Leviticus 24:17

"LEX TALIONIS"

"And he that smiteth any man mortally shall surely be put to death. And he that smiteth a beast mortally shall make it good, life for life. And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbor; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him: breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be rendered unto him. And he that killeth a beast shall make it good: and he that killeth a man shall be put to death."

The principles enunciated here were basic to Biblical and Near Eastern Law throughout history. This doctrine is given three times in the O.T. - here, Exodus 21:23-25, and in Deuteronomy 19:21. Inherent in this are some factors that appear to be forgotten in a large degree today.

(1) Violence against people deserves punishment.

(2) The punishment should be proportional to the injuries inflicted upon others.

(3) The rehabilitation of the criminal was not in view at all.

(4) The death penalty alone was the option for society's dealing with murderers.

(5) As a deterrent to further crime, this was the best system ever known.

It can hardly be imagined that one who had blinded a neighbor in one eye, and having suffered the loss of one of his own, would have then blinded another neighbor. Criticism of these laws should be evaluated in the context of a careful analysis of the way it is in modern societies, in which crime is RARELY punished at all, and in which the CRIMINAL, not the VICTIM, enjoys all of the protection and most of the concern from society, and even after prison sentences are meted out to criminals, every possible effort is made to insure the criminal's comfort, health, entertainment, and even happiness during his confinement! Those who believe that human beings have improved upon GOD'S LAW should take a closer look!

Furthermore, as this law was understood and enforced in ancient Israel, it was done as mercifully as possible. The true meaning of the law was that compensation to the loss incurred was required. Thus, if one killed his neighbor's ox, he was required to provide enough money for the neighbor to buy him another one. If a slave master caused the loss of a slave's eye, or tooth, or finger, etc., the slave was given his freedom (Exodus 21:26). Wenham was of the opinion that, in general, monetary compensation was substituted for personal injuries requiring punishment. "Only in the case of premeditated murder was such compensation forbidden (Numbers 35:16ff). Then, the principle of life for life must be literally enforced, because man is made in the image of God."[26]

The false notion that Jesus Christ took away all severe penalties for sin and crime is refuted dogmatically by one of his parables in which Christ himself is represented as saying: "These mine enemies, that would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay before me!" (Luke 19:27),

The "Lex Talionis" was not a law of personal revenge, but of public justice. It was a severe limitation of all punishment in that it could not exceed the injury which a crime had inflicted. Criticism of what God commanded here is totally blind and unjustified. As a matter of fact, this law was the greatest protection of ordinary citizens ever devised. "It built a fence around their lives to protect them from violence and death."[27]