God and Justice

By BlogSpotThinker
September 24, 2011

Compensating injury for injury appears to be prescribed in several Old Testament passages. In Exodus 21, the context appears to pertain to two people fighting who hit a pregnant woman and serious injury results. In Leviticus 24, the context appears to cover killing a neighbor’s animal and injuring a neighbor. Deuteronomy 19 appears to refer to malicious false witness.

The guideline appears to be reasonably considered to not be intended to be applied as a general rule of thumb for addressing social conflict, but, rather the guideline appears reasonably considered to be intended to be applied to specific acts that are intentional and, perhaps, reasonably considered to be egregious.
An apparently reasonable theory appears to be that applying the guideline of compensating injury for injury as a general rule of thumb appears to present a problem of its own. Human fallibility regarding discernment of propriety appears generally and even scientifically widely-accepted. This fallibility appears to suggest the potential for miscarriages of justice. Such miscarriages of justice appear to add to the list of injuries that must be compensated for.

Matthew 5 appears to suggest considering the credo to be a reflection of the problem and to recommend moving beyond the letter of that guideline to the appropriate perspective that cares about one’s neighbor.