I wanted to pose a question that’s been bothering me. In the Sermon On the Mount in Matthew Jesus famously said You have heard that it was said–love your neighbor but hate your enemy. Now in all of the antitheses Jesus encourages his followers to go above and beyond the Torah rather than contradict it. Also, he tends to quote scripture rather than interpretations of the Pharisees. Also Moses in Leviticus says not to hate your fellow Israelite in your heart but he essentially only says to love a friend as yourself. No commandment to love all Israelites as oneself. Furthermore the word for hate in Greek means to love less. He also leaves aside the commandment to love strangers as oneself for uncertain reasons which is strange if he were expanding this commandment to include already not included gentiles. Is it possible that there was a slight scribal error very early on. Maybe the text originally read–You have heard that it was said love your neighbor but do NOT hate(love less) your enemy. But I say love your enemy(as much as yourself)? Thereby encouraging his followers to love all Jews and friendly gentiles but not necessarily biblical enemies or foreign armies in war?
Matthew 5:43-45 NIV
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[i] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Strongs: from a primary misos (hatred); to detest (especially to persecute); by extension, to love less:–hate(-ful).
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It looks basically like he’s saying don’t be a persecutor; but pray for those who persecute you. Also, in essence, not to retaliate in kind.
Thank you both for replying. Another reason I bring this up is that at that particular moment in the history of the Matthean church we can probably assume that persecutors and enemies refers to fellow Jews of some sort, perhaps the governing authorities. Similarly, the publicans were fellow Jews and they were on good terms with the Romans but poor terms with the other Jews or at least Judeans. And yet he uses them as an example of people who only loved those who love them which makes it an odd match to argue that Matthew’s Jesus is attempting to add a universal dimension to something from the Hebrew Bible or Septuagint. I think the one of you is quite correct that the error might have been on the part of the Matthean editor/redactor rather than a scribe. All I know is that it would presumably only be a one letter difference. So too, most of the antitheses seem focused on behavior between one Jew and another over which the Sanhedrin would have had definite authority. The Sanhedrin had limited authority to prosecute crimes committed by Jews against gentiles according to the Talmud but I don’t know how accurate that would have been in the first century. For example ‘eye for eye and tooth for tooth’ is a reference to tort(I think I’m using the right word, personal injury) cases between fellow citizens and doesn’t really have to do with on the spot revenge. This maybe explains the reference to someone suing you to take your cloak. In any event all the antitheses seem to deal with going beyond the letter of the laws.
I’m afraid I’m not an expert at all in Greek to be able to answer that Robert. I just thought it was possible that the original meaning of the text might have been along the lines of ‘Moses says don’t hate Israelites but love your Reya(close associate–originally perhaps in-law, at least in the Hebrew version the historical Q might have been quoting) but I say love all Israelites’. I think the fact that the interpretation that uses neighbor as meaning all Israelites is stated in Jewish literature close to this period means it was not at all taken for granted that neighbor meant everyone within a specific community of believers and that is why this topic is addressed, but maybe the Greek differs in meaning from the Hebrew.
Jason001001 said
Furthermore the word for hate in Greek means to love less.
I’ve heard people say something like this of both Hebrew and Greek, but I’d be somewhat cautious. Words can have a wide semantic range of meaning, and it is really only the context that determines the meaning in a particular usage, which is nonetheless still a matter of debate or discussion, depending on how one wants to interpret a particular text or utterance.
Yes, the context is all important.
I find the idea of μισέω meaning “love less” interesting. I’d be interested in seeing whether it is used in that way outside the NT.
I think the problem is that most people assume that ‘enemy’ means someone like unrepentant Amalekites or Canaanites, who of course did not really exist as such in Jesus day. I think that Leviticus and indeed the whole of the Hebrew Bible leave open the possibility of hating Jewish enemies and I’m not sure that Jesus in Matthew is attempting to differentiate between love for different ethnic groups. Like I say if he were he wouldn’t have pointed to the publicans and he would have mentioned the command to love the ger which seems like a better jumping off point. I think he means to expand the definition of neighbor. I’m just not sure he’s making a general point about loving all people universally. He even says somewhere in Matthew 7–do not throw what is sacred to the dogs or cast your pearls before swine.
That sounds plausible. He’s basically telling them to be on their best behavior before the end of the world, but it might have been a better fit for Mark’s understanding than the Q-sayings which sound less apocalyptic to me. It even sounds in Q like it’s far in the future.
“17Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”
Maybe it sounds like less of a distant implication in the Koine Greek.
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