Messianic Musings ~ The Evil Eye

When you read the Bible do you ever come across a passage that throws you for a loop?  This happened to me as I read Matthew 6.  For those of us who have spent any time at WBS, we know that context is king. So what do you do when a passage seems out of context? What any Bible scholar would do - dig deeper!

The verses that threw me were from Matthew 6:19-24.  The Bible I have been using subtitled this passage  "Treasures in Heaven".   (A little extra trivia for you - these subtitles have been put in by editors to make the text easier to read. They were not present in the original Scriptures.)  The first and last paragraphs in this passage fit very neatly under this subtitle as they teach about wealth. I couldn't understand how the following verses fit into the context of the passage:

"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light but if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! "

(Matt. 6:22-23).

If context is king, how do healthy and unhealthy eyes fit into the context of wealth?  I learned something really cool from the Messianic commentaries we have been using. As Jesus was speaking, He used a Hebrew figure of speech that was often mistranslated. A healthy eye (or a good eye) is not about sight, it is about our attitude towards wealth. In God's Word a person with a healthy eye would be one who was generous with his material processions. Conversely, a person who had an unhealthy eye (or an evil eye) would be one who was miserly with his wealth.

With this new understanding, does this passage fit the context of wealth? It certainly does!! It tells us that how we view material wealth is very important. If we are generous with what we have we will be filled with light but if we are selfish or stingy we will be full of darkness.

So, how's your sight?