No Offense #2: Justice vs Revenge
August 20, 2023Pastor Patrick presented this morning's message in the series "No Offense." His topic was "Justice vs Revenge." A video of the message is here.
It is an interesting balance, justice versus revenge. There's the same dilemna with justice versus compassion.
In both cases, and while studying Torah, understanding the difference between macro issues and micro issues proved very helpful. Prager often talks about the difference between macro and micro application of moral issues.
Macro has to do with civilization- and society-level issues. Public issues, you could say. Micro has to do with one-on-one or one-on-a-few type issues, more personal or private. For example, cussing in private and cussing in public have different consequences.
Exodus 23:1-9 has an interesting set of laws that includes "do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd. And do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit." Those would pervert the justice that must reign at the level of society/civilization - the macro level. If you feel compassion toward the poor person, you can administer compassion at the micro level, e.g. YOU help the poor man who just lost the case with some kind of support, gift, etc.
God understands that we have a valid interest in justice. The key is to understand that interest in detail, when it's appropriate and the potential for being overplayed. Revenge is overplayed justice to the detriment of all involved.
It's also interesting to note that "an eye for an eye..." (Leviticus 24:17-22, "lex talionis") was a huge moral step forward in the ANE where revenge ruled the land. "You kill my relative I wipe out your family" was the norm. For the first time in recorded history (though there is some discussion about overlap with the Code of Hammurabi), ONLY the guilty party pays a price for a crime, and even then only in fair measure. It also made it clear that a pauper's eye and a king's eye are worth the same; there is no difference between the two. And the rule applies to native AND stranger. It's also worth mentioning that it never meant you actually took out the guilty person's eye. It's clear that it's impossible to inflict the exact amount of damage in two such actions. In all cases but the killing of a human being, the restitution was a monetary payment decided by the court. It is in discussing this section that Prager mentions that revenge is unjust punishment.
Lastly, notice once again that this Leviticus passage ends with "I am the Lord your God." He's constantly reminding us that the rules for good behavior are from Him and that He is watching even when other people are not.
Bonus
Oh, God! (the Movie)
For our recent Family Dinner Night (which I think of as our Shabbat), we watched an oldie-but-goodie movie, Oh, God! (1977).
Here's what Roger Ebert said about the movie: "Oh, God! is a treasure of a movie: A sly, civilized, quietly funny speculation on what might happen if God endeavored to present himself in the flesh yet once again to forgetful Man. He comes back this time looking and talking a great deal like George Burns, an improvement on his earlier cinematic incarnations. And as his contact on Earth, he selects a common man -- John Denver, to the manner born."
I'm not alone in thinking that the big message from the movie is that "It's up to us." Making life work. Making a better world. Doing good. It's all up to us. Believing. Having faith. Having hope. If you haven't realized it yet, the day's of parting seas, plagues, and world-wide floods ended quite a while ago. God figured out that miracles just don't work. The Israelites watched miracle after miracle get them out of Egypt and before God at Mount Sinai, and in ten minutes (that's a bit of an exaggeration) they were building a golden calf. It's amazing how fast a "miracle" becomes a distant memory and quite insignificant.
Other interesting and accurate ideas portrayed in the movie include: God chooses regular people ("the lady who's the millionth person across the bridge and gets to meet the governor. You're better than some people, and worse than others, but you came across the bridge at the right time"); initially, at least, no one believes God's messenger; don't get rich off God's message; and, we have all we need here on earth to end our story happily.
"I took this form," God explains, "because if I showed myself to you as I am, you wouldn't be able to comprehend me." The Torah makes that clear, even to Moses (Exodus 33:18-20).
As God says in the movie, "If you're having trouble believing in Me, maybe it will help you to know that I believe in you." God has enough faith in you to offer up his Son for you. You might consider embracing that.
Bonus 2
"I will be with you"
Way back at the beginning of our discussions (September 2021), I discussed God's name in this essay when we were studying the Lord's Prayer. Much of that discussion had to do with merging Yahweh and Adonai and how that "worked" in Biblical Hebrew. But I also mentioned that the name God gave himself when asked by Moses was "I am" or "I will be." You know, from the infamous Charleton Heston movie, the Ten Commandments, when God bellows "I am what I am." I can hear it to this day.
Anyway, I recently stumbled onto an interesting You Tube video that adds a tid bit more to that discussion. It's here. The gist of it is that context is key, and the context involves a verse or two earlier when God tells Moses "eh-yeh (I will be) with you" when dealing with Pharoah. It's the same eh-yeh as God says is His name. A conclusion to be drawn is that a key attribute of God is not only that He exists (I am or I will be) but that He will be with us just like He was with Moses. His name could be translated "I will be with you"! Which, interestingly, is similar to Emmanuel (Isaiah 7:14), God is with us.