Tov Ayin - A Good Eye

"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" Matthew 6:22-23 ESV

Often things Jesus says in the gospels make little sense until we understand that they are Hebraic idioms and even lead to wrong interpretations. The descriptive word for eye is translated "single," "sound," "healthy" or "good."

Jesus' saying appears to be a Hebraic idiom that was used to describe a person's outlook towards others. A person with a "good eye" (tov-ayin or ayin-tovah) was a person who looked at others with compassion and had a generous spirit, and gave to others as needed. The person with the evil eye (ayin ra'ah) is one who is stingy (with compassion) toward others and greedy with money.

This expression is still used in Hebrew today. When people go through Jerusalem raising money, they say, "Please give with a good eye!" The same idiom is also found in Proverbs: "A generous man (literally, "A good eye") will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor." (Pr 22:9)

Jesus also uses it at the end of the parable of the landowner who pays the workers all the same, no matter how long they work. The landowner says to the complainers, literally, "Is your eye evil because I am good?" (Mt 20:15)

Understanding this idiom helps us understand the whole passage in Matthew 6 that begins with "Do not lay your treasures up on earth," then talks about the good/evil eye, and then ends with "One cannot serve two masters - both God and money." All three of these sayings are part of a greater teaching on having the right attitude towards others and money.

Now we know what Jesus means in terms how we can be filled with light and darkness. If we love others and help them, our life will be full of light.