Sermon On The Mount
Whosoever Shall Compel Thee
Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony
Subject: Conversations, Panels and Sermons
Lesson: 08- 25
Genre:
Track: 08
Dictation Name: Sermon on the Mount - 08
Location/Venue:
Year: 1980
Our Lord and our God we come to Thee again rejoicing in all Thy blessings, Thy protecting care and Thine unfailing grace and love. We come casting our every care upon Thee who carest for us. Do Thou oh Lord in Thy mercy and grace guide and protect us in these days and give us the victory against the powers of statism and make us more than conquerors in Jesus Christ. In His name we pray, Amen.
Our scripture this morning is from Matthew 5:38 following. Matthew 5:38-42, let us say. And our subject is taken in particular from verse forty one. Whosoever Shall Compel Thee. We have gone through the Sermon on the Mount section by section and now we’re giving attention in depth to particular words.
“ Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.”
The word compel in verse forty two comes from the Persian, angari, currier, and the word compel is a word with deep roots in history and its meaning is a compulsory draft. Just as today your car can be commandeered by the police in an emergency or your services can be commandeered so this verse compel has the word meaning. Now the context of this whole passage is the biblical law of justice, what is called the [unknown], an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is stated by God to be the law of justice, that is, the punishment must fit the crime. It does not mean that because you knocked out an eye in somebody who [unknown] your eye is to be taken but that very definitely the punishment must be proportionate to the crime. This is spelled out in greater detail when we are told in scripture that if you deal, let us say in modern terminology, a hundred dollars you must repay the hundred plus a penalty of another hundred.
But it must be up to fourfold, or fivefold is the maximum, the restitution that is made. Thus the law of justice is the law of restitution and restoration, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth with a penalty for what you have done. So you restore what you have taken and at least the equivalent or up to fourfold and fivefold. This was once common to American law as well as the law in Christian countries throughout the world. It was an excellent means of dealing with crime whenever it was used, however this is the law of justice, of justice as it is applied in civil government. All too many people were trying in our Lord’s day to make it a law of private revenge. There was a reason for this. They were an oppressed people living under Rome. It would be comparable to say the Soviet Union coming in and governing us. The Romans perhaps were better rulers then the Soviet Union, on the other hand they were equally brutal if anyone in anyway opposed their rule. It was the Romans who devised and developed to its ultimate refinement crucifixion as a punishment. Some of you have heard the tape by Dr. Davis who examines crucifixion from a medical perspective and he points out that perhaps no more refined and brutal form of punishment has ever been devised. It was designed to maximize pain. The people who developed the roman method of crucifixion had a good knowledge of anatomy and what they did was to develop the ultimate torture, perhaps until the Soviet Union came into existence. It was freely applied, it was especially readily applied to anyone who was rebelling against Roman rule.
We know that when the Jewish-Roman War broke out, 66-70 A.D., which our Lord predicted would take place, the Romans won with difficulty because the Jews fought so bitterly and savagely. But what had been a well forested area, Palestine, they stripped out of timber to crucify all the survivors. It was not enough to execute them, that would be too merciful. They crucified them full sail and there was a forest of crosses around Jerusalem after the fall of Jerusalem. Now, the attitude of Judea was, we’re going to do something about this, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but they were not the civil government and for them to attempt to avenge themselves would have meant the death of the country which our Lord fully knew. Now our Lord was speaking to a country that was rightful revolution, rightful warfare. In such a context everything that a man says who speaks publicly is read esoterically, it is heard as those it were a cryptogram. In the Soviet Union today, for example, everything that anyone says in public is carefully watched for hidden meanings, in order to see are they trying to communicate something, because very often they do but very often they don’t intend to and the results are very unhappy if someone sees a hidden meaning in what they say. There is a story told and no one knows whether it is true or not but ostensibly this radio commentator in the Soviet Union was giving a highly fictionalized account of social disturbances in the United States during the sixties when we did have rioting in the cities. And he spoke about the cities in flames from one end of the country to the other, that the entire country was in a revolutionary situation, that the workers were working to over throw the government, the troops were called in and butchering people whole sail, it was a highly inflammatory account and he went on to say the whole of the country, the economy especially was in shambles.
And then he gave a report on the new five year plan which had just been completed and said we’ve almost caught up to the United States. Well in view of what he said previously of course he put his foot into his mouth and supposedly he disappeared as a result. Now, I cite that, true or not we don’t know, to illustrate how when there is no freedom what a speaker says is read in a double meaning. And so as people came to hear our Lord they were listening very intently to see where he stood on the Roman issue. We know that at least once because it specifically told us by Luke there were spies, spies there to hear what he had to say, whether it would be in anyway conducive to the zealots or to the revolutionary parties. And so our Lord deals with this issue very directly here, He does not beat around the bush.
“Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:”
Now why does He say it hath been said? When He’s quoting from the Old Testament, from God’s law? But what he does throughout this passage is take bible statements and whereas normally He says ‘it says in the law’ or ‘Moses said’ wherever a passage has been misused He says ‘ye have heard that it hath been said’. In other words here is a scripture, yes, they all knew it was scripture but it is one that is misused.
