“You shall not murder.” [Exodus 20:13]
A simple four word command, which instructs us not to murder, which many have interpreted as not the kill in any way, pacifists use the commandment to avoid call-up to the army, and even vegetarians have used it to justify not killing for food. The Hebrew word 'Râsah' includes more than just murder, although that is the way most translations express it. The Hebrew word covers murder, but it also covers accidental killing, what we would term 'manslaughter', it also lists (Strong's Dictionary) the killing of a human through carelessness, negligence or as avenger or or assassination. The list is then limited to unauthorised killing, killings that are not sanctioned by the law of the land.
Firstly the word 'Râsah' in its Hebrew sense applies purely to humans and not to animals at the time the Ten Commandments were given. It is true that originally, during creation, God created man as a herbivore, a vegetarian, He gave every seed-bearing plant and every tree that has fruit to man as food, and every green plant He gave to creatures for food [Genesis 1:29-30]. So man was a vegetarian for the first period of man's existence, until after the flood. God gave man 'dominion' over the animals, that man may rule over the animals [Genesis 1:26], but that does not mean we are allowed to mistreat them [Genesis 2:15; Deuteronomy 22:6-7; Deuteronomy 25:4; Proverbs 12:10]. After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah, where He gave permission for man to eat meat [Genesis 9:1-4 (specifically verse 4)] and that man would be feared by all beasts. So from the flood on there is no commandment that prevents us from killing or eating animals.
Of course many of the sentences for breaking both God's law and man's law often had a capital punishment attached to them. Indeed many offences in some countries today call for execution as either punishment or deterrent. We saw in last week's study how cursing one's parents carried the death penalty [Mark 7:10], adultery [Leviticus 20:10], homosexual acts (men and women) [Leviticus 20:13] and of course murder [Exodus 21:12-14, Leviticus 24:17 & 21]. Like any other society, law and order needed to me kept and enforced, and harsh penalties for breaking the law acted as a deterrent to others, if you have a stick, sooner or later you will need to use it. Killing of humans was also authorised in warfare, God was often specific about how wars were to be waged. Jehovah gave instructions on who was allowed or required to fight, that terms should be offered first, before any fighting commenced, if after the fighting and the Israelites won all the male enemy should be put to the sword [Deuteronomy 20:1-20] and so on. When God's people marched into the promised land of Canaan and attacked Jericho city, Jehovah ordered that no Canaanite should be left alive for fear of corrupting the people [Deuteronomy 2:34]. As we saw through the definition of the word 'Râsah', God also saw that humans were capable of killing their fellow man by accident [Deuteronomy 19:1-13].
God hates murder because out of all creation, man is the panicle achievement [Hebrews 2:6-8] and only man is created in God's image [Genesis 1:27]. Way before God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, the basis of most every legal system in existence. It was just the second generation of man when Cain murdered his brother Abel and God showed His displeasure at the murder [Genesis 4:8-12]. His people knew that murder was wrong for millennia before God enshrined it in tablets of stone [Genesis 4:8-12; Genesis 4:23-24; Genesis 9:4-6; Exodus 1:16-17]. In the New Testament Jesus Himself spoke about the wrongness of murder several times [Matthew 5:21-26; Mark 10:17-19], as did the apostle Paul [ Romans 1:18, Romans 29-32; Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:19-21]. Note that Jesus enhances the sixth commandment in Matthew 5:21-26, and includes more than just killing someone, Jesus included having an angry and unforgiving attitude towards them and even calling them a fool. The disciple John interpreted Jesus' meaning as “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” [1John 3:15], that just to hate someone is the same as murdering them, a sobering thought for many of us. We so often call people names, especially when we are driving, and we think that calling someone a 'fool' is a mild form of abuse, and not earn us 'hell-fire' [Matthew 5:22].
Fool from the Greek word 'môros', meaning dull, or stupid,impious or godless, possibly the origin of our word moron or moronic. Who would have though calling someone a fool would count as murder?
Jesus changed many of the laws when the New Covenant started, He did not make them obsolete or to do away with them, He made them harder, because He was to fulfil them. Jesus brought in fencing laws to protect us, just as the Jews had down throughout history. Those laws covered what we thought as well as what we did [Matthew 15:18-19; and Mark 7:20-23], because what comes out of our hearts matters as much as what comes out of our mouths. Murder starts as a thought in our minds that grows into hate, which leads to the action of murder [James 1:13-15], so if we realise that hate is a sin we can stop the thought there and ask forgiveness, before it progresses to the act. Not only should we not hate, but Jesus says we should do the opposite, and love our enemies and those who persecute us [Matthew 5:43-48]. Christians make a great deal about loving and not hating, how can I love my enemy they ask; but the Greek word 'miseō' is in itself the answer to this question. The word ' miseō' actually means, “the absence of hate,” so it is clear that the key words are, 'not to hate'.
In conclusion then, we can accept that under Old Covenant God allowed, even authorised and commanded humans to kill other humans, but what about today? Under the New Covenant does God allow us to use execution for a murder? Is there justification in getting involved in warfare? If so under what circumstances? Mercenary, local militia, rebellion? Does God ordain wars today and which side do you think He would be on? Under the New Covenant we Christians must not execute people for sinning as they did in Old Testament times, the most we can do to any unrepentant Christian is to withhold brotherly fellowship until they repent [1 Corinthians 5:9-13; 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15]. So if we should no longer wage carnal war, but spiritual warfare [Ephesians 6:12; John 18:36] can we still be called upon to fight in a countries army? Christians are called to be peacemakers [Matthew 5:9, Romans 14:19], forgiving those who do them harm to us, can we then condone capital punishment? If Jesus says hatred, is the same as murder [1John 3:15], how can we be unforgiving, vengeful and hostile towards our enemies?