An I for an I

Where does the phrase "an eye for an eye" come from?  Most people would quote Exodus 21:23-25 (NIV), which describes an injured person's right to retribution against someone who has harmed him:

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.

Many Bible scholars point out that this law was not written to encourage vendettas and vengeance, but to limit vindictive aggression.  Instead of killing the person who bruised you, you're only allowed to bruise him back.  But people who cite the book of Exodus as the original source for this phrase probably don't know that it dates further back than Moses.  According to ushistory.org:

"An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth."

This phrase, along with the idea of written laws, goes back to ancient Mesopotamian culture that prospered long before the Bible was written or the civilizations of the Greeks or Romans flowered.

"An eye for an eye ..." is a paraphrase of Hammurabi's Code, a collection of 282 laws inscribed on an upright stone pillar. The code was found by French archaeologists in 1901 while excavating the ancient city of Susa, which is in modern-day Iran.

In a 2016 article entitled "Trump's Favorite Bible Verse," Noland D. McCaskill wrote about one presidential candidate who was very fond of this concept:

Donald Trump’s favorite Bible verse involves an “eye for an eye,” he said Thursday.

WHAM 1180 AM radio host Bob Lonsberry asked the Republican front-runner if he had a favorite verse or story from the Bible that’s impacted his thinking or character.

“Well, I think many. I mean, you know, when we get into the Bible, I think many. So many,” he responded. “And some people—look, an eye for an eye, you can almost say that. That’s not a particularly nice thing. But you know, if you look at what’s happening to our country, I mean, when you see what’s going on with our country, how people are taking advantage of us, and how they scoff at us and laugh at us.”

“And they laugh at our face, and they’re taking our jobs, they’re taking our money, they’re taking the health of our country,” he continued. “And we have to be firm and have to be very strong. And we can learn a lot from the Bible, that I can tell you.”

Mohandas K. "Mahatma" Gandhi, the renowned teacher of nonviolent resistance, is well-known for his different perspective.  According to Quote Investigator, Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind."  Of course, Gandhi was echoing the teaching of Jesus, who said:

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.

Gandhi's point, and Jesus' point too, is that you can't solve the world's problems by meeting aggression with aggression, insult with insult, offense with offense.  When we act this way, we put ourselves first and others last.  When I behave like this, I forget that my neighbor and I are one.  So I suggest an intentional misspelling of Gandhi's famous phrase, to help understand what it really means:

An I for an I makes the whole world blind.

I stands for ego.  It stands for me first.  When two people contend with each other, this ego is blind to the needs of that ego.  The other ego can't see the perspective of its adversary, precisely because it has placed itself in an oppositional position.  Our problem is that we want to stand toe to toe with others, naming them our enemies rather than recognizing them as people who need our help.  Our problem is that we blame others for our problems rather than taking a look at our own responsibilities.  Jesus had something to say about this.  I beg your latitude as again I change the word "eye" to "I," so that you can see the point clearly:

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s I and pay no attention to the plank in your own I? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your I,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own I? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own I, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s I (Matthew 7:3-5 NIV).

Here, the I is the probem.  The ego is the issue.  When my ego finds fault in another before taking stock of my own errors and flaws, I have made myself better than my neighbor. When I let my bruised ego get so hurt that I feel justified in wounding another, I have sinned not just against them, but against myself.   Let's be better than that.  Instead, let's be people of vision, people of the light.  Because an I for an I makes the whole world blind.