The Mote and the Beam

A c. 1619 painting by Domenico Fetti entitled The Parable of the Mote and the Beam.

The Mote and the Beam (also called discourse on judgmentalism) is a New Testament saying in Matthew 7:1-5 as part of the Sermon on the Mount.^[1] The discourse is fairly brief, and begins by condemning those who would judge others, arguing that they too would be judged. The Sermon on the Plain has a similar passage in Luke 6:37-42.^[2]

Narrative

The New Testament text is as follows:

1 JUDGE not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

— Matthew 7:1-5

The first two verses use plural "ye" and "you", and the next three verses use the singular "thou", "thy" and "thine" to the individual. Luke 6:41 also uses "thou" after using "ye" in verse 37.

Interpretation

The moral lesson is to avoid hypocrisy and censoriousness. The analogy used is of a small object in another's eye as compared with a large beam of wood in one's own. The original Greek word translated as "mote" (κάρφος karphos) meant "any small dry body."^[3] A proverb of this sort was familiar to the Jews and appears in numerous other cultures too.^[4] For example, the poet Robert Burns famously wrote:^[5]

Oh, wad some Power the giftie gie us,
To see ourselves as others see us!

See also

• Physician, heal thyself

References

1. ^ Matthew by Charles H. Talbert 2010 ISBN 0801031923 page 93
2. ^ Steven L. Cox, Kendell H Easley, 2007 Harmony of the Gospels ISBN 0-8054-9444-8 page 72
3. ^ Henry Liddell and Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon: κάρφος [1].
4. ^ James Hastings, "Beam and Mote", A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, 1, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=a9ukxN5gAgIC&pg=PA176 
5. ^ Herbert Lockyer (1988), All the Parables of the Bible, pp. 151–152, ISBN 9780310281115, http://books.google.com/books?id=4ncUVL4h2LsC&pg=PA151 

The Mote and the Beam Life of Jesus: Sermon on the Mount or on the Plain
Preceded by The Birds of Heaven in the Sermon on the Mount	New Testament Events	Succeeded by Discourse on the Two Ways in the Sermon on the Mount