[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > Because at this point, an "eye for an eye", a "tooth for a tooth" sounds
> > barely acceptable, for I.  I won't speak for anybody else.
>
>

Dan M. replied:
>Actually, it sounds like an improvement over the present threats to me.
>Remember, when it was written it was, the norm was "a life for an eye, a
>life for a tooth."  The proper translation, according to Rabbi Jim Brant
>(who lives in my community) is "only an eye for an eye, only a tooth for a
>tooth."  It was  a call for moderation in a time when the norm was family
>feuds and blood vengence.
>

And that moderation was turned to near pacifism in Matthew 5 and Luke 6 
(foreshadowed at least as early as Isaiah 50) with "turn the other cheek."

Not that I'm a pacifist, mind you.  Of course, I'm not exactly a war-monger 
either.  What's halfway between a hawk and a dove?

Reggie Bautista


_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.

Reply via email to