Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Deuteronomy 19:21
This is the favorite and infamous accusation that is used against the Jews and against the so-called “cruel god” of the Old Testament by many people, including many Christians.
It is true that Yeshua himself gives us a seemingly very different interpretation in the Sermon on the Mount, but which nevertheless remains identical to the original:
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 5:38-39
As we have described many times, Yeshua took back from the people the right to judge and execute judgment. He thus ushered in the era of grace, which continues to this day. From now on, we must no longer react as before, but as disciples of Yeshua we must preach Grace even to our enemy, since it applies to everyone. We must love even our enemy and must resort only to the sole protection of the Messiah and not want to defend ourselves.
It is when we place the right of judgment and vengeance in the hands of the Messiah that this law comes into force again, according to its original interpretation. When someone’s grace period expires, or when someone puts Yahushua’s ones in danger, the Messiah often delivers these by striking the enemy, as he did many times in the case of David, as described in the Psalms.
All of this will come to pass definitively when He returns to judge the living and the dead.
Yes, he will demand compensation from the guilty for every eye, every soul, every leg, and every other thing that has been damaged or stolen, and he will compensate the victims a hundredfold.
It is also for the fulfillment and definitive execution of this Commandment that the martyrs of Yeshua, dressed in bloody clothes, cry out in the book of Revelation. (Revelation 6)
Once more do we have a commandment that is still as valid today as in the past. But here again, judgment is in the hands of the Messiah and we, for our part, have the right to ask for its application.
Until then, our duty is to suffer persecution for His Name, without any resistance or other human protection. If we are slapped for His Name, let us show them that we are also willing to die for Him. Then they can continue to beat us, insult us, slander us, because someone much more powerful than us will take revenge on them for the suffering they have made us undergo.
We don’t have to defend ourselves, because by mistreating us, it is the Messiah they are mistreating.
If you retaliate or curse them back, it is the name of the Messiah that you trample before their eyes. In a word, even if you have not explicitly denied Him or the Covenant you passed with Him, you will have in any case taken back from Him the right to defend you directly. You thus place yourself under the curse of man, having placed your trust in yourself by wanting to play your own lawyer.
If we are attacked for Yahushua HaMashiah, it is Yahushua who must be seen in us. This is accomplished when we suffer what He Himself suffered before the scribes, the Pharisees, Pilate and then on the cross, as a lamb led to the slaughter.
Our enemies for their part will have the choice: let the Messiah execute the judgment implied by this command during the time of grace so that they too receive forgiveness and Eternal Life through the execution in them of their old man? Or will they persist in rebellion until the Messiah returns and the judgment also overtakes them on the physical level thus causing their second death, the one which will be final?
Eye for eye between brothers?
It would also be interesting to talk about how this law must or rather should function within the Church, if it existed and functioned as originally intended according to the model of the Acts of the Apostles? How does Yahushua apply this commandment among his own, among the members of the Body of Messiah?
Because as long as we are in our physical body, it can happen at any time that we commit a sin against our brethren, or even against outsiders, the unbelievers. We often cause trouble, make mistakes, offend our neighbor, etc. In such cases, this law, like all the mitzvahs of the Torah, which speak of compensation, is also valid in the spiritual, psychological and physical sense, and it forces the guilty ones to take certain concrete measures.
Today, more than ever, we naturally can still cause material harm. Secular legislation also has a more or less righteous penal code, based primarily on the Bible, which governs disputes between citizens over how victims should be compensated. And when the guilty is held responsible, as in the Torah, they generally take into account to what extent the offense was committed intentionally or unintentionally, to what extent was the culprit aware of the danger incurred by the other? Was he aware that his bull was dangerous and did he still let it go free, thus causing injury to other animals, or even men (which in our current context could mean the state of our vehicle for example). Or why his house did not have a balustrade around the roof which is also a law in the Torah (and which for us today could among other things mean the level of deterioration of our property) which can end up falling on the heads of passers-by for example, because they have not taken the necessary precautions, etc.
A crime committed through ignorance is considered a mitigating circumstance, and a crime committed knowingly or through negligence is considered as aggravating circumstances. Does the accused person have the right to go to a city of refuge or not, does he have certain excuses or not, having found himself in a situation beyond his control which pushed him in spite of himself to commit an offense, etc. This jurisprudence often works much better in atheist and non-Christian circles, in the world in a word, than among those who should teach the operation of the Commandments in times of Grace, but who most often do instead openly deny it and are therefore trampling on the Word of Yahuwah. I am naturally speaking of the vast majority of Christian teachings.
But between brothers and sisters, the harm occurs especially on a psychological and spiritual level. When we curse one another, when we do not accept the sometimes obvious anointing that the other received from Yahushua. Teachers filled with Ruach HaKodesh are often slandered and rejected by people, because they have not taken courses in theology defined by some human religious enterprise of the name of church or assembly of a certain denomination of which the latter are part. Or simply because it was not their pastor or rather the manager of the company in question who put his own anointing on them, a human counterfeit of the original; that comes from the Messiah.
