THE
MIKE CUNNINGHAM
AUGUST 15, 2010
This
morning we’re going to pick up where we left off last week. Once again we hear
an agitated man’s voice say: “I can hardly wait for the teacher to set that
Marvin goof-ball guy straight, Pal.” “I’m sure the teacher will be able to
defend the truthfulness of the Scriptures quite well, Charlie. By the way, I
regret having to inform you I just received word from Angelic Headquarters that
you will be unable to converse with me when we return to the group. You will
have to reserve your comments until we’re back here. That’s impossible, Pal.
You’ve been with me all my life. You gotta know I can’t keep quiet anymore than
a duck can’t help quacking. That’s just the way I am!” “I must remind you that
it’s in Him that you live and move and have your very being, Charlie. Apart from
Him you will not be able to speak.” “You mean God’s gonna mute me, Pal?” “To
borrow one of your favorite expressions; you got that right.” When Charlie and
the Angel arrived back amongst the Bible Study group, they were surprised to
find themselves at a Sunday morning church service. Speaking on behalf of the
rest of them before they entered, the teacher welcomed Marvin and said: “We’re
pleased you chose to join us this morning.” “I certainly hope I am, teacher.”
“I owe my life to this preacher and will be surprised if his message doesn’t
enlighten all of us.” The preacher began by reading:
Psalm
137:1-9 (ESV)
1 By the waters of
The
preacher continues: “This communal lament is sung from the context of the
Babylonian exile-an exile preceded by unthinkable horrors of ancient siege
warfare and the “day” of
“In
addition to these cruelties, the most brutal-and all-too-common-practice of
city conquerors was the killing of infants inside the womb or the dashing of
infants against the rocks in the fury and totality of war’s carnage.” (2)[1]
“This barbarous slaughter of the most helpless noncombatants, “effected total
destruction by making war upon the next generation.” (3)[2]
The Scriptures make further use of this graphic and gruesome picture in its
judgment oracles against rebellious
Hosea
13:16 (ESV) 16
Luke
19:41-44 (ESV)
41 And when he[Jesus]drew near and
saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying,
“Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for
peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43
For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up
a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and
your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in
you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Nahum 3:10
(ESV) 10 Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity; her
infants were dashed in pieces at the head of every street; for her honored men
lots were cast, and all her great men were bound in chains.
“Tormented by “the harsh, pitiless
slave-drivers who drove the prisoners they had plundered hundreds of miles
eastward to distant Babylon, (4)[3]
the abrupt and appalling shriek emanating from Psalm 137:7-9 is, then, the
“passionate outcry of the powerless demanding justice! Indeed, in the face of
such blatant and humanly unpunishable injustice, God’s chastised people had no
other recourse but to turn to Yahweh and to plead for his justice. In the midst
of their helplessness and humiliation, he was “their only hope for a righteous
and just sentence of condemnation.” (4)And it is to him that their appeal for
strict retaliation in both kind and degree is made-and surrendered.” (5)
“The basis upon which the psalmist
pleads for such horrid retribution, although interlaced with extreme emotion,
is not the base and vicious fury of bloodthirsty revenge but the principal of
divine justice itself, particularly as expressed in the so-called lex talionis
(eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth). It is stated three times in Torah-the
seedbed of all subsequent theology.” (6)
Exodus
21:22-25 (ESV)
22 “When men strive together and
hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the
one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on
him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23
But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for
hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for
burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Leviticus
24:17-22 (ESV)
17 “Whoever takes a human life
shall surely be put to death. 18 Whoever
takes an animal’s life shall make it good, life for life. 19 If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has
done it shall be done to him, 20 fracture
for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a
person shall be given to him. 21 Whoever
kills an animal shall make it good, and whoever kills a person shall be put to
death. 22 You shall have the same
rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.”
Deuteronomy
19:16-21 (ESV)
16 If a malicious witness arises to
accuse a person of wrongdoing, 17 then
both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests
and the judges who are in office in those days. 18
The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false
witness and has accused his brother falsely, 19 then
you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge
the evil from your midst. 20 And
the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among
you. 21 Your eye shall not pity. It
shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for
foot.
“Rather than serving as a sanction
for personal vengeance, this Old Testament command actually protected against
excesses of revenge. Essentially, it was designed to ensure justice: the
punishment would indeed fit the crime.” “Thus, rather than being a primitive
and barbaric code, this Old Testament statue forms the basis for all civilized
justice. It was not a law of private retaliation, but of just recompense. Indeed,
Gordon Wenham observes with insight that an eye
for an eye was likely just a governing formula for dispensing justice:
“In most cases in
Exodus
21:26 (ESV) 26 “When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female,
and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye.
“The man who killed an ox had to pay
its owner enough for him to buy another.”
Leviticus
24:18 (ESV)
18 Whoever takes an animal’s life
shall make it good, life for life.
“Only in the case of premeditated
murder was such compensation forbidden.”
Numbers
35:16 (ESV)
16 “But if he struck him down with
an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to
death.
“Then the principle of life for life must be literally
enforced, because man is made in the image of God.” (7)
Genesis
9:5-6 (ESV)
5 And for your lifeblood I will
require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his
fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man
shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.
“By Jesus day, and contrary to its
intent, the lex talionis had indeed
become a “law of retaliation,” sanctioning a mind set of revenge rendered by
the phrase, “Do unto others as they have done to you.” Jesus reminded his
followers of the original intent of the law with these well known words: (8)38 “You
have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who
is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other
also. 40 And if anyone would sue
you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go
with him two miles. 42 Give to the
one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you, Matthew 5:38-42.
