Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.
The first injunction is found in the Law, Leviticus 19:18. The second part of the sentence is an addition made by the rabbis. They understood the word "neighbor" of the members of their own nation only, arguing from the many passages of the Law in which God had commanded the children of Israel to destroy the heathen nations. But in all those instances the children of Israel were merely carrying out God's penal justice. Their argument would therefore not stand, especially in view of Exodus 22:21; Exodus 23:9; Leviticus 19:33; Deuteronomy 10:18-19; Deuteronomy 24:17; Deuteronomy 27:19. Jesus insists that all hatred is contrary to humaneness, opposed to the spirit which He was striving to foster. His is a different law: