Ever since October 7 I have been pondering the irony of the Israeli response to the horrific massacre of 1200 Israelis by Hamas. One of the most familiar tenets of the Hebrew law found in Leviticus says, “Anyone who maims another shall suffer the same injury in return: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; the injury inflicted is the injury to be suffered.” (24:19-20). I learned two things about that Scripture in seminary: 1) It is very similar to another ancient law, The Code of Hammurabi, a Babylonian King in the 1700’s BCE, and 2) both the Code of Hammurabi and the Hebrew law were meant not to justify revenge but to limit the amount of revenge one could seek for an offense to an equitable amount. So, for example, if someone poked out one of my eyes I could not in return poke out both of his or hers.
Jesus came along 3000 years after Hammurabi and 1400 years after Moses and raised the bar to a whole new level in the Sermon on the Mount where he says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you: Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also,and if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, give your coat as well,and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.Give to the one who asks of you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (Matthew 5:38-43).
Now, I’m not expecting the Israelis to live up to Jesus’ ethics. I can’t, and I’m not sure anyone but Jesus could ever do that. But it seems like not killing your enemy’s innocent women and children might be a start. And it does seem fair to hold the Israelis to their own Scriptural standards. At last count the Israelis have killed 16000 Palestinians in Gaza. That’s more than 10 for every Israeli killed on 10/7. That’s a lot more than “an eye for an eye.”
I understand the horror of that dark day. No, I don’t. Thank God, I have never experienced anything like it. I was even far removed from any personal suffering on 9/11. So, I know I have no right to judge. I don’t know what I would do in the Israeli shoes. Nor do I have any idea how I would survive the God awful inhumane conditions the people of Gaza have been living under for the last 60 days. I just know the insane suffering I see on my TV screen has got to stop. Not just because it is morally unjustifiable but mostly because it is just plain counterproductive.
War and killing have never solved anything. If the Israelis could actually eliminate Hamas and terrorism by use of force there might be an argument for their military campaign. But it won’t work. The anger being fanned in the Muslim world by the war in Gaza will produce far more terrorists can ever kill. If history has taught us anything it is that revenge only begets more violence in return. That’s the point of Jesus’ teaching above about turning the other cheek. To resist the natural human urge to strike back in anger, as impossible as that seems, is the only way the cycle of violence can ever be stopped in its tracks.
As progressive as it was in the days of Hammurabi, as Gandhi once pointed out, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth just creates a world of blind, toothless people.”
I know that too criticize Israel opens me to charges of antisemitism, but I assure you I am not anti-Semitic. I am a Christian nurtured in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Jesus was a Jew. I am constantly challenged and inspired by the Hebrew prophets. I grieve for the hostages still in captivity, for the suffering of the Jewish people throughout history and on 10/7, but the killing needs to stop; the suffering of the people of Gaza must stop.
December 5, 2023
Peacefully Harsh 