The Jewish Background of the New Testament
The traditional location of the Sermon on the Mount is a hilltop overlooking the Sea of Galilee called the Mount of the Beatitudes. The word “beatitudes” refers to a list of eight types of blessed people with which the sermon begins. For example: “Blessed are the meek”. “Beatitudes” comes from the Latin word beata, meaning “blessed”. But Jesus did not speak Latin, so what was the word he actually uttered?
Jesus was a Jew, and his listeners were all Jews. It makes sense that he delivered these words in the language spoken by Jews: Hebrew. The original Hebrew word which he likely uttered was ashrei (אַשְׁרֵי). This word means “happy” or “fortunate” and is found in many places in the Hebrew Bible, for example: “Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord” (Psalm 119:1).
Jesus used the word ashrei because it was familiar to his Jewish audience. They used this word frequently in prayer and he wanted to make it clear that he was not teaching them something newfangled. His ethical code was a continuation of the tradition found in the Hebrew Bible. Do you yearn to enter the world that Jesus truly inhabited? Enroll now in our online course: Jewish Background of the New Testament.
