Gill:
till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. The ??ta "or jot", in the Greek language, answers to "jod" in the Hebrew, the least of all the letters in the alphabet; hence a little city is called by this name, and this reason is given for it, {x} ???? ???? ???????, "because that jod is the least among letters". We read also of Rabbi Jod {y}, perhaps so called because ??? ???, he was little, as the author of Juchasin observes {z}. This shows in what language the law was written; not in the Samaritan language, for the jod in that is a large letter, but in the Hebrew, in which it is very small; and particularly is written in a very diminutive character, in De 32:18 "by one tittle" some think is meant one of those ducts, dashes, or corners of letters, which distinguish one letter from another, that are much alike; others have thought that one of the pricks or vowel points is intended; others, one of those little strokes in the tops of letters, which the Jews call {a} "crowns" and "spikes", is here meant, in which they imagined great mysteries were contained; and there were some persons among them, who made it their business to search into the meaning of every letter, and of everyone of these little horns, or pricks, that were upon the top of them. So says R. Meir {b},
"in the time of the prophets there were such who very diligently searched every letter in the law, and explained every letter by itself; and do not wonder at this that they should expound every letter by itself, for they commented
?? ?? ??? ???? ?? ?? ??? ????, upon everyone of the tops of each letter.''
Such an expounder was Akiba ben Joseph {c}. To which custom Christ is here supposed to have respect: however, certain it is that he speaks very much in the language, and agreeably to the mind of the Jewish doctors; and some things in their writings will serve to illustrate this passage,
"If, (say they {d},) all the nations of the world were gathered together, "to root one word out of the law", they could not do it; which you may learn from Solomon, who sought to root "one letter out of the law", the letter "jod", in De 17:16 but the holy blessed God said, Solomon shall cease, and an hundred such as he (in the Talmud {e} it is a thousand such as he) ??? ???? ????? ?????
????, "but, jod shall not cease from thee (the law) for ever".''
And elsewhere the same expression is used {f}, and it is added,
"ljbm ynya Kmm huwqw, "but a tittle from thee shall not perish."''
The design of Christ, in conformity to the language of the Jews, is to declare, that no part of the law, not one of the least commandments in it, as he explains himself in the next verse, should be unaccomplished; but all should be fulfilled before "heaven and earth pass" away, as they will, with a great noise and fervent heat, as to their present form and condition; or sooner shall they pass away, than the least part of the law shall: which expresses the perpetuity of the law, and the impossibility of its passing away, and the superior excellency of it to the heavens and the earth. It is a saying of one of the Jewish doctors {g}, that
"the whole world is not equal even to one word out of the law,''
in which it is said, there is not one letter deficient or superfluous.
More:
http://www.phrases.org.u...nings/jot-or-tittle.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tittlehttp://www.tnnonline.net...q/J/Jots_and_Tittles.pdf
