Robertson Word Pictures - Matthew 6:22 - 6:22

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com

Robertson Word Pictures - Matthew 6:22 - 6:22


(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)

This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

Single (haplous). Used of a marriage contract when the husband is to repay the dowry “pure and simple” (tēn phernēn haplēn), if she is set free; but in case he does not do so promptly, he is to add interest also (Moulton and Milligan’s Vocabulary, etc.). There are various other instances of such usage. Here and in Luk 11:34 the eye is called “single” in a moral sense. The word means “without folds” like a piece of cloth unfolded, simplex in Latin. Bruce considers this parable of the eye difficult. “The figure and the ethical meaning seem to be mixed up, moral attributes ascribed to the physical eye which with them still gives light to the body. This confusion may be due to the fact that the eye, besides being the organ of vision, is the seat of expression, revealing inward dispositions.” The “evil” eye (ponēros) may be diseased and is used of stinginess in the lxx and so haplous may refer to liberality as Hatch argues (Essays in Biblical Greek, p. 80). The passage may be elliptical with something to be supplied. If our eyes are healthy we see clearly and with a single focus (without astigmatism). If the eyes are diseased (bad, evil), they may even be cross-eyed or cock-eyed. We see double and confuse our vision. We keep one eye on the hoarded treasures of earth and roll the other proudly up to heaven. Seeing double is double-mindedness as is shown in Mat 6:24.