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all right this is so interesting and I'm
so glad that we get to just take our
time and look at this closely and and
interpret every verse in light of the
whole Bible and not just in light of you
know one sentence of one verse now we're
here in Matthew five and verse number 38
Jesus says you have heard that it was
said an eye for an eye a tooth for a
tooth previously I recommended that you
get out a Bible concordance especially
about the computer Bible concordance and
take a look of where you find that Old
Testament quote where Neal tests you
find it in the law in Exodus and
Leviticus and in Deuteronomy and every
time you find it it's always within the
context of God giving instructions to
how to properly correctly administer
justice when there are crimes committed
when one person does something that
would be considered criminal to another
person and of course there are varying
punishments that God delineates
depending on the crimes that are
committed but one thing comes out so
crystal clear and Exodus Leviticus and
Deuteronomy and that is that God is
perfectly fair and that's the whole
concept behind the eye for an eye a
tooth for a tooth he tells the judges
the priests the leaders and of course
the whole people of Israel when a crime
is committed and a person is brought
before the judges and before the priests
or whoever is arbitrating the case and
so forth that they are not to show
partiality but if one man kills another
man it's not just eye for eye tooth for
tooth it actually says life for life and
so murder was a crime that was a capital
offense and a person who took someone's
life their life was taken and that we
all know fundamentally is fair and God
said you know if a guy pokes out his
neighbor's eye because they're fighting
or whatever reason well you take him to
court before the judges and if the
judges determine he's guilty what does
he get he gets what he deserved the
every same thing midea inflicted upon
his neighbor he gets it in return and of
course it was designed to deter people
from committing these types of acts
knowing that whatever I do to someone
else the courts are gonna guarantee I
get it back myself so I ought to think
twice before I do this because when I do
it to him it's gonna come back and
they're gonna do it to me what a simple
concept what a wonderful concept that
really you know would help deter crime
in any culture that would put it into
practice
all right so the scribes and Pharisees
you know ii quoted that those verses
they were teaching those verses but they
were twisting the meaning and it becomes
very clear when Jesus says but I say to
you do not resist an evil person but
whoever slaps you on your right cheek
turn the other to him also if anyone
wants to sue you and take your shirt let
him have your coat and whoever forces
you to go one mile go with him two you
see these were things that were out of
the realm of criminal activity the kind
of things that you would normally go to
court for right these are minor
infractions these are these are you know
dealing with petty offenses but the
scribes and Pharisees took every petty
offense as an excuse to do what the
Bible forbade doing and that was to take
personal revenge that was forbidden
under the Old Covenant yeah but they
would do it someone would slap them on
the cheek when they had a perfect
opportunity to love that person and to
try to overcome evil with good they
would say well an eye for an eye a tooth
for a tooth walk and if somebody would
sue them to take their shirt which it's
almost kind of a joke isn't it almost
wonder if Jesus wasn't smiling as he
said this as a commentary on the kind of
things that Pharisees and scribes and
the people who are listening to them
were likely to go to court for if
someone wants to sue you and take your
shirt oh I don't see Jesus kind of like
rolling his eyeballs a little bit at
this point saying well let them have
your coat also you know big deal and if
a Roman soldier forces you to go one
mile don't be plotting how you can get
vengeance lash the tires on his chariot
of course they didn't have rubber tires
but I mean dreaming up some way to make
sure justice is done because an eye for
an eye
no no overcome evil with good and go
with the guy two miles okay and this is
an Old Testament concept this is not
something new that Jesus is just coming
up with can I read to you from the law
just really a chapter so after we find
some words about the eye for an eye and
tooth for a tooth language mrs. Exodus
23 and verse number 4 if you meet your
enemies ox or his donkey wandering away
you shall surely return it to him see
that's that's being kind to your enemy
what excess 23:5 if you see the donkey
of one who hates you lying helpless
under its load you shall refrain from
leaving it to him you shall surely
release it with them what a way to win
your enemy's heart you know there the
you know donkey lying there helpless out
of load you go over there and help your
enemy to release that donkey and untime
and and take care of the situation okay
here's another one proverbs 25 and verse
number 21 this is from the Old Testament
nobody can argue with that right right
if your enemy is hungry give him food to
eat and if he is thirsty give him water
to drink for you will heap burning coals
on his head and the Lord will reward you
see the idea is again overcome evil with
good where when you when you're kind to
your enemies it shames them that's that
that's the concept of keeping the
burning coals it makes their head hot
because all the blood rises they're like
burning coals on their foot on their
head and they're ashamed sows oh how
could I have hated you so badly when
you're so gracious and kind to me right
and so that's what Jesus is correcting
here he's not correcting the law and
some folks unfortunately have taken this
one phrase and know these few verses by
Jesus and vetted an entire theology of
pacifism that really doesn't hold a lot
of water when you look at
all of the scripture I mean some people
say well you know we should never ever
defend ourselves and if somebody's and
you know invading our breaking into our
house and so on and so forth oh we
should just stand there and let them
take what they want and murder us and so
forth because that's what Jesus
commanded and so on and so forth well
I'm here to submit to you that that is
not what Jesus was commanding or
recommending in this one okay and next
time we'll be talking about this in even
more detail see you next time
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