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Turn The Other Cheek Also

             “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.  (Matthew 5:38-40)

          Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me.  If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.” (Genesis 4:23-24) 

            Some people seem to love the idea of lex talionis (the law of retaliation – from Latin.) They get excited about being able to take revenge. The thing is, they want to be like Lamech, multiplying the payback. To provide the connection, he was afraid that someone would take revenge after Cain killed Abel. God told him that anyone who killed Cain would pay seven times over. This suggests that Lamech wasn’t talking about the revenge he’d claim. He was giving instructions to his wives about what they were to do if anyone killed him. Escalation was the name of the game, and God had nothing to do with it.

            Other people hate the idea of lex talionis (the Latin term for Jesus’ teaching.) How dare we take a life for a life? How dare we – in the name of Christ – advocate violence to anyone? One of the factors that needs to be considered is that “an eye for an eye” wasn’t meant as one person taking revenge on another. It was an instruction to the legal system of the nation of Israel. The maximum punishment that could be given was the equivalent of what the criminal did. This goes against Lamech and others who want to wipe out whole cities because someone was robbed.

            In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches a different way. It’s not societal. It’s individual. It removes what might be considered negative competition. It The offended person wasn’t to follow the example of the one who offended him/her. Keeping in mind that a slap on the face was considered an insult. He didn’t suggest we stand there and let someone hack at us with a sword or rape us repeatedly. He only mentioned a slap on the face. And the person slapped was to refuse to do something that fit the offender’s expectation. There should be no cringing, crying, begging, screaming, or pulling a gun on someone who embarrasses or shames you. And that brings to mind a passage from Proverbs: 

            Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes. (Proverbs 26:4-5)

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