A Pilgrim's Journal

Please keep in mind that this is only as far as I understand the law. I may be wrong in the details, and I encourage you to double check the Bible and correct me, preferrably with scripture, if I'm wrong.

Imagine for a moment that you are a rich judge, who loves equality and justice.

One day, two men come before your bench, and they are obviously angry with each other. One man is missing a tooth.

The man without the tooth holds up a video tape, and submits it as evidence, along with a number of witnesses. When you watch the video, you see clearly how the one man punches the other in the mouth for no apparent reason, and a tooth flies out.

You question the witnesses rigorously, and confirm that these two men are perfect strangers, and the puncher has an anger management issue and decided to take out his frustrations on the closest victim.

After hearing all the evidence, you clearly see that the one man is in the wrong, and the other is in the right. You feel some justice coming on! You feel righteous indignation in your belly! You are just about to open your mouth and pronounce the verdict when the strangest thing happens.

These two men start to argue right in front of you. Their voices get louder and louder, and soon the toothless man takes a swing at the offender. You personally hear the crack of a tooth, and the soft skittering sound it makes as it slides across the hardwood floor of the courtroom.

Your shoulders sag. Your work here is done. They have taken matters into their own hands, and justice is finished. There's no more you can do here, so you bang your gavel and yell, "Next!" The men slink away, somewhat embarrassed.

The next case is surprisingly the same. There was a fight, one man was blinded in one eye, there's a video showing the evidence, the case is crystal clear.

You start to feel that familiar feeling in your belly again. Justice is about to be served! Woe to the man who breaks the law and comes before you unrepentant! Just as you are about to open your mouth to pronounce the verdict, an even stranger thing happens.

The offender hangs his head and asks for permission to speak. You grant it, and he says, "Your Honour, I know I have done wrong, and will pay the debt, whatever you decide. I am very sorry for my behaviour. There is no excuse."

You take his statement into consideration. He is now repentant, so your wrath is now abated. But the injustice still stands, and the victim's eye still does not work. Justice must be served.

Then the man with the patch over one eye asks for permission to speak. You grant it, and he says, "Your Honour, I know this man is in the wrong, and he has damaged my eye, but I also know he is a poor man, and cannot possibly repay me. So I forgive him the debt, and claim no damages. Please do whatever you think is right."

Now you smile. This hardly ever happens. But it is as if the entire courtroom lights up with a heavenly light.

You examine the case again. The man was clearly in the wrong for having damaged his neighbour's eye. But the neighbour has forgiven him! Therefore, there is nothing you can do to the offender. Yet there is still an injustice. The man is still without a working eye. Since you can't punish the offender, there is only one avenue of justice left.

You reward the victim.

Since you're a rich judge, you pay for the treatment yourself. You add extra for pain and suffering, and for any lost work that was incurred because of the incident. The men leave, both very happy.

This is why I love this law. For I believe that if the law works in one direction, that is, in the direction of death, then I believe it should also work in the other direction, the direction of life.

We, as men, see this law, and start breaking teeth out of the offender, since that is all we can do. But God can look at this law with the bountiful riches of His grace, and restore what was broken.

Indeed, if the other laws are anything to go by, where the offender is ordered to pay double or even 4 times the amount stolen, then perhaps God will even restore double the teeth, and double the eyes, to His children who have suffered wrong.

And what will such children do with an extra tooth? Why, give it back to God, and to someone else who may need it.

Over and over we are told in the Bible that God loves justice and righteousness. Over and over we are given examples that God is a very careful accountant, and keeps things equal in His dealings with man. And over and over we are told that God expects the same of us.

So that's how I view the "eye for an eye" law. It is a law of equality. A law of justice. If a wrong has been committed, it needs to be made right. As men, we can either take matters into our own hands, and effect justice in this life, with human methods. Or we can do good to the offender with the view that God will reward us later with even better riches.

But either way, we can be sure that God will make things equal and just in the end.