EXPLORING THE COMPOSITION OF MATTH. 5-7
The Sermon on the Mount and some of its "Structures"

        1. There^* is little agreement among scholars about the way in which the Sermon on the Mount is organized. According to A. Tholuck,whose monograph Philologisch–theologische Auslegung der Bergpredigt Christi (1833, ²1835) is among the classics, there is, in the disposition of this and other speeches of Christ, no logic but the logic of the heart. Apart from introïtus and peroratio, Tholuck says, we just have a succession of topics without any form of co-ordionation or subordination ¹. In 1927, E. Peterson spoke of the "Willkür und Zufälligkeit" in the composition of the Sermon. G. Bornkamm in 1957 mentioned a certain part of the Sermon, Matth. 7:1-12, as "ohne erkennbaren Leitge-danken" ² . On the whole, one feels there still is some truth in the modest statement of Johann Crell (1590-1631), whose work was much admired by Grotius, and who called it "not so easy" to define the plan of the Sermon on the Mount — if one respects the text as it is, and especially, if one takes into account what is found in chapter 7 ³ .

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        Of course, this is not very satisfactory, the more so as, in general, Matthew’s literary achievement is nowadays more and more highly valued. As long ago as 1921, the Sermon on the Mount itself was praised as "eine schriftstellerische Leistung ersten Ranges", and this appraisal does not stand alone ⁴. Many have tried to see through the logic and design of the Sermon, and in order to understand some sort of coherence, many parts of it have been singled out for special consideration. Without any attempt at completeness, I briefly recall a number of contributions.
        1) Fausto Sozzini (1539-1604) commented on Matth. 5:3-16, designating it a kind of prelude (quoddam quasi praeludium), preparing the disciples for what follows; this prelude, however, at the same time already contained all that was to follow in the sermon itself "latius atque uberius, & sub alia forma alioque ordine". From Socinus’ words itwould seem he had the traditional functions of the exordium in mind. However, at Matth. 5:17–20 his comment is: "now we are going to have, in four verses, the proper and special opening section (exordium) of the sermon itself". At v. 21 the address itself has its beginning ⁵.
        2) In the present century, at least three different scholars considered the series of Beatitudes, Matth. 5:3-10(11), to contain, inone way or another, the program for what follows. The names of Grawert (1900), Schenz (1929) and Austin Farrer (1954) should be mentioned; they seem to be independent of one another ⁶. For Farrer, the sayings in Matth. 5:11-12, about persecutions, not only follow upon and explain the last beatitude (v. 10), but also form the beginning of a sequence of subjects which, in reversed order, can and should be interpreted in the light of the earlier beatitudes. "You are the salt of the earth" (Matth. 5:13) takes up the beatitude of the peacemakers (5:9)

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—fair enough, if one reminds oneself of Mark 9:50. Matth. 5:14-16, about the light of the world, reflect v. 8^b "they shall see God", and so on. Matth. 6:19-34 deal with the treasures in heaven and with freedom from anxiety — "consider the lilies in the field" (Matth. 6:28); this part explains and expands the beatitude of the poor in Matth. 5:3. What "blessed" implies, finally, is to be found in chapter 7, and so the circle is closed and the unity of the whole Sermon is established.
        3) Nägelsbach (1916) finds the theme of the Sermon on the Mount and the key to its structure in Matth. 5:16 ⁷.
        4) On the other hand, finding the main theme of the sermon in Matth. 5:17-20, was not unusual among earlier authors ⁸.
        5) For Fr. H. Kern († 1842), Matth. 5:19-20 defines the essence of the new moral law, which demands that good intention should be evident from one’s deeds. This main idea is, according to Kern, developed in the several sections of the Sermon on the Mount — of which Tholuck gives a list, though apparently not a full one ⁹.
        6) In Matth. 5:20 the entrance into the kingdom of heavens is reserved for those whose "righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees" — according to Edersheim "a grand climax and transition" in the Sermon ¹⁰. Here Johannes Weiss found "das eigentliche Thema der ursprünglichen Bergpredigt" ¹¹.
        Montefiore (1909), who quotes him, points out that the polemic against the scribes is mainly treated in ch. 5 "from v. 17 down to v. 48" ¹². Th. Zahn’s remark, following upon the explanation of 5:17-20, is illuminating: Matth. 5:21-48 is directed against the rabbis’" conception of the law, and ch. 6 aims at the piety and righteousness as practiced by the Pharisees ¹³.
        7) This view was taken up, expanded, modified and perhaps somewhat simplified, by Joachim Jeremias ¹⁴. For him, Matth. 5:19 still belongs to the introduction of the Sermon, but 5:20, in mentioning (a)a new righteousness, (b) the scribes, and (c) the Pharisees, provides not only the theme, but also the outline of Matth. 5-7. The Sermon on the Mount is a classic example of the primitive Christian Didache, which

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defines the Christian life style as opposed to the practice of Jewish contemporaries such as scribes, that is, professional theologians, and Pharisees, pious laymen. The first section, Matth. 5:21-48, concerns the exegesis of the scribes (b). The following paragraph, 6:1-18, deals with the piety and practice of the laymen (c), and the third part, Matth. 6:19-7:29, describes, in a positive way, the new righteousness (a) ¹⁵.
        8) In the same year 1959 which saw the publication of Jeremias’ pamphlet, a Swiss scholar, V. Hassler, called the controversial sayings in Matth. 5:21-48 "das Herzstück" of the Sermon on the Mount ¹⁶.
        9) The conclusion of this section, Matth. 5:43-48, "Love your enemies...", was seen as "the kernel of the Sermon" by James Moffatt in 1903 ¹⁷. In 1795 or 1796 Hegel found here the "Zusammenfassung des Ganzen", the summary of the whole Sermon on the Mount ¹⁸.
        10) Tholuck mentions that E. T. C. Grosse found the theme of the Sermon in Matth. 5:48, the charge to be perfect as God himself is perfect ¹⁹.
        11) Tholuck is also familiar with the view, well-known and widespread in our time, that the Lord’s Prayer, Matth. 6:9^b-13, is the centre, the heart of the Sermon on the Mount and determines or reflects its plan ²⁰.
        12) H. Pernot (1925) considered the sequel to the Lord’s Prayer,in (a) Matth. 6:19-24, 25-34; (b) 7:1-12 and (c) 7:13-23, as the "commentary and developement" of the last three petitions in Matth. 6:11,12 and 13, concerning (spiritual) food, forgiveness and trial ²¹. Matth. 6:19-34, we may recall, was dubbed "das grosse sursum corda" by Bousset, and Wellhausen speaks of "das herrliche Stück" ²².
        13) The two sections marked (a) and (b), leading up to the statement of the Golden Rule, i.e. Matth. 6:19-34 and 7:1-12, were designated "the central portion of the discourse" by A. Plumner ²³. For

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other scholars, to be sure, Matth. 7:1-12 is already part of the appendix to the Sermon ²⁴.
        14) The importance of Matth. 6:25-34, notably 6:33, was in recent years assessed by H. D. Betz. He specified Matth. 6:25-34 as "the central text" and 6:33 as the central phrase of the Sermon on the Mount ²⁵.
        15) G. Strecker may be quoted for the view that the Golden Rule, Matth. 7:12, is the second of two "focal points" of the Sermon on the Mount ²⁶.

