No
Murder - Part I |
Physical Attack | |||
On the most basic level, this commandment speaks out against physical attack upon another. As we noted last week, each and every man and woman is made in the image of God. As such, an attack upon them is an attack upon God Himself. The commandment explicitly condemns murder, putting another to death, but its scope is immediately seen to be wider than that. Even without Jesus' comments on the passage it should be clear to us that more is intended here than just restraining ourselves from the final act. Consider the description given to us in Psalm 10 Ps 10 | |||
| 4 | The
wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. | ||
| 7 | His
mouth is full of curses and deceit and oppression; Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness. | ||
| 8 | He
sits in the lurking places of the villages; In the hiding places he kills the innocent; | ||
| 9 | He
lurks in a hiding place as a lion in his lair; He lurks to catch the afflicted; He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net. | ||
| 10 | He
crouches, he bows down, And the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones. | ||
| 11 | He
says to himself, "God has forgotten; He has hidden His face; He will never see it." | ||
| There is the description of the violent man - his heart and his thoughts. Notice that at their base, his actions are founded on the belief that God does not exist, or if He does, doesn't care what happens here. God sees the heart. He knows the inmost thoughts of man. And though it may seem to us, as it did to the psalmist, that He does indeed ignore what is happening, this is in no way true. | |||
| 12 | Arise,
O LORD; O God, lift up Thy hand. | ||
| 14 | Thou
hast seen it, for Thou hast beheld mischief and vexation to take it into Thy
hand. The unfortunate commits himself to Thee; Thou hast been the helper of the orphan. | ||
| 16 | The
LORD is King forever and ever; Nations have perished from His land. | ||
| 17 | O
LORD, Thou hast heard the desire of the humble; Thou wilt strengthen their heart, Thou wilt incline Thine ear | ||
| 18 | To
vindicate the orphan and the oppressed, That man who is of the earth may cause terror no more. | ||
Contrary to what the wicked man may think, God does indeed see and hear what is being done, and He will not let it go unpunished. God created man in His image, and what reflects His glory, He will not suffer to be abused. The Penalty | |||
Ge 9:6 - Murderers are to receive the death penalty for killing what was made in God's image. Ex 21:12 - This includes one who strikes another and causes his death. Lev 24:17 - One who kills another will be put to death. God is so serious about this that even animals are not exempt. Whatever shall do injury to those made in His image will be put to death. It must be noted that by God's own command that death is to be accomplished by the hand of man. "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood shall be shed." This brings us to the exceptions made for the death penalty. | |||
The Exception | |||
Ro
13:3-4 By God's own appointment, men have been placed in the position of carrying out His justice. In this is no room made for personal vengeance, but only for true justice. Upon this basis, definition has been given to 'just war.' A just war is a valid exception to the rule. A just war is such a war as has its basis in furthering good, of preserving life. Where wars are fought for purely political reasons, to expand borders or to further profits, they are not just, and cannot justifiably be fought. Where, however, the war is fought to punish or put an end to murderous peoples, where the goal is to prevent the loss of innocent lives to men of no conscience, by all means that war is justified. It is a case of God-appointed authorities fulfilling the duties for which they were appointed. | |||
Cut Out the Roots | |||
Anger | |||
Murder, and other acts of violence remain only symptoms of a deeper issue. It is clear that just as God is concerned with the heart and not simply the outward actions, here He is addressing not just the symptoms, but the actual cause. Where are the causes that can bring a man to such violent actions? In simplest terms, violence is the outward expression of inward anger. Jesus Himself made clear that this was the true focus of the commandment. Mt 5:21-22 John echoes this point in his letter: 1
Jn 3:14-15 (KJV) Paul also sought to make clear that this commandment was an integral part of loving your neighbor, that commandment Jesus declared second only to the command to love God. Ro 13:9 For this, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." | |||
Pride | |||
The significance of this is pretty completely spelled out in Scripture, isn't it? The intent of the commandment is that we should never show our ire to another, nor should we ridicule them. After all, ridicule is just a milder and earlier form of anger. Anger is the opposite of 'love your neighbor'. Yet, even anger is not the root. The root lies deeper. Anger, and our willingness to ridicule others, has its root in pride, for it is our pride that wants to show how poorly another compares with us. Pride knows how poorly we measure up, but doesn't want to see that. So we seeks artificial means to boost our self image. The easiest way is to make those around us appear less than they are, since we can't really convince ourselves we're better than we are. Like it or not, we know better. So, rather than try and better ourselves, we lower the standards. As with any other pride aspect, it's an attempt by us to take God's seat, to become the measuring rod to which others must be compared. I think it's this issue that caused Augustine to list pride as the primary root of sin. Pride is the exact opposite of walking humbly before God. Pride allows us to look down on those around us, to consider them foolish and inferior. And it is this attitude of inferiority that allows them to become objects for our ire and anger, which in turn allows them to become expendable in our minds. It's a slippery slope. In war, the first step in the propaganda effort is to provide us with derogatory names to call the enemy, to give us such descriptions of them as will convince us that they are less than human, and therefore their demise is not such a big deal. Be very careful, in this present conflict, to listen to the truth about our adversary, and not the efforts of the propagandists. This is not to suggest that the acts we are countering are not indeed heinous. Such actions indeed cry out for justice, but let us be vigilant that we do not overstep the bounds of God's vengeance! | |||
| 5 | Woe
to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hands is My indignation, | ||
| 6 | I
send it against a godless nation And commission it against the people of My fury To capture booty and to seize plunder, And to trample them down like mud in the streets. | ||
| 7 | Yet
it does not so intend Nor does it plan so in its heart, But rather it is its purpose to destroy, And to cut off many nations. | ||
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©2002 - Jeffrey A. Wilcox |