Is there such a thing as the evil eye?

The opening proverbs of this chapter treat of self-restraint in curbing the appetite and give manners to be observed in the presence of a superior. Warnings against riches and their uncertainty are contained in verses 4 and 5. How well it would be if the great mass of professing Christians, and some true believers also, would consider this instruction: "Labor not to be rich." But this exhortation as well as the exhortation in 1 Timothy 6:1-10 is overlooked, and many who profess to have their riches in Christ, in the heavenly places and never ending glory, weary themselves with earthly gain, and aim to become wealthy. But riches have wings; they can fly away swiftly as does the eagle when he mounts heavenward. This too is mentioned in the epistle to Timothy, in which those who are rich are charged not to be highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but to be rich in good works. The evil eye mentioned in verse 6 has nothing to do with the superstitious belief that some person with an evil eye can cast a spell to harm others. It means a dishonest, insincere person, one who is pharisaical. While he urges to eat and drink, puts on a friendly front, in his heart he entertains other thoughts.

The Son of God loved me, and gave Himself up for me. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. It was grace, all unspeakable grace: but the Galatian Christians had "set aside God's grace" and had chosen the law. The Galatian Christians had turned their eyes away from Christ crucified, and were looking for righteousness to come by the law. If this is true, "then Christ died for nothing!" The very thought makes Paul indignantly exclaim, "O senseless Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Who has fascinated you? Who has cast on you 'the evil eye'?" How well can we in China understand this question! How many a mother is afraid that someone may "cast the evil eye" on one of her children! How many are frightened of witchcraft! So was it in Galatia. The Galatians also knew all about these things of heathendom; and Paul uses this that they will so well understand, to show that it was the devil's evil work, not the work of God to turn their eyes away from Christ to the law. These false teachers were nothing better than the heathen fortunetellers about them, practicing witchcraft, and they had bewitched the Galatians.

The eye, therefore, is a main thoroughfare to and from the heart. Through the eye sinful lusts are awakened and put into exercise, so that as the Lord taught on another occasion, "If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness" (Matt. 6:23).

In the Scriptures, the evil eye is frequently regarded as a close companion of covetousness and selfishness and envious jealousy. The sufferings of others are disregarded by the evil eye if personal gain is thereby secured. Jehovah warned the people of Israel against having an evil eye towards a poor brother in need and withholding due succour from him (Deut. 15:7-9 Deut. 28:54-55). Men were counselled to avoid stinginess of spirit and to cultivate the bountiful eye which gives liberally to the needy (Prov. 22:9). The eye is never satisfied with riches, and the man, pasting to be rich and having an evil eye, is warned that poverty shall come upon him (Prov. 28:22; Ecc. 4:8).

King Saul is a personal example, for he was filled with jealous hatred against David because the daughters of Israel praised the slayer of Goliath more than they praised himself, and he "eyed David from that day forward (1 Sam. 18:9). A similar spirit of envy against others who appear to have been better favoured than themselves was displayed by the labourers who murmured against their fellow-workers who having been hired only at the eleventh hour received as much as those who entered the vineyard at the beginning of the day. "Is thine eye evil," said the householder to one of the grumblers, "because I am good?" (Matt. 20:15).

An evil eve. The eye is the principal organ whereby impressions from without are received by us. And an "evil eye" would seem to be one habituated to seek out and dwell upon unworthy and noxious objects. The epithet, "evil" is poneros (malignant), and not merely kakos (defiled, corrupt). The same term is applied to Satan as the principal agent in the infliction of harm upon man. He is called the Evil one (Matt. 6:13; Matt. 13:19:1 John 2:13-14).

'But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!' These words remind us of the verse we already mentioned in Proverbs 21:4 which says that a high look and a proud heart are the 'lamp of the wicked, that is the sinner. What a terrible fate if a man is able to see his surroundings only in this 'light'!

The Lord Jesus mentions the expression 'an evil eye' in other connections also (see Matt. 20:15; Mark 7:22). There the evil eye is the visible proof for an envious, jealous heart. If our heart is filled with envy, pride or other evil things then our entire life is, so to speak, 'clouded' with darkness. We do not only deprive ourselves of every true joy in the Lord but we also loose the discernment as to ourselves and our surroundings. This is the significance of the figurative words of the Lord: 'But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.'

