In New Interview Trump Reveals His Favorite Bible Verse: ‘An Eye for an Eye’

Trump's latest comment is raising eyebrows, since Jesus actually urged against an "eye-for-an-eye" attitude.

By The Stream Published on April 15, 2016

Call it his “life text.” Donald Trump was asked on a radio show Thursday, “Is there a favorite Bible verse or Bible story that has informed your thinking or your character through life?” Trump answered: “Look, ‘an eye for an eye,’ you can almost say that. That’s not a particularly nice thing.”

Nice or not, most Christians, on hearing “eye for an eye,” think of Jesus’s words in the Bible challenging a vengeful attitude: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.”

To be fair, even Jesus apparently saw a place for legal retribution, since he didn’t instruct the local law enforcement of the day to quit their jobs en masse. Also, two of his leading apostles, Peter and Paul, said a core role of government is punishing evildoers. Jesus likely had in mind personal retribution when encouraged his followers to turn the other cheek. If your friend or neighbor offends you, in other words, have a forgiving spirit rather than setting out to pay him back.

Also, the “eye for eye” passage Jesus was referring to in the Hebrew Bible appears to be setting out a principle for legal retribution, one serving to limit retribution when the blood is running hot. If someone punches you and knocks your tooth out, don’t take him before the town elders to have his eyes gouged out. If one man blinds another man’s eye, the village elders shouldn’t execute the offender.

Given this, the verse is a curious favorite for Trump, even setting aside Jesus’s use of it to champion grace over vengeance. Why? A Charisma News analysis recently noted Trump’s determination to destroy those who cross him:

…Trump is vengeful. “I always get even. … If you do not get even, you are just a schmuck!” He is determined to destroy anyone who crosses him, and takes a perverse pleasure in their suffering when it happens.

He once fired a woman whose conscience would not permit her to do something Trump asked. He set out to destroy her life, succeeded and is glad he did.

“She ended up losing her home. Her husband, who was only in it for the money, walked out on her and I was glad. Over the years many people have called asking for a recommendation for her. I only give her bad recommendations. … This woman was very disloyal, and now I go out of my way to make her life miserable.”

As his wife Melania said last week, “When you attack him, he punches back ten times harder.”

That’s not an eye for an eye: that’s going nuclear.

To be clear, Trump’s follow-up comment suggests Trump had roughly in mind what the Hebrew Bible had in mind when it spoke of “eye for eye,” namely how government should respond to evil:

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. 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.

Even here, many Christians may find it odd for another Christian to talk of eye-for-eye punishment for countries guilty of “taking our jobs.” Wouldn’t a more productive — and a more Christian response — be to work smarter, train smarter and streamline our tax and regulatory systems to better compete for jobs and create new ones? There aren’t, after all, only a fixed number of jobs on the planet. Otherwise we would have run out of jobs long ago as the earth’s population soared during the past 200 years from 1 billion to 7 billion.

Will Trump’s latest comment hurt him with Christian voters? Hard to say. Trump has already spoken of “Two Corinthians” when referring to “Second Corinthians,” already put money in a communion tray when attending a church on the campaign trail, and already traded in two wives for newer models. Also, most Christians believe that every human, apart from Jesus Christ, needs to ask for, and receive, forgiveness from God. Trump has said he has never asked God for forgiveness. Those looking for a president who is on a first-name basis with the Bible and Christian practice likely have already moved on to other candidates. Those Christians who haven’t now have one more thing from the Donald to chew on.

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