Exodus 23:4-5

"If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, thou shalt forbear to leave him, thou shalt surely release it with him."

Here is the germ of the Christian teaching that men have duties of friendliness and helpfulness even toward their enemies. "One should not allow personal animosity to destroy one's willingness to be of assistance in a time of need."[8] The need in view in Exodus 23:5 is that of a helpless, over-burdened animal, slipping, or failing, under a load and unable to get up. There is also the need of that designated enemy for assistance with a problem that one man could not handle. It was a major premise of Judaism that kindness and thoughtfulness for animals were required by God (See Exodus 20:10; Leviticus 22:27; Deuteronomy 22:6-7; 25:4). Here the kind help of one's enemy was also enjoined.

Seeing, therefore, that regard for an enemy was inculcated into the Book of the Covenant, what must we think of Jesus' words: "Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy?" (Matthew 5:43). "Some Jewish authorities are incensed at Jesus' words, which they regard as a baseless charge against the Torah and the rabbis."[9] However, it must be noted that Jesus did NOT say, "God said, `Hate thine enemy ... etc.'" Despite the fact that God indeed had said no such thing, it was an incontrovertible truth that whole generations of learned Jews had been preaching exactly what Jesus said that they had preached and that "ye have heard it." Of course, they had. A famous sect of the Jews, the Essenes, wrote a Manual of Discipline with these lines: "They (their members) are to bear unremitting hatred toward all men of repute, and to be reminded to keep in seclusion from them."[10]

However, the pre-Christian Jewish community was not the only place that vicious and evil hatred prevailed in human hearts. There are even Christians who have been unsuccessful in eradicating the cancer of hatred from their hearts. Christ went far beyond what is visible in these verses, requiring his followers to "love their enemies, ... do good to them that despitefully use you," "turn the other cheek," "go the second mile," "agree with thine adversary quickly ...," etc.