An Eye for an Eye & a Cheek for a Slap

"...eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, and stripe for stripe."

~ ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭21:24‭-‬25‬

"You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person."

~‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5:38‭-‬39‬

Why is it that God provides this principle for determining the penalty for crimes and also tells us not to repay evil with evil?

These statements are not a contradiction but rather a complete picture of the purpose behind God's laws in the old testament. God did not give His people His laws merely to lay out the penalty for crime but rather that the penalty might reveal to us the wickedness of sin, how repugnant it is in the sight of a perfectly Holy God; that the law of God may teach us about the character of God, thus causing us to grow in our love and fear of God.

When it comes to the penalties for crimes laid out in the Old Testament, it's important to remember that the authority for punishing crime did not lie with Israel but with God who is the Judge. Israel and its people were merely the instruments used to carry out that justice. Our verse in the book of Exodus shows us a moral system established by God for the punishment of crime and enforcing justice and righteousness in Israel. And Jesus' command in the Gospel of Matthew shows us our personal, individual response to any evil that happens to us; Not to burn with a passion for revenge but leave justice to God and instead be gracious.

And it is that significant point that Jesus revealed by showing us that while God is the ultimate authority of justice who will judge all sin on the last Day (and therefore we ought not to punish crime without recongising our own sinfulness), God is also gracious and slow to anger, giving people opportunities to repent, and we too must be like our heavenly Father who causes the sun to rise and the rain to fall on the good and the wicked (Matthew 5:45).

When we study God's laws for Israel in the old testament, we ought to meditate upon how each law shows us a radiant attribute of our good King. For example, His laws for Israel on the fair and kind treatment of servants and foreigners show us His justice and compassion. His laws on tithing show us His great and merciful provisions in abundance. His laws on moral purity show us His resplendent holiness.

Well may we plead with the Lord as the psalmist did saying, "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law" (Psalm 119:18, since our "delight is in the law of the Lord and on His law (we) meditate day and night." (Psalm 1:2)