        2. Evidently, there is a large variety of opinions and little consensus, as everyone who writes on the subject will note ²⁷. Some of the dicta we quoted are subjective, not to say highly personal, and not all were intended to throw light on the architecture of the Sermon on the Mount or on the function of a particular part of it. But time and again one comes across the imagery of a centre, a heart, a kernel, etc. What does it mean?
        I wonder whether it would make sense to say that "love as victory over all violence" is "the centre" of the Sermon on the Mount. Yet A. Sand calls love in this particular quality "die Mitte der Bergrede" ²⁸. I am not sure what he means by this, but probably he is not giving or implying a view of the composition of Matth. 5-7. In most cases, however, the authors who make a statement concerning a "central part" or a "central text", etc., would seem to do just that. Now there is, essentially, only one part that has the distinctive place and function of the centre, even if the rest perhaps depends on it, or is related to it or connected with it in a certain way. It follows that the citations we gave tend to exclude one another, and that the cumulative effect of them is likely to result in a sceptical attitude, as, at the outset, was seen in Tholuck.

        3. The problem of the composition of the Sermon on the Mount remains, and the question as to its centre is, in our opinion, a legitimate one. This does not necessarily mean it can be answered. In Luke’s Sermon on the Plain, however, there is, in the middle section, a clear case of a concentric pattern, which at this point asks for our attention. It shows, in a text closely related to Matth. 5-7, the position of the middle term in a series to be of special interest.

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        In Luke 6:20-49 the special injunctions for the hearers are found in v. 27^b-38; or rather, in v. 27^b- 31 and v. 35–38, v. 32–34 being altogether different from its preceding and ensuing context. There are seventeen commands, and among these four prohibitions. Scholars have some-times suggested they were "less admirably arranged" than the corresponding logia in Matth. 5 ²⁹.
        A visual presentation may help us to understand the internal order and arrangement.

Table 1

Luke 6:27^b–31,35–38:
Survey of seventeen
Commandments

V.	27	(1)	a)gapa~te ...	35	(10)	a)gapa~te ...
		(2)	kalw~j poiei=te ...		(11)	a)gaqopoiei=te ...
	28	(3)	eu0logei=te ...		(12)	danei/zete
		(4)	proseu/xesqe ...	36	(13)	Gi/nesqe oi0kti/rmonej
	29	(5)	... pa&rexe ...	37	(14)	mh\ kri/nete
		(6)	... mh\ kwlu/sh|j		(15)	mh\ katadika&zete
	30	(7)	... di/dou		(16)	a)polu/ete
		(8)	... mh\ a)pai/tei	38	(17)	di/dote
	31		(9) kaqw_j qe/lete ... poiei=te ... o9moi/wj

        The two elements from Luke 6:27 marked (1) and (2) return in v. 35 as nos. (10) and (11) in the series. (1) and (10) are identical in wording; in (2) and (11) there is variatio in the choice of words, but the meaning is the same. At the end of the passage, in v. 37^e and 38, nos. (16) and(17) repeat, in reversed order, the substance of (7) and (8), from v. 30. There is a certain variation: the last imperative, no. (17) in v. 38^a , is a plural, (7) in v. 30 a singular; the same difference applies to (5)-(8) when compared with (14)-(17). In (8) and (16) contrasting verbs are used, but (8) is worded as a prohibition, (16) as an admonition. The result is correspondence and coherence between these two sections of the series.
        From the point of view of synoptic comparison, (2) and (11) are among the logia without a parallel, being either Sondergut, or the result of (more or less creative) Lukan redaction; this also applies to (16) and (17). From the repetition of (1) in (10) one is led to assume that both the beginning, (10) and (11), and the end, (16) and (17), of the second

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half of the full series show the hand of the evangelist. In other words, the arrangement which we indicate by listing the logia in parallel columns is likely to be intentional on the part of Luke. Even without pursuing the analysis further, it would seem likely that part of the intention was, to show the unique importance of the Golden Rule, n. (9), placed in the centre of a pattern of seventeen injunctions ³⁰. Evidently, the middle section of the Sermon on the Plain forms a closely organised and well-designed literary unit, and the Golden Rule may well be designated as its "focal point" ³¹.

        4. Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount offers a much more extensive collection of commandments, and Matth. 5:19 makes it clear that every single one of them counts ³². Scholars occasionally did count them, but rarely in a way we could recommend ³³. The new law is revealed from Matth. 5:21 onwards; the first of the commands is found in 5:24: "Leave your gift before the altar...", and the last one, in Matth. 7:15, reads: "Beware of false prophets..."
        It should be noted that we have not listed the commandments, quoted as "said (to the men of old)..." in Matth. 5:21, 27, 31, 33, 43, and subsequently replaced by the words of Jesus introduced by "But I say to you..." (5:22 etc.). For this reason we speak of new commands and prohibitions; we have tried to include all of them, irrespective of their grammatical form ³⁴.

        Chapter 6 deserves to be analysed in small paragraphs: for v. 1-6, 7-18, 19-24 and 25-34 the number of commands in every single case equals

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Table 2

Matth. 5-7, commandments

		(new) commands			prohibitions
5:24		leave your gift... go be reconciled come and offer your gift	(1)
25		Make friends	(5)
29		pluck it out throw it away
30		cut it off throw it away
34					Do not swear¼	(1)
36					and do not swear¼
37		Let what you say be...	(10)
39					Do not resist
		turn the other¼
40		let him have¼
41		go with him¼
42		Give to him who begs			do not refuse ..	(4)
44		Love your enemies pray	(15)
45		You.. must be perfect
6:1		Beware	(1)	2	sound no trumpet	(1)
				3	do not let¼ know
				5	you must not be like¼
6		go into your room (*) pray to your Father
				7	do not heap up
				8	Do not be like them	(5)
9		Pray then¼
				16	do not look dismal
17		anoint your head	(5)
		wash		19	Do not lay up¼ treasures
20		lay up... treasures		25	do not be anxious
26		Look at the birds
28		Consider the lilies		31	do not be anxious
33		seek first his kingdom	(10)	34	do not be anxious	(10)
				7:1	Judge not	(1)
7:5		first take the log out	(1)	6	Do not give dogs... do not throw pearls
7		Ask seek knock
12		... do so to them	(5)
13		Enter by the narrow gate
15		Beware of false prophets

