As the Living Torah, YESHUA showed us how to walk in the Torah, and one that many struggle with is about loving your enemies. What does YESHUA tell us concerning this matter?
Luke 6:27-36 (Complete Jewish Bible)
“Nevertheless, to you who are listening, what I say is this: “LOVE YOUR ENEMIES! Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone hits you on the cheek, offer the other too; if someone takes your coat, let him have your shirt as well. If someone asks you for something, give it to him; if someone takes what belongs to you, don’t demand it back. Treat other people as you would like them to treat you. What credit is it to you if you love only those who love you? Why, even the transgressors love those who love them. What credit is it to you if you do good only to those who do good to you? Even transgressors do that. What credit is it to you if you lend only to those who you expect will pay you back? Even transgressors lend to each other, expecting to be repaid in full. But LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, DO GOOD, and lend expecting nothing back! Your reward will be great, and you will be children of Ha’ELYON (The Most High); for He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Show compassion just as your Father shows compassion.”
I’ve heard it said “Where in the Torah does it say to love your enemy or to do good to them?” YESHUA never spoke an idle word, so we can find this in:
Proverbs 25:21-22 (Complete Jewish Bible)
“If someone who HATES YOU is hungry, give him food to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. For you will heap fiery coals of shame on his head, and YAHWEH will reward you.”
This heaps fiery coals of shame upon their heads because they aren’t expecting someone who hates them to do good for them and are put to shame, which matches exactly what YESHUA said. Most people are expecting the opposite reaction.
Exodus 23:4-5 (Samaritan)
“If you come upon your ENEMIES ox or donkey straying, you must return it to him. If you see the donkey which belongs to someone who HATES YOU laying down helpless under its load, you are not to pass him by but to go and HELP HIM FREE IT.”
There are acts of love and doing good for the one who hates you! YESHUA doesn’t stop there; He goes on to give an example that no one would be able to refute by using a situation they were familiar with.
Luke 10:25-37 (Complete Jewish Bible)
“An expert in Torah stood up to try and trap Him by asking, “Rabbi, what should I do to obtain eternal life? But YESHUA said to him, “What is written in the Torah? How do you read it? He answered, “You are to love YAHWEH your ELOHIM with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your understanding; and your neighbor as yourself.” That’s the right answer,” YESHUA said. “Do this, and you WILL HAVE LIFE.” But he, wanting to justify himself, said to YESHUA, “And who is my ‘neighbor’?” Taking up the question, YESHUA said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him naked and beat him up, then went off, leaving him half dead. By coincidence, a priest was going down on that road; but when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite who reached the place and saw him also passed by on the other side. But a man from SAMARIA (Samaritan) who was traveling came upon him; and when he saw him, he was moved with COMPASSION. So he went up to him, put oil and wine on his wounds and bandaged them. Then he set him on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day, he took out two days’ wages, gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Look after him; and if you spend more than this, I’ll pay you back when I return.’ Of these three, which one seems to you to have become the ‘neighbor’ of the man who fell among robbers?” He answered, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” YESHUA said to him, “You go and DO AS HE DID.”
The message that YESHUA was conveying is two-fold, as He telling this Torah expert to not only love his neighbor who is anyone in need, but also to love his enemies. The man passing through from Jerusalem to Jericho was a Jew and the one who helped him was a Samaritan. This makes sense when we understand that the Jews and the Samaritans hated each other.
John 4:5-9 (Hebrew)
“So YESHUA came into a part of Samaria which is called Suchar, near the place which Jacob gave to Joseph his son and the spring of Jacob was there. So YESHUA, being weary because of the way, sat by the spring. (And it was about the sixth hour of the day.) Then a woman came to draw waters, so YESHUA said to her, “Give Me some water to drink.” (Now His disciples went into the city to buy some food.) Then that Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew, do You ask of me to give you water to drink while I am a woman from the place of Samaria?! (For the Jews do not hold company with the Samaritans.”)
John 8:48-49 (Hebrew)
“So the Jews answered and said, “Do not we rightly say that you are a Samaritan? You have some of Ha-Satan!” YESHUA answered, “There is not a demon in Me, but I honor My Father; while you despise Me.”
Luke 9:51-56 (Aramaic)
“As it happened when the days to go up on His journey were fulfilled, He set His face to go to Jerusalem. So He sent messengers ahead of Him; and they went away and entered into a Samaritan village to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set to go straight to Jerusalem.”
The point is that the Samaritan’s are from the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom of Yisra’el and they know the Torah as well as the Jews, even to this day. Despite the hatred between the Samaritans and the Jews, the “Good Samaritan” helped his enemy who was a Jew; whereas, the Levites and Priests who teach the Torah (Deuteronomy 33:8-10) should have known better and yet left their own brother to die. This is a powerful example that YESHUA gave, and the Jews knew exactly what this meant, which is a perfect example of loving your enemy and doing good to them, and loving your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18).
Finally, to go along with YESHUA saying to do good to those who hate you, we see Joseph doing good for his own brothers who hated him.
Genesis 37:4
“When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they began to HATE him and reached the point where they couldn’t even talk with him in a civil manner.”
Testament of Simeon 4:4-6
“Now Joseph was a good man, and had the RUACH (Spirit) of ELOHIM within him; being compassionate and pitiful, he bore no malice against me; but LOVED me even as the rest of his brothers. Beware, therefore, my children, of all jealousy and envy, and walk in singleness of being and with good heart, keeping in mind Joseph your father’s brother, that ELOHIM may give you also favor and esteem, and blessing upon your heads, even as you saw in Joseph’s case. All his days he did not despise us concerning this thing, but LOVED us as his own being, and esteemed us beyond his own sons, and gave us riches, and cattle and fruits.
Testament of Joseph 17:4-8
“And when my brothers came to Egypt they learned that I had returned their money to them, and did not rebuke them, and comforted them. And after the death of Jacob my father I loved them more abundantly, and all things he commanded I did very abundantly for them. And I did now allow them to be afflicted in even the smallest matter; and all that was in my hand I gave to them. And their children were my children, and my children as their servants; and their life was my life, and all their suffering was my suffering, and all their sickness was my infirmity. My land was their land, and their counsel my counsel. And I did not exalt myself among them in arrogance because of my worldly esteem, but I was as one of the least among them.”
YESHUA said to the torah teacher, “Go and do the same!” and He is telling us to “Go and do the same!” as well. It takes true humility, self-denial, love, and considering others better than yourself to be able to carry this out, and we know YESHUA walked this way and those who follow Him are to do the exact same thing.
As always may our Father YAHWEH bless you in YESHUA’s Name!