“However, his
words were given to shock his followers back to an original intent of the law, not by explaining its proper use, but by prohibiting its
perversion. That means setting aside “rights” of private retaliation and
nurturing an attitude of long suffering.” (9)
Matthew
5:17 (ESV)
17 “Do not think that I have come
to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to
fulfill them.”
There are a number of instances of
“the law of retaliation” expressed in the New Testament. For instance: “Paul’s
curse of Elymas the sorcerer; Paul’s denunciation of antagonist Alexander; and
the downfall of eschatological
Acts
13:6-12 (ESV)
6 When they had gone through the
whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish
false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7 He
was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned
Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the magician (for that is the
meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the
faith. 9 But Saul, who was also
called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy
of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making
crooked the straight paths of the Lord? 11 And
now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable
to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he
went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had
occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
2 Timothy
4:14 (ESV)
14 Alexander the coppersmith did me
great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.
Revelation
18:6 (ESV)
6 Pay her back as she herself has
paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for
her in the cup she mixed.
Revelation
18:20 (ESV)
20 Rejoice over her, O heaven, and
you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you
against her!”
James E. Adams in his equally
insightful work, “War Psalms of the Prince of Peace” asks: “Who is the
“Daughter of Babylon” Who is “doomed to destruction?” and goes on to answer:
“She represents all that is hostile to God. The climax of the history of
Revelation
18:2 (ESV)
2 And he called out with a mighty
voice, “Fallen, fallen is
Jeremiah
51:56 (NIV)
56 A destroyer will come against
Isaiah
13:1 (NIV)
1 An oracle concerning
Isaiah
13:16 (NIV)
16 Their infants will be dashed to
pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives ravished.
Isaiah
13:19 (NIV)
19
Psalm 2:9
(ESV)
9 You shall break them with a rod
of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
Jeremiah
19:11 (ESV)
11 and shall say to them, ‘Thus
says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, as one
breaks a potter’s vessel, so that it can never be mended. Men shall bury in
Topheth because there will be no place else to bury.
Revelation
12:5 (ESV)
5 She gave birth to a male child,
one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught
up to God and to his throne,
Revelation
19:15 (ESV)
15 From his mouth comes a sharp
sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod
of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the
Almighty.
Picking up from there,
Psalm
139:19-22 (ESV)
19 Oh that you would slay the
wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! 20
They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take
your name in vain! 21 Do I not hate
those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 22 I hate them with complete hatred; I count
them my enemies.
Then he prays,
Psalm
139:23-24 (ESV)
23 Search me, O God, and know my
heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And
see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
In conclusion
It’s obvious David was a man after
God’s own heart, (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). Can
the same be said of you and me?
Lord willing, in a couple of weeks….
*****************************************
In
my opinion, the works I have cited in this message are outstanding. I can’t
recommend CRYING FOR JUSTICE, What
the PSALMS teach us about MERCY and Vengeance in an Age of TERRORISM, by John
N. Day and WAR PSALMS of the PRINCE of
PEACE, Lessons from the Imprecatory Psalms, by James E. Adams highly enough
(1)Cf.
the horrors promised by God in the curses of Deuteronomy 28: 53-57. Also, the
Assyrian king of Sennacherib speaks in his annals of besieging several cities,
one of which was Ekron and killed the officials and patricians who had
committed the crime and hung their bodies on poles surrounding the city.” James
B. Pritchard, ed. Ancient Near-Eastern Texts
Relating to the Old Testament, 3d ed. with supplement (Princeton, N. J. :
Princeton University Press, 1969), 288. Cited in Crying for Justice, p. 64-65.
(2)
Crying for Justice © 2005 by John N. Day, Kregel Publications
(3) Leslie C. Allen, Psalms 101-150, Word
Biblical Commentary, ed. D. A. Hubbard and G. W. Barker (Waco, Texas: Word,
1983), 21:237. Such an act serves as a macabre illustration of the depth of
human depravity when the restraining hand of God is removed. Sin always destroys
mercilessly. Cited in Crying for Justice p. 66.
(4)
Alfred Guillaume, Journal of Biblical Literature 75 (1956): 144. Cited in
Crying for Justice,
(5)
Zenger, A God of Vengeance? Understanding the Psalms of Divine Wrath, trans. L.
M. Maloney (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1996), 46-cited in Crying for
Justice p. 65-66.
(6)
Bobby J. Gilbert, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 137” (Th. M.
thesis, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1981) p.75. Cited in Crying for Justice p.
66.
(7)
Although implicit in the veiled imprecation of verses 8-9, such an appeal and
surrender of vengeance is made explicit in verse 7.
(8)
Gordon J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus, NICOT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979),
312. This principal of Just recompense, embodied in the lex talionis, forms the
foundation in any period for any civilized judicial system. Cited in Crying for
Justice p. 67.
(9)
John J. Wenham agrees that it is “a misunderstanding of the Sermon on the Mount
to imagine that our Lord is repudiating the principal of civil justice, or
undercutting the authority of the Old Testament.” Rather “the whole passage is
concerned with misinterpretations of the Old Testament, not with any
sub-standard regulations. The lex talionis … was being used as an instrument of
personal revenge. Our Lord says that the citizen of the kingdom is to have an
utter disregard for his own rights … He must love his enemies and harbor no
desire for vengeance in his heart. This is a very different matter from telling
a judge not to administer justice.” John W. Wenham, The Goodness of God
(Downers Grove, Ill. : Inter Varsity, 1974), 94-95. Cited in Crying for Justice
p. 67.
(10)
ibid. p.67.
(11)
War Psalms in the Prince of Peace, © by 1991 by James E. Adams, Presbyterian
and Reformed Publishing Co., P. O. Box 817, Phillipsburg, N. J. 08865.
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