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Table 3

Matth. 5:21-7:15NUMBER OF (NEW) COMMANDMENTS

	commands	prohibitions	sum-total
ch. 5	17	4	21
6	10	10	20
7	7	3	10
Matth. 5:21-7:15	34	17	51

the number of prohibitions: three times 3 + 3 (v. 1-6, v. 7-18 and v. 25-34), and once 1 + 1 (v. 19-24), resulting, as Tables 2 and 3 show, in 10 + 10. That is to say: in this chapter, both the number of positive and of negative commandments can be presented as (3 x 3) + (1 x 1) = 10 and may be said to illustrate to us the fact that 3² + 1² = 10.
        We are not likely to know in much detail whether and in what form the evangelist may have known anything like this. However, that the number seventeen served him in the design and composition of these pages, and that in organizing them he used the single commandment as a unit, distinguishing between positive and negative commandments, may be safely inferred. Literary skill and a certain degree of sophistication are evident and invite comparison, first of all with Luke’s Sermon on the Plain.
        For one thing, the Sermon on the Mount is on a much larger scale, and yet the structural principle is applied all through the presentation of the new law of christianity. Finally, at Matth. 7:15 a result is achieved which we can indicate in a very simple formula, applying to the last line of Table 3: 2a + a = 3a. This simplicity is the more surprising as the material behind the formal structure, evident from our analysis, is both complex and, from the author’s point of view, of the highest importance.
        We notice that the division in chapters, i.e. mainly the marking off of ch. 6 as a separate section, falls in with the distribution of the commandments over the parts of the Sermon: the number of commands in ch. 5 equals that in ch. 6 and 7, taken together, and we had no choice but printing the aliquot part seventeen in a conspicuous place in Table 3. Command no. 17, it may be significant, is the law of perfection in Matth. 5:48.
        As we said, every single command, or prohibition, counts. Surveying the seventeen prohibitions, one sometimes notices a repetition; so in Matth. 6:25, 31 and 34. One of Mathew’s reasons for twice repeating the words "do not be anxious" may be evident in the distribution of positive and negative injunctions, so well arranged in ch. 6, as we indicated.
        In many cases, early Christian parenetic tradition has two forms for the same precept: a positive and a negative one. In Justin Martyr’s

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Apology, e.g., we find the warning of Matth. 6:1, which Matthew gives in an imperative: "Beware of practicing your piety¼ ", in the form of a prohibition, using the "conjunctivus prohibitivus" with a negative: "Do not practice these things..." (Apology 15:17). Matth. 5:40^b and Didache 1:4 have a positive command, Luke 6:29^b and Justin, Apology 16:1 a prohibition. Matthew and Luke give the Golden Rule in its positive form, Didache 1:2 has the negative formula. To a certain extent, early Christian teachers seem to have been free to choose the form they preferred, and in Matthew’s version of the new law this resulted in thirty-four commands, side by side with seventeen prohibitions. He appears to have been free also to choose either the imperative of the present time or of the aorist. In any case, besides one future tense of the indicative (Matth. 5:48), there are sixteen commands in the present imperative and seventeen in the imperativus aoristi.
        In the series of fifty-one injunctions, the central place (51 = 25 + 1 + 25) is given to Matth. 6:6: "go into your (inner) room..."; we have marked this phrase with an asterisk, and shall return to it.

        5. So, in presenting the entolai of Christ, an important constituent of the Sermon of the Mount, Matthew seems to have given careful attention to the number of both positive and negative injunctions, to their distribution over the several parts of his composition and to their arrangement in general. If for a moment we may speak irreverently of a net, the author cast this net at least as far as from Matth. 5:24 to 7:15; it is fair to say that it covers almost all of the Sermon.
        Does this mean — to touch an old vexed question — that the Sermon on the Mount is "not Jesus’ ‘Gospel’ but his ‘Commandment’", and that those who would agree with J. Jeremias’ statement to the contrary: "Die Bergpredigt... ist nicht Gesetz, sondern Evangelium", should think again? ³⁵.
        Let us look at another, even wider network, that is, at the way in which the title "father", indicating God, was used from Matth. 5:16 until 7:21 ³⁶.
        There are seventeen instances; that is, the title "father" is given seven-teen times. For the adjuncts "who is in heavens" and "who is in secret" ³⁷

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one also finds the adjective "heavenly" and the phrase "who sees in secret"; for "secret" two different, though similar Greek words are used. At least in this context Matthew cannot be said to be insensitive or careless over the point of stylistic varietas ³⁸.

Table 4

GOD AS "FATHER" IN MATTH. 5-7

5:16	ta\ kala\ e1rga ... to_n pate/ra u9mwn to_n e0n toi=j ou0ranoi=j		(1)
45	... ui9oi\ tou= patro_j u9mw~n to_n e0n toi=j ou0ranoi=j		(2)
48	... te/leioi w(j o9 path\r u9mw~n o9 ou0ra&nioj...		(3)
6:1	... misqo_n ... para\ tw|~ patri\ u9mw~n tw|~ e0n toi=j ou0ranoi=j		(4)
4	sou h( e0lehmosu/nh ... o9 path/r sou ...	(a  / )
6	pro&seucai tw|~ patri/ sou tw|~ e0n tw|~ kruptw|~	(b  /)
	o9 path/r sou o9 ble/pwn e0n tw|~ kruptw|~	(g  /)
8	oi]den ... o9 path\r u9mw~n		(5)
9	Pa&ter h(mw~n o9 e0n toi=j ou0ranoi=j		(6)
14	... a)fh/sei kai\ u9mi=n o9 path\r u9mw~n o9 ou0ra&nioj		(7)
15	... ou0de o9 path\r u9mw~n a)fh/sei ...		(8)
18	... fanh|=j ... tw|~ patri/ sou tw|~ e0n tw|~ krufai/w|	(d  /)
	... o9 path/r sou o9 ble/pwn e0n tw|~ krufai/w| a)podw&sei	(e  /)
26	ta\ peteina& ... o9 path\r u9mw~n o9 ou0ra&nioj tre/fei au0ta		(9)
32	oi]den ga\r o9 path\r u9mw~n o9 ou0ra&nioj o#ti xrh/|zete...		(10)
7:11	... o9 path\r u9mw~n o9 e0n toi=j ou0ranoi=j dw&sei ...		(11)
21	... o9 poiw~n to_ qe/lhma tou= patro&j mou tou= e0n toi=j ou0ranoi=j	(j  /)

        Near the end of the series, Matth. 7:11 draws the conclusion from the parable of a (human) father and his son (7:9-10). This is, in the Sermon on the Mount, the first and only instance of the word "son" after Matth. 5:45, and so it may recall the phrase "sons of your Father..." in item (2) from our list. The last one sums up the disciple’s intended behaviour as "doing the will of the Father" (Matth. 7:21). No. (1) also designates it by an inclusive, though different, term: "good works" (Matth. 5:16). So there is at least a slight suggestion of an inclusio between the first two and the last two elements of the list, to be symbolized by: a b/b’a’.
        From Matth. 6:4 onwards, the issue is with practical religious matters: almsgiving (6:4), prayer (6:6^bc, 8, 9, 14 and 15), fasting (6:18^ab), nine entries out of seventeen. As these nine are preceded by four and followed by another four instances of the title "Father", the whole list is structured according to a formula 4 + 9 + 4. Among the nine, however, the address in v. 9, "Our Father...", stands out as direct discourse within

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direct discourse and is in a class by itself. So, the formula 4 + 9 + 4 is to be specified as 4 + (4 + 1 + 4) + 4 or 4 + 4 + 1 + 4 + 4 = 17. The series of seventeen, in other words, is made up of four small units of four and one unit of one by itself: 17 = 4² + 1². Within the series, a further distinction is to made. In the cases marked with arabic numerals, (1)–(11), the personal pronoun in the plural shows God to be thought of as the Father of the community of believers. The other instances use a personal pronoun singular, and here God is conceived of as the father of an individual. Only in Matth. 7:21 God is "my", the speaker’s, Father; in the cases marked (a¢ )–(e¢ ) he is the Father of the person addressed as "you", singular, i.e. the individual believer. The opening words of the Lord’s prayer, Matth. 6:9, are placed in the centre of the full series of seventeen (8 + 1 + 8). They are preceded and followed by three items in one and five in the other sub-series — a division according to the Golden Section both before and after the Lord’s prayer. Marked no. (6), the address "Our Father, who art in heaven..." also forms the centre of the largest of the two sub-series: 5 + 1 + 5 = 11.
        So, in more than one way the formal structure we discern in our Table 4 makes these opening words of the Lord’s prayer in Matth. 6:9^b the centre of a very large part of the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew must have valued this piece of most ancient tradition very highly indeed.

