Mt. 5.43: ‘Hate Thine Enemy’

Mt. 543, which reads, ‘Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy,’ has long puzzled historians of Judaism. Strack-Billerbeck (ad loc.) profess themselves unable to find a written source for the second half of the maxim quoted, and think it is to be explained...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Smith, Morton (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Cambridge Univ. Press 1952
In: Harvard theological review
Year: 1952, Volume: 45, Issue: 1, Pages: 71-73
Online Access: Volltext (JSTOR)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Mt. 543, which reads, ‘Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy,’ has long puzzled historians of Judaism. Strack-Billerbeck (ad loc.) profess themselves unable to find a written source for the second half of the maxim quoted, and think it is to be explained as a popular saying based on II Sam. 19.7 (so the Hebrew; English, 6) where Joab rebukes David for loving those who hate him and hating those who love him. This is not quite satisfactory, however, for all the five other maxims quoted in the chapter (and introduced by the same or almost the same formula) are either verbal quotations or close verbal reminiscences of verses of the Mosaic Law. (Mt. 5. 33, parallel to Num. 30.3, is, of the five, the one most remote from its presumptive original.) Therefore it has been suggested, e.g., that the second half of the maxim in 43 was not intended to be a part of the quotation, but was a bit of exegesis, added by Jesus or by some Christian editor, to indicate the popular understanding of ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor’ (Lev. 19.18).
ISSN:1475-4517
Contains:Enthalten in: Harvard theological review
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/S0017816000020691