Matthew Poole and continuators on Matthew 5:22

22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the Judgment, and whosoever shall say unto his Brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the Councel, but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

The Pharisees in their Lectures upon the Law usually thus prefaced, It was said to them of old time, this saith Christ, you have heard, Thou shalt not kill: This was spoken by God in Mount Sinai, it was the sixth of the ten words then spoke, and whosoever shall Kill, shall be in danger of the Iudgment: This now was the Pharisees addition, for we read of no such addition to the Law, as deliverd, Exod. 20.13. Thus they mixed their Traditions with the word of God, which po[illegible: 1 letter]sible might be the reason of their saying rather, It was said to them of old time, than it was said by Moses: Or, It was said in the Law of God, for under that Phrase, It was said to the Ancients, they both comprehended the Law given by Moses, to the Ancient People of God, and also their own Traditions, and false Glosses, which tho not so Ancient as the Law, yet had obtained for some considerable time, in the corrupt State of the Iews: Shall be Guilty of,or Obnoxious unto the Iudgment, not to the Wrath and Vengeance of God, of that they said nothing, but to those Courts of Judgment which sate amongst them, to administer Justice in criminal Causes. As if this Law of God had been only intended to uphold Peace, and to preserve humane Society, and Civil order. Thou shalt not Kill (that is, as they interpreted) thou shalt not without a Warrant from God, or from the Law, actually take away the Life of another. It appears by what followeth, that they extended not this Law, to unjustifiable Passions in the Heart, such as rash Anger, Malice, revengeful Thoughts: Nor to any opprobrious or revengeful Words. But I say unto you: I shall give you another Sense of this Law. The killing here forbidden is as well, Rash and causeless Anger, and opprobrious Threatning Speeches, as bloody Actions. Whosoever is Angry with his Brother without a cause, shall be in Danger of the Iudgment, &c. Our Saviour (as most Interpreters judge) speaks this with Allusion to the three Courts amo[illegible: 1 letter]g[illegible: 1 letter]t the Iews: The one was the Court of three Men, which only judged of smaller and lighter Causes, not in Capital Causes. Another was their Court of twenty three Men, which much answered our Courts at Westminster. The third was their San[illegible: 1 letter]edrim consisting of seventy Men, which answered our Parliament. Some think that by the Iudgment, is meant the first or second of the Courts. By the Councel, the Superiour Courts amongst the Iews, but the Judgment of our Reverend Dr. Light-foot, seemeth much more probable, that by the Iudgment is meant the Iudgment of God. By the Councel and Hell-fire, not only the Iudgment, and Vengeance of God, but the Iudgments and Punishments, that are inflicted in the Courts of Men, that are Magistrates, and bear not the Sword in vain; so as the Sense is this. I say unto you, that if a Man doth but in his Heart nourish Wrath, and Anger against another, without a just Cause, and lets it grow up into Malice, and Thoughts, and Desires of private Revenge, tho he be not by it obnoxious to Courts of Justice, who can only determine upon overt Acts, yet he is accountable to God, and liable to his Judgment, but if Men suffer their Passions to break out into Reviling terms, and Language, such as Raca (signifying a Vain Person) or thou Fool (speaking this from Anger or Malice) they are not only liable to the Eternal Vengeance of God, compared to the Fire of Gehenna, but ought to be subjected to the Punishment of the Civil Magistrate. Every civil Government being by the Law of God, in Order to the prevention of Quarrels, or Blood-shed (which often followeth Revilings each of other) obliged to punish such offences, as being the beginnings of Murder, Provocations to it, and Indications of murderous Hearts, Hearts full of that, which in the Eye of God is Murder.