Matthew 5:38

Friday, 13 December 2024

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ Matthew 5:38

“You heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth’” (CG).

In the previous verse, Jesus noted that one’s Yes should be yes and his No should be no. Anything beyond that is out of evil. He now starts a new thought, saying, “You heard that it was said.”

He again turns to that which was heard and understood by all. It is a precept out of the law itself which He will provide additional insights into what God expects. The precept is found first in Exodus 21:24. It is then repeated in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, “Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.”

The original precept said –

“If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” Exodus 21:22-25

This law is known as the Lex Talionis, the law of retaliation. The punishment is given to resemble the offense in both kind and degree of severity. It is a right standard for keeping people in check. If someone knows that he will have his eye plucked out for plucking out someone else’s eye, the chances are that he will restrain from doing that.

This goes for pretty much every action that will be repaid in kind. When one understands that his actions against someone will lead to like punishment, he will normally use wisdom and restrain himself.

This type of punishment was certainly to be evaluated and meted out in a judicial setting. It was not something that people were to do on their own. Whether this was something people did without judicial approval or not may be a part of how society in general acted, but it is certain that this was not expected to be what one would normally carry out on his own.

Jesus will next clarify what people should do in such cases of offense.

Life application: Exodus 21, cited above, specifically deals with the murder of an unborn child. The obvious point is that there is a child in the womb considered a human being. This is to be taken as an axiom, and yet it is as common as pages in a book for people to intentionally destroy their unborn children through abortion.

If you want to know if the Lord, who gave us the words of the Bible, finds aborting a child acceptable, one read through Scripture, while taking notes concerning the unborn, will reveal the truth. It is a great sin against human morality, and it is something that can never be condoned when placed in the light of Scripture.

Use wisdom in how you evaluate such moral matters. What is legal does not necessarily equate to what is right. The same people who find it acceptable to abort children because it is legal will claim that past policies concerning slavery cannot be condoned, even though it was legal. The thinking is awry. We must use Scripture as our standard for understanding what is morally acceptable or not.

Lord God, we live in a world of confused thinking, especially over moral precepts. Society cannot be the standard for our moral choices. That has failed throughout history. Where can we go to determine such things? To Scripture! Help us to use Your word to solidify our morals. Surely, in this, we will be doing what is right in Your eyes. Amen.