This talk of weaponry and tactical support leads to our final discussion. We’ve saved this lesson for last because the concept is just so difficult to buy into. (Had we introduced it earlier, we might have lost some readers.)
To make the point, consider one of the many war narratives in Scripture. This one describes a familiar battle between the people of Israel and the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8-15). It is best known for the word picture of Aaron and Hur faithfully propping up Moses’ arms high in the air (like a banner to inspire Israel’s army) as Moses pleaded for a victory from God. From the beginning it was clear: This military action was sanctioned by a higher authority. The narrative brings to mind the Fourth Commandment and the Bible’s teachings regarding God-given authority.
For our discussion, we are interested in another more subtle inference that can be drawn from this account. The Amalekites were a tribe of warmongers. They lived in the wilderness of the Sinai Desert, making their living by attacking the dawdlers who traveled a mile or two behind the main caravans. These people were often sick or disabled. In most cases they were unable to fend for themselves. As they slowly made their way north, the people of Israel sustained many losses, far too many to continue to ignore these despicable hit-and-run attacks on the weak. The Amalekites had to be destroyed. And God blessed the Israelite warriors with victory—a sweet revenge for all the souls lost to the accursed Amalekite devils!
But the narrative doesn’t end there. The Lord had something profound to say about this particular conflict; and Moses echoed God’s words.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner. He said, “For hands were lifted up to the throne of the LORD. The LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.” (For the whole story, see Exodus 17:8-15.)
Did you get the point? God wanted Moses to take down some dictation: Write this down! I want every succeeding generation to remember what I, the Lord your God, am about to declare. And what was the declaration? As a renegade nation, Amalek would pay the ultimate price: extinction. But, as God was their Judge, even after they had been completely eradicated, their treachery would continue to be remembered in infamy. This was God declaring eternal enmity with Satan’s wretched seed. From that day on Satan’s unbelieving offspring had a new name: Amalek.
So, what exactly is the point? When we have been wronged, you and I find it almost impossible to let God be the Judge. We prefer to fight our own battles. And there is a sinful reason behind that preference. Our old Adam is constantly urging us to step into God’s role and seek revenge for our own self-gratification. The concept of getting payback is galvanized in our psyche. If you hit me, I will hit you back. The threat is often intensified with the suggestion that my retaliatory strike promises to be more severe than my enemy’s original blow. We are so conditioned to seeking reprisal that our basic need to retaliate often operates at a visceral level.
Jesus understood this human impulse. The weapon of choice in his example was an open hand. But it might just as well have been a fist, a club, a gun, or a hate-filled remark. Here is what Jesus would have us consider when we are tempted to respond according to our base instinct:
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 someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. . . . I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. (Matthew 5:38-44)
Someone may argue that Jesus was creating a figurative model when he said this—that he didn’t mean we should literally (or willingly) offer the other cheek to our enemy for another shot. Others express concern that Jesus’ words could be easily misinterpreted as a license for abuse. They fear sending a message to vulnerable women or children, telling them they must abide abusive husbands or fathers who treat them like human punching bags.
None of these concerns line up squarely with Jesus’ intent, although he was, without question, willing to endure such injustice and abuse during his own sojourn among sinners.
To understand the lesson, we have to go only as far as the introduction. The Lord Jesus was talking about getting revenge. The customary payback for an eye plucked out in a hand-to-hand fight was that the aggressor’s eye should be poked out as well. A broken tooth could be avenged by breaking the tooth of the person who struck the initial blow.
With perfect clarity, we get Jesus’ intended meaning. This is not the way he wants his followers to behave. To serve him, to be the salt of the earth and light of the world, you and I are called to a standard that rises above all others. In fact, passing up the chance to get revenge is to be considered a blessing. Reflect on Paul’s encouragement to the Christians at Corinth. His hope was that their behavior would be distinctively different from the world’s norms.
By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” when away! I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:1-5)
So why is this teaching so hard? It is not a complex idea. Even a child can grasp it. It is a hard teaching because it is so difficult to apply. The secular world challenges us to ignore it, even violate it, at every turn: If somebody smacks you in the face, hit him back. The harder, the better! It is a way of life. Grab all the leverage, upper hand, clout, dignity, pride, and self-determined justice you can get! Media promotes this ethic. Culture reinforces it. Society refines it. Our vocabulary and lifestyle project it. Most of us are so confused by these two opposing values that we have convinced ourselves that Jesus’ teaching is a nice ideal, even though we have already reserved the right to deviate from it when under pressure. That attitude forces us to live with a double standard.
That attitude misses the whole point. Setting one’s heart on payback is to doubt God’s promise to avenge the deeds of the wicked for us. “It is mine to avenge,” says Amalek’s Judge. That’s why God wanted the people of Israel to remember the Amalekites. They were to recall the fate of the tribe of Amalek as a judgment that came directly from God. Even in battle, defending their lives and the lives of their families, the Israelites were to remain dispassionate about the enemy, remembering that it is God who judges and it is God who punishes even the most deplorable, heinous sins.
When we are seeing a fellow human being behaving like the devil incarnate, we need to forget our urge for getting revenge and remember that God says to trust him when he says, “I will repay.”
Peter’s experiences with conflict taught him some important lessons. Perhaps he was recalling his own impetuous response to treachery when, years later, the man who had brandished a sword in Gethsemane’s garden wrote, “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing” (1 Peter 3:9). Peter had come the long way around to seeing conflict and peace from God’s point of view.
Excerpt from A Heart at Peace: Biblical Strategies for Christians in Conflict.