Beyond the Law of Retaliation

​The Law of Retaliation, technically the Lex Talionis, Latin for the “Law of the Claw,” originated in ancient Babylon during the reign of King Hammurabi (1792-1750 BCE). Wikipedia describes Hammurabi’s Code as containing “282 laws . . . inscribed on a large stone stele and placed in a public place so that all could see them.” Most famous today from the Code is the phrase “an eye for an eye,” which limited revenge to so-called retributive, or balanced, justice. This concept appears as a commandment in Exodus 21:23-23, where Hammurabi’s phrase is used. Now scholars believe that this Old Testament book was not written until the 6th century BCE, some 1200 years later. However, if we look at Exodus 22, just one chapter later, we find verses like these: “When someone steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, the thief shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep” (NRSV, v. 1) or, in verse 7, “When someone delivers to a neighbor money or goods for safekeeping, and they are stolen from the neighbor’s house, then the thief, if caught, shall pay double.”

Now, for better or worse, I had always thought that ancient Israel ascribed to the concept of retributive justice as found in Hammurabi’s Code. But as the world has seen in the response of the Israel of today to the dastardly Hamas attack of October 7th, 2023, which took some 1200 lives, not to count the number of hostages who have since died in captivity, some 40,000 or more Gazan Palestinians, many women and children, have been killed by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) through bombardment and small-arms fire. This works out to a ratio of 33.3 Arab eyes for every Israeli eye. Is this equal justice or unrestrained revenge nearly four millennia after Hammurabi’s Code?
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Don’t get me wrong. As a third-generation American Jew, I understand the cultural PTSD my people have experienced. For a good book on this subject, read Rabbi Dr. Tirzah Firestone’s award-winning 2019 book Wounds into Wisdom: Healing Intergenerational Jewish Trauma, which I had the honor of editing in its earlier form as her doctoral dissertation. With the Shoah, or Holocaust, still very much alive in our collective memory, and with Israel surrounded by enemies on virtually all sides, I can both see and feel why this overkill reaction happened. Still, as a Jewish Christian (Episcopalian) I think of Jesus’ reverse counsel on this subject: “You have heard 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 coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile” (Matthew 5:38-41, NRSV). In Deuteronomy 32:35, God makes it clear that the Almighty, not humans, will exact judgment on evil deeds: “Vengeance is Mine, and recompense….” And St. Paul reiterates this point of view in Romans 12:19: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord.’”

For most of us humans and human societies, this kind of forbearance is a very high hurdle indeed. But I wish that, instead of its invasion of Gaza, Israel had redoubled its border security, negotiated for the hostages’ release, and turned the matter over to the U.N. and the international community. Instead, all I can say now is OY!

Two distinct lawgivers.