One of our church members lost family members in the Rwanda Genocide. She told me that some time later the Lord told her to give a crib to one of the men who had killed her family members. He and his wife were having a baby and needed a bed. What would she do? “If we all practice eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth, we will all soon be blind and toothless.” Have you ever taken revenge on somebody who harmed you? Did it take away your pain? What does the Bible have to say?
Levi and Simeon avenged the harm against their sister by going to war against the one responsible. When their father confronted them for the massacre of a whole group of men who had entered a “contract” with them, they justified their behavior by reminding their dad of how Shechem had treated their sister. If he did the unthinkable to our sister, we can do the unthinkable back to them.
What are we to make of this story? Many stories in the scripture are descriptive, not prescriptive. God did not tell Levi and Simeon to act this way. They not only took revenge on Shechem, but on a whole group of his relatives and neighbors. Women and children were captured. Property was confiscated. The sin of one person resulted in the subjugation of a community.
Apportioning blame in war is not as easy as we might think. The ancient world was filled with violence. But the Bible does not end with Genesis. If we see the scriptures as one story, we come to realize that God’s greater plan for us is forgiveness that leads to forgiveness. Jesus taught to turn the other cheek and to love our enemies (Matthew 5:38-44). Without God, we could never do it. Thank God we are not without God. Again, in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul called upon the believers to leave vengeance to God (Romans 12:17-20 ). Our church member from Rwanda obeyed God and gave the crib to the one who had harmed her family. She never told him his crimes were ok. But she returned good for evil. We can do this, too. Will we?
