(27) Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
(28) And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not,
neither do they spin:
(29) And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
(30) Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the
oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
(31) Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall
we be clothed?
(32) (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need
of all these things.
(33) But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto
you.
(34) Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof‖.
NOTE: In this chapter, Y‘shua continues to clarify and expound on the Torah. We will focus on how His
teachings supported those of the Pharisees as seen in the Talmud. In many of these verses, Y‘shua
reiterates a fundamental principle for the life of a godly man: we are but visitors here, and we need to
understand that our real life and our rewards are in heaven.
6:1-4 Do not your alms before men, to be seen of them
―(1) Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of
your Father which is in heaven. (2) Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before
thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say
unto you, They have their reward. (3) But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right
hand doeth: (4) That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward
thee openly‖.
The Pharisees were often guilty of not following their own teachings:
Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 17b: ―Don't do good deeds to be noticed‖.
Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 9b: ―He who gives alms in secret is greater than Moses‖
Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 10b: ―The greatest form of charity is when you give and do not know to
whom you give, and the recipient takes and does not know from whom he takes‖.
6:5-6 The two principle prayer errors current at the time of our Lord‘s earthly appearance―(5) And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the
synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They
have their reward. (6) But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door,
pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly‖.
Prayer had a significant role to play in the religion of the Jews. ―There were two things the daily use of which
was prescribed for every Jew. The first was the Shema, which consists of three short passages of scripture –
Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21; Numbers 15:37-41. Shema is the imperative of the Hebrew word to hear, and
the Shema takes its name from the verse, which was the essence and centre of the whole matter: ―Hear, O
Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord‖. The full Shema had to be recited by every Jew every morning and
every evening. It had to be said as early as possible. It had to be said as soon as the light was strong
enough to enable a man to distinguish between blue and white, or, as Rabbi Eliezer said, between blue and
green. In any event it had to be said before the third hour, that is, 9 a.m.; and in the evening it had to be said
before 9 p.m. If the last possible moment for the saying of the Shema had come, no matter where a man
found himself, at home, in the street, at work, in the synagogue, he must stop and say it‖. ―The second thing
which every Jew must daily repeat was called the Shemoneh ̳esreh, which means The Eighteen. It consisted
of eighteen prayers, and was, and still is, an essential part of the synagogue service. In time the prayers
became nineteen, but the old name remains. Most of these prayers are quite short, and nearly all of them are
very lovely. The twelfth runs: ―Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be showed upon the upright, the humble, the elders of
Thy people Israel, and the rest of its teachers; be favourable to the pious strangers amongst us, and to us all.
Give Thou a good reward to those who sincerely trust in Thy name, that our lot may be cast among them in
the world to come, that our hope be not deceived. Praised be Thou, O Lord, who art the hope and
confidence of the faithful‖. (Barclay, Matthew, I, p. 191 & 192.)
There were established times of prayer. Daniel, we know, prayed three times a day (Dan 6:10). The apostles
apparently continued to observe these established times of prayer (Acts 3:1). The Jews eventually had a