You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’
Matthew 5:38. An eye for an eye. Here another error is corrected. God had enjoined, by his law, (Leviticus 24:20,) that judges and magistrates should punish those who had done injuries, by making them endure as much as they had inflicted. The consequence was, that every one seized on this as a pretext for taking private revenge.
In these verses the law of retaliation is expounded, and in a manner repealed. Observe, I. What the Old Testament permission was, in case of injury; and here the expression is only, Ye have heard that is has been said; not, as before, concerning the commands of the decalogue, that it has been said by, or to, them of old time.
Commenting on Matthew 5:38-42
Ye have heard that it hath been said,.... That is, to, or by them of old time, as is expressed in some of the foregoing instances, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, Exo 21:24. This is "lex talionis", the "law of retaliation"; which, whether it is to be understood literally, or not, is a matter of question.