Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) revealed the heart of God in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:17-36). Why does the venue matter? Both teach us important sides of the Messiah.

Yeshua is the ultimate One Who ascends to and descends from Heaven, and just like Moses, Yeshua gives us a true witness of the words of God.

Yeshua is the ultimate “open space” of freedom and safety, out of the bondage and confinement and to the Promised Land of rest.

So, when Yeshua expounded upon the TaNaK (Torah, Prophets and Writings), He indeed spoke accurately that the words of God communicated through Moshe and the prophets point one toward Heaven, closer to the mind of the Maker, rather than back to bondage.

In the Torah reading Ki Tetze כי תצא Ki Tetze (“when you go forth,” Deut. 21:10-25:19), we read this strange instruction:

“If you happen to come upon a bird’s nest along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; you shall certainly let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, in order that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.” (Deuteronomy 22:6-7 NASB) 

The Sages actually call this commandment the least commandment in the Torah. If you look under the hood of this “least” commandment, you will find that is actually very great after all. 

However, the Talmud goes on to say that the heart change that leads to keeping even this instruction is as important as the Fifth Commandment, to honor your parents. The command to shoo away the mother bird before carrying away the young has the same promise as the command to honor one’s parents: long life. 

And the sage Rambam said, this “small” instruction teaches us to have mercy toward other people. 

As Yeshua the Messiah taught in the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain, even a word of God that seems forgettable can be indispensable:

“Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:19 NASB) 

Why are we here? Or, how to be truly happy

The Sermon on the Mount is a chaistic structure that focuses on the Lord’s Prayer. We will be looking at both the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) and the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:17–36).

When we read these phrases “Blessed are…” Yeshua is teaching us how to be truly happy. The question I want to dissect is this: Are the Sermons of the Mount and the Sermon of the Plain different versions of the same event or did He preach the same sermon at different locations? 

The two accounts seem to have different settings: on a “mountain” and on a “plain.”

Luke recorded that Yeshua “came down with them” and “stood on a level place” while Matthew recorded that Yeshua “went up on a “mountain,” sat down and began to speak.

Teaching from a seated position is typical in rabbinical literature and likened to the way Moshe taught: 

“Moshe our teacher sat and taught” (b.Baba Batra 119b) and “sitting and teaching like Moshe in the name of the All Mighty” (b.Yevamot 72b). (First Fruits of Zion, Chronicles of the Messiah)

It is built into us to look up to the one in authority, whether it’s a judge in a courtroom or a teacher in a classroom. 

Some have likened Yeshua’s “going up” on the hill as to Moshe going up Sinai to receive the tablets of the Testimony. Yeshua is not referred to as the “Passover Lamb” for no reason. He is extricably tied o the Exodus. 

Thus, the claims that the Sermon on the Mount is a rolling back parts of the Torah — “you have heard” vs. “but I say,” to be discussed later — are misguided. 

Like Yeshua said in Matt. 5:17–19,