The world is watching with nail-biting apprehension as the latest blood feud between Israelis and Palestinians plays out. The present confrontation was triggered by the murder of three young Jewish kidnapping victims and what appears to be the revenge murder of a Palestinian teen.


Palestinian rockets have struck deeper into Israel than ever before. The response has been air strikes followed by a ground assault from Israeli forces. Each day seems to bring another level of escalation to the fighting. Both sides insist it is their legal right and moral obligation to require "an eye for an eye."
One can make a good case that the biblical directive about eye-for-eye justice is among the most misunderstood - and misused - texts in Scripture.


The original statement comes fro...