Interpretation of Matthew 6:3 - Right Hand and Left Hand
Matthew 6:3 appears in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus instructs: "But when you do merciful deeds, don't let your left hand know what your right hand does" [1]. This saying concludes a brief unit (6:2–4) on almsgiving, positioned between warnings against public displays of piety and instructions on prayer.
Literary and Historical Context
The verse follows Jesus' prohibition against sounding trumpets when giving alms "as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men" [9]. The passage addresses a first-century Jewish context where charitable giving was a recognized religious duty, but where ostentatious display could corrupt the act. Jesus contrasts two modes: the hypocrite's public performance versus the disciple's secrecy so complete that even one's own hands remain unaware of each other's activity.
The Metaphor of Right and Left Hands
The image is hyperbolic. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown interpret it as an injunction against dwelling on one's own charitable acts "even in thine own thoughts, lest it minister to spiritual pride" [3]. The metaphor exploits the natural coordination between hands: if the right hand acts and the left remains ignorant, the giver has achieved a secrecy that transcends mere external concealment—it becomes internal, psychological.
In Hebrew thought, the right hand often carried symbolic weight. The right was associated with skill and favor [4], while the left denoted direction (north, when facing east) [2]. Rabbinic tradition sometimes assigned theological significance to the hands: the right hand symbolized Torah, the left phylacteries [6, 10]. Another rabbinic maxim advised, "Always have the left hand drive sinners away and the right draw them near" [7], suggesting the right hand's association with mercy and the left with discipline. Jesus' saying inverts any hierarchy: both hands belong to the giver, yet neither should register the transaction.
Patristic Reception
Augustine, commenting on Matthew 6, does not elaborate extensively on this specific metaphor in the retrieved homilies, though he addresses the surrounding material on almsgiving and hypocrisy [9]. The patristic tradition more commonly engaged the right-hand/left-hand language in eschatological contexts—the sheep and goats, or Christ's session at the Father's right hand [5, 8]—rather than in parsing this particular saying about charity.
The verse functions as a test of motive: almsgiving that feeds self-regard contradicts its own purpose. The secrecy Jesus demands is so radical that even the self becomes a potential audience to exclude.
Sources
- Matthew “But when you do merciful deeds, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does, -- Matthew 6:3”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Left hand — Among the Hebrews, denoted the north (Job 23:9; Gen. 14:15), the face of the person being supposed to be toward the east.”
- Matthew (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Matthew 6:3: But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth--So far from making a display of it, dwell not on it even in thine own thoughts, lest it minister to spiritual pride.”
- Ecclesiastes (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Ecclesiastes 10:2: (Ecc 2:14). right--The right hand is more expert than the left. The godly wise is more on his guard than the foolish sinner, though at times he slip. Better a diamond with a flaw, than a pebble without one.”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 3: Augustine — On the Holy Trinity — CHAP. 7.--OF CHRIST'S SESSION AT THE: FATHER'S RIGHT HAND. 14. We believe also that HE SITTETH AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER. This, however, is 327 not to lead us to suppose that God the Father is, as it were, circumscribed by a human form, so that, when we think of Him, a right side or a left should suggest itself to the mind. Nor, again, when it is thus said in express terms that the Father sitteth, are we to fancy that this is done with bended knees; lest we should fall into that profanity, in [dealing with] which an apostle execrates those w”
- Babylonian Talmud (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 6a.18: Specifically, “His right hand” refers to the Torah, as it is stated in describing the giving of the Torah: “From His right hand, a fiery law for His people” (Deuteronomy 33:2). “The arm of His strength,” His left hand, refers to phylacteries, as it is stated: “The Lord gave strength to His nation” (Psalms 29:11), in the form of the mitzva of phylacteries.”
- Babylonian Talmud (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 107b.8: The Sages taught: Always have the left hand drive sinners away and the right draw them near, so that the sinner will not totally despair of atonement. This is unlike Elisha, who pushed away Gehazi with his two hands and caused him to lose his share in the World-to-Come, and unlike Yehoshua ben Peraḥya, who pushed away Jesus the Nazarene with his two hands.”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 26.--WHAT IT IS TO HAVE CHRIST FOR A FOUNDATION, AND WHO THEY ARE TO WHOM SALVATION AS BY FIRE IS PROMISED. (part 3): by fire;"(5) for that which he possessed with the sweetness of love he does not lose without the sharp sting of pain. Here, then, as seems to me, we have a fire which destroys neither, but enriches the one, brings loss to the other, proves both. But if this passage [of Corinthians] is to interpret that fire of which the Lord shall say to those on His left hand, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,"(6”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 6: Augustine — Homilies on the Gospels — CHAP. II.--5. "Therefore, when thou doest thine alms," says He, "do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory s of men." Do n (part 2): party in such a way as to be contrary to the will of the other party, such a marriage will not be a Christian one; but whichever of them should choose to do alms according to the command of God, whomsoever he should find opposed, would inevitably be an enemy to the command of God, and therefore reckoned among unbelievers,--the command w”
- Babylonian Talmud (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 128a.11:18: Specifically, “His right hand” refers to the Torah, as it is stated in describing the giving of the Torah: “From His right hand, a fiery law for His people” (Deuteronomy 33:2). “The arm of His strength,” His left hand, refers to phylacteries, as it is stated: “The Lord gave strength to His nation” (Psalms 29:11), in the form of the mitzva of phylacteries.”