This verse begins like the other
antitheses with a reference to the
Old Testament. "Love your neighbour" comes from
Leviticus 19:18 and is part of the
Great Commandment. In
Jesus' time neighbour was interpreted to mean fellow
Israelites, and to exclude all others. In full the
Leviticus verse states that you should love your neighbour "as you love yourself." Leaving out this last phrase somewhat reduces its demands. As the second part makes clear, however, Jesus was probably not making a reference to scripture, but rather to a common interpretation. Nowhere in the Old Testament does it directly state that one should hate one's enemies, but it is implied by several verses, such as in
Psalm 137 that calls for vengeance. However at several places in the Old Testament there are also limited calls to love one's enemies such as
1 Samuel 24:19. At the time Jewish thinkers were thus divided, some extolled universal love, others hatred of enemies. One of the clearest hatred commands is found in the rules of the
Qumran community, which stated that believers should love everyone
God has elected and hate everyone he has cast aside. Nolland notes that the idea of reciprocity, doing good to those who do you good, and evil to those who do you evil was also a central doctrine of Greco-Roman ethics, addressed by scholars such as
Plato. ==See also==