A Word About Revenge

In my sermon this past weekend, “Wait for It,” I explored aspects of David’s determined course of waiting on God in relation to King Saul’s relentless pursuit of him. In one part of the message, I offered a little aside about revenge, vengeance, or recompense.

There is Just One God in the Bible

When we begin exploring the idea of revenge, or recompense, in the Bible we need to begin with the simple, but often misunderstood, idea that there is only one God revealed in the entire Bible. There are not two Gods—the angry God of the Old Testament and the loving God of the New Testament—but just One God who is both gracious and truthful, holy and merciful. In fact, some of the most beautiful passages on the love of God come from the Old Testament, such as what we read in Lamentations 3:

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23, NRSVUE)

Revenge is the Territory of God

This shapes the rest of the conversation, which leads us into what I believe is the single most important passage about revenge in the Bible, which reads:

“It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.” (Deuteronomy 32:35, NIV)

This passage tells us that revenge, or vengeance, belongs to God’s domain of activity. Why is this? Because human ability to judge appropriately or rightly is not trustworthy. Jeremiah most pointedly speaks to this when he says: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiahs 17:9). Perhaps in part, this is why David leaves recompense for Saul’s wrongs to him in the hands of God. Perhaps David does not even trust himself.

The well-known law of recompense in the Bible (seen also in the Code of Hammurabi and known in Latin as lex talionis) reads: “But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise” (Exodus 21:23-25). Contrary to popular belief, this is not a law giving permission for revenge but limiting retaliation to what is appropriate, and not anything more.

When you watch a gangster movie we get a sense of what the American concept of revenge is. When someone is killed, the “family” gathers together to bring retaliatory action that goes just a little beyond what was before: they may kill several people. When the other “family” who started the violence sees this, they respond with even greater violence, cultivating a sort of increasing cycle of retaliatory violence. “We will do to them what they did to us, plus a little bit more to make them hurt and feel the weight even more.” This is what we think of when we think of revenge.

But the laws in the Bible insures that there will be just recompense and not revenge in the sense just outlined. Yes, if there is a wrong it should be addressed and appropriate compensation should be given. But it should not go beyond that point because our God is just and righteous.

And even with this, the writers of the Scripture tell us, we should be self-aware that true recompense can only come from God because only God is just and righteous (not us). This is why even the New Testament writers echo the themes of Deuteronomy 32:35. The Apostle writes, “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19). And the author of Hebrews quotes the same verse, writing, “For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ and again, ‘The Lord will judge his people'” (Hebrews 10:30).

Jesus as Lamb and Lion, and the Vengeance of God 

As followers of Jesus, what are we to make of David’s actions and the Bible’s teachings on recompense, or revenge? A good clue is always to look to Jesus. In His life, Jesus showed another way, a way marked by both grace and truth, in his interactions with people. Jesus is fully grace and fully truth, not some 50/50 mixture of them.

And in His teaching, Jesus taught another way, a way marked by strength and mercy. There is really no greater example of this than Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. I’d like to call particular attention to this section:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:38-44, NIV)

Jesus’ teachings here do not call us to a sort of doormat religion, where we let people walk all over us. Instead, Jesus invites His followers into a different sort of way to live out God’s teaching marked by grace and truth. If someone shames with a backhanded slap, Jesus’ disciples do not need to slink away in shame but can stand tall as a person made in God’s image until recognize us as such, even if they are given us another slap. Biblical law does not allow someone to hold the outer cloak overnight for it might be someone’s only means of covering or warmth. However, Jesus says, if someone tries to cover their injustice by taking the shirt closest to a Jesus’ follower’s skin, while leaving them the outside cloak, the Jesus follower can bring their pitiful attempts at wrong into the clear light of the public sphere. Give them not only your shirt/tunic, Jesus says, but also the outer cloak, so that all will see what they are trying to do. Even if it leaves you standing naked in public, they will not be able to avoid public shame as the one in the wrong. And if a Roman centurion asks you to walk a mile by carrying their pack (which the laws allowed), then give them another mile out of your own decision to make their wrong clear and also perhaps inquire of them why they felt they had such need. Jesus’ teaching here is quite different than “doormat religion,” inviting His people to stand tall as made in God’s image and shame the wrongdoer in the public sphere through grace and truth.

Along with His life and His teaching, however, in His sacrifice, Jesus revealed that God was doing a new thing, taking upon Himself all the power of evil, death, and vengeance, and turning it into the doorway toward goodness, life, and healing. In fact, we are told that at the cross, Jesus “disarmed the powers and authorities, [and] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15).

Jesus truly is the lion and the lamb. He holds all power and all humility. All truth and all love.

I am reminded of words from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who wrote in his marvelous books Why We Can’t Wait and Strength to Love:

“Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding, and ennobles the man who wields it. It’s a sword that heals. The ultimate weakness of violent retaliation is that it’s a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it through violence. You may murder a liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence, you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes, returning evil for evil, multiplies evil, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars….Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that. Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”