Matthew 5:6

Monday, 11 November 2024

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6

“Blessed – those famishing and thirsting righteousness,
For they – they will be filled” (CG).

In the previous verse, Jesus spoke of the benignant inheriting the land. Now His words continue with, “Blessed – those famishing and thirsting righteousness.”

Despite most translations simply following one after the other with “hunger and thirst,” the verbs are present participles – “famishing and thirsting.” The word peinaó means to famish. To crave or hunger are only figurative meanings which cannot be the intent here.

Jesus is speaking of those who truly long for righteousness in a situation where it is obviously lacking. There is wickedness from above, and it comes from all sides. There is no place where it is not practiced. Like a man in a desert, he may hunger during the first days of his lack, but he eventually famishes over what he desires.

The thought is like that of Noah, who preached to a world of wickedness, longing for it to wake up from its slumber, but it was not realized. He was famished from the lack of it and his soul cried out to God over the state of the world. To supplement this and intensify it, the word dipsaó, to thirst, is added.

When facing hunger, it can be quelled temporarily with swallows of water. But when that is lacking, there is nothing to take away the agony of the human body. Jesus combines the two to show what a truly devout person longs for concerning such things. It is a hungering and thirsting with a fervent intensity.

This is something He was fully aware of, having come out of forty days and forty nights where He was deprived of the needs of the body. As it said after that time, “He was hungry.” However, despite His hunger, He craved righteousness even more than food. He wanted nothing more than to please His heavenly father and to fulfill all righteousness. Of such people, He next says, “For they – they will be filled.”

The word translated as filled, chortazó, is a word that actually signifies “to fodder,” as in grazing animals. It is used with a degree of contempt by Plato. Eventually, it came to generally signify satisfying a hunger. However, the earlier connotation would still exist in the minds of the people.

For example, we might say somewhat contemptuously of a large gathering, “Look at all those people grazing in the dining hall.” However, eventually, the word might be taken with a less sarcastic tone. And yet, we would still know the earlier meaning of what the word conveyed. This would be the thought conveyed with this word.

Jesus is saying that as a cow is fed in the stalls or is taken to the open field to dine, so would the people of God be fed with a continuous supply of righteousness. The lack they faced (again, think of Noah) will someday be replaced with an enormous abundance that will never cease as God leads His people, filling their true desire for His glorification.

The reason for this is that one can only truly hunger and thirst after these things when one has faith that God exists. Without that, any righteousness that fills the mind of the person is one that extends from himself and his idea of what righteousness means.

Life application: Depending on where you are in the world today, you will face varying degrees of unrighteousness. In Islamic countries, those who are not Muslims are forced to adhere to nutty laws that are derived from the Koran to some extent or another.

For those who live in Catholic nations, there is often a great tolerance for the allowance of other religions, and quite often, they synchronize with the Catholic doctrine, forming religions like Santa Ria. However, the overarching rule of Catholicism will take place. As its fundamental teachings are not in line with Scripture, those who hold to a truly literal interpretation of the Bible are actually outcasts.

In Western countries, moral perversion has almost completely taken over the thoughts of those in power. Those who speak against it are almost considered enemies of their own states. However, in hungering after what God’s word says, and in thirsting after what it proclaims, they will someday be filled to overflowing with the goodness of what God has in store for them. As it says in Revelation. 7:16, “They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore.”

Hold on to the Lord and stand fast on His word. The time when wickedness shall be eliminated from this world is coming. Jesus will set all things right on that day.

Lord God, You have promised a better world to Your people. It will be a world where righteousness rules and where You alone will be exalted as the true and glorious leader of mankind. May that day be soon. Amen.