        6. The evidence studied so far was selected from the Sermon on the Mount on the basis of two criteria: the (new) commandments and the divine title "Father". Though these criteria, in my opinion, are valid and obvious in themselves, and were applied so as to include all the relevant material, they do not permit us to consider more than a few aspects of our problem and part of the text.
        Our next table, using a simple formal criterion, is likely to give a more adequate representation of the full text of Matth. 5-7. It is based on the verbal forms found in this text, that is, on each and all of them, used as time goes on in the course of the narrative or, as it happens, of the address.
        Among the verbal forms, the numbers of finite forms and of non-finite forms, that is, participles and infinitives — are noted separately ³⁹.
        When, e.g., Matth. 5:39^b and its parallel in Luke 6:29 are compared, or Matth. 7:24-26 and Luke 6:47-49, Matthew is found to use finite

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forms where Luke has non-finite forms, mainly participles. In Matth. 5:13 and 7:13–14 and parallels on the other hand, it is Matthew and not Luke with whom we find participles. It seems unlikely that only one of the two evangelists is responsible for the differences, and so Matthew’s adaptation of the tradition probably included changes at this point. Our Table 5 helps to answer the question of the ratio between the numbers of finite and non-finite forms in Matthew. Surprisingly, there is such a ratio.
        The narrative frame of the Sermon on the Mount includes Matth. 5:1-2 at one end and 7:28-8:1 at the other. Matth. 8:1, it seems to us, per inclusionem mentions that Jesus came down from the mountain, as 5:1 reports that he went up. And as, earlier in Matth. 5:1, the crowds are present, so Matth. 8:1 again refers to them: a chiastic inclusio with a firm base in 5:1 (a-b) and spanning 8:1 inclusive (b-a) ⁴⁰.
        The divisions of the text of the Sermon on the Mount found in Table 5 are not unusual, though others could and will be made.
        As to the underlying text two problems arise. a) In Matth. 5:11 Lachmann (1837, 1842), Von Soden (1913) and the Greek-English Diglot omitted the word "lying". It was accepted as part of the text in "Nestle" from 1898 onwards until ²⁵1963.
        In Nestle-Aland²⁶ and other recent editions it is included in square brackets, indicating that the editors dealt with a difficult or very difficult problem ⁴¹.
        b) In Matth. 6:25 "or what you shall drink" is absent from the codex sinaïticus, Tischendorf’s octava (1872) and the Vulgate. Westcott & Hort (1881) placed the phrase between square brackets, and these survive in a number of recent editions, including Nestle-Aland^{25, 26} and^{27 42}.
        Table 5 refers to both these variants, but to Matth. 5:11 only in a foot-note. I am inclined to accept the longer text in Matth. 5:11, but not in 6:25.
        The figures of Table 5 reflect an analysis and subsequent synthesis of

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Matth. 5-7, based on one simple and unambiguous criterion: the grammatical notion of the verb. What is the significance of these data?

Table 5

Matthew 5-7, the number of verbal forms,
finite and non-finite

	finite	non-finite	sum-total
Matth. 5:1-2:	3	4	7/	7
3-19:	40	12	52(*)
20:	3	—	3/	55
21-32:	49	8	57
33-42:	22	9	31
43-48:	18	2	20		(170)
6:1:18:	51	14	65
19-24:	22	2	24
25-34:	31[+1]	5	36 [+1]
7:1-12:	37	8	45		(170)
13-27:	39	13	52/	330
7:28-8:1: 5 3 8/0 8 (60)	5	3	8/	8	(60)
Matth. 5:1-8:1:	320 [+ 1]	+ 80	= 400 [+ 1] v. (*)
(*): in N-A26:	40	+ 11 [+ 1]	51 [+1]
	320 [+ 1]	+ 79 [+ 1]	399 [+ 2] v.

        It does not seem likely that "coincidence" adequately accounts for the order and logic that come to the surface, and for which the word "mathematical" would rather seem to impose itself.
        The alternative solution is the tentative view that the text was designed, with care and intelligence, according to a certain logic or pattern or certain rules — which should not be ignored or denied, but respectfully described. It is hardly possible to deal with these here as fully as they deserve, but a start can be made.
        If in Matth. 6:25 the short reading is accepted, the full data for Matth. 5:1-8:1 are: 320 finite forms of the verb and 80 non-finite, which makes for a total of 400. The ratio is four to one, and 5 x 80 is made up of 4 x 80 plus 1 x 80.
        For many authors on the subject, Matth. 7:13 is the beginning of a final section, called "Epilogue", "closing paragraphs", "Finale", "Ausleitung", etc. ⁴³.

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        At Matth. 6:1, there is little reason for doubt, a new section begins; earlier we had occasion to comment on this and to approve of the communis opinio, because Matth. 6:1 begins the second half of the 34 or twice 17 commands of the New Law (see Table 3).
        It now transpires, that, accepting divisions at Matth. 6:1 and 7:13, the whole section of wich we are studying the composition is using 170 + 170 + 60 verbal forms. Table 3 and Table 4 already gave evidence of the use of the number seventeen and its multiples. Table 5 shows a, or perhaps the principal division of the whole literary unit to employ the decuple 170 for two large sub-sections ⁴⁴. This sum-total of 400 verbal forms, which we find to be very strictly organized, includes both the Sermon and its narrative frame. The Sermon on the Mount itself begins and ends, in Matth. 5:3-19 and 7:13-27, with two sections of equal size, that is, each using 52 verbal forms. Notably in Matth. 7:13-27, this result was achieved in an uncommon way, as we shall see. Matth. 5:19, we may notice, for many scholars closes a small paragraph; they take 5:20 to mark a new beginning. For others, however, it is Matth. 5:20 that has such a closing function, and for them, v. 21 is the new beginning ⁴⁵. Is there, at this point, a dilemma? Perhaps not: we may have to consider v. 20 both as a new beginning and as a closing statement.
        Of the sum-total of 385 or 7 x 55 verbal forms (Matth. 5:3-7:27) the "introduction" in Matth. 5:3-20 uses 55, the rest 330, in a ratio of one to six ⁴⁶. On this evidence, Matth. 5:20 completes the small first unit, one seventh of the whole Sermon. But Matth. 5:19 rounds off the somewhat smaller unit which corresponds to and is identical in size with the closing section Matth. 7:13-27.
        The 385 verbal forms of Matth. 5:3-7:27 divide into 312 finite forms and 73 non-finite forms. As we shall see, the literary organization of Matth. 7:13-27 is based on the aliquot part thirteen. This is perhaps also true of the distribution of finite forms over some sub-divisions in the

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earlier part, Matth. 5:3-7:12, that is, if one may divide and combine as is done in Table 6.

