The Sixth Commandment (Exodus 20:13, Deuteronomy 5:17)
This would seem to be the most easily understood of the Ten Commandments. “Do not murder” is something that everyone seems to know intuitively and would seem to need very little explanation. But, as we look at the rest of the Pentateuch we find that this prohibition against murder is much more expansive than what first comes to mind.
I would like to begin by thinking through what the prohibition against murder is upholding. What is the positive thing that this prohibition is protecting?
Well, the prohibition is protecting life.
Creation
To understand this commandment well we have to think through the creation of human beings at the beginning of the Book of Genesis. Then we can jump into the command which is given later in the Pentateuch to see the tremendous importance of this command.
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the Earth.” So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27 ESV)
People are created in God’s image. This means that there is great dignity assigned to each and every human life. No person is exempt from this. People from every age, race, color, and ability are created in God’s image.
Being created in the Image of God means that we are created to reflect the glory of God to the world. Like the moon reflects the light of the sun so people are to reflect the light of God to the world. Like the moon we are a far lesser light, but also like the moon we do reflect some of God to the world.
A good example of this is creativity. God is creative and people reflect God’s creativity to the world. God is so creative that He brought the entirety of creation into existence. People are creative as well. And this can be seen everywhere that people live. But our creativity is far less than God’s which is obvious everywhere we look.
Another example would be justice. God is completely just. People are also just and have an inborn sense of that given to us by the Creator. When we see injustice occur we long for things to be made right. And we create justice systems for the purpose of bringing justice upon the Earth.
Now, the examples could go on forever, but I hope that the point is clear. We reflect the characteristics of God to the world, even though we don’t shine as brightly as He does. And because we are created in the image of God we have incredible dignity.
And so, early on life was protected by the death penalty.
“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in His own image.” (Genesis 9:6 ESV)
God made man in His image. People are the special creation of God and human life is to be protected.
Protect Life
As has already been mentioned the prohibition against murder was put in place to protect life. And as we look around the rest of the Pentateuch, we see life being upheld. We also see the command to help those in need, which would be the opposite of murder.
“If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.” (Exodus 23:5 ESV)
Even if the person hates you, the Law stated that they were to help the person by rescuing their donkey. This would be a way of helping them with their livelihood and sustaining of their own life.
“And you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it. You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.” (Deuteronomy 22:3-4 ESV)
Again, the people of Israel were commanded to help their countrymen.
Another thing that was forbidden was cruelty. Cruelty toward other people was forbidden and with a little thought you can see how this applies. A person who is cruel to another person in the way mentioned here does not value the life of the person he is showing cruelty. But a person who is created in the image of God is owed a certain amount of reverence and dignity no matter their position or ability.
“You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:14 ESV)
Life is to be honored and upheld. This means that all manner of cruelty is forbidden by this command. In a day when cruelty seems to be on the rise toward one another a clear understanding of what it means to be created in the image of God and what it means to uphold life is something that should be emphasized.
Is It Murder Or Is It Not Murder?
I have heard it said that murder is always the taking of life, but the taking of life is not always murder. And that definitely is the case in the Pentateuch. So, we will look at different cases and see what is defined as murder and what is not.
Accidental Death
Accidental death was different than murder according to the Law. So, accidentally killing someone was not considered murder.
“Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.” (Exodus 21:12-14 ESV)
The place that God appointed for people to flee is outlined in Numbers 35:9-34 and Deuteronomy 19:1-21. In these places the person who accidentally killed another person would find protection from those who were attempting to take revenge upon them. But the person who willfully attacked someone else was to die.
And this has application for us today. That is why we say that intention matters when discussing a murder charge. That is also why there are different degrees of murder found in our law system. Intention matters.
A Child In The Womb
A person who killed a child in the womb was considered a murderer according to the Law. A person who caused the death of a child in the womb was said to have broken this commandment.
“When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that here children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, would for wound, stripe for stripe.” (Exodus 21:22-25 ESV)
The application that most of you thought through during this discussion was abortion. And well it should be. Abortion is the taking of a life in the womb by a willing mother and doctor.
If we are applying the Bible’s definition of “Do not murder” then abortion is a breaking of this commandment.
And as we discussed last week with the command to honor our fathers and mothers, when the government makes laws that break this command they are to be defied. And this is written into our very belief statement as a church. Our church by-laws say that we believe the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. Here is the statement on the Christian and the Social Order taken from our statement of faith.
“All Christians are under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in our own lives and in human society. Means and methods used for the improvement of righteousness among men can be truly and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the regeneration of the individual by the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ. In the spirit of Christ, Christians should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography. We should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the abused, the aged, the helpless, and the sick. We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. Every Christian should seek to bring industry, government, and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love. In order to promote these ends Christians should be ready to work with all men of good will in any good cause, always being careful to act in the spirit of love without compromising their loyalty to Christ and His truth.” (Baptist Faith and Message 2000, XV. The Christian and the Social Order)
The statement of faith says that we are obligated to uphold life in many ways. We stand against cruelty, real racism, sexual immorality, and other things that seek to destroy life. But one of the biggest battlegrounds in our day remains abortion. And we as a church have said in our belief statement that we stand against abortion. Let us oppose it at the ballot box. Let us oppose it with our mouths. Abortion was the leading cause of death in the world last year. In the year 2020 abortion deaths outpaced COVID deaths by 2,300%. It would take 23 years for Covid to kill as many people as were aborted in 2020. We stand in opposition to this horror that took the lives of an estimated 891,000 babies in 2019 here in America.
