Reference: Murder
American
The designed and malevolent taking of human life, was by the original appointment of God, a crime to be punished by death. Cain, the first murderer, recognized it as such, Ge 4:14. The ground for the death penalty for murder is the eminent dignity and sacredness of man as a child of God, Ge 9:5-6. Like the Sabbath and marriage, it is a primeval and universal institution for mankind, and all nations have so recognized it, Ac 28:4. The Mosaic code reenacted it, Le 24:17; and while providing for the unintentional homicide a safe retreat, declares that deliberate murder must be punished by death, from which neither the city of refuge nor the altar of God could shield the criminal, Ex 21:12-14; Nu 35:9-34; De 19:1-13; 1Ki 2:5-6,28-34. Death was usually inflicted by stoning, upon the testimony of at least two witnesses, Nu 35:30. If a corpse were found in the open fields, and the murderer could not be discovered, the town nearest to the spot was obliged to purge itself by a solemn ceremony, lest it should become liable to the judgments of God, De 21:1-9. In various ways God is represented as specially abhorring this crime, and securing its punishment, De 32:43; 2Sa 21:1; Ps 9:12; 55:23; Ho 1:4; Re 22:15. Our Savior instructs us that one may be guilty, in the sight of God, of murder in the heart, without any overt act, Mt 5:21-22; 1Jo 3:15. Nothing is said especially in the law respecting self-murder, and only the cases of Saul, Ahithophel, and Judas are described in the Bible, 1Sa 31:4; 2Sa 17:23; Ac 1:18. Of all murders, that of the soul is incomparably the most awful, Joh 8:44, and many plunge not only themselves but also others into the second death.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Behold, you have driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from your face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that anyone that finds me shall slay me.
And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
He that strikes a man, so that he dies, shall be surely put to death. And if a man lie not in wait, but God delivers him into his hand; then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee. read more. But if a man comes presumptuously upon his neighbor, to slay him with guile; you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.
And he that kills any man shall surely be put to death.
And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When you are come over Jordan into the land of Canaan; read more. Then you shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you; that the slayer may flee there, who kills any person unintentionally. And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger; that the manslayer die not, until he stands before the congregation in judgment. And of these cities which you shall give, six cities shall you have for refuge. You shall give three cities on this side of Jordan, and three cities shall you give in the land of Canaan, which shall be cities of refuge. 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 kills any person unintentionally may flee there. But if he strikes him with an instrument of iron, so that he dies, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death. And if he strikes him with throwing a stone, by which he may die, and he dies, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death. Or if he strikes him with a hand weapon of wood, by which he may die, and he dies, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death. The avenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer: when he meets him, he shall slay him. But if he pushes him from hatred, or hurls at him by lying in wait, that he dies; Or in enmity strikes him with his hand, that he dies: he that struck him shall surely be put to death; for he is a murderer: the avenger of blood shall slay the murderer, when he meets him. But if he pushes him suddenly without enmity, or has cast upon him anything without lying in wait, Or used any stone, by which a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him, that he dies, and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm: Then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments: And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, where he had fled: and he shall abide in it until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the slayer shall at any time come outside the border of the city of his refuge, where he had fled; And the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the city of his refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the slayer; he shall not be guilty of blood: 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. So these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. Whoever kills 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.
Whoever kills 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. Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death. read more. And you shall take no ransom 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. So you shall not pollute the land in which you are: for blood defiles the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, except by the blood of him that shed it. Defile not therefore the land which you shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel.
When the LORD your God has cut off the nations, whose land the LORD your God gives you, and you dispossess them, and dwell in their cities, and in their houses; You shall set apart three cities for you in the midst of your land, which the LORD your God gives you to possess it. read more. You shall prepare you a way, and divide the territory of your land, which the LORD your God gives you to inherit, into three parts, that every manslayer may flee there. And this is the case of the manslayer, who shall flee there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, whom he hated not in time past; As when a man goes into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle, and strikes his neighbor, that he dies; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live: Lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer, while his anger is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated the victim not in time past. Therefore I command you, saying, you shall set apart three cities for you. And if the LORD your God enlarges your border, as he has sworn unto your fathers, and gives you all the land which he promised to give unto your fathers; If you shall keep all these commandments to do them, which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to walk always in his ways; then shall you add three more cities for you, besides these three: That innocent blood be not shed in your land, which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance, and so blood be upon you. But if any man hate his neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and wounds him mortally that he dies, and flees into one of these cities: Then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.
