The Last Word
For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” Hebrews 10:30 NASB
Repay – What is your view of justice? What is its purpose? Is vengeance and retribution a necessary part of the social order, a requirement to keep evil in check? Or is something else at stake when the balance scales tip?
The author of the letter of Hebrews cites Moses on this matter (who else would he turn to?). In Deuteronomy 32:35, God speaks through Moses, saying, “Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, in due time their foot will slip; for the day of their calamity is near, and the impending things are hastening upon them.” We might seriously consider who the audience of this song of Moses really is. The entire chapter presents some particularly difficult and potentially disturbing implications about the biblical text. But, for the moment, let’s leave those issues aside and ask, “What does God mean when He says He will repay?” The Hebrew word is šillēm, a derivative of šālēm, from which we also get šālôm. Do you find that a little odd? šālēm, is about what is sound, what is complete. It’s not about taking revenge. We certainly see that in the derivative šālôm. In fact, our Hebrew word, šillēm, is used only in this one verse, Deuteronomy 32:35. In general, this word group is about fulfillment, and perhaps that’s why our hapax legomenon is translated as “repay,” with the sense of a final verdict in the matter. But in Greek, the word is antapodídōmi, the opposite of dídōmi, “to give,” as “to give a gift.” So, in Greek the idea is not fulfillment but rather removal, to take something away or take something back. In context this seems to suggest that God will punish the evildoer by depriving him of something vital. God will get even, as we would say.
But all of this is a problem. Why? Because of Heschel’s insight on biblical justice:
“God’s purpose is not to destroy but to purify.”[1]
“. . . according to Homer, the purpose of punishment is retributive and deterrent. For the Greeks, justice was the retribution that countered wrongdoing. Thus, ‘justice and revenge are not very different, indeed they coincide when vengeance is taken for wrongdoing. A product of this kind of justice is the ius talionis which was usual in early times and finds pregnant expression in the saying, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” This is to be traced to the Greeks also; for them, justice is retributive justice.’ (M. P. Nilsson, Greek Piety [Oxford, 1948], pp. 35 f.)”[2]
But Greek justice isn’t Hebrew justice, despite the misunderstanding of lex talionis, which actually set the limit of recompense, not the mandatory execution of retribution. We are Greek thinkers, so when we read the letter to the Hebrews or Deuteronomy, we apply our Greek paradigm and conclude that God will get even with the bad guys in the end. We go away with an eschatological sense of fairness. But we don’t leave with a biblical idea. Once again, Heschel forces us to reconsider:
“And yet, the word of God never comes to an end. For this reason, prophetic predictions are seldom final. No word is God’s final word. Judgment, far from being absolute, is conditional. A change in man’s conduct brings about a change in God’s judgment. No word is God’s final word.”[3]
Can we repeat that please? No word is God’s final word. Conditions change. New actions are taken. Flux is the dynamic of the Bible. Ah, but we don’t like it that way, do we? We want retributive justice because we want revenge. We want the last word, and if we can’t have it, then we want God to give it for us. We’re Greeks.
But the Bible isn’t.
Topical Index: justice, repay, revenge, šillēm, antapodídōmi, lex talionis, Hebrews 10:30
[1] Abraham Heschel, The Prophets (Hendrickson Publishers, 1962), Vol 1, p. 187.
[2] Ibid., p. 187 fn. 1.
[3] Ibid., p. 194.
