President Obama referred to the Bible on Tuesday as he was speaking about immigration reform in Nashville, but he confused some of the lines and even threw in a proverb that appears nowhere in the religious text.
“The good book says, don’t throw stones in glass houses,” he said. “Or … make sure we’re looking at the log in our eye before we are pointing out the mote in other folks’ eyes.”
The expression “they that live in glass houses should not throw stones” is a proverb of unknown origin that has been used in various form for centuries, The Washington Post reported. It does not appear in the Bible.
Mr. Obama’s reference to the “log in our eye,” is presumably from Matthew 7: 1-3, in which Jesus says, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged … Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?”
The word “mote,” which the president used, is a kind of antiquated word for “speck,” The Post notes.
During his speech Tuesday, the president also used the story of the birth of Jesus to relate to immigration reform.
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“This Christmas season there’s a whole story about a young, soon-to-be-mother and her husband of modest means looking for a place to house themselves for the night, and there’s no room at the inn,” he said. “And as I said the day that I announced these executive actions, we were once strangers too. And part of what my faith teaches me is to look upon the stranger as part of myself. And during this Christmas season, that’s a good place to start.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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