Texts in Conversation
In Matthew 18, Jesus answers with “seventy-seven times” when speaking about forgiveness, echoing Genesis where Lamech describes revenge. Matthew may be intentionally showing Jesus inverting exaggeration about revenge with exaggeration about forgiveness.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Genesis 4:24
Septuagint
22 And Zillah also bore Tubal; he was a smith, a manufacturer both of brass and iron; and the sister of Tubal was Naamah. 23 And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice, you wives of Lamech, consider my words, because I have killed a man to my sorrow and a youth to my grief. 24 Because vengeance has been exacted seven times on Cain's behalf, on Lamech's it shall be seventy times seven. 25 And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore a son, and called his name Seth, saying, For God has raised up to me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Matthew 18:21
New Testament
20 For where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them.” 21 Then Peter came to him and said, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother who sins against me? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy-seven times! 23 “For this reason, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Jesus’ hyperbolic reply to Peter’s query requires additional comment. To Peter’s query whether to forgive a fellow disciple’s sins seven times is generous, Jesus offers a hyperbolic response, “I do not say up to seven times, but up to seventy-seven times.” Though Peter may seem magnanimous compared to a stingier standard of forgiveness the rabbis taught, his big-heartedness falls short of the lavishness Jesus requires. It is likely that Peter derives his number from Scripture’s frequent use of “seven times” for avenging evildoers, first with reference to the Lord’s protecting the life of Cain by threatening sevenfold avenging of anyone who would slay him (Genesis 4:15; Leviticus 26:21, 28; Deuteronomy 28:25; Psalm 79:12; Proverbs 6:31; compare Luke 17:4). If this is correct, then Jesus’ reply may allude to Genesis 4:24, to Lamech’s use of seventy-seven times. Lamech appeals to lex talionis to reason that if Cain, who murdered his brother out of malice, could be avenged sevenfold, then his own avengement ought to be seventy-sevenfold, an exaggerated number, because he killed in self-defense. Likewise, Jesus exaggerates Peter’s number, to emphasize that remission is boundless ..."
Ardel B. Caneday, “Lavishly Forgive Sins in order to Be Forgiven: Jesus’ Parable of the Unmerciful Servant,” The Evangelical Review of Theology and Politics 5 (2017): 17–32.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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