Table 6

Matth. 5:3-7:27
VERBAL FORMS, FINITE AND NON-FINITE

	finite		non-finite	sum-total
Matth. 5:3-19	40		12	52
20-32		52	8	60
5:33-6:18		91	25	116
6:19-7:12	90		15	105
7:13-27		39	13	52
Matth. 5:3-7:27:	130 + 182
or:	312		+ 73	= 385 v.

        Table 6 presupposes the short text in Matth. 6:25; for 6:19-7:12 the figure is not 90 [+1], but simply 90. This section, opening with "Do not... lay up treasures on earth" seems to supplement the initial segment Matth. 5:3-19, starting from the beatitude "Blessed are the poor..." Together, these two sections employ, as each of the other sections does by itself, a multiple of thirteen finite verbs. Their 40 + 90 = 130 finite verbs again supplement the 52 + 91 = 143 or 11 x 13 finite forms of the enclosed paragraphs in Matth. 5:20-6:18. These may be defined as containing the polemic with the Jewish conception and practice of the Law, headed by what Jeremias called the "Themasatz" in Matth. 5:20. So there is no problem as to the coherence and unity of this section. Table 6 enables us to survey this more or less "central" section as framed by two other sections which in their pattern of verbal forms share the aliquot part thirteen. They however do so, as it were, in a joined effort; only when combined do the finite forms in Matth. 5:3-19 and Matth. 6:19–7:12 help to constitute a frame which complies with the dominant factor thirteen.
        For the final paragraphs of the Sermon, Matth. 7:13-27, 52 verbal forms are used. So Matth. 6:1-7:27 is to be assessed at 170 + 52 = 222 verbal forms. On the other hand, Matth. 5:20-48, as also can be seen in Table 5, uses 3 + 57 + 31 + 20 = 111 verbal forms in toto. That is to say, once more simple proportions emerge: at Matth. 5:48/6:1, a main body of the Sermon — if we may, for a moment, designate Matth. 5:20-7:27 in this way — measuring 333 units, divides into sections of 111 + 222 verbal forms. Simply: a + 2a = 3a ⁴⁷.

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        Table 7 may illustrate this.

Table 7

Matth. 5:1-7:27
Survey of 392 verbal forms

Matth. 5:1-2:					7
3-19:				52
20-48:	3 + 57 + 31 + 20 =		111
6:1-34:	65 + 24 + 36 =	125
7:1-27:	45 + 52 =	97/	222/	333/	385/	392 v.

        In ancient, though not only in ancient literature, it is often worthwhile to look for the centre of a composition, and as we have seen, scholars have often given their opinion on the centre of the Sermon on the Mount. Earlier, we noted that, among fifty-one injunctions, No. 26, that is, the central one, is Matth. 6:6: "... go into your (inner) room..." Of the 392 verbal forms in Table 7, this is No. 196.

Table 8

Matth. 5:1-7:27
Verbal Forms

Matth. 5:1-48:				170
6:1-5:				24/	194
v. 6ab				2
				2/	4
6c				2
v. 7-18:		9 + 8 + 18 =		35
6:19-7:27:		105 + 52 =		157/	194/	392 v.

        On a smaller scale, the command to go into the inner room and to shut the door is even more central, as the four verbs in Matth. 6:6^abform as it were a concentric pattern in miniature.

        So, there is at least one way in which the question as to the centre of the Sermon on the Mount can be answered precisely. Note, however,

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that the 392 verbal forms mentioned just now do not include the 8 forms, used in Matth. 7:28-8-1 ⁴⁸.
        In Matth. 7:13-27, the arrangement of the 52 verbal forms calls for our attention. In Table 5 and Table 6 the division of these 52 forms into 39 finite and 13 non-finite forms was recorded.
        Once we were taught that religion and art use terms of quality or value, in contrast to science, which depends on measurement of quantity ⁴⁹. Now Matthew’s religion did not prevent him from using, in his literary art, a quantitative approach. He was, however, not blind to specific qualities, that is, in the case of verbal forms, to moods and tenses of these forms.
        To give an example: Matth. 9:2-8, healing No. 6 in a longer series of miracles, uses thirty verbal forms. Among them there are six indicatives of the aorist and six participles in the narrative, six present indicatives and six imperatives in the spoken parts ⁵⁰.
        In Matth. 6:19-24, the indicatives of the present and of the future add up to 11 + 7 = 18 out of a total of 24 verbal forms. In Matth. 6:25-34, they add up to 16 + 2 = 18 out of 36 verbal forms. In the first passage, these tenses take 75%, in the second one 50 % of the total number of verbal forms.
        In Matth. 7:13-27, the 52 verbal forms divide into 32 for v. 13-23 and (10 + 10 =) 20 for v. 24-27; that is: these parts of the composition conform to the golden section. In v. 13-14 the reader meets with 7, inv. 15-20 with 14 verbal forms, a total of 21 forms, neatly distributed according to a formula: a + 2a.
        As for grammatical distinctions among the verbal forms in Matth. 7:13-27, one finds:

        In more detail:

Table 9
Matth. 7:13-27, verbal forms

	finita				non-finita
v. 13-20:		13			8
21-23:	8				3
24-25:	10				—
26-27:	8/	26			2
——————————					——————
Matth. 7:13-27:		39		+	13 =	52 v.

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        In the composition of Matth. 7:13-27 the aliquot part thirteen, it appears, was applied throughout and in a number of different ways.

        7. In conclusion. Studying Matth. 5-7, we do not, as some earlier scholars did, come across signs of negligence, or lack of interest in the literary form. There is, as far as we see, no "Nachlässigkeit volkstümlicher Schriftstellerei". On the contrary, there is every reason to agree with those who would speak of the "architecture", "design" etc., of the Sermon on the Mount. It was not only written with competence, care and precision, such as one would expect in a man of letters, whose education as such was more than adequate. More important, it was primarily designed and composed on the basis of a traditional literary technique, applying several inclusive structural principles. These were obviously applied with a master craftsman’s hand, and it is difficult not to admire the result. The system, — or should one say: pattern, or texture? — of the verbal forms unobtrusively spans all of Matth. 5:1-8:1; and, since part of the essence of the system, much to some people’s dismay I expect, is numerical, the exact place of any phrase in the Sermon can be defined without much trouble.
        The text as a whole is strictly and simply structured: at Matth. 5:48 "... as your heavenly Father is perfect", the verbal form e0stin completes the first of two parts of 170 verbal forms, Matth. 5:1-48. The second one is completed in Matth. 7:12 "... this is the law and the prophets", where we find verbal form No. 340 — two highlights in the Sermon on the Mount, both as to the subject matter and as to the strategic position of these sayings.
        Proportions can be defined easily and exactly, as, e.g., Table 7 sets out in the case of Matth. 5:20-48 and the remaining part of the Sermon: 111 relates to 222 as one to two. This, of course, applies in smaller sections of the text also.
        The "centre", to use one of the terms much in favour with exegetes of the Sermon on the Mount, of any given or chosen unit, or, for that matter, of a chosen set, can be determined. The seventeen instances of the title "Father", assigned to God, proved to be such a set; see Table 4. Matth. 6:6^b is, indeed, to be acknowledged as a "centre" of special importance, for a special reason. In another way, the specific instruction concerning the prayer’s mental attitude and the place of prayer in Matth. 6:6 is a centre par excellence, as both Table 8 and Table 2 can help us to understand.
        There was no opportunity for much discussion at this point, but the internal organization of the argument, the divisions of the text and other such matters can, on the basis of the technical features of the literary composition, be studied to advantage. Let us recall one example of a detail.
        Matth. 5:20 was made into a separate paragraph by the editors of Nestle-Aland²⁶ and ²⁷. In earlier editions, it formed the conclusion of the preceding paragraph.

