Matthew 5:14

14 . the light of the world ] See John 8:12 , where Jesus says of Himself “I am the light of the world.” Cp. Php 2:15 , “Ye shine as lights (rather ‘luminaries’) in the world.” a city that is set on a hill …] Stanley remarks ( S. and P. 337) that in Northern Palestine “the plain and mountain-sides are dotted with villages … situated for the most part (not like those of Judæa, on hilltops, or Samaria, in deep valleys, but) as in Philistia, on the slopes of the ranges which intersect or bound the plain.” The image in the text therefore recalls Judæa rather than Galilee, Bethlehem rather than Nazareth. Some however have conjectured that the lofty Safed was in sight, and was pointed to by our Lord. Land and Book , 273.

Matthew 5:14-15 . Ye are the light of the world — The effect of light being to make things manifest, Ephesians 5:13 , and to direct us in the way in which we are to walk; the import of this metaphor is, that Christ had appointed his disciples in general, and his apostles and the other ministers of his gospel in particular, to enlighten and reform the world, immersed in ignorance, sin, and misery, by their doctrine and example; and so to direct their feet into the way leading to life and salvation. Christ, it must be observed, is in the highest sense the light of the world; the original light, the great light, who, like the sun, hath light in and from himself; but the ministers of his gospel are, in an inferior sense, lights of the world also, for the angels of the churches are said to be stars, Revelation 1:20 ; and holy persons are children of the light, 1 Thessalonians 5:5 . A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid — As if he had said, If you do not hide this light from mankind, but cause it to shine forth in your doctrine and practice, it will be so clear and resplendent as not possibly to be hid, any more than a city set on a hill. The Church of Christ is often called the city of God, and it must be here observed, that his people are not here merely compared to a city, but to a city upon a hill; so that all our Saviour has in view in mentioning a city here, is the conspicuousness of one so built.

It is as much as if our Saviour had said, You had need be wise and holy, for your conversation can no more be hid than a city that is built upon a hill, and is obvious to every eye. Neither do men light a candle — Or lamp rather, as λυχνον , signifies. Indeed, candles were not used at that time in Judea for lighting their houses; consequently, the word λυχνια , here and elsewhere in the New Testament, translated candlestick, means a lamp stand. The purport of this verse is, you, my apostles and disciples, ought to consider for what end I have communicated my light to you. It may be illustrated by that which men have in view when they light up a lamp in a room, which is, to give light to all those who are in it; for as they do not use to light it up that they may then hide it under a vessel, so I have not communicated my truth or my grace unto you merely for your own use, but for that of others. The word μοδιον , should be here rendered, not a bushel, but a corn-measure, for they had no such measure as a bushel . Indeed, the measure mentioned by the evangelist is so far from answering to our bushel, that it was as little as our peck. It is true, indeed, that as nothing here depends on the size of the measure, any measure of capacity might well enough suit the evangelist’s observation; yet a translator, as Dr. Campbell observes, ought not, even indirectly, to misrepresent the customs of the people he speaks of, or alludes to.

Matthew 5:14 . μωρανθῇ . The Vulgate renders the verb evanuerit . Better Beza and Erasmus, infatuatus fuerit . If the salt become insipid, so as to lack its proper preserving virtue—can this happen? Weiss and others reply: It does not matter for the point of the comparison. Perhaps not, but it does matter for the felicity of the metaphor, which is much more strikingly apt if degeneracy can happen in the natural as well as in the spiritual sphere. Long ago Maundrell maintained that it could, and modern travellers confirm his statement. Furrer says: “As it was observed by Maundrell 200 years ago so it has often been observed in our time that salt loses somewhat of its sharpness in the storehouses of Syria and Palestine. Gathered in a state of impurity, it undergoes with other substances a chemical process, by which it becomes really another sort of stuff, while retaining its old appearance” ( Ztscht. für M. und R. , 1890). A similar statement is made by Thomson ( Land and Book , p. 381). There is no room for doubt as to whether the case supposed can happen in the spiritual sphere. The “salt of the earth” can become not only partially but wholly, hopelessly insipid, losing the qualities which constitute its conservative power as set forth in the Beatitudes and in other parts of Christ’s teaching ( e.g. , Matthew 18).

