HEBREW GOSPEL OF MATTHEW - CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 5 (Part 4) — Section 020 [MT 5:43–48]

Note on Textual Divisions & Concordance Markers: The section titles (פרק ראשון, פרק שני, etc.) follow the authentic internal layout of Shem-Tob's Hebrew text, which organizes the Gospel of Matthew into 116 structural pericopes. The traditional 28-chapter and verse divisions ([MT X:X–X]) did not exist in ancient manuscripts; they were devised centuries later by Western scholars (Stephen Langton in 1205 and Robert Estienne in 1551) to build Latin concordances. The standard chapter/verse citations are included in brackets solely as a concordance reference for readers navigating standard printed Bibles.

#	Shem-Tob Hebrew Text	Literal Translation
43	עוד אמר יש״ו לתלמידיו שמעתם מה שנאמר לקדמונים ואהבת לאוהבך ותשנא לשונאך.	Again Yeshu said to his disciples: You have heard what was said to the ancients: "And you shall love your lover, and you shall hate your hater."
44	ואני אומר לכם אהבו אויביכם ועשו טובה לשונאכם ומכעיסכם והתפללו בשביל רודפיכם ולוחציכם	And I say to you: Love your enemies, and do good to your haters and those who provoke you to anger, and pray on behalf of your pursuers and your oppressors,
45	למען תהיו בני אביכם שבשמים שמזריח שמשו על טובים ורעים וממטיר על רשעים וצדיקים.	so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, who causes His sun to rise over good and bad [ones], and rains down over wicked and righteous [ones].
46	אם תאהבו אוהביכם איזה שכר לכם? הלא עזי פנים אוהבים אוהביהם?	If you love your lovers, what reward is there to you? Do not even the brazen-faced [those shining like polished brass] love their lovers?
48	היו אתם תמיהים כאשר תם אביכם.	Be you complete, just as your Father is complete.

Consonantal & Paleographic Notes

1. The Prophetic Inversion: Solar Exposure vs. The Deluge of Clouds (v. 45)

• Notice the deliberate chiastic sequence between the cosmic elements:
  Sun: טובים ורעים (Good → Bad)
  Rain: רשעים וצדיקים (Wicked → Righteous)
• In prophetic literature, the rising of the sun signifies visible, outward illumination and temporal ascendancy. The deceiver is permitted to partake in this temporal light first; having tasted the mechanisms of visible power, they assume the vantage point of superiority to mislead the upright.
• However, the atmospheric order abruptly shifts with the arrival of the clouds and descending rain (וממטיר, Hif'il participle). The sequence places רשעים first under the rain: for those who rested in carnal security, the sudden descent of divine truth and atmospheric judgment proves catastrophic. Conversely, for the righteous (צדיקים), the downpour represents the long-awaited covenantal soaking of vindication and truth.

2. The Anatomy of False Security in the Participles (v. 44)

• ומכעיסכם: Participle from k-'-s ("those who provoke you to wrath/vexation"). Only one who is comfortably entrenched in position, praise of men, or temporal immunity has the leisure to systematically vex those beneath them.
• ולוחציכם: Participle from l-ch-tz ("those who squeeze, press, or crush you"). Compression requires accumulated physical or economic weight. The oppressor mistakes the dense, temporal weight of carnal comfort for eternal substance, walking in an artificial, outward security.

3. The Burnished Mask: The Lost Reality of "Brazen-Faced" (v. 46)

• The manuscript avoids the generic Greek telōnai ("tax collectors") and preserves the authentic Hebrew idiom עזי פנים.
• The archaic English translation "brazen-faced" accurately preserves the Hebrew physical imagery: a face forged or polished like brass. It describes an individual whose countenance has taken on the cold, reflective glare of burnished metal—impermeable to blush, incapable of shame, and gleaming brightly under the temporal sun. It is a dazzling outward shell that projects authority and pride while remaining internally hollow and lifeless.

4. Covenantal Wholeness over Abstract Perfection (v. 48)

• The scribe writes תמיהים in direct phonetic and root play with תם ("upright / whole / unblemished") applied to the Father.
• This preserves authentic Semitic covenantal terminology (recalling Genesis 17:1), contrasting sharply with later Western theological abstractions of philosophical perfection.
• Scribal Transmission Note: Verse 47 does not appear in this manuscript tradition; the narrative moves without interruption from the rhetorical inquiry in verse 46 directly into the imperative call to completeness in verse 48.