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        In our analysis, the function of the verse indeed resembles Janus’ head, as it closes the preceding section, but also is the beginning of its sequel. The only way to visualize this twofold function is, to print the verse by itself.
        In three different ways, we found the number seventeen to have been used in the design of the Sermon on the Mount: in the arrangement of the fifty-one commandments, in the pattern of the title "Father", and in the main, threefold structure of 170 + 170 + 60 = 400 verbal forms which is at the base of the full text. Therefore it may be appropriate, to mention that according to Plutarch, "the Pythagoreans" detested the number seventeen ⁵¹. Among the early Christians, some teachers evidently did not.

J. SMIT SIBINGA
Koepellaan 4
2061 CV Bloemendaal (HOLANDA)

SUMARIO

        Constata el autor la diversidad de opiniones respecto a la estructura del Sermón de la Montaña en Mt 5-7 y enumera las de diversos autores, desde Fausto Sozzini (1539-1604) hasta las recientes de H. D. Betz y G. Strecker.
        Examina la cuestión del centro en Lc 6,27b-31.35-38, disponiendo pa-ralelamente los diecisiete mandatos, de ellos cuatro prohibiciones, distinguiendo así dos series cuyo punto central es el v. 31, la Regla de oro (tabla 1). A continuación estudia la serie de (nuevos) mandatos en el Sermón de Mt, mucho más extensa que en Lc (tablas 2 y 3); en total resultan 34 mandatos (17 x 2) y 17 prohibiciones. Mt parece haber prestado gran atención al número de mandatos positivos y negativos, a su distribución en las diversas partes del Sermón y a su disposición en general.
        Para ver si el Sermón es "evangelio" o "ley", examina la distribución de la palabra "Padre" (17 veces, tabla 4).
        Pasa después a la consideración de las formas verbales. La tabla 5 da la lista de las formas verbales que se encuentran en los caps 5-7, finitas (320) y no finitas (80), en total 400. Para discutir si 7,13 es el principio de un epílogo, examina las formas contenidas entre 5,3 y 7,27 (385 formas verbales: 312 finitas y 73 no finitas); la organización de 7,13-27 está basada en el divisor 13.
        La tabla 6 expone las formas verbales, finitas y no finitas, de 5,3-7,27, por secciones (5,3-19; 5,20-32; 5,33-6,18; 6,19-7,12; 7,13-27), para determinar la unidad central (5,20-6,18), enmarcada entre otras dos (5,3-19; 6,19-7,12).
        La tabla 7 presenta la distribución de las 392 formas verbales entre las

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diferentes secciones desde 5,1 a 7,27. Así como, de los 51 mandatos, el central era 6,6 ("entra en tu cuarto"), así, de las 392 formas verbales, es el número 196, que coincide con el mismo versículo (6ab) (tabla 8). Muestra el mismo arte de Mt en 9,2-8, respecto al número de formas verbales y, a la luz de esto, examina 6,19-24, 6,25-34 y 7,13-27 (tabla 9).
        Concluye que Mt 5-7 no sólo está escrito con competencia, cuidado y precisión, sino que está concebido y compuesto según una técnica literaria tradicional, y esto con mano maestra.
        Como un todo, el texto está estricta y sencillamente estructurado. Así, la forma verbal e0stin en 5,48 completa la primera de dos partes de 170 formas verbales (5,1-48); la segunda está completada en 7,12 (e0stin, número 340), dos puntos culminantes del sermón, en cuanto al contenido y en cuanto a la posición estratégica. El número 17 se usa en la disposición del sermón de tres maneras: para disponer los 51 (17 x 3) mandatos, en la frecuencia del título Padre (17 veces) y en la principal estructura ternaria de 170 + 170 + 60 formas verbales que está a la base del texto entero.

© 1994 Filología Neotestamentaria

________________________________

NOTES

^* Paper presented at the "Rhetoric and Religion" Conference of the Department of New Testament of UNISA, Pretoria, SA, on August 18, 1994. I am grateful to the organisers and participants of this conference, and also to Dr. S. P. Brock of Oxford, who kindly corrected the English of this contribution. In Table 2, the Revised Standard Version is used.

¹ A. Tholuck, Philologisch=theologische Auslegung der Bergpredigt Christi nach Matthäus..., Hamburg, ²1835, p. 23. The book was still reprinted in 1872.

² E. Peterson, s.v. Bergpredigt, in Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Zweite Auflage, I, Tübingen, 1927, Sp. 907-10, see 909. G. Bornkamm, s.v. Bergpredigt, in RGG, Dritte Auflage, I, 1957, Sp. 1047-50, see 1048. Cf. O. Betz, "Bergpredigt und Sinaitradition", in (idem), Jesus der Messias Israels, Tübingen (1987), pp. 333-84, see 349: "Am 7. Kapitel der Bergpredigt scheint jegliches Ordnungsprinzip zu scheitern."

³ Joannes Crellius, Opera omnia exegetica, Eleutheropolis (=Amsterdam), post... 1656, p. 59; cf. De la Fontaine Verwey, as quoted in note 5. Among those who find secondary insertions in the text, we mention J. Kürzinger, "Zur Komposition der Bergpredigt nach Matthäus", Biblica 40 (1959), pp. 569-89 (in Matth. 5:11-12; 6:7-15, 25-34 and elsewhere).

⁴ Eduard Meyer, Ursprung und Anfänge des Christentums, I, Die Evangelien, Stuttgart-Berlin, 1921, p. 242.

⁵ Faustus Socinus, Concionis Christi ... explicatio..., in Opera omnia, Irenopoli(= Amsterdam), post ... 1656 (Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum, I), pp. 1-73. see p. 9^b. The eight volumes of this Bibliotheca were possibly printed between 1665 and 1668 by Joan Blaeu; see H. de la Fontaine Verwey, Uit de wereld van het boek, III, In en om de Vergulde Sonnewyser, Amsterdam, 1979, p. 168 (kindness of dr. Visser, Amsterdam). Among recent commentators, e.g., F. W. Beare, The Gospel according to Matthew, Oxford (1981), pp. 123-38, calls Matth. 5:3-16 the Exordium to the Sermon. O. Betz (see note 2), p. 354 et alibi, designates 5:3-20 as "das Proömium ... der Bergpredigt". Cf. H. Lausberg, Handbuch der literarischen Rhetorik (München, ²1973), par. 266,269.

