Posted By: Green Cochoa
Biblical Distinction Between Killing and Murder - 10/24/13 07:16 PM
Biblical Distinction Between Killing and Murder A Study from Numbers 35 | |
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TEXT (KJV) | COMMENT |
35:9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, | These commands were from God, not merely by Moses' initiative. |
35:10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come over Jordan into the land of Canaan; | This was the arrangement appointed for the Israelites in Canaan, under God's Theocracy. |
35:11 Then ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you; that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person at unawares. | |
35:12 And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger; that the manslayer die not, until he stand before the congregation in judgment. | Here we see the term "avenger" introduced. This is the first occurrence of this term in the KJV translation. For now, we'll skip the Hebrew roots, and note also that the separate word "manslayer" appears here in the same text, who is said to be subject to judgment. |
35:13 And of these cities which ye shall give six cities shall ye have for refuge. | These six cities were to be places of refuge for...murderers? Not actually, only for "killers." We will continue to read to discern the difference. |
35:14 Ye shall give three cities on this side Jordan, and three cities shall ye give in the land of Canaan, [which] shall be cities of refuge. | |
35:15 These six cities shall be a refuge, [both] for the children of Israel, and for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them: that every one that killeth any person unawares may flee thither. | |
35:16 And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he [is] a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death. | If the killing were done in one of these manners, God declares it to have been an intentional killing, therefore murder. Keep in mind that all murders are killings, but not all killings are murders. This is why God is here defining which are which. |
35:17 And if he smite him with throwing a stone, wherewith he may die, and he die, he [is] a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death. | |
35:18 Or [if] he smite him with an hand weapon of wood, wherewith he may die, and he die, he [is] a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death. | |
35:19 The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer: when he meeteth him, he shall slay him. | God here commands "the revenger of blood" to "slay the murderer." If by doing so he would, in carrying out God's command, become a murderer himself, the logical conclusion of even one murder, if all of the Israelites were to have been obedient to God's command here, would have been the extermination of the entire kingdom of Israelites! (Think about this for a minute, and this becomes quite clear.) It is obvious that God did not want His people to be utterly destroyed in such a manner, so this interpretation must be incorrect. |
35:20 But if he thrust him of hatred, or hurl at him by laying of wait, that he die; | Notwithstanding the command given the "revenger of blood" to "slay the murderer," God gives some rules for how to do this and how not to do this. It was forbidden to carry out God's orders of killing the murderer with hatred or by premeditation (laying of wait). It was also forbidden to kill the murderer with enmity by striking "with his hand, that he die" (imagine a fistfight). If the revenger did his duty in one of these forbidden ways, he himself was a murderer, and subject to the law of avengement upon himself. This tells us that if he followed the command properly, he would not have been a murderer subject to avengement. |
35:21 Or in enmity smite him with his hand, that he die: he that smote [him] shall surely be put to death; [for] he [is] a murderer: the revenger of blood shall slay the murderer, when he meeteth him. | |
35:22 But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or have cast upon him any thing without laying of wait, | Here's how the revenger may kill the murderer so as not to become a murderer himself. Even though the revenger is not a murderer, he is still a prisoner in one of the cities of refuge until the death of the high priest, just as if he were found "guilty" of involuntary manslaughter (accidental death). So, having the duty to kill the murderer was a rather distasteful responsibility. |
35:23 Or with any stone, wherewith a man may die, seeing [him] not, and cast [it] upon him, that he die, and [was] not his enemy, neither sought his harm: | |
35:24 Then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood according to these judgments: | |
35:25 And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, whither he was fled: and he shall abide in it unto the death of the high priest, which was anointed with the holy oil. | |
35:26 But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge, whither he was fled; | Here we see that the revenger of blood of that revenger who is now a prisoner in his city of refuge for having carried out his duty faithfully is tasked with his duty of avenging if the revenger were ever to exit that city before the death of the high priest. |
35:27 And the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill the slayer; he shall not be guilty of blood: | It is also clear here that when one has killed another according to the law, he "shall not be guilty of blood," that is to say, he is not a "murderer." Murderers were never allowed to reside in a city of refuge. The city of refuge would have to judge them, and if they were found to have murdered (as opposed to having killed someone accidentally), they were delivered up to judgment (death). |
35:28 Because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession. | 35:29 So these [things] shall be for a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. | This was a law given to the Israelites. |
35:30 Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person [to cause him] to die. | Murderers were always to be put to death, but it must be by more than one witness. So if there were only one witness, it was insufficient to convict the person of "murder." |
35:31 Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which [is] guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death. | There was to be no pity. Duty must be followed. A murderer must be put to death. The act of putting to death, when done according to the law, was not "murder." |
35:32 And ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest. | There was also to be no clemency for those who were imprisoned. They were to stay there until the death of the high priest, and only then could they legally leave their city of refuge. |
35:33 So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye [are]: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. | God commanded that the murderers be killed in order to keep the land free of blood guiltiness. If murderers were permitted to live, the people would have stood in violation of this commandment. Obviously, God will not both command "Thou shalt not murder," and "Thou shalt murder." Therefore, putting someone to death must necessarily have been in a separate category from "murder." |
35:34 Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel. |
Blessings,
Green Cochoa.