Texts in Conversation
Proverbs 29:13 says God gives light to the eyes, a reference that resembles Plato’s description of light inside a person that flows out through the eyes. Each reflects the ancient idea that the eye shines outward to see rather than taking light in.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Proverbs 29:13
Hebrew Bible
11 A fool lets fly with all his temper, but a wise person keeps it back. 12 If a ruler listens to lies, all his ministers will be wicked. 13 The poor person and the oppressor have this in common: The Lord gives light to the eyes of them both. 14 If a king judges the poor in truth, his throne will be established forever. 15 A rod and reproof impart wisdom,but a child who is unrestrained brings shame to his mother.
Plato Timaeus 45
Classical
Thus it was necessary that man should have the forepart of his body distinct and dissimilar. Wherefore, dealing first with the vessel of the head, they set the face in the front thereof and bound within it organs for all the forethought of the Soul; and they ordained that this, which is the natural front, should be the leading part. And of the organs they constructed first light-bearing eyes, and these they fixed in the face for the reason following. They contrived that all such fire as had the property not of burning but of giving a mild light should form a body akin to the light of every day. For they caused the pure fire within us, which is akin to that of day, to flow through the eyes in a smooth and dense stream; and they compressed the whole substance, and especially the center, of the eyes, so that they occluded all other fire that was coarser and allowed only this pure kind of fire to filter through. So whenever the stream of vision is surrounded by midday light, it flows out like unto like, and coalescing therewith it forms one kindred substance along the path of the eyes’ vision, wheresoever the fire which streams from within collides with an obstructing object without.
Date: 360 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
... According to the anonymous Pythagoreans, Pythagoras called the eyes 'gates of the sun' (Diels & Kranz 1972, 58B 1a). This reminds of the myth that the sun and the moon are considered to be the eyes of a cosmic deity (Betz 1979:46). The dominant theory among the Greeks was that the eye was like a lamp or even the sun, emitting rays or beams to the object seen and having an effect upon that object (Betz 1995:442; Elliott 1994:66; Van Bruggen 1990:114). In discussing the creation of the human body, Plato describes the human eye as a source of fire ...
Viljoen, Francois P.
The eye as the lamp of the body (Matthew 6:22-23)
(p. 3) HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 2009
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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