Theos-Talk Archives (January 1997 Message tl00098)

Tom Robertson wrote:

> Jesus said, "you have heard that it was said by them of old, 'an eye for an
> eye, and a tooth for a tooth.'  But I say to you, 'love your enemies.'"

	Was Jesus contradicting the Old Testament, or augmenting it? Remember,
the law of "eye for an eye" was a reaction to the Hammurabic code which
would demand two eyes for an eye; it was not a law of cruelty but a law
of justice; the loss of the guilty party should only serve to restore
the loss of the agrieved party; a literal "eye for an eye" would only
take place if it were possible to transplant the eye of the guilty party
into the socket of the victim, and have it work.

	When Jesus says "love your enemies", he is saying that just because you
are owed compensation does not require that you accept it, and certainly
means that you should not bear a grudge, for if you do, then you are not
accepting the compensation as sufficient: you don't want an eye for an
eye, you want an eye and a grudge for an eye.

	Bart Lidofsky