If one be found slain in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, lying in the field, and it is not known who has slain him: Then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain: read more. And it shall be, that the city which is nearest unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer, which has never been worked, and which has not pulled in the yoke; And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a valley with flowing water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley: And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD your God has chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every assault be tried: And all the elders of that city, that are nearest unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley: And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O LORD, unto your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto the charge of your people Israel. And the blood shall be forgiven them. So shall you put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when you shall do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.
Rejoice, O you nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.
And as they that bore the ark were come unto the Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water, (for Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest,)
Then said Saul unto his armorbearer, Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armorbearer would not; for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.
When he avenges blood, he remembers them: he forgets not the cry of the humble.
But you, O God, shall bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in you.
And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
You have heard that it was said by them of old time, You shall not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, You fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his insides gushed out.
And when the natives saw the creature hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice allows not to live.
For outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie.
Easton
Wilful murder was distinguished from accidental homicide, and was invariably visited with capital punishment (Nu 35:16,18,21,31; Le 24:17). This law in its principle is founded on the fact of man's having been made in the likeness of God (Ge 9:5-6; Joh 8:44; 1Jo 3:12,15). The Mosiac law prohibited any compensation for murder or the reprieve of the murderer (Ex 21:12,14; De 19:11,13; 2Sa 17:25; 20:10). Two witnesses were required in any capital case (Nu 35:19-30; De 17:6-12). If the murderer could not be discovered, the city nearest the scene of the murder was required to make expiation for the crime committed (De 21:1-9). These offences also were to be punished with death, (1) striking a parent; (2) cursing a parent; (3) kidnapping (Ex 21:15-17; De 27:16).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
He that strikes a man, so that he dies, shall be surely put to death.
But if a man comes presumptuously upon his neighbor, to slay him with guile; you shall take him from my altar, that he may die. And he that strikes his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death. read more. And he that steals a man, and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. And he that curses his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.
And he that kills any man shall surely be put to death.
But if he strikes him with an instrument of iron, so that he dies, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.
Or if he strikes him with a hand weapon of wood, by which he may die, and he dies, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death. The avenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer: when he meets him, he shall slay him. read more. But if he pushes him from hatred, or hurls at him by lying in wait, that he dies; Or in enmity strikes him with his hand, that he dies: he that struck him shall surely be put to death; for he is a murderer: the avenger of blood shall slay the murderer, when he meets him.
Or in enmity strikes him with his hand, that he dies: he that struck him shall surely be put to death; for he is a murderer: the avenger of blood shall slay the murderer, when he meets him. But if he pushes him suddenly without enmity, or has cast upon him anything without lying in wait, read more. Or used any stone, by which a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him, that he dies, and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm: Then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments: And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, where he had fled: and he shall abide in it until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the slayer shall at any time come outside the border of the city of his refuge, where he had fled; And the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the city of his refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the slayer; he shall not be guilty of blood: 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. So these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. Whoever kills 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. Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death.
At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put the evil away from among you. read more. If there arise a matter too hard for you in judgment, between bloodsheds, between legal rights, and between assaults, being matters of controversy within your gates: then shall you arise, and get you up into the place which the LORD your God shall choose; And you shall come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall show you the sentence of judgment: And you shall do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall show you; and you shall observe to do according to all that they inform you: According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do: you shall not decline from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left. And the man that will act presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Israel.
But if any man hate his neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and wounds him mortally that he dies, and flees into one of these cities:
Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.
If one be found slain in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, lying in the field, and it is not known who has slain him: Then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain: read more. And it shall be, that the city which is nearest unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer, which has never been worked, and which has not pulled in the yoke; And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a valley with flowing water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley: And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD your God has chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every assault be tried: And all the elders of that city, that are nearest unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley: And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O LORD, unto your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto the charge of your people Israel. And the blood shall be forgiven them. So shall you put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when you shall do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.
Cursed be he that dishonors his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.
Now therefore take you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man.
And as they that bore the ark were come unto the Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water, (for Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest,)
You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Fausets
In the Scripture view an outrage or sacrilege (Philo, Spec. Leg. 3:15) on God's likeness in man. Ge 9:5-6, "whose sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made He man." His blood was so sacred that "God requires it (compare Ps 9:12) of every beast"; so the ox that gored man must be killed (Ex 21:28). God's image implies in man a personal, moral, and responsible will. To cut short his day of grace and probation is the greatest wrong to man and insult to his Maker. Cain's punishment God Himself took in hand, dooming him to a life full of fears, remorse, and guilt. His life was temporarily spared, perhaps in order not to impede the natural increase of mankind at the first. But after the flood God delegated thenceforth the murderer's punishment, which is death, to man; life must go for life, blood for blood.
