going up a mountain prior to preaching is considered by many to be a reference to Moses on Mount Sinai. Lapide feels that the clumsy phrasing implies that this verse is a transliteration from the Hebrew, and that it was an exact replica of a passage describing Moses. Boring notes that the reference to Jesus sitting may be an allusion to , where in some translations Moses is described as sitting on Mount Sinai. St. Augustine in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount supported the Moses parallel. He argued that this symbolism shows that Jesus is giving a new set of precepts to supplement those of Moses. In his later writings, such as the Reply to Faustus, he backs away from this view.
Other scholars reject the link with Moses. Commentary writer David Hill disagrees, arguing that if this had been intended as a reference to Exodus then the author of Matthew would have made the links far clearer. Hare also takes a different view. He reads the sequence of Jesus sitting, the disciples approaching, and then talking as depicting Jesus regally with the disciples approaching him as would subjects at a royal court. To Hare the reference to a mountain might thus be a reference to Mount Zion of David rather than of Sinai.
There are mountains in both Lower and Upper Galilee and several large hills in the region to the west of the Sea of Galilee. The Golan Heights lies to the east of the Sea of Galilee. There are a number of hills that have traditionally been claimed as the site of the sermon, but the best known is the one today known as the Mount of Beatitudes. A number of scholars do not feel "the mountain" is the most accurate understanding of the phrase. Gundry feels it could mean "mountainous region", while France feels it should be read as "went up into the hills." Nolland notes that "mountainous region' is another option for translating the phrase, though he believes "a mountain" is still the most accurate translation. Boring notes that this move to the mountains has been read as Jesus fleeing the crowds mentioned in Matthew 4:25. Many arguments about the nature of Jesus' mission and his psychology have been read into this avoidance of crowds. Boring disagrees, and believes the move to the hills is present only as a Mosaic parallel.