Did God's Law Authorize Revenge?

The words "eye for eye, tooth for tooth," found in the Bible, have caused no little contention.  (Exodus 21:24)  To some people, it is nothing less than divine approval of revenge.  But such thinking conflicts with God's command:  "You must not take vengeance nor hold a grudge  against he sons of your people."  (Leviticus 19:18)  How, then, are we to understand those words in Exodus? 

Exodus 21:22 presents a scenario in which two men are fighting and one of them strikes a pregnant woman, causing her to deliver prematurely. If mother and baby survived, the injured woman's husband would not be authorized to strike back. Rather, the man who struck the new mother would have to "pay the damages imposed on him by the husband of the woman; and he must  pay it through the judges."  In other words, the judges in court would make the striker pay a fine to the husband of the injured mother.  If she or her child died because of the injuries, those same judges would have the person put to death. 

In this case, the court, not the victim, applied "life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth . . ." (Exodus 21:2, 2) That principle reminded judges that punishment  should be neither excessive  nor insufficient .  Bible scholar Richard Elliott Friedman states: "The basic principle appears to be that punishment should correspond to the crime and never exceed it."

What gave rise to the idea that God's  Law authorized personal acts of revenge?  It is noteworthy that at Matthew 5:8, 39, we find Jesus' words:  "You heard that it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth,' However, I say to you: Do not resist the one who is wicked, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other also to him."  It seems that by Jesus day, some religious teachers had included the 'law of retaliation' in their oral tradition as approval for personal vengeance. Jesus, however, made clear that such a teaching had no support in God's Law to Israel.    Note: That verse that says vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord, means it is his to get vengeance, not us. Remember that. And he can do much more to that person better than we can. 

Next time: THE PEOPLE WHO BENEFITED FROM TRUE JUSTICE

From the Watchtower magazine, 2014