The Ten Commandments: A Deeper Dive Commandment 6 Part 1
Good day to each of you reading this column on the Ten Commandments.
Before I begin, we need a bit of humor from https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-life/christian-jokes-stories.html
The church was holding baptisms during the service, so they brought in a large tub. As the sermon continued, a boy near the front stared at the tub. He nudged his father. The father turned and the boy whispered, “Where did they get such a big bucket for the leaking roof?”
On Palm Sunday, the Sunday School teacher asked her class, “So, why did Jesus ride a donkey?”
A voice piped up from the back: “Because he wanted to.”Things kids will say at Sunday School roll call:
– “Look out, ladies.”
– “It wasn’t me!”
– “I’m awake!”
– “Guilty as charged.”I worked at a Christian retreat center for a year, mostly serving food. One night, several families came down to dinner, I had someone behind me say, “My water broke.” I looked around nervously. To my relief, it was not a pregnant woman. It was a nine-year-old whose plastic cup had snapped in half.
A man and a young boy sat at the same table during a church lunch. The man realized he knew the boy’s mother.
“Moms are great, aren’t they?” he said. “What would we do without them?”
The boy replied, “Finish my playdates on time.”
Time and time again, laughter is the best medicine—enjoy each day and laugh for it is quite contagious.
The sixth commandment or Thou shall not kill is so very prevalent in society today. Television shows, news outlets, internet sightings, newspaper findings all make us listen for the moment, but we have grown so callous that we tune them out unless it hits close to us.
Yes, we have those who are against the death penalty and yet we have a society who suffers from violence and crime or as one put it, a world gone mad.
Biblically, I find nowhere where the Israelites used a jail to house their prisoners when they committed a crime. This makes me wonder if they were on to something.
I am very aware that we have those who will violate this commandment thus God had planned this commandment for the standard of personal conduct. God covered all the angles of murder by issuing punishments as written under the statutes and judgments.
Yet, this wasn’t good enough for man has “been refining God’s commandments” to meet the standards of today, thus creating more laws.
As a Christian, do you not believe in every word that the Bible has to offer which includes capital punishment as mandatory? Turn to Genesis 9:6 (NIV) “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.
As you read the above verse, please be reminded that this was a covenant between Noah and God after the flood to establish the future of man.
As we move forward in Exodus and the Israelite people, God provides the punishments for shedding of human bloodshed as shown in Exodus 21.
Turn to Number 35:24-33 (NIV) 24 the assembly must judge between the accused and the avenger of blood according to these regulations. 25 The assembly must protect the one accused of murder from the avenger of blood and send the accused back to the city of refuge to which they fled. The accused must stay there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.
26 “‘But if the accused ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which they fled 27 and the avenger of blood finds them outside the city, the avenger of blood may kill the accused without being guilty of murder. 28 The accused must stay in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest; only after the death of the high priest may they return to their own property.
29 “‘This is to have the force of law for you throughout the generations to come, wherever you live.
30 “‘Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.
31 “‘Do not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer, who deserves to die. They are to be put to death.
32 “‘Do not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a city of refuge and so allow them to go back and live on their own land before the death of the high priest.
33 “‘Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
Today, we have judges instead of the assembly to rule on whether a person receives life in prison or the death penalty. God has established that anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer on the testimony of two or more witnesses, not on one witness.
So, let’s explore personal injuries and the laws set before the Israelites:
Exodus 21:12-35 (NIV) 12 “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. 13 However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. 14 But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.
15 “Anyone who attacks[a] their father or mother is to be put to death.
16 “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.
17 “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.
18 “If people quarrel and one person hits another with a stone or with their fist[b] and the victim does not die but is confined to bed, 19 the one who struck the blow will not be held liable if the other can get up and walk around outside with a staff; however, the guilty party must pay the injured person for any loss of time and see that the victim is completely healed.
20 “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, 21 but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.
22 “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely[c] but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. 23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
26 “An owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. 27 And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth.
28 “If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull is to be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible. 29 If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death. 30 However, if payment is demanded, the owner may redeem his life by the payment of whatever is demanded. 31 This law also applies if the bull gores a son or daughter. 32 If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels[d] of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull is to be stoned to death.
33 “If anyone uncovers a pit or digs one and fails to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the one who opened the pit must pay the owner for the loss and take the dead animal in exchange.
35 “If anyone’s bull injures someone else’s bull and it dies, the two parties are to sell the live one and divide both the money and the dead animal equally. 36 However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, yet the owner did not keep it penned up, the owner must pay, animal for animal, and take the dead animal in exchange.
Please remember that these were statutes and judgments in the Old Testament and directed to the Israelite people.
Take note of the following– 12 “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. 13 However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. 14 But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.
Numbers 35:24-33 introduces us to the city of refuge. This city was designated for those who accidentally take the death of another person and are confined in that city until the death of the High Priest.
If this were placed today, the respect for life would be greatly enhanced for the life of his fellowman such as reducing automobile accidents to a minimum. The car’s driver would be very careful of another’s husband, wife, daughter and son as he would be of his own loved ones, for none would want to forfeit their freedom.
Careless driving, drunk driving, driving while texting are just a few examples of how people lost their lives behind the wheel and the penalty—Forfeit of freedom and sent to a city of refuge.
If the person escaped from the city and was found outside the city, then the person was put to death immediately and without a trial.
So, let’s put this in perspective before we close part one… as you see for this act of murder, there must be retribution and a penalty must be paid for the crime committed.
I ask that you read the millstone in Understanding God’s laws and weigh in on the recent killings of an innocent four-year-old and the burning of three children in Columbia, SC.
I will touch base on and tie in the sixth commandment with the killing of that four-year-old that their parents killed and try to chemically destroy the remains 4 weeks before she was reported.
Sin is sin and God will not stand such acts to go unpunished for God’s laws were designed for man to live by those laws and without those laws, we would have chaos.
Don’t go away, for the second part is just around the corner.
