NOTES for Exo 23:1-33
It is customary to think that love for enemies is an exclusively evangelical, New Testament virtue. In reality, as we can see, the corresponding norms already exist in the legislation of the book of Exodus, and as law, not as a simple wish or piece of advice. Here, of course, this is not yet love as a stable relationship; it is more accurate to speak of actions that presuppose such a relationship. But relationships in general cannot be prescribed by law. The law can require a person to perform certain actions, while relationships are too subtle a matter for legal regulation. Yet the character of the action and its meaning point to the relationship that is presupposed.
Helping one's enemy means, at the very least, the absence of hatred toward that enemy. The absence of hatred does not by itself guarantee love, but at least it makes love possible. In practice, the absence of hatred is expressed precisely in the refusal to take revenge.
The traditional norm reflected in the customary law of many peoples came down to this: one must harm an enemy as much as possible and in every possible way as long as he remains an enemy. Any damage was considered acceptable here: war is war. The Torah, however, prescribes a limit to enmity. Enmity must not turn into a war for the annihilation of one's enemy; this is the main meaning of the relevant prescriptions.
For example, a situation in which an enemy has fallen into trouble should be a sign that hostilities against one's enemy must be suspended. Such a suspension means fair play: a person recognizes his enemy as an enemy, but also recognizes that his enemy does not deserve destruction at any cost and in every possible form. Such a position can be called nobility toward an enemy, the kind of nobility that in the Middle Ages was called chivalrous; but above all what is present here is the recognition of a human being as a human being, the recognition that a person remains such for you even after becoming your enemy. This recognition is the necessary condition for love of an enemy, and the Torah strives to guarantee it as far as this is possible by law.