Matthew 5:38 known as the principle of "lex talionis", is an ancient statement of the principle of retributive punishment dating back to the Code of Hammurabi. This phrasing appears several times in the Old Testament at Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, and Deuteronomy 19:21. This was a moderate rule compared with the blood feuds described in Genesis 4:23-24. The New Testament scholar R. T. France notes that by Jesus' era such punishments were no longer in practice, rather they had been replaced with fines judged to be of equal value to the damage caused. Thus, according to France, Jesus is not here condemning
Leviticus 18 rabbi and Jewish scholar Maimonides ruled in the twelfth century that lesbianism was prohibited nonetheless and deserving of punishment by beating. Leviticus 18 Leviticus 18 is the eighteenth chapter of the Book of Leviticus in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It narrates part of the instructions which, according to the Bible, were given to Moses by God on biblical Mount Sinai. The chapter deals with a number of sexual activities considered unclean or abominable. Although the chapter is principally concerned with incest, it also contains laws related to bestiality and "lying with a man