Verse 18
You have heard it said: Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth … Exodus 21 records if there is an injury, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, etc. This is in a long discourse on masters, servants, animals, and the like. Interesting enough, this particular verse is at the end off what starts of with talking about two men fighting and striking a pregnant woman and the baby is born with no injury, then the husband is paid a fine as determined by the judges. BUT if there is an injury to the baby, then give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
In Leviticus 24 it is about injury to a neighbor, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, as he inflicts the injury upon him, so it is done to him.
But the one that fits best in what Jesus was just talking about (go back a blog) is Deuteronomy 19, which is about a malicious witness making an accusation. The judges were to diligently check to see if the witness was a false witness, and if he was, they were to purge the evil from their midst. And let the rest hear and fear, and never again do the same thing. An eye should not pity, life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
The key to all this is, it wasn’t about getting retribution, the message wasn’t to the person being injured – it was given to keep everyone from doing any of these actions out of fear of the consequences.
In addition, everything was brought to the judges who would bring the punishment against the guilty.
Verse 19
But Jesus says, do not repay evil with evil but good for evil. Most translation read do not resist the evil but the Hebrew version echoes Leviticus 19:18 not to avenge or bear any grudges but to love your neighbor.
Whoever shall slap you on the right cheek, turn to him the other. What? Yeah, no one likes this. It could be acceptable not to get revenge and retaliate, but really? Let them do it again? This is actually an Aramaic idiom which meant be humble, don’t start a fight. It would be like us saying today, if someone is shouting at you, zip your lip. We don’t mean to literally zip your lips, we mean, keep quiet, let it go.
To further understand this, in the culture at the time Jesus is saying this, striking someone on the cheek was about inflicting shame on a person, it wasn’t about the physical pain of the slap, it was about the insult of the gesture.
Giving this a more modern take would be something more like, if someone insults you and tries to humiliate you, remain humble and don’t start a fight about it.
Verses 40-42
If someone takes you to court to get your shirt, give them your coat too. Chew on that one for a moment. The Hebrew translations is:
And whosoever tears away from you the garment by force, allow to him the cloak.
And whosever compels you to walk a thousand steps, walk with him two thousand.
And whosoever asks of you – give to him and you must not argue with whosoever wants to borrow from you.
Matthew 5 – The Hebrew Gospels
These are some hard ones to swallow aren’t they? The Torah teaches in Deuteronomy 15, if there is poor among you – not to harden your heart and shut your hand to them but give to them and lend to them.
Jesus is asking us to go above and beyond what is asked of us. Not to hold on so tightly to things to the point of covenanting them. Not to put things over people.
Most of what Jesus taught in these few verses are contrary to what is taught in today’s world. And contrary to the way most people think and act. People would almost rather go back to what they thought an eye for an eye and tooth for tooth meant. But Jesus says, no, that isn’t what it meant, it’s about what is in your heart. It starts with what is in your heart. Jesus requires more of those who want to follow him.
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