What does Matthew 5:2 mean?

Matthew 5–7 contains the first of five long speeches from Jesus recorded in Matthew's gospel. It is called the Sermon on the Mount, and it begins with what are known as the Beatitudes in verses 3–12. Luke 6:17–49 also presents a sermon from Jesus, containing much of the same content. As a former tax collector (Matthew 9:9), Matthew would have been fluent in both reading and writing and might have been there to record Jesus' words verbatim. Writings such as the four Gospels were often topical, not time-ordered, so Matthew may have been present, even though his conversion is explicitly described later in this book. If he was not there, in person, he would have been able to compile the message through Jesus' later, repeated teachings.

Some scholars suggest Matthew and Luke are describing parts of the same sermon. It is likely that Jesus spoke many more words than those recorded in either version. It's possible the Matthew and Luke, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, emphasized different parts of the same, longer message.

However, Luke describes his version of the sermon as occurring "on a level place." A more likely possibility, then, is Matthew and Luke record two different speeches, delivered in different places. Jesus was a traveling preacher, and He may have preached the same content repeatedly as He came to different places. This is no different in speakers and preachers of the modern era. Matthew's Sermon on the Mount and Luke's Sermon on the Plain would considerably overlap, because Jesus taught similar things in multiple presentations.