Analysis of the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12

Abstract

Since the 20th century, many methods and discoveries have been used to get the meaning of a particular biblical text. Among these methods are the historical critical methods; for example, the text criticism, the source criticism, the form criticism, the redaction criticism, the tradition criticism and the ideological criticism. All these approaches together with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls essentially, try to analyse the sacred Scriptures in order to uncover the hidden treasure. The analysis of a biblical text is therefore portrayed as a very important step towards a genuine interpretation of this text. It is in that sense that this essay will try to analyse the passage of the Beatitudes in the gospel according to Matthew, precisely in Matthew 5:1-12, thus seeking its correct interpretation. The method used for this analysis will follow four stages. First, a literary context of this passage will be presented. Second, one will see the similarities and differences between Matthew and Luke. The third part will deal with the background of the passage by looking at some primary texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls. At last, other articles, as second literature, will to shed more lights on this passage.