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
Look, you have driven me out today from the face of the ground, and from your face I must hide. I will be a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth, and it will happen that whoever finds me will kill me."
And {your lifeblood} I will require; from {every animal} I will require it. And from the hand of humankind, from the hand of [each] man to his brother I will require the life of humankind. "[As for] the one shedding the blood of humankind, by humankind his blood shall be shed, for God made humankind in his own image.
" '{Whoever strikes someone} and he dies will surely be put to death. But if he did not lie in wait {and it was an accident}, I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. read more. But if a man schemes against his neighbor to kill him by treachery, you will take him from my altar to die.
" 'And when a man kills any human being, he certainly shall be put to death.
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the {Israelites} and say to them, 'When you cross the Jordan [into] the land of Canaan, read more. you will select for yourselves cities for your cities of refuge, that a killer who has killed a person unintentionally can flee there. The cities will be to you a refuge from a redeemer, so that the killer will not die until he stands before the community for judgment. The cities that you are to give will be your six cities of refuge. You will give three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan; they will be cities of refuge. To the {Israelites}, to the alien, and to the temporary resident in their midst there will be these six cities as a refuge to which anyone who unintentionally kills a person may flee. " 'But if he hit him with an object of iron, so that he dies, the killer must surely be put to death. And if he hit him with a stone in the hand, by which he will die, and he does die, he [is] a killer; the killer must surely be put to death. Or if he hit him with a wooden object, by which he will die, and he does die, he [is] a killer; the killer must surely be put to death. The blood avenger himself will put the killer to death; he must put him to death when meeting him. If he shoves him in hatred, or he throws something at him with intention, and he dies, or if he hits him in hostility with his hand, and he dies, the one that struck him will put to death the killer when meeting him. " 'Or if in an instant he shoved him, not in hostility, or threw something at him without intention, or with any stone, without seeing it dropped on him so that he dies, while [he was] not seeking his injury, then the community will judge between the striker and between the blood avenger according to these ordinances. The community will deliver the killer from the hand of the blood avenger, and the community will restore him to the city of his refuge to which he fled; and he will live there in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with holy oil. But if the killer surely goes out of the territory of the city of his refuge to which he fled, and the blood avenger finds him outside the territory of the city of his refuge, and the blood avenger kills the killer, {he will not be guilty of blood} because he must live in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the killer will return to the land of his property. These things will be as a decree of justice for you for your generations in all your dwellings. " 'If anyone kills a person, the killer will be put to death {according to the testimony} of witnesses, but someone cannot die on testimony of one person.
" 'If anyone kills a person, the killer will be put to death {according to the testimony} of witnesses, but someone cannot die on testimony of one person. Also, you will not take a ransom payment for the life of a killer who [is] guilty of death; indeed, he must surely be put to death. read more. You will not take a ransom payment for the one that flees to the city of his refuge, so that he may return to live in the land before the death of the priest. So you will not pollute the land in which you are; because blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is poured out on it except with the blood of the one who poured it out. You will not defile the land on which you [are] living because I [am] living in the midst of it; I am Yahweh; I [am] living in the midst of the {Israelites}.'"
"When Yahweh your God has {exterminated} the nations [concerning whom] Yahweh your God [is] giving to you their land, and you have dispossessed them, and you have settled in their towns and in their houses, you shall set apart three cities for you in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you to take possession of it. read more. You shall prepare the roads for yourselves, and you shall divide the regions of your land into thirds that Yahweh your God gives you as a possession, so that {it will be available for any manslayer to flee there}. "Now this [is] the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live [there] who has killed his neighbor {unintentionally}, and he did not hate him {previously}. {For example}, when somebody goes with his neighbor into the forest to cut wood, and the iron [head] slips from the handle [of the tool] and strikes his neighbor and he dies, [then] he may flee to one of these cities, and [so] he may live. [He does this] lest the avenger of blood might pursue after the killer, because {he is hot with anger} and he overtakes him, because it is a long distance [to the city of refuge], and [so] {he kills him}, but {he did not deserve a death sentence}, because he [was] not hating him {before}. Therefore I [am] commanding you, {saying}, 'You shall set apart three cities.' Then if Yahweh your God enlarges your territory [just] as he swore to your ancestors and gives to you all the land that he {promised} to give to your ancestors, [then] {if you diligently observe this entire commandment} that I [am] commanding you {today} by loving Yahweh your God and by going in his ways {at all times}, then you shall add three more cities for yourselves to these three. [Do this] so that innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you [as an] inheritance and [thereby] bloodguilt would be on you. But if someone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him {and murders him}, and [the murderer] flees to one of these cities, then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and they shall give him into the hand of the avenger of blood, and he shall be put to death. Your eye shall not take pity on him, and you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, {so that good will be directed toward you}.
