24/10/2025
MATTHEW 5.39 - TURN THE OTHER CHEEK
‘But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.’ (esv)
What does this mean in the context of the ancient world?
1. In the ancient world, striking on the cheek was a major insult. (Davies and Allison, 2004).
2. Biblical examples include:
-Job 16:10, ‘Men have gaped at me with their mouth; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me.’
-1 Kings 22:24, ‘Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came nearand struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “How did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you?”
-2 Corinthians 11:20, ‘For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face.' (See also Ps 3:7; 1 Esdr 4:30).
3. Ancient Jewish sources provide for recompense if one is struck on the cheek:
'One who strikes another must give him a sela. Rabbi Yehuda says in the name of Rabbi Yosei HaGelili that he must give him one hundred dinars. If he slapped another on the cheek, he must give him two hundred dinars. If he slapped him on the cheek with the back of his hand, which is more degrading than a slap with the palm, he must give him four hundred dinars.'
Mishnah Bava Kamma 8:6 (m b Qam 8.6)
https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Bava_Kamma.8.6?lang=bi
4. Greco-Roman sources likewise mention smiting on the cheek as a grave insult.
Plutarch cited Demosthenes who speaks of a bully ‘when he attacks as an avowed enemy, when he smites with his fist, when he gives a blow on the face.' (Platonic Questions 10.4) In Aristophanes’ The Frogs (149-150) Heracles speaks of one who has ‘profanely smitten his father's check.’
https://classics.mit.edu/Aristophanes/frogs.html
An amusing anecdote runs as follows:
'The Roman antiquarian writer Aulus Gellius, in his Attic Nights (20.1.13), tells an amusing story about a wealthy citizen around the first century BC named Lucius Veratius, who had an interesting way of protesting the absurdity of the traditional fixed sum for wrongful injury. According to the story, Veratius would stroll through the Forum accompanied by one of his slaves, who carried a pouch of money. He would slap free citizens in the face (egregious iniuria by Roman legal standards) and then instruct his slave to dole out to them the appropriate number of coins. This strange form of protest did eventually lead to an overhaul of the private law with regards to iniuria.'
Pratt, Jamie. A Slap in the Face to Corrective Justice
https://spectacledavenger.blogspot.com/2009/03/slap-in-face-to-corrective-justice_19.html?m=1
Daube summarises the attitude toward striking across the face in the ancient world:
'A slap in the face must have been so natural an example of insult in ancient times that the lawyers of various countries would think of it independently of one another. (Daube, The NT and Rabbinic Judaism, 260).
5. METHOD:
Usually the left cheek was struck backhandedly by the right hand (i.e. the back of the right hand). Most people are right handed, so it is more forceful than striking with the left hand. (Davies and Allison 2004).
INTERPRETATION OF JESUS' WORDS
6. In Matthew 5:38 (the verse preceding), ‘Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”’
In the context, verse 39 changes to another part of human anatomy, from ‘tooth’ to ‘cheek’.
7. OT Parallels 1: Lamentations 3:30
-Lamentations 3:30, ‘let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults.’ (esv)
Context: those waiting in exile in Babylon for the Return to Israel must wait for the Lord patiently. Affliction will come while they are in exile, but ensure to patiently: The Lord will rescue you at the right time.
It is not clear how this verse has bearing on Matthew 5.
8. Important OT Parallel 2: Isaiah 50:6-7:
‘I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting. But the Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.’
The Isaiah passage is important because there are several words in the languiag that the two passages have in common (give, strike, cheek, garment, etc). It is almost certain that Jesus has this Isaiah passage in mind. (Davies and Allison 2004).
In the context, Isaiah 50 speaks of the Suffering Servant, ie the Messiah, and His suffering. He is struck on the cheek and likewise oppressed.
But how does this apply to the disciples in Matthew 5:39?
Perhaps the disciples represent the Messiah in their preaching the gospel, and will suffer the insults aimed at Him.
All true Christians are said to be ‘in Christ’. ‘In Christ’ means in Him we die, are baptised, are and are raised to new life, in Him we have access to the Spirit and power of God, but it also means that in Him we will be persecuted like He was. Thus those who are in Christ will also share His suffering.
This is brought out in, e.g., Romans 6:3-5:
‘Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.’ (esv)
So also 2 Timothy 2:11-12, ‘If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him.’ (esv)
This mystical relationship ‘in Christ’ also means that as He was persecuted, so might we be. 1 Timothy 3:12, ‘Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.’ (esv)
And Romans 8:17, ‘and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.’ (esv)
Also connected with our being ‘in Christ’, there is a sense that when the world presecutes the church (you and I) they are also persecuting Jesus. How the world treats us when we witness to them is how they treat God.
Thus John 13:20 (esv): “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
And Luke 10:16 (esv): “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
This is why in Acts 9 Jesus says to Saul, who was perseuting the church, ‘Why are you persecuting ME?’
Therefore the sufferings of the Messiah may also become the sufferings of the church, as we are in Christ, and share His death, resurrection – and also sufferings.
THEREFORE: What Matthew 5:39 would be saying then is that when we are persecuted for Him we should not retaliate but show our persecutors love and the Christ language of love.
We get an example of this in Matthew 26:67-68, where Jesus practised the 'turning the other cheek':
'Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?” (esv)
Jesus, the meek lamb, did not retaliate when persecuted, and neither should we, showing the love that He would have.
Further examples: When Peter cut off the servant's ear, Jesus could have laughed and congratulated Peter, but instead healed the servant and rebuked Peter, showing love to enemies. Also, concerning those who were reviling Him on the cross, He said, 'Forgive them, for they do not know what they do'.
'Turn the other cheek' is therefore a beautiful expression of gentleness, meeknes, and love so typical of many passages in the Srmon on the Mount, that touches the heart of what true Christianity is all about.
One who strikes another must give him a sela. Rabbi Yehuda says in the name of Rabbi Yosei HaGelili that he must give him one hundred dinars. If he slapped...
