What is the simple life? It is described in Matthew 6 in the Sermon on the Mount.
There are a number of different translations of verse 22 that try to make sense of it to us in our culture: "if your eyesight is good," "if your eye is sound." Then there are many commentaries who try to explain what this means. If we understand the Hebrew idiom in this phrase, then the whole passage fits in context and the reason for the conclusion, "you cannot serve God and mammon," is made clear.
First of all, the word in the King James for light, means lamp in Aramaic. The eye is the place of reflection of the inner part of one's being. The true feelings and will of a person shine out of the eyes. This phrase is a metaphor, emphasizing that the eye is like a lamp. The comparison is used to relate the familiar aspects of a lamp with what shines out of a man's heart. This is fully explained and developed in the synoptic passage in Luke 11:34-36. Verse 36 clarifies the metaphor: "If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light. When what is inside you is dark, there will not be much light shining out, but when your whole being is light, it will shine as a bright candle does. This now sets the stage for the point of the passage.
The idiom, "if your eye is single," means "to be generous." To be evil is to be greedy or stingy.[1] The Aramaic word for single in this passage is peshita, which is the name for the whole New Testament text that we are studying. Peshita means simple or straight. There are many other passages that are now clarified when we understand that the Aramaic and Hebrew idea of being "simple" means to be generous. Here are just a few examples:
The opposite "evil eye" refers to being miserly or selfish.[2] Proverbs 28:22 says, "He who hastens to be rich has an evil eye and considers not that poverty shall come upon him." [Lamsa] A person who is greedy and selfish will continually take from others and use them. He may get rich in the process, but ultimately, poverty will be his reward. This is emphasized in the passage in Luke 11. "Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness."
The conclusion of this passage is that "you cannot serve God and mammon." Mammon is a Chaldee word that means literally "that in which one trusts," hence wealth or riches.[3] The argument of this passage is based on one of the seven rules of Hillel. This was a school of rabbis during the time of Jesus Christ headed by Hillel, who set forth rules to follow when interpreting or understanding the scriptures. These were known for many years and passed down among the priests, but Hillel was the first one to write them down. The first rule is called kal v'khomer and means "light and heavy." It may be expressed as follows: if X is true of Y, then how much more X must be true of Z.[4] It is applied in this passage to bring weight to the idea of serving riches. If you are generous, your life if full of light. If you are stingy and greedy, you life is full of darkness. How great is that darkness when you SERVE wealth as a lord! The play on words with light and darkness representing God and mammon is also very revealing.
What is the lesson? Be generous and your whole life will be simple and straightforward and full of light! We can translate the Aramaic: "The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore if you are generous, your whole body is enlightened."
[1] Bivin, David and Blizzard, Roy, Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus, p.144-145.
[2] Gaebelein, Frank E., The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Volume 8, p.178.
[3] Bullinger, E.W., A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament, p. 476.
[4] Trimm, James, Seven Rules of Hillel, p. 1-2.