Esquilax. If you look at the context you'll find teachings of plucking your own eye out if it leads you into sin, or cutting a hand off similarly. It's clearly a pedagogical, rather than literal, form. Hyperbole is common in rabbinic teachings, and Jesus frequently uses such a rhetorical device.
So, for example, you'll find the same technique used in the Talmud...
'The pain of humiliation is more bitter than death. Therefore, one should rather fling himself into a fiery furnace than humiliate someone in public' (Talmud, Bava Metzia 59a)
So, for example, you'll find the same technique used in the Talmud...
'The pain of humiliation is more bitter than death. Therefore, one should rather fling himself into a fiery furnace than humiliate someone in public' (Talmud, Bava Metzia 59a)
