![]() ![]() ![]() The rabbis quickly developed ways to quantify offenses and monetize the punishments, but the guiding principle stayed the same. So God lays down a basic principle of justice that should apply across the board: the punishment must be proportionate to the offense-no more, no less. Partiality and favoritism were a major concern in the Old Testament legal system (cf. The passage in Deuteronomy specifically places the quote in the context of courts and judges (Deut. ![]() In this case, they do that by invoking a principle that wasn’t meant to apply to them in the first place. Like every other “ancient saying” in this section of the Sermon on the Mount, folks are trying to keep the letter of the law while missing the heart. “Folks are trying to keep the letter of the law while missing the heart.” He said, as strongly as he possibly could, that he is not arguing against the law (Matt. Remember, he already set the ground rules. Of all Jesus’ quotes from the law, this one looks the most like he’s flat-out saying, “Don’t do this any more.” But then, by his own account, he would be “least in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. The saying Jesus quotes in Matthew 5:38, “Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth” occurs not once, but at least three times, in the Old Testament (Ex. No version of this script takes us anywhere we want to go. We could call this the “eye-for-eye, tooth-for-tooth” script. In the end, we get locked in a tit-for-tat until kingdom come and trumpet sound. So then I’m going to resist and/or try to “get even” with you. Or (2) you can resist and/or try to “get even.” Oddly enough, if you do this, I would feel like this retroactively justifies my initial behavior. In that case, you leave feeling like a victim, and I feel like, since it worked, I should keep doing it. You can respond in one of two ways: (1) You can passively take it. “Tit for tat, an eye for an eye, doesn’t give stability or security.What are we to make of Jesus’ take on “An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth”? Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount explains that there’s a better way forward than seeking retaliation in our relationships. People with power, he suggests, can take a literal revenge on their enemies: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Unfortunately, he said, most people “believe in hitting for hitting they believe in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth they believe in hating for hating but Jesus comes to us and says, ‘This isn’t the way.’” ( Christian Post) Today, the proverb an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is often shortened to the first part, an eye for an eye, with the expectation that the listener or reader can supply the second half of the proverb, a tooth for a tooth. In Leviticus 24:19: “And whoever causes an injury to a neighbor must receive the same kind of injury in return: Broken bone for broken bone, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” It must be noted that later, in the New Testament, the passage is quoted and countermanded with the admonition to turn the other cheek. One of the punishments prescribed in the code was: “If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.” The sentiment was later included in the Bible. The expression an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is derived from the Code of Hammurabi, a system of 282 laws organized by the Mesopotamian king, Hammurabi, who reigned until 1750 B.C. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth means to mete out retribution in kind, to make someone suffer as he has made someone else suffer. ![]()
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