Murder results from the instigation of Satan the "murderer (of Adam's and Eve's souls, and Abel's body) from the beginning" (Joh 8:44). Not only the killer but the hater is a murderer before God (1Jo 3:12,15).Even a slave's life sacrificed under the rod entailed death, or some heavy punishment as the judges should decide on the master, unless the slave survived the beating a day or two, when it was presumed the master did not intend to kill him and the loss of his slave was deemed enough punishment (Ex 21:12,20-21). A housebreaker might be killed in the act by night; but if by day he was to be sold, so sacred was life regarded (Ex 22:2-3). The cities of refuge saved the manslayer, but not the murderer, from the blood avenger. (See CITIES OF REFUGE.)
Not even Jehovah's altar could save Joab (1Ki 2:5-6,31). Bloodshed in any way, even in war, brought pollution (Nu 35:33-34; De 21:1-9; 1Ch 28:3, David; 1Ch 22:8). Striking a pregnant woman so as to cause death brought capital punishment. Two witnesses were required before anyone could be put to death for murder, a check on private revenge (Nu 35:19-30; De 17:6-12; 19:12,17). The sovereign assumed the power of executing or pardoning murderers (2Sa 1:15-16, David and the Amalekite slayer of Saul; 2Sa 13:39; 14:7-11, David in respect to Anmon and Absalom; 1Ki 2:34, Solomon and Joab).
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And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
He that strikes a man, so that he dies, shall be surely put to death.
And if a man strikes his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he dies under his hand; he shall be surely punished. But, if he continues a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his property.
If an ox gores a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be clear.
If a thief be found breaking in, and be smitten that he dies, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
The avenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer: when he meets him, he shall slay him. But if he pushes him from hatred, or hurls at him by lying in wait, that he dies; read more. Or in enmity strikes him with his hand, that he dies: he that struck him shall surely be put to death; for he is a murderer: the avenger of blood shall slay the murderer, when he meets him. But if he pushes him suddenly without enmity, or has cast upon him anything without lying in wait, Or used any stone, by which a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him, that he dies, and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm: Then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments: And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, where he had fled: and he shall abide in it until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the slayer shall at any time come outside the border of the city of his refuge, where he had fled; And the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the city of his refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the slayer; he shall not be guilty of blood: 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. So these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. Whoever kills 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.
So you shall not pollute the land in which you are: for blood defiles the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, except by the blood of him that shed it. Defile not therefore the land which you shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel.
At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put the evil away from among you. read more. If there arise a matter too hard for you in judgment, between bloodsheds, between legal rights, and between assaults, being matters of controversy within your gates: then shall you arise, and get you up into the place which the LORD your God shall choose; And you shall come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall show you the sentence of judgment: And you shall do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall show you; and you shall observe to do according to all that they inform you: According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do: you shall not decline from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left. And the man that will act presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Israel.
Then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.
Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, who shall be in those days;
If one be found slain in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, lying in the field, and it is not known who has slain him: Then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain: read more. And it shall be, that the city which is nearest unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer, which has never been worked, and which has not pulled in the yoke; And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a valley with flowing water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley: And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD your God has chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every assault be tried: And all the elders of that city, that are nearest unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley: And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O LORD, unto your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto the charge of your people Israel. And the blood shall be forgiven them. So shall you put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when you shall do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.
And David called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him. And he struck him so that he died. And David said unto him, Your blood be upon your head; for your mouth has testified against you, saying, I have slain the LORD's anointed.
And the soul of king David longed to go forth unto Absalom: for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.
And, behold, the whole family is risen against your handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that struck his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy the heir also: and so they shall quench my ember which is left, and shall not leave to my husband either name or remnant upon the earth. And the king said unto the woman, Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you. read more. And the woman of Tekoah said unto the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father's house: and the king and his throne be guiltless. And the king said, Whosoever says anything unto you, bring him to me, and he shall not touch you any more. Then said she, I pray you, let the king remember the LORD your God, that you would not allow the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my son. And he said, As the LORD lives, there shall not one hair of your son fall to the earth.
Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his belt that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet. Do therefore according to your wisdom, and let not his gray head go down to the grave in peace.
