Matthew 5:40

40. Coat… cloak How much may a man not gain by a timely and magnanimous surrender! How much does he not gain by the disposition to be above a sensitive irritability and anxiety to maintain his rights and battle for every inch! How many a most contemptible misery can be avoided by the high spirit that can say without ostentation, “You have got that, and I will fling this into the bargain rather than have a quarrel with my neighbour.” Even if there be a temporary loss, there is, in the long run, a stupendous gain.

Yet this does not command or advise us to allow a man persistently to assail our well-being without prevention or reparation. It does not apply to cases where a ruffian would seize our valuable property, violate chastity, endanger or take life. If possible, reform and benefit an assailant; if that cannot be, then, for the good of society, bring him to legal justice; if his assault be too sudden, defend yourself with the least harm possible to him; if instantly necessary, it is your right, inasmuch as he is a criminal, to save yourself by damage to him. All this is consistent with the law of love.

The coat here mentioned was a tunic, worn next to the skin, with armholes or sleeves, and reaching down, like a shirt, to the knees. Its material was commonly linen. It was bound round the waste by a girdle. A person wearing this only is called in Scripture naked, that is, undressed. Isaiah 20:2-4; 1 Samuel 19:24; John 21:7. In later times; this coat or tunic was made larger, and a shirt worn under it. The coat of our Saviour, “without seam, woven from the top throughout,” (John 19:23,) was the garment here described.

The cloak, called in modern times the “aba,” was a large square piece, several feet in length and breadth, and worn very much as an American Indian wears his blanket. It was put on by flinging one corner of it over the left shoulder, and bringing the cloth around the back, then around the right side under the right arm, crossing the breast and reaching again over the left shoulder. Thus, while the left arm took care of it, the right arm was free.

This “aba” or cloak was used by the poor, by night, as a bed. Such were the garments spread before the Saviour as he entered Jerusalem. Matthew 21:8. See also John 13:4; John 21:7; Matthew 24:18.