SEV Biblia, Chapter 5:43
¶ Oísteis que fue dicho: Amars a tu prjimo, y aborrecers a tu enemigo.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Matthew 5:43
Verse 43. Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.] Instead of plhsian neighbour, the Codex Graevii, a MS. of the eleventh century, reads filon friend. Thou shalt love thy friend, and hate thine enemy. This was certainly the meaning which the Jews put on it: for neighbour, with them, implied those of the Jewish race, and all others were, considered by them as natural enemies. Besides, it is evident that plhsion, among the Hellenistic Jews, meant friend merely: Christ uses it precisely in this sense in Luke x. 36, in answer to the question asked by a certain lawyer, ver. 29. Who of the three was neighbour (plhsion friend) to him who fell among the thieves? He who showed him mercy; i.e. he who acted the friendly part. In Hebrew, [r rea, signifies friend, which word is translated plhsion by the LXX. in more than one hundred places. Among the Greeks it was a very comprehensive term, and signified every man, not even an enemy excepted, as Raphelius, on this verse, has shown from Polybius. The Jews thought themselves authorized to kill any Jew who apostatized; and, though they could not do injury to the Gentiles, in whose country they sojourned, yet they were bound to suffer them to perish, if they saw them in danger of death. Hear their own words: "A Jew sees a Gentile fall into the sea, let him by no means lift him out; for it is written, Thou shalt not rise up against the blood of thy neighbour:- but this is not thy neighbour." Maimon. This shows that by neighbour they understood a Jew; one who was of the same blood and religion with themselves.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 43. Ye have heard that it hath been said , etc.] By, or to them of old time. This law has been delivered to them, thou shalt love thy neighbour , with this appendage to it, or false gloss upon it, and hate thine enemy ; for the first of these only is the law of Moses, ( Leviticus 19:18), the other is the addition, or wrong interpretation of the Scribes and Pharisees: wherefore the Jew has no reason to charge Christ, or the Evangelist, with a false testimony, as he does, because the latter is no where written in the law, nor in the prophets: nor does Christ say it is; he only observes, that it had been traditionally handed down to them from the ancients, by the masters of the traditions of the elders, that the law of loving the neighbour was so to be understood as to allow, and even enjoin, hatred of enemies: in proof of which, take the following instances f353 . When one man sins against another, he may not hate him in his heart, and be silent, as is said of the wicked; Absalom spoke not with Amnon: but it is commanded to make it known to him, and to say to him, why hast thou done to me so and so? As it is said, rebuking, thou shalt rebuke thy neighbour; and if he returns, and desires him to pardon him, he shall not be implacable and cruel; but if he reproves him many times, and he does not receive his reproof, nor turn from his sin, then wtwanl rtwm , it is lawful to hate him. Again, they say f354 , Every disciple of a wise man, jnk rjwnw qwn wnya , who does not revenge, and keep as a serpent; that is, as the gloss explains it, enmity in his heart, as a serpent, is no disciple of a wise man.
And so Maimonides f355 , one of their better sort of writers, says; A disciple of a wise man, or a scholar, whom a man despises and reproaches publicly, it is forbidden him to forgive him, because of his honour; and if he forgives him, he is to be punished, for this is a contempt of the law; but he must revenge, and keep the thing as a serpent, until the other asks pardon of him, and then he may forgive him.
Thus they bred their scholars in hatred and malice against their enemies.
This arises from a mistaken sense of the word neighbour, which they understood only of a friend; and concluded, that if a friend was to be loved, an enemy was to be hated; not the Gentiles only, but anyone, among themselves, which could come under that name.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 43-48 - The Jewish teachers by "neighbour" understood only those who were of their own country, nation, and religion, whom they were pleased to loo upon as their friends. The Lord Jesus teaches that we must do all the real kindness we can to all, especially to their souls. We must pra for them. While many will render good for good, we must render good for evil; and this will speak a nobler principle than most men act by Others salute their brethren, and embrace those of their own party, an way, and opinion, but we must not so confine our respect. It is the duty of Christians to desire, and aim at, and press towards perfectio in grace and holiness. And therein we must study to conform ourselve to the example of our heavenly Father, 1Pe 1:15, 16. Surely more is to be expected from the followers of Christ than from others; surely mor will be found in them than in others. Let us beg of God to enable us to prove ourselves his children __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
ηκουσατε 191 5656 V-AAI-2P οτι 3754 CONJ ερρεθη 4483 5681 V-API-3S αγαπησεις 25 5692 V-FAI-2S τον 3588 T-ASM πλησιον 4139 ADV σου 4675 P-2GS και 2532 CONJ μισησεις 3404 5692 V-FAI-2S τον 3588 T-ASM εχθρον 2190 A-ASM σου 4675 P-2GS
Vincent's NT Word Studies
43. Neighbor (ton plhsion). Another word to which the Gospel has imparted a broader and deeper sense. Literally it means the one near (so the Eng., neighbor = nigh-bor), indicating a mere outward nearness, proximity. Thus a neighbor might be an enemy. Socrates (Plato, "Republic," ii. 373) shows how two adjoining states might come to want each a piece of its neighbor's (twn plhsion) land, so that there would arise war between them; and again (Plato, "Theaetetus," 174) he says that a philosopher is wholly unacquainted with his next-door neighbor, and does not know whether he is a man or an animal. The Old Testament expands the meaning to cover national or tribal fellowship, and that is the sense in our Lord's quotation here. The Christian sense is expounded by Jesus in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke x. 29 sqq.), as including the whole brotherhood of man, and as founded in love for man, as man, everywhere.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
5:43 {And hate thine enemy} (kai miseseis). this phrase is not in #Le 19:18, but is a rabbinical inference which Jesus repudiates bluntly. The Talmud says nothing of love to enemies. Paul in #Ro 12:20 quotes #Pr 25:22 to prove that we ought to treat our enemies kindly. Jesus taught us to pray for our enemies and did it himself even when he hung upon the cross. Our word "neighbor" is "nigh-bor," one who is nigh or near like the Greek word plesion here. But proximity often means strife and not love. Those who have adjoining farms or homes may be positively hostile in spirit. The Jews came to look on members of the same tribe as neighbors as even Jews everywhere. But they hated the Samaritans who were half Jews and lived between Judea and Galilee. Jesus taught men how to act as neighbors by the parable of the Good Samaritan (#Lu 10:29ff.).
