Sermon on the mount

After spending a night in solemn meditation and prayer in the lonely mountain-range to the west of the Lake of Galilee (Luke 6:12), on the following morning our Lord called to him his disciples, and from among them chose twelve, who were to be henceforth trained to be his apostles (Mark 3:14,15).

After this solemn consecration of the twelve, he descended from the mountain-peak to a more level spot (Luke 6:17), and there he sat down and delivered the “sermon on the mount” (Matthew 5-7; Luke 6:20-49) to the assembled multitude.

The mountain here spoken of was probably that known by the name of the “Horns of Hattin” (Kurun Hattin), a ridge running east and west, not far from Capernaum. It was afterwards called the “Mount of Beatitudes.”

Author: Matthew G. Easton.

See the Christian archaeological video which discusses the cultural context of the sermon on the mount: On the Life & Ministry of the Messiah (“No Greater Love,” part of the Faith Lessons video series).

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