Turn the other cheek

godislove260

I thought I once heard in a sermon once that there was a deeper meaning behind this verse:

If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn your other cheek to him as well.

I know the verse is always interpreted as: don't repay evil with evil and be tolerating to others and such...
But I mean, normally, most people are right-handed, so they would slap you on your left cheek first (assuming they slap you the 'normal' way ie with the palm of the hand).
So the fact that Jesus mentions the right cheek first, does that have any special significance??

Thanks in advance

God bless you
Please pray for my weakness

rpm

I've been wondering about this as well-however this is roughly what I believe it means:

Source: Wikipedia

Figurative interpretation

A figurative interpretation relies on historical and other factors.[1] At the time of Jesus, striking someone deemed to be of a lower class with the back of the hand was used to assert authority and dominance.[2] If the persecuted person "turned the other cheek," the discipliner was faced with a dilemma. The left hand was used for unclean purposes, so a back-hand strike on the opposite cheek would not be performed.[3] The other alternative would be a slap with the open hand as a challenge or to punch the person, but this was seen as a statement of equality. Thus, by turning the other cheek the persecuted was in effect demanding equality. By handing over one's cloak in addition to one's tunic, the debtor has essentially given the shirt off their back, a situation directly forbidden by Jewish Law as stated in Deuteronomy 24: 10-13:

    When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not enter his house to take his pledge. You shall remain outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you. If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge. When the sun goes down you shall surely return the pledge to him, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and it will be righteousness for you before the LORD your God.

By giving the lender the cloak as well the debtor was reduced to nakedness. Public nudity was viewed as bringing shame on the viewer, not the naked, as evidenced in Genesis 9: 20-27:
...

God bless

godislove260

Thanks rpm, if anyone has more info, plz share :)

God bless you
Please pray for my weakness

Unknown

I asked this question to H.G. Anba David on Saturday and I'm going to summarize what he said, if someone were slapped normally (with the front palm facing the cheek), then yes that would be hitting the left cheek. However if you use the back side of your right hand, the right cheek would be hit. Back in the day, it was tradition to hit someone with the back side of the hand because it was more degrading.
For example the Lord said, “if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.. if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off.” Why did he say right and not left? Why not the left eye or the left hand? So the fathers have said that the right represents the stronger, represents the spiritual, versus the left which represents the physical.
The right represents the knowledge, because when we say the Cherubim full of eye.. this is knowledge. So if your right eye, the source of knowledge, the spiritual knowledge, if it teaches you contrary to the right doctrine, pluck it out. And the hands represent the action (sins are either done by action or thought). Like in the case of heresies or wrong teachings.
So the eye represents the knowledge or the teachings and the right hand represents the actions. So if someone were to ask you to do wrong deeds, you would use your right hand, like in the arabic expression, dra3 el yemeen.

I also want to add that nothing in the Bible is written randomly, everything means somethings, and is literally true. Most people do not believe this, and this is why some of the greatest miracles happened, for example the moutum mount by Saint Simon the shoe maker (who took “pluck your right eye” literally). So I hope everyone understands that even though a lot of metaphors are used in the Bible, it can be taken literally.

All credit goes to H.G. Anba David.

crosslover

thx alot about this discussion and the opinions that members shared , really it's so nice . hope we know more to practise them in our life . may i share my simple thiought about this verse " i think that Lord Jesus invite all of us not to be sticked to the world matters and the first thing that may faace us to do this is (Ego) so by bearing the bad behaviors from the others, this offcourse will lead us to learn deeply that we're strangers here. But this doesn't mean to be weak and without personality , aslo Lord Jesus teaches us to be strong and when the slave slaped Lord Christ He told him why do u slape me , if i did bad thing tell about it ? "

Thanks alot about ur sharing , God be with all of u .
Don't forget to mention me in ur prayers

Unknown

ohh thats so kewl.. they hit with the back of teh hand?
ohh taht makes soo much sense now

ahaha thankss

+mahraeel+

Unknown

Yeah I didn't know that either until Anba David explained it.. haha.. good to know! [quote author=mahraeel link=topic=7403.msg98027#msg98027 date=1228698191]
ohh thats so kewl.. they hit with the back of teh hand?
ohh taht makes soo much sense now

ahaha thankss

+mahraeel+

godislove260

Thank you all for answering/sharing in the topic, God bless you!

Please pray for my weakness

Unknown

[quote author=Godislove260 link=topic=7403.msg97910#msg97910 date=1228337954]
I thought I once heard in a sermon once that there was a deeper meaning behind this verse:

If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn your other cheek to him as well.

I know the verse is always interpreted as: don't repay evil with evil and be tolerating to others and such...
But I mean, normally, most people are right-handed, so they would slap you on your left cheek first (assuming they slap you the 'normal' way ie with the palm of the hand).
So the fact that Jesus mentions the right cheek first, does that have any special significance??

Thanks in advance

God bless you
Please pray for my weakness



Yes, I heard the same also. Not only is God asking us to not replay evil with evil, but in this example, I think He is stressing "what" kind of evil that we should turn the other cheek to:

Most people are right handed. For them to slap you on your right cheek, there is only one way: that is to do it whilst standing behind you. I.e  behind your back. Its even more humilating than standing in front of you. So, in this respect, I guess it is more than just turning the other cheek, its turning it whilst enduring the cruelty of the action.

But its a good question. I heard the same thing before from a sunday school teacher.