Episode Notes

Episode 93: Matthew 5 - Blessings, Curses, and Moving Mountains: The Architecture of Matthew’s Gospel

March 4, 2025 - Host: Dr. Gregory Hall

In this episode we're diving into Matthew chapter 5 and we’ll notice a fascinating aspect of Matthew gospel. Matthew organizes Jesus’ major addresses into five distinct sermons. The first and the last of which are delivered on mountains. and today, we’ll unpack a link back to the Old Testament story of Moses and Joshua.

Resources Referenced and/or Read:

Thanks to Dr. Warren Gage for the bulk of the material in this episode.
Gage, W. A. (2010). Essays in Biblical Theology (pp. 63–65). Warren A. Gage. - The Blessings and Cursings upon Gerizim and Ebal - The law of Moses instructed the people, when Joshua led them into the good land promised to the fathers, to assemble before the mountains of Gerizim and Ebal for a ceremony reaffirming their fidelity to the Lord and the law of the covenant (Deut 27–28). The entire nation of Israel was to be arranged in ranks by their tribes in the valley between the slopes of the two mountains. Six tribes stood upon the skirts of Ebal, and six tribes stood upon the skirts of Gerizim. Joshua spoke all the law of Moses in the hearing of the twelve tribes of Israel (Josh 8:30–35). The six tribes upon Gerizim spoke the blessings that would be poured out as long as the nation obeyed the law and the covenant (Deut 28:1–14). The six tribes upon Ebal spoke the curses that would come upon the nation if they disobeyed the law (Deut 27:15–28). All the tribes affirmed that, upon their disobedience, a nation from afar would come upon them like the eagle, besieging the fortified walls of Israel (Deut 28:49–52) and driving all the people into exile among the nations (Deut 28:64–68). As each group of six tribes spoke the blessings and the cursings of the law, the six tribes opposite answered with an antiphonal avowal of their fidelity to the covenant and their imprecatory oath of obedience to the Lord. In the New Testament, Matthew’s Gospel portrays Jesus as the True Joshua presiding over a new ceremony of blessing and cursing. To recognize this portrayal, we must understand something of the structure of the first Gospel. Matthew arranges his Gospel around seven mountains. These mountains are 1) the mountain of the temptation (4:8), 2) the mountain of the beatitudes (5:1), 3) the mountain of the separation (14:23), 4) the mountain of the feeding in the wilderness (15:29), 5) the mountain of the transfiguration (17:1), 6) the mountain of the Olivet discourse (24:3), and 7) the mountain of the commissioning (28:16). The seven Matthean mountains are arranged chiastically, with corresponding pairs arrayed around the central mountain of the wilderness feeding. The mountains relevant to the Joshua typology are the second mountain and the sixth, which frame Matthew’s five discourses. The second mountain is the mountain of the beatitudes in Galilee, the site of the first discourse called the “Sermon on the Mount” (5:1–8:28). The corresponding sixth mountain, the site of the last or “Olivet Discourse,” is the mountain before Jerusalem (24:3–26:1). Matthew’s typology of the True Joshua is built around the relationship between the blessings pronounced upon the mount of the beatitudes in Galilee and the woes (or curses) spoken against the Pharisees in Jerusalem. By juxtaposing these mountains, Matthew anticipates the blessings to descend upon the mountain of the Gentiles, which has become Gerizim, and the destruction to come upon Jerusalem, which has become Ebal. Jesus solemnly pronounces nine beatitudes upon the mountain in Galilee (Matt 5:3–12). Eight corresponding woes or curses are enumerated against Jerusalem, framed as antiphonal responses to the beatitudes spoken in Galilee. The juxtaposition of Matthew’s two mountains constitutes the restatement of the solemn ceremony at Shechem, and darkly foretells the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the people for their disobedience to the law of Moses in rejecting the Prophet of whom Moses spoke (Matt 24:2).
Matthew Study Resources at the Rethinking Scripture Website: https://rethinkingscripture.com/matthew-study-resources/
Here are a few resources regarding my first tour guide in Israel, Halvor Ronning.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 update (Mt 4:18–22). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.

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93. Matthew 5 - Blessings, Curses, and Moving Mountains: The Architecture of Matthew’s Gospel