I have been reading an English translation of a compilation of Hebrew legends and lore about the scripture called the Sefer Ha-aggadah [literal translation: “Book of Legends”] by Bialik and Ravnitsky. Here is a teaching from the first century Rabbi R. Yohanan that I thought was profound. It also gave me some new insight into a parable that Jesus gives in the Sermon on the Mount, which I will share below.
Sefer Ha-aggadah [excerpted from pg 211 #47]
Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai said to his five distinguished disciples: “Go into the world and observe the right course a man should steadfastly follow.”
R. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus came back and said “Be generous with your means.”
R. Joshua ben Hananiah said: “Be a good friend.”
R. Yose the Priest said: “Be a good neighbor.”
R. Simeon ben Nathaniel said: “Consider the consequence of your actions.”
R. Eleazar ben Arakh said: “Cultivate an unselfish heart.”
Rabban Yohanan said to them: “I prefer what Eleazar ben Arakh said, to what you have said, because his definition includes all of yours.”
The footnote says that R Eliezer ben Hyrcanus said the literal phrase “a good eye” but the authors translate this phrase as: “Be generous with your means” because having a “good eye” was a Jewish idiom for being generous.
This insight is profoundly helpful in understanding the parable of the eye that Jesus gives in the Sermon on the Mount from Matt 6:19-24 (NIV):
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 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!
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
In context it is clear that this is a discussion about money, from verses 19-21 and verse 24, but the English translation of verse 22-23 makes it challenging to connect the dots. With the added understanding that having “healthy eyes” or “good eyes” was a Jewish idiom that meant “being generous with your means” and that having “unhealthy eyes” meant “being stingy”, the parable makes perfect sense in context. Like these 1st century scholars, Jesus too, is encouraging us to cultivate an unselfish heart, but he shows us the way to do this. We need to reorient our priorities so that we value the treasures of God more than we value our worldly treasures. It is sobering to realize that when my eyes are solidly fixed on material prizes, my heart is full of darkness and I cannot serve God.
Atheist to Elder 
Very interesting! This makes me wonder if the teaching about removing the plank first from your own eye is using this same idiom and how that would impact the interpretation of that teaching.
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