You have heard that it has been said, You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.
Thou.
Matthew 19:19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Matthew 22:39,40 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself…
Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
and hate.
Exodus 17:14-16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven…
Deuteronomy 23:6 Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.
Deuteronomy 25:17 Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt;
‘Love your neighbor’
This part of the verse references Leviticus 19:18, which commands the Israelites to love their neighbors as themselves. In the Jewish context, "neighbor" was often understood to mean fellow Israelites or those within one's own community. Jesus later expands this definition in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), illustrating that "neighbor" includes all people, regardless of ethnicity or social standing.
and ‘Hate your enemy.’
This phrase is not a direct quote from the Old Testament but reflects a common interpretation or attitude that had developed over time. While the Law commanded love for one's neighbor, it did not explicitly instruct hatred for enemies. However, due to historical conflicts and the desire for national purity, some Jewish groups, such as the Qumran community, may have adopted a stance of enmity towards outsiders or those perceived as threats. Jesus challenges this mindset by teaching love for enemies, as seen in the following verses (Matthew 5:44-48), which aligns with the broader biblical theme of God's love and mercy extending to all humanity.
• Jesus signals a commonly accepted teaching, not His own command.
• This phrase mirrors earlier contrasts in the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Matthew 5:21, 27, 31, 33, 38), showing He is about to correct or deepen their understanding.
• The statement respects the historical fact that Israel’s leaders did pass along truths from Moses, yet also acknowledges the possibility of distortion over time (see Mark 7:8-13).
• Scripture itself foresees the danger of merely “hearing” tradition without testing it against God’s Word (Jeremiah 23:16-17; Acts 17:11).
• Directly quotes Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
• God’s intent was always comprehensive love:
– Applied to fellow Israelites (Leviticus 19:34).
– Extended even to society’s vulnerable (Deuteronomy 10:18-19; James 1:27).
• Jesus later confirms this as the second great commandment, inseparable from loving God (Matthew 22:37-40; Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:14).
• Literal obedience means practical acts—caring, protecting, speaking truth—toward those God places near us (1 John 3:17-18).
• The conjunction welds “love” to an additional idea the people had accepted.
• By wording it this way, Jesus highlights the subtle shift from God-given law to man-added license.
• Scripture often warns that a single small addition can distort the whole (Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:6; Revelation 22:18-19).
• The lesson: examine every “and” we add to God’s commands.
• Nowhere does the Law command hatred; this was a human inference—possibly drawn from God’s instructions to separate from pagan practices, but misapplied to personal relationships.
• The Old Testament actually restrains vengeance and enables kindness:
– “If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, you must return it to him” (Exodus 23:4-5).
– “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat” (Proverbs 25:21-22), later echoed in Romans 12:20.
• By attributing hatred to tradition rather than Scripture, Jesus exposes how cultural bias can slip into theology.
• His next words (Matthew 5:44) will overturn the distortion, commanding love even for foes, aligning with God’s own character (Luke 6:27-36).
Matthew 5:43 reveals a two-part saying the crowds had absorbed: the genuine command to “Love your neighbor” coupled with the illegitimate add-on “Hate your enemy.” Jesus affirms the original Scripture yet prepares to correct the man-made addition. The verse reminds us to measure every teaching against the literal Word of God, love those around us faithfully, and refuse any tradition that would excuse bitterness or revenge.
(43) Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.--In form the latter clause was a Rabbinic addition to the former; and this is important as showing that our Lord deals throughout not with the Law as such, but with the scribes' exposition of it. But it can hardly be said these words, as far as national enemies were concerned, were foreign to the spirit of the Law. The Israelites were practically commanded to hate the Canaanites and Amalekites, whom they were commissioned to destroy. The fault of the scribes was that they stereotyped the Law, which was in its nature transitory, and extended it in a wrong direction by making it the plea for indulgence in private enmities. Our Lord cancels the Rabbinic gloss as regards national and, a fortiori, private hatreds, and teaches us to strive after the ideal excellence which He realised, and to love, i.e., to seek the good of those who have shown us the most bitter hostility. So He taught men to find a neighbour even in a Samaritan, and so He prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."Verses 43-48. - The treatment of those who injure us. (Cf. supra, ver. 38.) Our Lord now turns from the reception of injuries to the treatment of those who injure us. We are not to injure them in return, nor merely to keep aloof from them, but to show them positive kindness. The Law, in the natural development of it current at the time, taught very differently. Verse 43.. - Matthew only. Ye have heard (ver. 21, note). Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. The first clause is found in Leviticus 19:18, the second is the natural, and, from one point of view, legitimate, deduction from it. "The whole precept, as it stands, undoubtedly represents, and is a summary of, the sense of the Law" (Mozley, vide infra). The meaning of the words "neighbour" and "enemy" has been much discussed. In Leviticus, indeed, the meaning of "neighbour" is clear; it answers to "the children of thy people" in the preceding clause, i.e. it refers to members of the nation; all Israelites are termed "neighbours." The primary sense, therefore, of this whole precept is love to an Israelite, hatred to a non-Israelite (cf. Deuteronomy 25:17-19). As such, the precept was of value in cementing the unity of the nation and preventing greater exposure to the evils, moral and religious, found outside it. But as quoted by our Lord, it has evidently a more private reference. He treats the precept as referring to personal friends (those who act in a neighbourly way) and enemies, and even this is, in some respects, a legitimate summary of the teaching of the Law, in so far as it forms another side of the law of retaliation. In days when public justice was weak much had to be left to the action of the individual, and he who was wronged was bid satisfy justice by retaliating on his enemy. That, however, it was not the only teaching of the Law is evident from Exodus 23:4 (cf. Job 31:29). But as regards both aspects of the precept the time had come for a change. The Jews only too gladly showed obedience to the second part of the precept, making themselves proverbial (cf. Tacitus, 'Hist.,' 5:5. 2; Juvenal, 'Sat.,' 14:103) for their more than incivility to Gentiles, and they seem to have also zealously carried it out towards their personal enemies (cf. Psalm 109.). On the whole subject, vide especially Mozley ('Ruling Ideas,' pp. 188-200), who, however, hardly allows enough weight to passages like Exodus 23:4.