We can also do harm by calling someone’s difficult-to-interpret words or teachings false or heretical, because we ourselves may not yet have the proper vision and maturity to understand them. In this case, it is the vision of the person being criticized that finds itself under attack – mainly at the level of the eyes – the attacker himself not having clear vision enough to accept us. Furthermore, through this type of curse, they reject all the blessings that could come from the ministry of the person attacked! The very ones which could precisely have the consequence of opening their failing eyes. This is how they harm themselves and their already limited vision, thereby increasing their spiritual blindness. In short, the curse falls back on the person from whom it emerges.
It is for this reason that many of us pray in this sense, in order to be protected. And the return of the curse on the one who formulates it does not happen so that we rejoice in the peril of our enemies, but because without suffering this pain, the unbelievers would not even be able to realize their state of sin and would therefore be unable to repent and be cleansed.
In the Messiah Yahushua, this kind of protection is practically automatic. Those who walk in obedience receive the same protection that King David received from his enemies. This protection functions in Yahushua on the exclusive basis of the promises of the Torah, that is to say the commandments.
In these cases (and as mentioned in my last week’s video: Appointment and obedience to judges), it is always Ruach HaKodesh that speaks from within and, as non-believers call it, it is our “conscience” that does not give us rest until we apologize to someone, until we go to make reparation by for example, returning the object of which the person was deprived because of our irresponsible behavior. By adding if necessary, a small bonus of roughly a fifth of the value as compensation for the damage suffered, as several mitzvot of the Torah command us in a sort of expiatory interest. We will perhaps buy them a good Belgian chocolate, a bunch of flowers (if it is a lady of course), or even bring a replacement object of better quality than the old one, so that it should works even better than the former one, etc. Everyone must therefore recognize and understand what they must do according to the situation and the given case, letting themselves be guided from within by the Spirit of the Messiah.
But fundamentally, your repentance is the psychological and spiritual pain you feel internally when you have harmed someone.
This is the moment when this precise law is activated in your heart by the Holy Spirit.
Have you accused someone of lying or being a false teacher when it was not true? You simply attacked his eyes and his vision. For the accusation is a curse and can hinder the vision, the ministry, and even the movements of the person attacked. Eyes to see, hands to act, feet to minister, these are the things that are under attack in this case. But in the end, it is the accuser who will be affected, it is his vision which will be altered, his ministry and his spiritual life which will mainly fall ill. It is up to the one who curses falsely to suffer the harmful consequences of his own insults. For if the person attacked is faithful to Elohim and innocent, all your curses will fall on your head and it will be your vision, your ministry and your spiritual life that will begin to decline and suddenly encounter serious obstacles.
What should we do when we recognize that we have sinned in this way? As in all other cases of transgression or sin: We must confess our faults and make reparations to the people who have suffered harm. We must declare, in the eyes and ears of all, that what we said about the other person was not only false, but that the very opposite is true. We rehabilitate the authority and the image of the person to the extent that we have compromised it (possibly adding + 1/5 as reparation, which may consist of us admitting that the accusations we have made against him actually apply much more to ourselves).
This is particularly true when we commit sin against our neighbors in the world. Our responsibility towards externals is even greater than in the case of our brothers. When we offend a non-believer, reparation is all the more urgent and necessary, as we destroy in the latter’s eyes the very image of the One we are supposed to represent. It is therefore more imperative than ever to confess, repair and ask forgiveness for our errors, transgressions and sins against them for fear of further damaging the already extremely distorted image that they have received of the Messiah by traditional Christianity.
And in such a case, even though it may seem very shameful, if repentance arises in us, let us openly confess our faults to them with all the more zeal, because Yahuwah can turn even this kind of delicate situation to his own advantage. Thus the non-believer will finally find himself face to face with a Christian who will give testimony to what repentance and humiliation are in the event of recognition of sin. Because unbelievers are much more likely to come across arrogant and haughty “Christians” who indulge in unchristian behavior towards them and who generally feel no remorse given that they naturally consider themselves above, that is to say exempt from the Law, but for my part I would rather say that they are outlaws. For the first time will the ungodly encounter a true Christian, someone reflecting the Spirit of the Messiah who does not position himself above others, but quite the opposite, thus fulfilling the Law that was made Flesh in Yeshua. Then perhaps he will also feel more strength and courage to surrender himself to this reconciling power capable of bringing about such changes that he will have seen accomplished in you if you behave as a true disciple. In these moments of submission, we bear witness in their eyes to the fact that we ourselves are only humans like them and thus they themselves will feel closer to the Gospel and thus more inclined to accept it. They will thus be able to see that we can also make mistakes, but the power that lives in us is stronger than anything and they will thus be able to recognize that it is indeed this very precise power that they have always sought for themselves without ever finding it because having always only met with the spirit of Christian religiosity at most. Then he will feel the need to take the same step, and it will perhaps be you who is going to lead him to being born again, and you will continue your journey hand in hand as brothers.
