Week 5    Day 1

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An Eye for an Eye

Matthew 5:38-42

38 You have heard that it has been declared, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.¹

39 But I say to you, Do not stand against the wicked; but whoever shall slap thee on thy right cheekbone, turn to him the other also.

40 And if anyone wills to have thee judged and take thy tunic, let him have the cloak also.

41 And whoever shall compel thee to go one mile, go with him two.

42 Give to him who asks thee; and turn not away him who wills to borrow from thee.

Matthew 5:38

You have heard that it has been declared, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.

Arcana Coelestia 9049:4

The law which is called “the law of retaliation” is thus described in Leviticus:

He that smites the soul of a beast shall restore it, soul for soul. If a man shall cause a blemish in his neighbor, as he has done, so shall it be done to him: breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he shall cause a blemish in a man, so shall it be rendered to him. He that smites a beast shall restore it; and he that smites a man shall be killed (Lev. 24:18-21).

As evil carries with it its own penalty, it is therefore said by the Lord that “evil must not be resisted,” and at the same time, in the following words in Matthew [5:38-42], it is explained how the case is with this law in the spiritual world, with those who are in good, relatively to those who are in evil.

Arcana Coelestia 9049:5-6

Who cannot see that these words are not to be understood according to the sense of the letter? For who will turn the left cheek to him who deals a blow on the right cheek? And who will give his cloak to him who would take away his coat? And who will give his property to all who ask? And who will not resist evil? But no one can understand these words who does not know what is signified by “the right cheek” and “the left cheek,” what by “a coat” and “a cloak,” also what by “a mile,” and likewise by “borrowing,” and so on. The subject here treated of is spiritual life, or the life of faith, not natural life, which is the life of the world.

But it shall now be told what is meant in the internal sense by these words of the Lord. In this sense it there treats of those who wish to destroy the truths of faith by means of falsities, thus to destroy the spiritual life with a man when he is in temptations, and in persecutions, and in good spirits when they are in infestations by evil spirits. By “the cheek” is signified the affection of interior truth; by “the right cheek” the affection of truth from good. By “dealing a blow” is signified the act of injuring this affection. By “coat” and “cloak” is signified truth in the external form (n. 4677, 4741, 4742). By “dragging to law” is signified the endeavor to destroy. By “a mile” is signified that which leads to truth, for the like is signified by “a mile” as by “a way” (that “a way” denotes that which leads to truth, see n. 627, 2333, 3477). By “lending” is signified to instruct. From this it is plain what is signified by “giving to all who ask,” namely, to confess all things of one’s faith in the Lord. The reason therefore why evil ought not to be resisted is that evil does no harm to those who are in truth and good, for they are protected by the Lord.

Apocalypse Explained 556:8

The sons of Israel had this law that they should give “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” (Exod. 21:23, 24; Lev. 24:20; Deut. 19:21), because they were external men, and thus were only in the representatives of heavenly things, and not in heavenly things themselves, thence not in charity, in mercy, in patience, nor in any spiritual good. Consequently, they were under the law of retaliation; for the heavenly law and thence the Christian law is that which the Lord taught in the Gospels:

All things whatever you will that men should do to you, you do also to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 7:12; Luke 6:31).

Because this is the law in heaven, and from heaven in the church, therefore every evil carries with it a corresponding punishment, which is called the punishment of evil, and it is in the evil as if joined with it. And from this springs the punishment of retaliation that was prescribed for the sons of Israel, because they were external and not internal men. Internal men, as the angels of heaven are, do not wish the retaliation of evil for evil, but from heavenly charity they forgive freely. For they know that the Lord protects from the evil all who are in good, and that He protects according to the good with them, and that He would not protect [them] if, on account of the evil done to them, they should burn with enmity, hatred, and revenge, for these drive away protection.

¹Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21

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