“But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil:”
What does He mean by that? Well first of all everyone knows that He is talking about the Romans because the minute He brought this up, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, he was bringing up a sentence that the revolutionists were using, they were saying for every Jew that is killed we’re going to kill a Roman, for every Jew that is crucified we’re going to get even with a Roman.
He says resist not evil, He calls the Romans evil. He does not hesitate to do so. The word evil is thus very much to the point and the word evil that He uses and there are several that He could have used is [unknown], from pono, p-o-n-o, toil., hard work. The evil of Rome was that it was a slavery, it involved hard work to be under foreign rule, to be taxed to support a government in Rome, to be taxed to support the people who are oppressing you and thus He describes the alien rule of Rome as evil. He says moreover resist not evil. The word resist is a word that means an active aggressive stand. In other words our Lord shuts the door on revolution. He saw it as futile. In fact not only did He predict it that it would destroy Jerusalem, that as He was being taken to Golgotha to be crucified He saw a great company of people and women weeping because He was going to be crucified. And Luke tells us:
“But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. 29For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. 30Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. 31 For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?”
So our Lord even as He was being crucified stressed the fact that their grief would be greater in due time because they were going to resist, because they were going to turn to revolution and it would be brutal. This leads us to another point. Our Lord never councils us, the bible never councils us to do anything that is impractical. Some people feel that to be Christian you have to be unworldly, now that is nonsense.
God made all things, heaven and earth, and to be in this world but of God in the fallen world doesn’t mean we have to be impractical. Since God made us and God made the word the most practical way to live is in terms of God’s word and God’s word does not call upon us to be futile. It is a practical word. In fact our Lord specifically forbids futile efforts. For example in Matthew 10:14-15 when He sends His disciples out to go throughout the length and breadth of Judea preaching He says
“And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.”
Again and again our Lord makes clear: don’t do the futile thing. Don’t witness to people who will not hear you. If you see they will not hear you go on. We are to redeem the time, we are never to waste our time doing things and making a witness to people who are not going to hear us. I regularly encounter people who feel that they are being very, very Christian because they are spending their time doing something that is futile such as trying to convert their neighbor who does nothing but slam the door in their face whenever they bring up the subject or try to win someone in the family who has made it clear that they will not hear them and somehow their persistence they feel makes them particularly holy. It makes them particularly foolish. Ezekiel makes a point of it, make your witness once and you are innocent of their blood. You’ve made your point, that’s it, let the Lord do the rest. There is too much emphasis today in the life of the church on futile efforts and it is wrong. Having doors slammed in our faces is no merit, however, while we are to be practical and we are not to be revolutionists we have a duty to resist where God’s truth and God’s kingdom is at stake.
We must obey God rather than men. Moreover when we obey God rather than men our Lord tells us in Matthew 10:18-20:
“And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.”
So, when we make our stand in terms of Christ’s kingdom we are given power from God. But finally, our Lord commands them not to resist because the Romans were not the problem, they were. The oppression of man follows apostasy from God. All of scripture especially Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 make this emphatically clear. The route for eliminating evil begins with our churches, schools, communities, families, ourselves. Now this is why while we are as a foundation very active in the battle against state control of Christian activities we first of all have stressed Christian reconstruction beginning with every man, with the totality of life in view. Judea was very upset about Roman rule but all we have to do is to go back and read how they governed themselves just before the Romans took over, it was the period of the Maccabean rule, what they were doing to themselves was pretty bad even as what we are doing to themselves is very, very bad. Do you know that right now West Germany which was not too long ago the most prosperous place in the western world now is in real trouble economically? Why?
We are requiring them to increase their military budget four percent, that’s not much, in order to fulfill their obligations as a member of [unknown], in order to be ready to help defend themselves, in order to defend in case of a soviet attack. Well over thirty percent of their budget goes to welfare, the cost of welfare comes to, in dollars, the equivalent of four thousand dollars for every person in West Germany. If you are ill you are given six weeks off so you have enough time to recover with eighty percent pay plus benefits. It is an advantage, an advantage to be sick and everyone is becoming sick. In fact welfare is so good in West Germany now and in the Netherlands and in Sweden and elsewhere that these countries are now filled with North Africans and Turks and other peoples who are becoming a sizable element of the population because the local people are not working, they are on welfare. Does that tell you something about why we are getting so many illegal immigrants here? They are coming to take jobs that others won’t take. What Judea had done to itself before the Romans came in was to go into captivity to their own sins, to create a civil government that was very oppressive and the bible tells us when a people disobey God they go into captivity to their own rulers or to foreign rulers and when the point comes that the evil is such that they cry out to God Samuel tells them in 1st Samuel 8 the Lord will not hear you in that day. The Lord will not hear you in that day. To cry out against oppressors but not against sin is wrong and that’s what the Jews were doing then and that’s what people are doing throughout the western world today. Our Lord does not allow us the luxury of futility and to cry out against the Romans but not against their own sins is morally wrong and it’s a futile step. Our Lord thus does not proclaim pacifism here, we have an instance of the truth as well as the thorough practicality of scripture. When people try to turn scripture into something impractical it is a first step towards saying you can’t obey it. You can’t listen to it, it’s impractical, it is beyond the possibility of keeping. And so it is that people will go to a passage like this with if Judea had listened to they would never have fallen and they want to convert it into something totally impractical and then to say you can’t believe or obey everything that is in scripture.