⁶ F. Grawert, Die Bergpredigt nach Matthäus..., 1900 (non vidi), mentioned byJ. Moffatt, s.v. Sermon on the Mount, in Encyclopaedia Biblica, IV, London, 1903, col. 4375-91, see 4377, and by C. W. Votaw in J. Hastings e.a, A Dictionary of the Bible, Extra Volume, 1906, pp. 1-45, see 12-13. A. Schenz, Die Bergpredigt in ihrer ursprügnlichen Schönheit, Augsburg, 1929. Austin Farrer, St Matthew and St Mark, Westminster, (1954), pp. 160-76. There is a very full bibliography in W. S. Kissinger, The Sermon of the Mount: A History of Interpretation and Bibliography (ATLA Bibliography Series, 3), Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1975.

⁷ Fr. Nägelsbach, Der Schlüssel zum Verständnis der Bergpredigt (BFChrTh 20:5), Gütersloh 1916. More recent: Chr. Burchard, "Versuch, das Thema der Bergpredigt zu finden", in: G. Strecker, ed., Jesus Christus in Historie und Theologie, Fs. H. Conzel-mann, Tübingen,1975, pp. 409-32, see, e.g., p. 432. See also O. Betz, 1987 (note 2), p. 366.

⁸ See, e.g., H. J. Holtzmann, Die Synoptiker (Hand-Commentar zum NT, I, 1), Tübingen-Leipzig, ³1901, p. 205, and cf. O. Betz, 1987 (note 2), pp. 376-7.

⁹ Tholuck (see n. 1), pp. 24-25.

¹⁰ A. Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (^2-31886), I-II, Grand Rapids, 1936, I, p. 530.

¹¹ Joh. Weiss, in Die Schriften des NTs, Göttingen, ¹1906, p. 248; ³1917, p. 260.

¹² C. G. Montefiore, The Synoptic Gospels, II, London, 1909, pp. 496, 487.

¹³ Th. Zahn, Das Evangelium des Matthäus, Leipzig, ²1905, p. 220; to the same effect: E. Klostermann, Die Synoptiker (Handbuch zum NT, 2.1), Tübingen, 1919, p. 179.

¹⁴ J. Jeremias, Jerusalem zur Zeit Jesu..., I-II, Leipzig, 1923, 1929, II, pp. 124-25; Die Bergpredigt (Calwer Hefte, 27), Stuttgart, 1959, p. 20.

¹⁵ Cf. Zahn (see n. 13), pp. 286-87 on Matth. 6:19-34: "... gehört ... zur Ausführung von 5,20", in J. A. Bengel’s; Gnomon (³1773) one finds, at Matth. 5:20, the note: "Scribarum maxime videbatur esse docere; pharisaeorum facere" (ed. P. Steudel, Stuttgart, 1915, p. 41). In an original edition, Tübingen, ²1759, p. 46^b.

¹⁶ V. Hassler, "Das Herzstück der Bergpredigt", Theologische Zeitschrift (Basel), 15 (1959), 90-106.

¹⁷ J. Moffatt, in Encyclopaedia Biblica, 4 (see n. 6), col. 4386.

¹⁸ See P. Roques, ed., G. W. F. Hegel, Das Leben Jesu..., Jena, 1906, p. 165.

¹⁹ E. T. C. Grosse, De consilio quod Christus in oratione montana secutus sit, Göttingen, 1818, see Tholuck (n. 1), p. 23.

²⁰ G. Ph. Chr. Kaiser (1781-1848) and E. R. Stier (ca. 1800-1862); see Tholuck (n. 1, p. 23, n. **). See, e.g., W. Grundmann (1968) ³1972, pp. 205-06, 218; E. Schweizer, NTD, 1973, pp. 130-31; G. Bornkamm in NTS 24 (1978), pp. 424, 430-31; U. Luz, 1985, pp. 185-86; O. Betz, 1987 (see note 2), p. 375; W. D. Davies & D. C. Allison, 1988, p. 63; cf. J. Gnilka, 1986, pp.111-12; C. Dietzfelbinger, ZNW 75 (1984), p. 184.

²¹ H. Pernot, Pages choisies des évangiles (Collection de l’Institut Néo-Hellénique, 2), Paris, 1925, pp. 76, 82, 84-5. In Matth. 6:13, Pernot translates peirasmo&j as "épreuve".

²² W. Bousset, Jesus (Religionsgeschichtliche Volksbücher, I.2/3), Tübingen, ⁴1922, p. 48; J. Wellhausen, Das Evangelium Matthaei, Berlin, 1904, p. 28; ²1914, p. 27.

²³ A. Plummer, 1911, p. 57.

²⁴ E.g., C. Weizsäcker, Das apostolische Zeitalter der christlichen Kirche, Tübingen-Leipzig, ³1902, pp. 380-81.

²⁵ H. D. Betz, "Kosmogenie und Ethik in der Bergpredigt", ZTK 81 (1984), pp. 139-71, see pp. 145, 161-2. Also: idem, Studien zur Bergpredigt, Tübingen, 1985, p. 101.

²⁶ G. Strecker, "Compliance — Love of one’s enemy — The Golden Rule", Australian Biblical Review 29 (1981), pp. 38-46, see 39. Cf. idem, Die Bergpredigt. Ein Exegetischer Kommentar, Göttingen, 1984, p. 156: "An zentraler Stelle..."

²⁷ E.g.: D. C. Allison, "The Structure of the Sermon of the Mount", JBL 106 (1987), pp. 423-45, see pp. 424-25.

²⁸ A. Sand, Das Matthäus-Evangelium (EdF, 275), Darmstadt (1991), p. 144.

²⁹ J. Moffatt in Encyclopaedia Biblica 4 (1903), col. 4386.

³⁰ Cf. Th. Zahn, Das Evangelium des Lucas, Leipzig, ^1-21913, p. 290: "Dieser Abschnitt ist ... von Lc in der Mitte durch den Satz unterbrochen (31): "Gemäss dem, was ihr wollt, dass euch die Leute tun...""

³¹ Cf. G. Strecker, as quoted in n. 26. Luke’s arrangement may be called, with an oxymoron, "concentric parallelism". Cf. Hermas, Mandate 8 (§ 38:10, M. Whittaker, 1956, pp. 35-6): dikaiosu/nhn a)skei=n as the middle term in a series of seventeen in-junctions.

³² A. Harnack, Sprüche und Reden Jesu (Beiträge zur Einleitung in das Neue Testament, 2) Leipzig, 1907: "Ueberall wo das christologisch-apologetische Interesse noch nicht überwog, stand das Interesse an den Geboten Jesu im Vordegrund."Cf. R. F. Collins, "Matthew’s Entolai...", in F. van Segbroeck e.a., ed., The FourGospels 1992, Fs. F. Neirynck, Leuven,1992, II, pp. 1325-48, see p. 1345 onMatth. 5:19: "... the verse ultimately urges the observance of all the commandments."

³³ A. Plummer, 1911, p. 57: "The central portion of the discourse (VI.19-VII.12) consists of three prohibitions and two commands. The prohibitions are (1) lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth; (2) Judge not, and (3) Give not that which is holy to the dogs. The commands are (1) Pray to your Father in Heaven; (2) Love your neighbour as yourself." For this, see Matth. 19:19. In fact, as Table 2 shows, the passage Matth. 6:19-7:12 contains seven prohibitions and nine commands. O. Betz, 1987 (see note 2) p. 349, lists "die massgebenden Imperative in Mt. 7,1-20", but overlooks or neglects those in Matth. 7:5^b (e1kbale), 6^b (mhde\ ba&lhte), 7^c (zhtei=te) and 7^e (krou/ete). Instead of ten commandments, he has only six.