Erasmus gives a realistic description of the causes of degeneracy in these words: “Si vestri mores fuerint amore laudis, cupiditate pecuniarum, studio voluptatum, libidine vindicandi, metu infamiae damnorum aut mortis infatuati,” etc. (Paraph. in Evan. Matt.).— ἐν τίνι ἁλις : not, with what shall the so necessary salting process be done? but, with what shall the insipid salt be salted? The meaning is that the lost property is irrecoverable. A stern statement, reminding us of Hebrews 6:6 , but true to the fact in the spiritual sphere. Nothing so hopeless as apostate discipleship with a bright past behind it to which it has become dead—begun in the spirit, ending in the flesh.— εἰς οὐδὲν , useless for salting, good for nothing else any more ( ἔτι ).— εἰ μὴ βληθὲν , etc. This is a kind of humorous afterthought: except indeed, cast out as refuse, to be trodden under foot of man, i.e. , to make footpaths of. The reading βληθὲν is much to be preferred to βληθῆναι , as giving prominence to καταπατεῖσθαι as the main verb, pointing to a kind of use to which insipid salt can after all be put. But what a downcome: from being saviours of society to supplying materials for footpaths!

(14) The light of the world. —In its highest or truest sense the word belongs to Christ, and to Him only ( John 1:9 ; John 8:12 ). The comparison to the “candle” or “lamp” in Matthew 5:15 shows, indeed, that even here the disciples are spoken of as shining in the world with a derived brightness flowing to them from the Fount of light. A city that is set on an hill.—Assuming the Sermon on the Mount to have been preached from one of the hills of Galilee near the “horns of Hattin,” our Lord may have looked or pointed at Safed, 2,650 feet above the sea, commanding one of the grandest panoramic views in Palestine. It is now one of the four holy cities of the Jews, and probably existed as a fortress in our Lord’s time (Thomson’s The Land and the Book, p. 273). The imagery might, however, come from the prophetic visions of the Zion of the future, idealising the position of the actual Zion (Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1). No image could so vividly set forth the calling of the Church of Christ as a visible society. For good or for evil, it could not fail to be prominent in the world’s history, a city of refuge for the weary, or open to the attacks of the invader.

14. Ye are the light of the world—This being the distinctive title which our Lord appropriates to Himself (Joh 8:12; 9:5; and see Joh 1:4, 9; 3:19; 12:35, 36)—a title expressly said to be unsuitable even to the highest of all the prophets (Joh 1:8)—it must be applied here by our Lord to His disciples only as they shine with His light upon the world, in virtue of His Spirit dwelling in them, and the same mind being in them which was also in Christ Jesus. Nor are Christians anywhere else so called. Nay, as if to avoid the august title which the Master has appropriated to Himself, Christians are said to "shine"—not as "lights," as our translators render it, but—"as luminaries in the world" (Php 2:15); and the Baptist is said to have been "the burning and shining"—not "light," as in our translation, but "lamp" of his day (Joh 5:35). Let it be observed, too, that while the two figures of salt and sunlight both express the same function of Christians—their blessed influence on their fellow men—they each set this forth under a different aspect. Salt operates internally, in the mass with which it comes in contact; the sunlight operates externally, irradiating all that it reaches. Hence Christians are warily styled "the salt of the earth"—with reference to the masses of mankind with whom they are expected to mix; but "the light of the world"—with reference to the vast and variegated surface which feels its fructifying and gladdening radiance.

The same distinction is observable in the second pair of those seven parables which our Lord spoke from the Galilean Lake—that of the "mustard seed," which grew to be a great overshadowing tree, answering to the sunlight which invests the world, and that of the "leaven," which a woman took and, like the salt, hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened (Mt 13:31-33). A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid—nor can it be supposed to have been so built except to be seen by many eyes.

Matthew 5:14 . [180] Ὄρους , a mountain ) Appositely, cf. ver 1. Concerning the thing itself, see Revelation 21:10 . [180] By the words οὐ δύναται , it is implied that there is no need of a constrained feigning to be what we are not; so also, a light or lamp, provided it is not stifled, cannot but shine.— Vers. Germ .

Matthew 5:14 . Τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου ] As the natural light illumines the world, which in itself is dark, so are ye intended to spiritually enlighten humanity . Christ is principaliter the Light ( John 1:4 ; John 9:8 ; John 9:12 , al .); the disciples mediate ( Ephesians 3:9 ), as the mediators of His divine truth to men; and all Christians in general are, as those who are enlightened, also, on their part, bringers of light, and light in the Lord ( Php 2:15 ; Ephesians 5:8 ). οὐ δύναται πόλις , κ . τ . λ .] If you would desire timidly to withdraw into concealment (comp. Matthew 5:11 ; Matthew 5:13 ), then that would be conduct as opposed to the purpose for which you are destined as if a town set on a hill should wish to be concealed, or if one were to place ( Matthew 5:15 ) a light under a bushel. No definite town is intended; Saphet has been conjectured; see, on the other hand, Robinson, Pal . III. p. 587. We are not to think of Jerusalem (whose destination the disciples are, in the opinion, of Weizsäcker, to realize, p. 336). It is just any city in general situated upon a hill .