![]() ![]() It often never helps to take one single verse and never read it without surrounding chapters for context. If someone took out your eye (literally) you would, in Old Testament culture, bring them to a court of law to receive fair compensation for the pain they inflicted.īut let’s take a look at the verse in context to better understand what it means. In other words, they did not want someone to carry out the punishment literally. “An eye for an eye” was thus intended to be a guiding ethic for legislators and judges it was not meant to advocate personal vengeance.” According to this Crosswalk article, “For both passages, the phrase is used in the circumstance of a court case before a civil authority such as a judge. That if someone harms you in a certain way, they receive a punishment to repay for the damages.įirst, we have to examine what this means when the Old Testament writers included it. In many Middle Eastern cultures (and some lands beyond) during the Old and New Testament, people operated off of a Karma-esque principle. ![]() Or at least, archeological evidence can trace nothing further back than the Code of Hammurabi. The phrase actually originates in the Mesopotamian Empire under Hammurabi. In other words, if someone wrongs you in the sight of the law, justice needs to be served and consequences often occur. Where Does the Phrase Eye for an Eye Come From?Īccording to John Gill’s commentary, retribution law existed long before the phrase “eye for an eye” occurs in the Old Testament. So where did this concept of an eye for an eye come from? Does God actually mean for his people to seek revenge and then later changes his mind? Or have we been seeing (buh dum tssh) this the wrong way? Let’s dive into the meaning of this phrase found in Exodus 21:24. ![]() And if they don’t, it probably was not caused by wronging another believer. At least, most Christians appear to have their eyes in their forehead. ![]()
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