"If someone slain is found in the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you to take possession of it [and] [is] lying in the field, [and] it is not known who {killed him}, then your elders and your judges shall go out and shall measure [the distance] to the cities that [are] around the slain one. read more. {And then} the nearest city to the slain one, the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd that has not been worked with [in the field], that has not pulled a yoke, and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a {wadi that flows with water all year} and [that] has not been plowed and has not been sown; [then] {there they shall break the neck of the heifer in the wadi}. Then the priests, the descendants of Levi, shall come near, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to bless in the name of Yahweh, and every legal dispute and every [case of] assault will be {subject to their ruling}. And all of the elders of that city nearest to the slain person shall wash their hands over the heifer [with] the broken neck in the wadi. And they shall declare, and they shall say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see [what was done]. Forgive your people, Israel, whom you redeemed, Yahweh, and [do] not {allow} the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, and let them be forgiven [with regard to] blood.' And [so] you shall purge the innocent blood from your midst, because you must do the right thing in the eyes of Yahweh.
Call for songs of joy, O nations, [concerning] his people, for the blood of his servants he will avenge, {and he will take reprisals against his foes}, and he will make atonement [for] his land, his people."
When those carrying the ark came up to the Jordan, and the priests carrying the ark dipped their feet in the edge of the water (the Jordan was flowing over its banks during all the days of harvest),
Then Saul said to {his armor bearer}, "Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, so that these uncircumcised do not come and thrust me through and make a fool of me!" But {his armor bearer} [was] not willing [to do so] because he [was] very afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it.
for he [who] {avenges bloodshed} remembers them. He does not forget the distressed cry of [the] afflicted.
But you, O God, you will bring them down to [the] pit of corruption. [The] men of bloodshed and deceit will not live half their days, but I will trust you.
And Yahweh said to him, "{Name him} Jezreel; because in a little while {I will punish} the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
"You have heard that it was said to the {people of old}, 'Do not commit murder,' and 'whoever commits murder will be subject to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry at his brother will be subject to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, 'Stupid fool!' will be subject to the council, and whoever says, 'Obstinate fool!' will be subject to fiery hell.
You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father! That one was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand firm in the truth, because truth is not in him. Whenever he speaks the lie, he speaks from his own [nature], because he is a liar and the father {of lies}.
(Now this man acquired a field for the wages of [his] wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines spilled out.
And when the local people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, "Doubtless this man is a murderer whom, [although he] was rescued from the sea, Justice has not permitted to live!"
Outside [are] the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral people and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone who loves and who practices falsehood.
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 {your lifeblood} I will require; from {every animal} I will require it. And from the hand of humankind, from the hand of [each] man to his brother I will require the life of humankind. "[As for] the one shedding the blood of humankind, by humankind his blood shall be shed, for God made humankind in his own image.
" '{Whoever strikes someone} and he dies will surely be put to death.
But if a man schemes against his neighbor to kill him by treachery, you will take him from my altar to die. And {whoever strikes} his father or his mother will surely be put to death. read more. " 'And {whoever kidnaps someone} and sells him, or he is found in his possession, he will surely be put to death. " 'And one who curses his father or his mother will surely be put to death.
" 'And when a man kills any human being, he certainly shall be put to death.
" 'But if he hit him with an object of iron, so that he dies, the killer must surely be put to death.
Or if he hit him with a wooden object, by which he will die, and he does die, he [is] a killer; the killer must surely be put to death. The blood avenger himself will put the killer to death; he must put him to death when meeting him. read more. If he shoves him in hatred, or he throws something at him with intention, and he dies, or if he hits him in hostility with his hand, and he dies, the one that struck him will put to death the killer when meeting him.
or if he hits him in hostility with his hand, and he dies, the one that struck him will put to death the killer when meeting him. " 'Or if in an instant he shoved him, not in hostility, or threw something at him without intention, read more. or with any stone, without seeing it dropped on him so that he dies, while [he was] not seeking his injury, then the community will judge between the striker and between the blood avenger according to these ordinances. The community will deliver the killer from the hand of the blood avenger, and the community will restore him to the city of his refuge to which he fled; and he will live there in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with holy oil. But if the killer surely goes out of the territory of the city of his refuge to which he fled, and the blood avenger finds him outside the territory of the city of his refuge, and the blood avenger kills the killer, {he will not be guilty of blood} because he must live in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the killer will return to the land of his property. These things will be as a decree of justice for you for your generations in all your dwellings. " 'If anyone kills a person, the killer will be put to death {according to the testimony} of witnesses, but someone cannot die on testimony of one person. Also, you will not take a ransom payment for the life of a killer who [is] guilty of death; indeed, he must surely be put to death.
{On the evidence of} two or three witnesses {the person shall be put to death}. The person shall not be put to death by the mouth of one witness. The hand of the witnesses shall be first against the person to kill the person, and afterward the hands [of] all the people, and [so] you shall purge the evil from your midst. read more. "{If a matter is too difficult for you}, [for example disputes] between blood and blood, between legal claim and legal claim and between assault and assault [and between] matters of discernment in your {towns}, then you shall get up and you shall go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose; then you shall go to the priests and the Levites and to the judge who will be [in office] in those days, and you shall enquire, and they shall announce to you {the verdict}. "And {you shall carry out exactly the decision} that they announced to you from that place that Yahweh will choose, and {you shall diligently observe} according to all that they instruct you. [And so] according to {the instruction of the law} that they teach you and according to the decisions that they say to you, you shall do; you shall not turn from the word that they tell you to the right or [to the] left. And the man who treats with contempt [so as] not to listen to the priest [who] [is] standing to minister on behalf of Yahweh your God or to the judge, that man shall die; so you shall purge the evil from Israel.
