A. The final six commandments to Israel governed their relationships with one another. These commandments demonstrate the respect and consideration that is necessary for people to live together in peace and godliness.
B. Our study continues now with the sixth commandment, which pertains to the protection and respect of human life.
II. THE COMMANDMENT TO ISRAEL: YOU SHALL NOT MURDER
Exodus 20:13 – "You shall not murder.”
A. The sixth commandment prohibited the Israelites from committing murder.
1. The KJV translates this verse as "Thou shalt not kill,” but not all killing was forbidden by the Law of Moses.
a. The Law actually commanded Israel to kill human beings in certain situations (in the conquest of Canaan, Deut. 7; as punishment for certain violations of the Law).
b. The Law did not contradict itself by both prohibiting and commanding the practice of taking human life. Any interpretation of the Law that creates such a conflict is an incorrect interpretation.
2. When correctly understood, the sixth commandment prohibited the act of murder, which is the shedding innocent blood.
a. A clear expression of this meaning is given in Deuteronomy 19:10 – "So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, and bloodguiltiness be on you.”
b. The term "shedding of innocent blood” describes the unjust killing of a person who has not committed a crime worthy of death by God’s standards. Such killing is murder, and it is hated by God as an abomination against Him (Prov. 6:16-19).
3. The sixth commandment was not new at Sinai, for God had forbidden murder from the beginning.
a. Cain was condemned for murdering his brother Abel and forced to be a wanderer and a vagrant on the earth (Gen. 4:1-15).
b. After the flood of Noah’s time, God instituted capital punishment for the sin of murder. Notice Genesis 9:6 – "Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man.”
B. The Law of Moses gave specific instructions for Israel regarding the trial and punishment of murderers.
1. The punishment for murder was death. Notice the following passages:
a. "He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely 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 you a place to which he may flee. If, however, a man acts presumptuously toward his neighbor, so as to kill him craftily, you are to take him even from My altar, that he may die.” (Ex. 21:12-14)
b. "If a man takes the life of any human being, he shall surely be put to death. The one who takes the life of an animal shall make it good, life for life. If a man injures his neighbor, just as he has done, so it shall be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him. Thus the one who kills an animal shall make it good, but the one who kills a man shall be put to death.” (Lev. 24:17-21)
2. The punisher of a murder was called a "blood avenger” (Num. 35:19; Deut. 19:12). He was usually a close relative of the person who was murdered.
3. This punishment was not to be administered without adequate witnesses as proof. Consider Numbers 35:30 – "If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the evidence of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness.”
4. The Law did not allow for a substitute punishment (ransom, life sentence in prison, parole, etc.). See Numbers 35:31 – "Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death.”
5. The Law did allow for cities of refuge for those who accidentally slew a man (Num. 35: 9-34; Deut. 19:1-14).
a. Such a manslayer could flee to a city of refuge and be protected from the avenger of blood. He was required to stay in that city until the death of the high priest or else he would put himself at risk of being killed by the blood avenger.
b. Those who were truly guilty of murder were not given refuge in these cities. They were to be delivered to the blood avenger for punishment.
III. THE MODERN APPLICATION
A. Murder always has been a sin, and it always will be.
1. God’s law pertaining to murder has always governed both Jews and Gentiles (see Rom. 1:29 pertaining to the guilt of the Gentiles).
2. This prohibition against murder is restated in 1Peter 4:14-15 – "Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.”
3. Murderers will have a place in "the lake that burns with fire and brimstone” (Rev. 21:8).
B. Jesus explained that murder results from a sinful condition of the heart.
1. Jesus gave the spiritual application of the sixth commandment in the sermon on the mount.
a. Notice Matthew 5:21-22 – "You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘ You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”
b. He showed that it is the anger and hatred of the heart that leads to murder.
c. The apostle John emphasized this in 1John 3:15 – "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
2. In Matthew 15:19, Jesus said, "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”
3. In John 8:44, Jesus said that Satan was a "murderer from the beginning,” and it is the influence of the original murderer on the heart of man that leads to the sin of murder.
C. Our society is afflicted with a plague of murder.
1. The nation’s prisons are filled with murderers who have often taken lives for nothing more than money, wounded pride, or sport. Human life is considered to be of little value, and the image of God is considered to be worthless.
2. There is no more heinous example of the shedding of innocent blood than the practice of abortion.
a. Since Roe v. Wade became the law of the land in 1973, approximately 50 million unborn children have been murdered in the womb in the United States.
b. This abomination brings to mind certain examples from Scripture.
i. "Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another; besides his sin with which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD.” (2Ki. 21:16)
ii. "They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with the blood.” (Ps. 106:36-38)
iii. "A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be comforted, because they were no more.” (Matt. 2:18)
c. God has always severely punished those who shed innocent blood. What must He do to our nation?
IV. CONCLUSION
A. The most atrocious example of murder in the history of the world was the murder of our Lord Jesus.
1. Many men had a part in Christ’s murder including the Romans (Matt. 27:23-24), the Jews (Matt. 27:25; Acts 7:52), and His apostle Judas, who "sinned by betraying innocent blood” (Matt. 27:4).
2. Nevertheless, Jesus gave His life willingly as a ransom for our sins (John 10:17-18).
B. In the next lesson, we will consider the seventh commandment – "You shall not commit adultery.”