But the same law was also fulfilled in the heart of the good Samaritan, when – although he was not the author of the crime – he still decided to take care of the person injured in the place of the culprit. He provided him with bandages for the blows, with oil for the wounds, with a bed for the fractures, and money for convalescence. In short: eye for eye, arm for arm, tooth for tooth, etc. This is precisely what the Samaritan offered the beaten Jew. Here, it is not the aggressor who repented, but it was an innocent person who felt compassion at the sight of the suffering of the other, as a member of the human community. He took charge of the material compensation in place of the guilty one. He simply felt the pain of the victim, and among other things, it was this precise law which was activated in his heart and which made him able to sacrifice himself in place of someone else. This man experienced the fulfillment of this law to an even higher degree, pushed instinctively by the Spirit of the Messiah who lived in certain ways within him even without necessarily being born again. Because in fact, the good Samaritan acted not under constraint, but instinctively, from the bottom of his heart and probably with zeal and a deep feeling of happiness for being able to help the deprived one.
This is exactly the state of mind which is our promise of having the all the Commandements fulfilled by Yahushua when they are simply written with fire in our hearts as soon as Ruach HaKodesh comes and dwells in us when we receive him.
The first physical person on whom Yeshua himself applied this commandment from the first hours after opening the Age of Grace, was none other than the apostle Peter himself. Right after his resurrection, Yeshua asked Peter three times if he loved him and would shepherd his flock. This passage from the end of the Gospel of John may seem strange and almost boring to us, because why is Yeshua asking the same question so many times, especially Him, the Master of all things, He who proves hearts and knows everything about everybody?
Well, it is quite simply the moment of reparation through which Peter had to go through because of his cowardice and for having denied three times that he belonged to the Messiah. He denied Him three times before the rooster crowed, now he is required to profess his faith and loyalty to Yahushua three times in a row. Not to ridicule him in front of others, but to make him pay for his fault down to the last penny or dinar, so that he too feels the humiliation and pain that follows to learn the lesson once and for all so that he should never commit it again in the future.
The application – among others – but particularly of this very precise law, has an extremely powerful effect of maturing human minds and which recalls the famous proverb of Solomon in chapter 23 verses 13-14:
Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die. Punish them with the rod and save them from death.
If you are the victim?
What happens if you are the one suffering from the loss of an eye, a limb, a spiritual gift, or anything of yours? What happens if you’re the one cursed by someone else? What attitude should we adopt, what measures should we take?
It is in no way up to us to do justice to ourselves. Let us not fight to defend our own truth. We no longer have any truth of our own anyway from the moment we have placed our lives in the hands of Yahushua.
One thing we can do is to pray that we may be compensated. If we have suffered financial loss, may Elohim himself restore it to us in full, or even more. Let us also pray that Yahuwah will bring back the feeling of shame and repentance in the hearts of those who have sinned against us. In other words, let their own curse fall back on them. Because after all, if they did not feel evil deep in their souls, they would never reach the point of repentance. If we continually plead for the forgiveness and therefore the acquittal of our enemies, we are praying wrongly and against our enemies. After all, covering up sin, sweeping things under the rug, preventing them from feeling the harm they have done to us because we have a so-called a “good god” who forgives everything, simply leads them to death. Our humanistic prayers need to be replaced with eye for eye and tooth for a tooth type of prayers! Evil and suffering are necessary for the sinner to repent.
Because the question of compensation is also included in the message “do not worry about tomorrow”, which we can read at the end of chapter 6 of the Gospel according to Matthew. Do not worry how Elohim will compensate you, for your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things as well.
Did you suffer physical harm? Pray for your healing! Have your teeth been broken? Pray! And not mainly so that the aggressor comes to apologize and pay for your dental care, but above all so that Elohim in the name of Yahushua will make you teeth to grow back again and be completely restored! And then let the sinner come and ask for forgiveness and see the miracle that has been accomplished, so that he may believe and repent as well.
I wrote in another of my articles (Parshat TOLEDOT, where, thanks to the machination of Jacob and Rebekah, Jacob finally receives from his father the blessing which was originally due to him) that it can have very serious consequences if we act humanely and do not wait for Yahuwah to act himself and directly in our interest.
In the Messiah, this law, like all others, is valid and we must pray for its fulfillment on the part of Him who alone is worthy to execute the judgment flowing from the law. Nowadays and as long as the period of grace continues, judgment must be carried out primarily on the spiritual level through the judgment of everyone’s old man. But very soon, when the Messiah returns, Yahushua will execute not only sin, but also all those who by then will have refused to be delivered from it by the Blood of the Lamb.
In short, do not fight, do not try to do justice to yourself, but rather be happy as long as the arrows fly in your direction, for it is also written:
Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. Luke 6:22-23
ALSO READ
TOLEDOT
Accusation without proofs
Death penalty (where life begins)
Appointment and obedience to judges
VIDEO VERSION