Living Biblically: Practical Applications

Good Eye/Evil Eye

by

Brian Knowles

In many respects, practicing personal generosity is more effective than institutional giving. It puts believers in contact with real people at their precise points of need. It provides personal opportunities to express the love of God in very specific, and often intimate, circumstances. It builds new relationships. It arouses the need for ingenuity, resourcefulness, and above all, faith. It also means learning to hear from God for guidance.

A verse in Luke that is, in our English translations, somewhat enigmatic, illustrates this point. "The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body is also full of darkness" (Luke 11:34). Other translations render "bad" as "evil." What is a good eye or as the King James puts it, a "single" eye? What is a bad or evil eye?

The keys that unlock the answer to these questions are found in some Old Testament verses. A good example is Proverbs 22:9: "He who has a bountiful [literally, "good"] eye will be blessed. For he gives his bread to the poor." A person with a "good eye" is a generous person–one who shares his bread with the poor.

In Proverbs 28:22, we find the meaning of the "evil" eye: "A man with an evil eye hastens after riches, and does not consider that poverty will come upon him." Those who have an "evil eye" are those who ravenously horde wealth for themselves, while neglecting the needs of the poor. Because they have no care for the poor, they will end up poor themselves.

Another way of expressing this principle is found in Proverbs 21:13: "Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be heard." In other words, if we cease to sow with the poor in mind, we will cease to reap for ourselves.

Jesus, in his teaching, was simply using a common idiom long used by the Jewish community. A person with a "single" or "good" eye was a generous person who went out of his way to care for the needs of the poor. Though he was wealthy, or even just moderately prosperous, he was more than willing to share what he had with those that were less fortunate. Interestingly, even the poorest Jew was expected to give alms. It is this practice gave rise to the expression "widow’s mite."

A person with an evil eye is a tightwad, a skinflint–a person who hoards for himself wealth while caring nothing for the plight of the poor. You might say he has a "Scrooge spirit." He’s the kind of person who says, "I’m gonna get while the getting’s good! Gotta make hay while the sun shines." He’s busy salting it all away for a "rainy day." He doesn’t stop to think that it’s "raining" on the poor every day.

When Jesus taught that ". . . if your eye is bad, your whole body is full of darkness," he seems to have been saying, "If you don’t care about the poor, you’re probably lacking character at other levels too." A heartless person, one without compassion, has not experienced spiritual renewal.

Being a real follower of Yeshua means more than stubbornly holding to a set of dogmas and endlessly reinforcing and asserting them–it’s living life at the point where the rubber meets the road. It’s caring about people and their needs. It’s manifesting the Kingdom of God in real life situations. It’s praying for the sick and seeing them healed. It’s rebuking unclean spirits and seeing people delivered. It’s interceding for people and seeing God’s answer come forth. It’s being generous and giving people what they need when they need it.

Jewish communal leaders in thirteenth century France had an interesting custom. They had their coffins made out of the boards from the tables on which they had set food before the poor. The lesson in this was to show that no matter how high a man may reach in this life, when he dies he takes nothing with him except the good that he has done, and the compassion he has shown the poor. (And of course if we do our alms deeds "to be seen of men," we don’t take even that with us.)

The apostle Paul taught, ". . . we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially those who are of the household of faith" (Galatians 6:10).

There is no shortage of opportunities to give alms and do works of tzedakah in a needy world such as ours. Those who have a "good eye" will roll up their sleeves and start practicing personal charity. Like the Good Samaritan, they will practice it wherever and whenever they encounter a need.

On the other hand, those who have an evil eye will rationalize their way out of their obligation to the poor. Which kind of "eye" do you have–good or evil?

Brian Knowles, a writer/editor/artist who has served in pastoral roles in churches in Canada, Oklahoma, and California, has been studying the Hebrew roots of the church for many years. With his Master of Science in Communication, he has taught both theological journalism and various Bible courses at the undergraduate level, and his articles have appeared in various publications. Brian lives in Monrovia, California, where he conducts Bible studies.

Guestbook | Table of Contents | Restore! Magazine | Restoration Foundation Home