³⁴ On the grammatical form, see the end of this paragraph. As a matter of course, the six imperatives and one conjunctivus prohibitivus in Matth. 6:9^b-13 are excluded from our list.

³⁵ A. M. Hunter, Design for Life. An Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, London, (1953), p. 103. Cf. O. Betz, 1987 (see note 2), p. 333. J. Jeremias, Die Bergpredigt, 1959 (see note 14), p. 29.

³⁶ The literature is extensive. For two recent contributions, see E. M. Schuller, "The Psalm of 4Q372 1 Within the Context of Second Temple Prayer", CBQ 54 (1992),pp. 67-79, see pp. 75-79 on the invocation of God as Father; G. Schneider, "Auf Gott bezogenes "Mein Vater" und "Euer Vater" in den Jesus Worten der Evangelien", F. van Segbroeck e.a., ed., The Four Gospels, Fs. F. Neirynck, Leuven, 1992, III, pp. 1751-81; about Matthew, see pp. 1764-71, 1775-76.

³⁷ For the contrast between the two ascriptions one may compare those in the prayer of 1 Clement 59:3-4, where the contrast between high (to_n mo&non u3yiston e0n u9yi/stoij) and low (to_n e0pible/ponta e0n tai=j a)bu/ssoij) is clearly intentional.

³⁸ For varietas, see H. Lausberg (see note 5), I, p. 319; Aristotle, Rhet. 3.12 (1413b22): a)na&gkh ... metaba&llein to_ au0to_ le/gontaj... J. Magne, "Répétition de mots et exégèse dans quelques psaumes et le Pater", Biblica 39 (1958), pp. 177-97; seepp. 196-7 on Matth. 6:9^b -13, where variatio is, however, not absent.

³⁹ On Matthew’s use of verbal forms, see J. Smit Sibinga, "Matthew 14:22-33- Text and Composition", in E. J. Epp, G. D. Fee, ed., New Testament Textual Criticism...,Fs. B. M. Metzger, Oxford, 1981, pp. 15-34, pp. 19-21; cf. "Zur Kompositionstechnik des Lukas in Lk. 15:11-32", in J. W. van Henten e.a., ed., Tradition and Re- interpretation ..., Fs. J. C. H. Lebram (Studia Post-biblica, 36), Leiden, 1986, pp. 97-113; "The Function of Verbal Forms in Luke-Acts", Filología Neotestamentaria 6 (1993), pp. 31-50, where the Jewish and non-Jewish traditional background of this composition technique is illustrated.

⁴⁰ Cf. R. H. Lightfoot, History and Interpretation in the Gospels, London (1935),p. 40, mentioning Sir John Hawkins. He "was fond of pointing out that the division of chapters is apt to blind us to the correct distribution of paragraphs at this point; 8¹ belongs to 7^{27, 28} and is inappropriate as an introduction to 8^2-4, as verse 4 shows".

⁴¹ In Griesbach’s judgment (ed. 1809) it is a case of "omissio minus probabilis"; Tischendorf, ⁸1872, notes: (nil simile Lc; videbatur minuere vim sententiae?...). Zahn (see note 13), p. 193: "Einschiebung"; cf. A. Pott, Der Text des Neuen Testaments, Leipzig-Berlin, ²1919, p. 98. In 1966 the editors of the Greek New Testament had "considerable doubt", in 1983 there was a "very high degree of doubt", see alsoB. M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary..., London-New York (1971), pp. 12-13.G. Bonaccorsi, Primi saggi di filologia neotestamentaria, I, Torino (1933), p. 10: "un’inutile glossa". It was omitted by H. Greeven, Synopse, Tübingen, 1981.

⁴² The words should be omitted according to Zahn (see n. 13), p. 293, n. 8, who refers to Jerome; J. M. S. Baljon, 1900; G. A. van den Bergh van Eysinga, 1947, and others. H. D. Betz, 1984 (see note 25), p. 146, n. 33, argues from the "rhetorische Komposition der Perikope" and accepts the phrase. So does F. W. Beare, 1981.

⁴³ Plummer, 1911: Epilogue; Bonaccorsi (see n. 41), p. 87: Epilogo; F. V. Filson, 1960: closing paragraphs; F. W. Beare, 1981: Finale; Gnilka, 1986: Ausleitung, etc. Even Kari Syreeni’s "deep level plan" divides at Matth. 7:12/13, see The Making of theSermon on the Mount..., I (Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae, Dissertationes Humanarum Litterarum. 44), Helsinki, 1987, p. 177. S. A. Panimolle, La struttura del discorso della montagna (Mt. 5-7), in Testimonium Christi, scritti in onore di Jacques Dupont, Brescia (1985), pp. 329-50, finds a sevenfold structure, and the last part is Matth. 7:13-28, see pp. 348-50.

⁴⁴ For Matth. 6:1-18 and 6:19-7:12 the figures are: 65 and (24 + 36 + 45) or 65 and 105 verbal forms. That is: at Matth. 6:18/19 the second large sub-section is divided according to the Golden Section (13:21 = 21:34).

⁴⁵ At Matth. 5:20, J. Weiss, 1906 (see note 11) denied, Klostermann, 1909, doubted whether there is any real connection between Matth. 5:19 and 20. For F. W. Beare, 1981, Matth. 5:20 is a new beginning; for U. Luz, 1985, the verse closes the "Introitus des Hauptteils", 5:17-20; for J. Gnilka, 1986, it forms the conclusion of the introduction, Matth. 5:2-20.

⁴⁶ A Greek inscription concerning Dionysodoros of Thasos, to be dated to the early first Century B.C., was studied in FilNeot 1993 (see note 39). The number of words is 220 (2² x 55); the number of syllables 495 (3² x 55); the number of verbal forms 11 + 11. In the Hebrew text of 2(4) Kings 8:1-6 one counts 33 verbal forms among 132 words. So the composition of Matth. 5-7 is, from the structural point of view, no exception: here as elsewhere one finds a literary design, based, in one way or another, on the numbers 11, 55 and their multiples (see FilNeot 6 [1993], pp. 36-7, 48-50).

⁴⁷ For the use of numbers with a "symmetrical structure", see J. Smit Sibinga, "Melito of Sardis. The artist and his text", in Vigiliae Christianae 24 (1970), pp. 81-104, pp. 95-96, n. 31.

⁴⁸ In the "inner room", one imagines, there is very little space. The same is true for the "narrow gate" in Matth. 7:14. In Matth. 7:1-27 teqlimme/nh (v. 14) is verbal form No. 49 out of 97: 48 + 1 + 48. Here too, the narrowest space is found in the middle. But whether, to what degree, Matth 7:1-27 is to be considered a unit, remains to be seen.

⁴⁹ See C. H. Dodd, The Authority of the Bible, London, (1928, ²1938), p. 82.

⁵⁰ J. Smit Sibinga, "Gedicht en getal..." NedTT 42 (1988), pp. 185-207, see pp. 203-04.

⁵¹ Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride, 367F.