Skip to content

Booksellers & Trade Customers: Sign up for online bulk buying at trade.atlanticbooks.com for wholesale discounts

Booksellers: Create Account on our B2B Portal for wholesale discounts

Lex Talionis in Early Judaism and the Exhortation of Jesus in Matthew 5.38-42

by James Davis
Save 17% Save 17%
Current price ₹20,263.00
Original price ₹24,316.00
Original price ₹24,316.00
Original price ₹24,316.00
(-17%)
₹20,263.00
Current price ₹20,263.00

Imported Edition - Ships in 18-21 Days

Free Shipping in India on orders above Rs. 500

Request Bulk Quantity Quote
+91
Book cover type: Hardcover
  • ISBN13: 9780567041500
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • Subject: N/A
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • Publisher Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • Publication Date:
  • Pages: 210
  • Original Price: GBP 160.0
  • Language: English
  • Edition: N/A
  • Item Weight: 472 grams
  • BISAC Subject(s): Biblical Studies / New Testament / General

In Matthew 5:38-42, Jesus overrides the Old Testament teaching of 'an eye for eye and a tooth for a tooth' - the Lex Talionis law - and commands his disciples to turn the other cheek. James Davis asks how Jesus' teaching in this instance relates to the Old Testament talionic commands, how it relates to New Testament era Judaism and what Jesus required from his disciples and the church.

Based on the Old Testament texts such as Leviticus 24, Exodus 22 and Deuteronomy 19, a strong case can be made that the Lex Talionis law was understood to have a literal application there are several texts that text of Leviticus 24 provides the strongest case that a literal and judicial application. However, by the second century AD and later, Jewish rabbinic leadership was essentially unified that the OT did not require a literal talion, but that financial penalties could be substituted in court matters. Yet there is evidence from Philo, Rabbi Eliezer and Josephus that in the first century AD the application of literal talion in judicial matters was a major and viable Jewish viewpoint at the time of Jesus.

Jesus instruction represents a different perspective from the OT lex talionis texts and also, possibly, from the Judaism of his time. Jesus commands the general principle of not retaliation against the evil person and intended this teaching to be concretely applied, as borne out in his own life.

JSNTS

Davis, James: - James Davis is on the senior faculty at Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary, Amman, Jordan teaching New Testament studies. He worked as a Bible translator/editor for the Holman Christian Standard Bible and served as an adjunct faculty at Dallas Theological Seminary.

Keith, Chris: - Chris Keith is Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Norway. He is the author of The Pericope Adulterae, the Gospel of John and the Literacy of Jesus, a winner of the 2010 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise, and Jesus' Literacy: Scribal Culture and the Teacher from Galilee. He is also the co-editor of Jesus among Friends and Enemies: A Historical and Literary Introduction to Jesus in the Gospels, and was recently named a 2012 Society of Biblical Literature Regional Scholar.

Trusted for over 49 years

Family Owned Company

Secure Payment

All Major Credit Cards/Debit Cards/UPI & More Accepted

New & Authentic Products

India's Largest Distributor

Need Support?

Whatsapp Us