But the truth is the word of God does not recommend or allow futile gestures and actions. Let us pray.
OH Lord our God we give thanks unto Thee for this Thy word, for its practicality, its truth and for the fact that it speaks to our world today and to our problems. Give us grace to meet this problems in faith dealing with sin wherever it be and becoming more than conquerors in and through Jesus Christ our Lord. In His name we pray, Amen.
Are there any questions now first of all with regard to our lesson? No questions? Yes?
[Question Unintelligible]
[Rushdoony] That’s a very good point, it is difficult in abstraction to see which is the course that is going to be taken but if we once take a right step the next step just follows logically. Just as our Lord says you are going to be dragged before kings and governors, at that point don’t worry, relax. Wait patiently for him the words will be given to you, you’ll do the right thing. In other word when we are on course God helps us to see the next step and to do it. But if we stand back and we look at it abstractly it’s hard to know which of these courses shall we follow, do I make myself clear?
We find that when we take the right step things break providentially for us whether we are in a battle or not they break providentially for us. Any other questions?
[Question Unintelligible]
[Rushdoony] Yes. In this context here they are, they are in a situation where there is a compulsory draft. In other words at any time anyone in Palestine, in Galilee or Judea, could be compelled to give his cloak, to be a currier for a mile, his wagon or horses could be commandeered and if he talked back he could be slapped. He had no rights in such matters against the Roman authorities, he had to take orders. So our Lord said if they compel thee to go a mil, go with them twain, for two miles, be cooperative, turn the other cheek. Because you’ll get along better with someone who is going to rule you anyway. I’ve used an illustration over and over again concerning that, it used to be, it still can be done legally but now that with more taxes available they have professional firefighters that they hire when there is a forest fire, but I can remember when in the forties and early fifties whenever there was a forest fire they just commandeered you off the street or stop cars and told you we’re loading you in the back end of this truck to take you up to the fire line. And they would go to a main highway and commandeer them. Now anyone who protested really had cause to regret it. They gave them the hardest, the dirtiest work and worked them the longest. That was their set method of dealing with anyone who objected. It was routine. So the person who acted unwillingly or griped about it paid a price for it.
But if you turned the other cheek that was the best solution. Now I felt that the fires should be fought anyway so I was ready to volunteer but I know once on a particular occasion when there were very few people around there was a rodeo off somewhere that everyone had gone to and the mountain area was short of people together with another man when we saw some smoke we went immediately to the ranger’s station and volunteered. We knew they’d be coming after us anyway. Well, for the first few hours until they brought them in from fifty and a hundred miles away we worked hard and the rest of the time they had the two of us just patrolling and because we had volunteered when they brought the food around they cut roast that thick, it was thicker than the two slices of bread they put it between and the ranger said anything you want just ask for. We were very well treated. Now that’s the difference. But I know what happened to some of those that grumbled, they almost worked around the clock and were ready to drop before they were told go ahead we’ll replace you. Now these were not Romans, they were not communist overlords, they were simply rangers doing their job and they didn’t like in a situation where help was needed a draftee resisting them and they punished them, now that’s what our Lord is saying. If they are going to take your cloak from you give your cloak also, just be cooperative. You don’t get anything by resisting, the whole context is of a compulsory draft. Does that help clarify it?
[Question Unintelligible]
[Rushdoony] Well, what he no doubt had reference to was this: first of all many of the American Jews have been highly critical of the Jews who are under Russian and Nazi domination. What is not commonly pointed out by the way is is that the Russians were killing them too when the war broke out. In fact when the Nazis took over the Baltic republics they found very few Jews left, they had all been eliminated by Stalin. And they felt that these men should have fought, well with what? Assuming that they had some guns what were they going to do? It was ridiculous. There was not much they could have done and many of them did survive, what we’re told is an exaggerated account of how many were killed and not how many did survive. Yes?
[Question Unintelligible]
[Rushdoony] It is speaking against the situation of compulsion where it is futile to resist. Now that’s the key. Our Lord is not counseling futility. Now we are to protect ourselves, it’s ridiculous to put ourselves in a position of being open to something. I was in Washington D.C. this past week and one of the people I was talking to was reminding me again, this was in context of some particular person, when the riots were taking place in Washington and more than a few people were killed, robbed, raped, killed as well as stores and things burned the appalling fact was that so many sightseers drove into the area and they drove into the area where the rioting was going on under the insane idea that we’re spectators therefore we’re not going to be involved. And naturally the rioters came after them and this one man came to an intersection where the buildings were on fire all around, the rioting mobs going up and down and there was a red light and a group of the rioters with clubs and things in their arms came after him in the car and he stood there or sat there because there was a red light [laughter]. And his wife screaming let’s get moving and the kids crying in the backseat, light changed just in time. Now [laughing] that kind of absurdity is insane. You not only stay away from a situation like that but you prepare yourself. Any more questions or comments? Well if not we shall meet again two weeks from today.