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EYE.—The eye was supposed to be the organ or window by which light had access to the whole body (Mat_6:22). For beauty of eyes cf. 1Sa_16:12 [RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ], Son_1:15; Son_5:12, and the name Dorcas in Act_9:36; in Gen_29:17 the reference seems to be to Leah’s weak eyes (so Driver, ad loc.). The wanton or alluring eyes of women are referred to in Pro_6:25, Isa_3:16. Their beauty was intensified by painting, antimony being used for darkening the eyelashes (2Ki_9:30, Jer_4:30, Eze_23:40 [all RV [Note: Revised Version.] ]). Keren-happuch (Job_42:14) means ‘horn of eyepaint.’ Pro_23:29 speaks of the drunkard’s redness of eye. In Deu_6:8; Deu_14:1 ‘between the eyes’ means ‘on the forehead.’ Shaving the eyebrows was part of the purification of the leper (Lev_14:9).
‘Eye’ is used in many figurative phrases: as the avenue of temptation (Gen_3:6, Job_31:1); of spiritual knowledge and blindness, as indicating feelings—pride (2Ki_19:22), favour [especially God’s providence (Psa_33:18)], hostility (Psa_10:8). An evil eye implies envy (Mar_7:22; cf. 1Sa_18:9, the only use of the verb in this sense in English) or niggardliness (Deu_15:9, Pro_28:22, and probably Mat_6:22, where the ‘single eye’ may mean ‘liberality’; cf. Pro_22:9). In Gen_20:16 ‘covering of the eyes’ means ‘forgetfulness of what has happened.’ In Rev_3:18 eye-salve or collyrium is a Phrygian powder mentioned by Galen, for which the medical school at Laodicea seems to have been famous. (See Ramsay, Seven Churches.) The reference is to the restoring of spiritual vision.
C. W. Emmet.