And the king said unto him, Do as he has said, and strike him down, and bury him; that you may take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father.
So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and struck him down, and slew him: and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.
But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, You have shed blood abundantly, and have made great wars: you shall not build a house unto my name, because you have shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.
When he avenges blood, he remembers them: he forgets not the cry of the humble.
You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And why slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.
Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer: and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
Hastings
Morish
The first death was caused by murder when Cain slew his brother Abel, and the second recorded is when Lamech said, "I have slain a man to my wounding," or "for my wound;" which may mean that he did it in self-defence. Ge 4:23. God set a mark upon Cain that none should kill him; and Lamech said, "If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold." After the flood God made a definite law concerning murder. God would require expiation for the blood of man, whether it was shed by beast or by man; at the hand of every man's brother, or kinsman, God would require the life of man. "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man." Ge 9:5-6. This injunction was repeated in the law, and has never been rescinded or modified. Neither does the N.T. in any way alter it: indeed it incidentally confirms it by declaring that the magistrate does not bear the sword in vain. Ro 13:4. God claims the life of man, and none can set aside His rights.
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And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man for wounding me, and a young man for hurting me.
And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
For he is the minister of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid; for he bears not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, an avenger to execute wrath upon him that does evil.
Smith
Murder.
The law of Moses, while it protected the accidental homicide, defined with additional strictness the crime of murder. It prohibited compensation or reprieve of the murderer, or his protection if he took refuge in the refuge city, or even at the altar of Jehovah.
Ex 21:12,14; Le 24:17,21; 1Ki 2:5-6,31
The duty of executing punishment on the murderer is in the law expressly laid on the "revenger of blood;" but the question of guilt was to be previously decided by the Levitical tribunal. In regal times the duty of execution of justice on a murderer seems to have been assumed to some extent by the sovereign, as was also the privilege of pardon.
It was lawful to kill a burglar taken at night in the act, but unlawful to do so after sunrise.
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He that strikes a man, so that he dies, shall be surely put to death.
But if a man comes presumptuously upon his neighbor, to slay him with guile; you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.
If a thief be found breaking in, and be smitten that he dies, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
And he that kills any man shall surely be put to death.
And he that kills an animal, he shall restore it: and he that kills a man, he shall be put to death.
And the soul of king David longed to go forth unto Absalom: for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.
And, behold, the whole family is risen against your handmaid, and they said, Deliver him that struck his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew; and we will destroy the heir also: and so they shall quench my ember which is left, and shall not leave to my husband either name or remnant upon the earth.
Then said she, I pray you, let the king remember the LORD your God, that you would not allow the revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they destroy my son. And he said, As the LORD lives, there shall not one hair of your son fall to the earth.
Watsons
MURDER. Among the Hebrews murder was always punished with death; but involuntary homicide, only by banishment. Cities of refuge were appointed for involuntary manslaughter, whither the slayer might retire and continue in safety till the death of the high priest, Nu 35:28. Then the offender was at liberty to return to his own house, if he pleased. A murderer was put to death without remission, and the kinsman of the murdered person might kill him with impunity. Money could not redeem his life: he was dragged away from the altar, if he had there taken refuge. When a dead body was found in the fields of a person slain by a murderer unknown, Moses commanded that the elders and judges of the neighbouring places should resort to the spot, De 21:1-8. The elders of the city nearest to it were to take a heifer which had never yet borne the yoke, and were to lead it into some rude and uncultivated place, which had not been ploughed or sowed, where they were to cut its throat. The priests of the Lord, with the elders and magistrates of the city, were to come near the dead body, and, washing their hands over the heifer that had been slain, were to say, "Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it shed. Lord, be favourable to thy people Israel, and impute not to us this blood, which has been shed in the midst of our country." This ceremony may inform us how much horror they conceived at the crime of murder; and it shows their fear that God might avenge it on the whole country; which was supposed to contract pollution by the blood spilt in it, unless it were expiated, and avenged on him who had occasioned it, if he could be discovered.
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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.
If one be found slain in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, lying in the field, and it is not known who has slain him: Then your elders and your judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain: read more. And it shall be, that the city which is nearest unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer, which has never been worked, and which has not pulled in the yoke; And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a valley with flowing water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley: And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD your God has chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every assault be tried: And all the elders of that city, that are nearest unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley: And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O LORD, unto your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto the charge of your people Israel. And the blood shall be forgiven them.