Matthew 6:19

Lay not up treasures (μὴ θησαυρίξετε) Lit., treasure not treasures. So Wyc., Do not treasure to you treasures. The beautiful legend of St. Thomas and Gondoforus is told by Mrs. Jameson ("Sacred and Legendary Art"): "When St. Thomas was at Caesarea, our Lord appeared to him and said, 'The king of the Indies, Gondoforus, hath sent his provost, Abanes, to seek for workmen well versed in the science of architecture, who shall build for him a palace finer than that of the Emperor of Rome. Behold, now I will send thee to him.' And Thomas went, and Gondoforus commanded him to build for him a magnificent palace, and gave him much gold and silver for the purpose. The king went into a distant country and was absent for two years; and St. Thomas, meanwhile instead of building palace, distributed all the treasures among the poor and sick; and when the king returned he was full of wrath, and he commanded that St. Thomas should be seized and cast into prison, and he meditated for him a horrible death.

Meantime the brother of the king died, and the king resolved to erect for him a most magnificent tomb; but the dead man, after that he had been dead four days, suddenly arose and sat upright, and said to the king, 'The man whom thou wouldst torture is a servant of God; behold, I have been in Paradise, and the angels showed to me a wondrous palace of gold and silver and precious stones; and they said, 'This is the palace that Thomas, the architect, hath built for thy brother, King Gondoforus.' And when the king heard these words, he ran to the prison, and delivered the apostle; and Thomas said to him, 'Knowest thou not that those who would possess heavenly things have little care for the things of this earth? There are in heaven rich palaces without number, which were prepared from the beginning of the world for those who would purchase the possession through faith and charity. Thy riches, O king, may prepare the way for thee to such a palace, but they cannot follow thee thither.'" Rust (βρῶσις) That which eats; from the verb βιβρώσκω, to eat. Compare corrode, from the Latin rodo, to gnaw. Doth corrupt (ἀφανίξει) Rev., consume. The same word which is used above of the hypocrites concealing their faces. The rust consumes, and therefore causes to disappear. So Wyc., destroyeth. Break through (διορύσσουσιν) Lit., dig through, as a thief might easily penetrate the wall of a common oriental house of mud or clay. The Greek name for a burglar is τοιχωρύχος, wall-digger.

( d ) Earthly possessions and daily cares, 19–34. 19 . treasures upon earth ] Love of amassing wealth has been characteristic of the Jews in all ages. moth and rust ] Oriental wealth consisted to a great extent in stores of linen, embroidered garments, &c., which were handed down and left as heir-looms. moth ] The English word = “the devourer.” rust ] Money was frequently buried in the ground in those unsettled times, and so would be more liable to rust. Banks in the modern sense were unknown. Rust , lit., an eating away , it is not confined to corrosion of metals. break through and steal ] An expression applicable to the mud walls of Oriental huts.

{6} Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: (6) The labours of those men are shown to be vain, which pass not for the assured treasure of everlasting life, but spend their lives in scraping together stale and vain riches.

Matthew 6:19-21 . Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth — Our Lord here makes a transition from religious to common actions, and warns us of another snare, the love of money and earthly things, as inconsistent with purity of intention as the love of praise: where moth and rust doth corrupt, &c. — Where all things are perishable and transient. “In the eastern countries, where the fashion of clothes did not alter as with us, the treasures of the rich consisted not only of gold and silver, but of costly habits, and finely-wrought vessels of brass, and tin, and copper, liable to be destroyed in the manner here mentioned.” But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven — Build your happiness on a more noble and certain foundation, where none of these accidents can happen; but the arms of everlasting power and love shall secure you from every calamity and invasion. “Nothing can be conceived more powerful to damp that keenness with which men pursue the things of this life, than the consideration of their emptiness and uncertainty; or to kindle in them an ambition of obtaining the treasures in heaven, than the consideration of their being substantial, satisfying, durable, and subject to no accident whatever. These considerations, therefore, were fitly proposed by our Lord on this occasion.” — Macknight.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also — A most undoubted truth, and a most weighty reason why we should not make any thing on earth our treasure: for whatever we make our treasure gains possession of our hearts; we set our affections upon it, and of consequence, according to St. John, ( 1 John 2:15 ,) the love of the Father is not in us, and we are not his children.

Matthew 6:19-34 . Counsels against covetousness and care (reproduced in Luke 12:22-34 , with exception of Matthew 6:22-23 , which reappear in Luke 11:34-36 ). An interpolation, according to Weiss. Doubtless, if the Sermon on the Mount was exclusively an anti-Pharisaic discourse. But this homily might very well have formed one of the lessons on the hill, in connection with the general theme of the kingdom, which needs to be defined in contrast to worldliness not less than to spurious types of piety.

(19) Lay not up for yourselves treasures. —Literally, with a force which the English lacks, treasure not up your treasures. Where moth and rust doth corrupt.—The first word points to one form of Eastern wealth, the costly garments of rich material, often embroidered with gold and silver. (Comp. “Your garments are moth-eaten” in James 5:2.) The second word is not so much the specific “rust” of metals, as the decay which eats into and corrodes all the perishable goods of earth.

Mt 6:19-34. Concluding Illustrations of the Righteousness of the Kingdom—Heavenly-Mindedness and Filial Confidence. 19. Lay not up for ourselves treasures upon earth—hoard not. where moth—a "clothes-moth." Eastern treasures, consisting partly in costly dresses stored up (Job 27:16), were liable to be consumed by moths (Job 13:28; Isa 50:9; 51:8). In Jas 5:2 there is an evident reference to our Lord's words here. and rust—any "eating into" or "consuming"; here, probably, "wear and tear." doth corrupt—cause to disappear. By this reference to moth and rust our Lord would teach how perishable are such earthly treasures. and where thieves break through and steal—Treasures these, how precarious!

Matthew 6:19 . Ὅπου , where) i.e. on earth. This has a causative force,[271] being equivalent to because there .[272]— ΒΡῶΣΙς , corrosion ) This word, in opposition to moth , expresses rust , and every evil quality by which anything can become useless.— καὶ κλέπτουσι , and thus steal . [271] Aetiology. See Appendix.—ED. [272] Such is the principle of the life of not a few men, that they seem to exist in the world only for the purpose of amassing an abundance of earthly possessions.—V. g. The particle δὲ in Matthew 6:20 indicates that both cannot at the same time stand together.—V. g.