So, we applaud the recent work that has been done in this area by many states and push for more.
Willful Neglect That Leads To Death
Now, there is another area that is seen in the Pentateuch that helps us to understand what is and what is not murder is the idea of willful neglect. If a person neglected to do things that would keep people safe and protect life that they should have known to do then they broke this command.
“When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable. But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death. If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him. If it gores a man’s son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to the same rule. If the ox gores a slave, male, or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.” (Exodus 21:28-32)
When I read this application of the command to not murder I can’t help but think about all the news stories that we read of people’s dogs mauling another person. The owner would be found at fault for murder because he didn’t do what he should have known to do in order to keep others around him safe. His disregard for the propensity of his animal to do harm means that he acted with disregard to the life of others.
Another instance of this is found concerning the construction of property.
“When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.” (Deuteronomy 22:8 ESV)
This is about the protection of human life. We are not to neglect our duties to protect the lives of others. And we can see how this applies in our day. Dogs that bite and swimming pools without some sort of protection around them are examples of this Law. And I’m sure given enough time we could come up with many more.
Capital Punishment
Many people today consider capital punishment to be murder. Biblically this would be an instance of killing someone that is not considered murder. As was already mentioned earlier, Genesis 9:6 stated that the death penalty was the right response to murder. And we see throughout the rest of the Pentateuch the same idea being taught.
Or, if I may put it another way. God forbade murder, but commands the killing of a human being in some instances for the sake of justice. Therefore, God Himself does not believe that capital punishment is murder.
“If a man is found staling one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.” (Deuteronomy 24:7 ESV)
The death penalty is here commanded for what has been called “manstealing” in the past.
“And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.” (Deuteronomy 21:22-23 ESV)
“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.” (Deuteronomy 24:16 ESV)
These are instructions for the death penalty. If this was considered murder, then God would not have commanded this killing to be done. The person killing the other human was not committing murder.
The argument against the death penalty today is one that has a lot of facets. But the main argument that I see is that putting someone to death is murder and that certainly is not the case from a Scriptural standpoint. There are a lot of things that come from the anti-capital punishment crowd that I agree with. The death penalty should be applied with equity across the board. Rich people should not be able to avoid it because they have more money to get lawyers that keep them alive. People should be treated in a humane manner. But the death penalty is not murder.
The Question Of War
Christians have a long history of discussing whether or not killing someone in war qualifies as murder. It is an important question and at times very complicated. Entire Christian denominations are known as Christian Pacifists. And this has some history here in America when Quakers refused to fight in the Revolutionary War for religious reasons. Some Quakers still fought but the denomination itself was opposed to the war because of their pacifism.
God gave the Ten Commandments and applied the Ten Commandments throughout the Pentateuch. But He also gave instructions for war (Deuteronomy 20:10-18). This seems to settle the debate for me. If God gives instructions for war then it is not possible that war is a violation of the command to not murder.
Self-Protection
Within the Pentateuch we find the right to protect our own lives and the lives of loved ones. This makes complete sense because the commandment itself is in place to protect life.
“If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the stolen beast is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double.” (Exodus 22:2-4 ESV)
If someone comes into your house in the dark then there is no way to know whether this person is there to harm you or not. The self-protection that led to this person’s death is not punished because it was an act of self-defense.
This scenario is interesting because it really shows that life is to be protected. Killing an intruder is the last resort. But if this is what it takes to protect your life then it is something that you can do. And I would argue it is something that you should do to protect your family
Hatred as Murder
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus stated that,
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:21-22 ESV)
But the Sermon on the Mount was not the first time the people of Israel were told not to hate their brothers and sisters.
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:17-18 ESV)
This passage in Leviticus gets to the heart of the matter. Hatred is the desire that a person would not be around anymore. It is murder of the heart. And here in Leviticus that hatred is not supposed to be something that we harbor in our lives.
Applying The Three Uses Of The Law
Every Ten Commandments Lesson ends with a discussion of the Three Uses of the Law. And this one is no different. We want to think through how this applies to our lives.
As a mirror this Law helps us to see two things. Do I value life as I ought? And do I have hatred in my life? A mirror helps us to see the flaws in our lives. It helps us to see the pimples on our face and what we need to flee to Christ for forgiveness for.
In the Civil use of the Law we see how it was applied over a wide variety of scenarios. The gist of this is that we should be people who uphold life and fight against anything that degrades and takes away life. We work for laws that protect individuals. And we fight against laws that promote murder. In our day that would mean that we would work to stand against abortion as well as any other law that degraded human life.
As a guide we see the Law showing us what we need to do to live a life that is pleasing to God. And here we see that we are to be a people who honor and uphold life and stand against a culture that increasingly promotes death.
R. Dwain Minor