Leviticus 24:19-20

“An Eye For An Eye?”

I’ve been reading the book of Leviticus lately and thinking about what it means to be holy.  The main theme of Leviticus could be summed up by the verse in chapter 11, verse 44 where God tells the Israelites, “I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” The word “holy” in its basic definition means to be like God, to reflect His qualities in every area of our lives and the book of Leviticus was meant to teach the Israelites how to be holy like God Himself.  In fact, the word “holy” is used more in the book of Leviticus than any other book in the Bible, because God was teaching his people what it means to be like Him.

I have to admit, though, that sometimes what God calls his people to do doesn’t necessarily seem “holy.”  In fact, as a rule of thumb, if the rest of the world can quote a part of the Bible, I am more inclined to think that it is unholy rather than holy.  And if the world can actually practice what God calls holy, then that makes me even more skeptical.  This certainly seems to be the case in Leviticus 24:19-20 where God says, “If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.  As he has injured the other, so he is to be injured.” Most people know this principle; it’s the basis of our legal system and for most lawsuits that we ever see.  Someone has been wronged, so they seek retribution.  Fair enough right?  After all, God is a God of justice so it would make sense that justice would be granted for those who have been wronged, injured or offended, and this passage allows this process to take place.

What’s interesting is that not only do we know that we are entitled to “an eye for an eye” but our world has a sense of when something violates this principle .  For example, do you remember in 1994 when Stella Liebeck sued McDonald’s for $2.86 million when she spilled hot coffee on her lap after going through a McDonald’s drive-thru?  Her lawyers argued that the coffee was too hot and more likely to cause serious injury than other restaurants, and after a long legal battle, Liebeck and McDonald’s settled the suit for right around $600,000 because of her mistake with a 49-cent cup of coffee.  Most people don’t see this as justice because this wasn’t “eye for eye.”  She made a mistake, yet McDonald’s had to pay.

But in this suit, we can see why God taught His people this law: sinful people will always try to get more than can.  More often than not, people aren’t seeking justice, they’re seeking revenge or unreasonable gain.  Why else would someone sue for $2.86 million dollars for spilling hot coffee on themselves?  That isn’t McDonald’s fault!  Our sinful nature leaves us trying to get more than we can out of a situation because we are thinking more about ourselves than we are about others.  So when God instituted this law, He was trying to curb people’s sinful nature and show them what it means to live as His people, and that meant that there are boundaries.  One author wrote, “The expression ‘an eye for an eye…was a very considerable advance in legal history, namely the removal of unlimited private vengeance and feuding in favor of a law limiting the penalty for any offence to strict and equivalent retribution.” If you’re going to sue someone, then you can only get what you lost; fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.

I think that we can all agree that this is a fair law that God has given.  Punishment and compensation were to fit the crime, not to exceed, or fall short of it for that matter (for example, if a wealthy or influential man is let off easy because of his social status).  That is just as much of an injustice as it is to demand too much.

But remember, the main theme of Leviticus doesn’t have to do with justice, but rather it has to do with holiness, being like God and different from the world.  See, we get the idea of justice, although maybe we don’t practice it perfectly.  But God says, “I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” And though Leviticus 24:19-20 speaks about justice, it speaks even more about what it means to be holy, or to be like God.  Keeping a law doesn’t make us holy, it simply makes us obedient.  It may keep us from doing things we’re not supposed to do, but it doesn’t necessarily address why we do things in the first place.

In Matthew 5:38-42, Jesus explains this passage from Leviticus and teaches the disciples how this goes beyond justice and applies to holiness.  The scribes and Pharisees at the time certainly practiced this law and taught it, but they deduced from this law that in a person’s dealings with others, every man should retaliate in kind (an eye for an eye) and should always insist on getting their full rights, something the law allowed.  But, as one author wrote, “The worst feature of this perversion was the fact that those who insisted on their rights adorned their revengeful and base actions with the very Word of God as though God himself bade them act as they did.”  Though this may be justice, it isn’t holiness and Jesus teaches them what it means to be holy.

Holiness goes beyond simply keeping this law.  When Jesus taught this law in particular, He said in Matthew, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’  But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person,” and he gave four examples of what this means.  Whereas the law of the time said that people were allowed to collect “an eye for an eye,” Jesus instead told them not to resist the person who has wronged you.  Now this is where the world will start to disagree with what the Bible teaches.  This is where holiness comes in.

When we seek to be holy, this means not repaying evil for evil, but denying all of the feelings that lead one to seek revenge, or what are tempted to call justice.  Jesus calls His people not to demand retribution, but rather to let the government carry out justice.  When people carry out justice, the motives are all wrong.  Think about it, where does the desire to get retribution come from?  Something’s been taken from us so we exercise our legal rights to get what we deserve…and give someone else what they deserve.  My guess is that most of these feelings have their roots in anger, hurt, or bitterness over what has been taken from us and we exercise “justice” to try to make those feelings go away.  Though we might be justified in doing so, if we really examine why we want retribution, it becomes clear that it’s because we’re angry, hurt, or bitter and we want others to get what’s coming to them.

Instead of retribution, Jesus calls us to act in a very counter-cultural way.  He says, that if someone strikes your cheek, turn to him the other.  If a man wants to bring you to court to sue you, give him more than he asks for.  If someone forces you to walk a mile, go with him two miles instead.  In each of these cases, you would have the legal right to act or to get retribution but Jesus calls us not to.  In fact, He calls us to give more to that person, not to resist them!

Look at the example that Jesus set for us.  First Peter 2:23-24 recalls the arrest, trial and crucifixion of Christ and says, “When they hurled insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats.  Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” Look, we deserve death, Christ didn’t.  Our sin demands our death because we broke God’s law, yet Christ was perfect and holy and He was treated like a criminal, and killed as a criminal.  Of all people who could have sought retribution, it was Jesus.  He is well within His rights to demanded death from each and every one of us who nailed Him to the cross because He was God!  But instead, He remained silent and took what we rightfully had coming to us.  It’s only because of Christ’s holiness that we’re healed.

This is holiness: that Jesus is so extremely different than us, so infinitely greater than us.  His motives are pure and righteous.  Jesus didn’t seek revenge; He wasn’t motivated by anger or bitterness.  He didn’t hide behind the law of retribution to get what He rightfully deserved.  No, because He is holy, He endured the cross when we demanded His death and rose again to set us free from our sin, even though He was justified to do otherwise.  He didn’t give us what we deserved; instead He offers us mercy.

God says “be holy because I am holy,” and that means that we will be dramatically different than the rest of the world.  When the rest of the world seeks vengeance, we offer mercy because that is what Christ would do; we leave judgment to God alone, the one who will judge people justly.  As we live dramatically different than the world expects, then we will begin to understand what it means to be holy, being set apart from the rest of the world and taking on the character of Christ.

Application:

In light of the hearing of God’s Word, pray that God would help you do two things this week:

Think of a couple people in your life who have not taken revenge on you, even though they could have.  Call, write, or talk with them and thank them for giving forgiveness.

Think of a couple people who you find yourself seeking vengeance against (for whatever reason) and confess to someone you trust your desire for vengeance.  Pray together that God would forgive you for a vengeful heart and help you have mercy on that person.