"Love your enemy" precept in the sermon on the mount in the context of early Jewish exegesis: A new perspective

The article shows that the love-your-enemy precept from the Sermon on the Mount shares a characteristic feature with some other trends in early Jewish exegesis. In order to promulgate the dramatic widening of the scope of the Lev 19:18 love-your-neighbor dictum to include enemies a variety of un harmonized motifs is employed. It is suggested that in addition to the motifs highlighted by previous research a further exegetical undercurrent may be discerned in the Sermon, one connected with a new perception of reward and the double love command pattern of thought both of which where prominent in the late Second Temple period.