"He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him."

An evil eye is the opposite of a single eye (Matt. 6:22, 23), which indicates simple, straight-forward honesty. But a man grasping after riches is devious and crooked in his ways, and his eye will betray him. He is not thoroughly honest and careful in his dealings. But neither does he seriously consider that he is defeating his own ends. Grasping eagerly for riches, he is inviting poverty! Let the believer take this to heart.

There appears to be a link of connection between the counsel in verse 6, not to eat the bread of one that has an evil eye, with setting the mind on what is not in a covetous way, as in verse 5. And this tends to bind up verse 4 both with what precedes and with what follows. For the desire for money is far less commonly for its own sake than in order to enjoy with more ease the things of the world and of human life. And the table forms no small part of these in general. But the point here pressed is to beware of accepting the hospitality of the insincere, who really begrudges the guest what he eats or drinks while with his lips urging him to partake freely of his store. Far otherwise is such a host as he thinks in his soul. He says to thee, Eat and drink; but his heart is not with thee. The prophet Isaiah, looking to the King's reign in righteousness, lets us know that so it will not be in that future day of bliss for the earth. The vile person or fool, like Nabal, shall no more be called liberal, nor the churl or crafty be said to be bountiful. The wicked now strive to appear what they are not, and not to manifest what they are. For at heart men are ashamed of what they know themselves to be.

Can any discovery among professed friends be more sickening than to find that one's welcome was a vain show, after being taken in by it? This is here represented energetically in verse 8. The morsel thou hast eaten thou shalt vomit up, and thou shalt waste thy sweet words: that is, the thanks you expressed when you thought his invitations were as cordial as kind. From ordinary life up to the most solemn acts of reverent faith and love, to eat and drink together is regarded as an act of hearts united. So much the more painful when one finds it wholly insincere.

Now, as might be expected, Nabal's acting was directly contrary to Scripture, as his spirit was decidedly contrary to the spirit of its divine Author. It is written in the fifteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren, within any of thy gates, in the land which the Lord thy God gives thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy poor brother; but thou shalt open thy hand wide to him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wants. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry to the Lord against thee, and it be sin to thee." Precious grace! How like God. How unlike Nabal! Grace would keep the heart wide open to every object of need; whereas selfishness would close it against every applicant. Nabal ought to have obeyed the word, independently of his knowledge of David; but his selfishness was too deep a character to allow of his obedience to the Lord's word, or his love to the Lord's anointed.

(3) Sins named by Mark only. These six offences covetousness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, pride, foolishness are intimately associated with the inward workings of man's heart. If the others previously named may be described as the lusts of the flesh, these are the desires of the mind (Eph. 2:3); if they illustrated the filthiness of the flesh, these show the filthiness of the spirit (2 Cor. 7:1). These inward propensities are the dead bones, the uncleanness of the hypocrisy and iniquity within the whited sepulchres, of which the Lord spoke in another place (Matt. 23:27-28).

Covetousness. — This is the selfish greed within a man's heart which desires to appropriate other things than those God has given him and are therefore his legitimate possession. The Gentiles fell into this snare no less than the Jews (Rom. 1:29). The covetous man is called an idolater (Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5), for he sets up another god within himself whom he serves with his whole heart. Hence the apostle John exhorted the followers of Christ, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21)

And this alone gives a single eye: there is no confusion, no distraction of vision; no unsteadiness therefore, or uncertainty. The eye is the lamp of the body; not the light, but what holds and fixes the light. The light comes from elsewhere: the organ of perception does not create the light, but receives it. The light for us is in the Word alone: it is this that judges and makes plain; but there must be spiritual reception and, for this, capacity of reception, which the Lord indicates here, as it is stated by the apostle (Eph. 1:18, R.V.) to be in the heart and its condition. With the heart set on things above, the eye is single and clear: God is before it, and in His light we see light. Then the whole body becomes full of light: the hands and feet have plenty of it for work and walk. On the contrary, if the eye be evil, the very light may blind one; and when the word of God becomes this, how great may the resulting darkness become.