The Value Of Life Series

If God has valued life from the beginning, from the beginning human beings have sold it at a bargain. Besides Cain’s murder of his brother Abel, Genesis records other acts of violence. In one of the earliest poems ever composed, in Genesis 4:23 - 24, Lamech said to his wives, " "Adah and Zillah, Listen to my voice, You wives of Lamech, Give heed to my speech, For I have killed a man for wounding me; And a boy for striking me; If Cain is avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold."

Genesis was just the beginning. The Bible records hundreds of murders. And they didn’t stop with Revelation. History records millions. We are a murderous people.

But is there more to the sixth commandment than a way of measuring how far the human race has fallen from the ideal? Isn’t there something we need to hear? I doubt any of us are guilty of murder. Probably haven’t even been tempted by it. But that doesn’t mean we can breeze through this commandment as if it has nothing to say to us. As with all of these words from God, there is more than first meets the ears.

Before we talk about what some of the implications of this commandment are, I want to mention several things that are not prohibited by this commandment.

First of all, it is significant that the commandment God gave the Jews was not “Thou shalt not kill” but rather “Thou shalt not commit murder.”

The Hebrew word that is used here is very specific and refers to murder. And, of course, there’s a big difference between murder and killing.

It’s obvious that God didn’t intend to prohibit all life-taking, because the penalty for murder under the law of Moses was death. So if this commandment meant that you could never take a person’s life, then you couldn’t have someone punished for murder. There is a definite distinction made in the Bible between killing which is lawful and killing which is unlawful.

Justifiable homicide

The law of Moses said there were certain times when a person was justified in killing another person. Suppose, for example, someone breaks into your house in the middle of the night. You wake up and discover him, there is a struggle and the thief is killed. According to the law of Moses, that type of killing didn’t fall under the sixth commandment.

We read in Exodus 22:2 "If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed."

War

I’m sure there may some of you who would take issue with me on this opinion, but the Bible is clear that the same God who told the Hebrews not to kill often sent them into war and told them to kill. And nowhere in Scripture New Testament or Old, are soldiers told to give up their military careers in order to be faithful to God. I would assume, then, that there are at least occasions when a person would be justified in taking a life in times of war.

Capital punishment

The Old Testament not only permitted but required the death penalty for certain crimes.

It’s interesting to me that this is the only law that is repeated in each and every one of the first five books of the Bible. God commanded the death penalty be given for murder, rape, kidnapping, and several other crimes.