But if someone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him {and murders him}, and [the murderer] flees to one of these cities,
Your eye shall not take pity on him, and you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, {so that good will be directed toward you}.
"If someone slain is found in the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you to take possession of it [and] [is] lying in the field, [and] it is not known who {killed him}, then your elders and your judges shall go out and shall measure [the distance] to the cities that [are] around the slain one. read more. {And then} the nearest city to the slain one, the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd that has not been worked with [in the field], that has not pulled a yoke, and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a {wadi that flows with water all year} and [that] has not been plowed and has not been sown; [then] {there they shall break the neck of the heifer in the wadi}. Then the priests, the descendants of Levi, shall come near, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to bless in the name of Yahweh, and every legal dispute and every [case of] assault will be {subject to their ruling}. And all of the elders of that city nearest to the slain person shall wash their hands over the heifer [with] the broken neck in the wadi. And they shall declare, and they shall say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see [what was done]. Forgive your people, Israel, whom you redeemed, Yahweh, and [do] not {allow} the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, and let them be forgiven [with regard to] blood.' And [so] you shall purge the innocent blood from your midst, because you must do the right thing in the eyes of Yahweh.
'Cursed be the one who dishonors his father or his mother.' And all of the people shall say, 'Amen.'
When those carrying the ark came up to the Jordan, and the priests carrying the ark dipped their feet in the edge of the water (the Jordan was flowing over its banks during all the days of harvest),
You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father! That one was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand firm in the truth, because truth is not in him. Whenever he speaks the lie, he speaks from his own [nature], because he is a liar and the father {of lies}.
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).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And {your lifeblood} I will require; from {every animal} I will require it. And from the hand of humankind, from the hand of [each] man to his brother I will require the life of humankind. "[As for] the one shedding the blood of humankind, by humankind his blood shall be shed, for God made humankind in his own image.
" '{Whoever strikes someone} and he dies will surely be put to death.
And if a man strikes his male slave or his female slave with the rod and he dies under his hand, he will surely be avenged. Yet if he survives a day or two days, he will not be avenged, because he is his money.
" 'And if an ox gores a man or a woman and he dies, the ox will surely be stoned, and its meat will not be eaten, and the owner of the ox [is] innocent.
" 'If a thief is found in the act of breaking in and he is struck and he dies, there is not bloodguilt for him. (If the sun has risen over him, [there is] bloodguilt for him. He will make full restitution. If {he does not have enough}, he will be sold for his theft.
The blood avenger himself will put the killer to death; he must put him to death when meeting him. If he shoves him in hatred, or he throws something at him with intention, and he dies, read more. or if he hits him in hostility with his hand, and he dies, the one that struck him will put to death the killer when meeting him. " 'Or if in an instant he shoved him, not in hostility, or threw something at him without intention, or with any stone, without seeing it dropped on him so that he dies, while [he was] not seeking his injury, then the community will judge between the striker and between the blood avenger according to these ordinances. The community will deliver the killer from the hand of the blood avenger, and the community will restore him to the city of his refuge to which he fled; and he will live there in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with holy oil. But if the killer surely goes out of the territory of the city of his refuge to which he fled, and the blood avenger finds him outside the territory of the city of his refuge, and the blood avenger kills the killer, {he will not be guilty of blood} because he must live in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the killer will return to the land of his property. These things will be as a decree of justice for you for your generations in all your dwellings. " 'If anyone kills a person, the killer will be put to death {according to the testimony} of witnesses, but someone cannot die on testimony of one person.
So you will not pollute the land in which you are; because blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is poured out on it except with the blood of the one who poured it out. You will not defile the land on which you [are] living because I [am] living in the midst of it; I am Yahweh; I [am] living in the midst of the {Israelites}.'"
{On the evidence of} two or three witnesses {the person shall be put to death}. The person shall not be put to death by the mouth of one witness. The hand of the witnesses shall be first against the person to kill the person, and afterward the hands [of] all the people, and [so] you shall purge the evil from your midst. read more. "{If a matter is too difficult for you}, [for example disputes] between blood and blood, between legal claim and legal claim and between assault and assault [and between] matters of discernment in your {towns}, then you shall get up and you shall go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose; then you shall go to the priests and the Levites and to the judge who will be [in office] in those days, and you shall enquire, and they shall announce to you {the verdict}. "And {you shall carry out exactly the decision} that they announced to you from that place that Yahweh will choose, and {you shall diligently observe} according to all that they instruct you. [And so] according to {the instruction of the law} that they teach you and according to the decisions that they say to you, you shall do; you shall not turn from the word that they tell you to the right or [to the] left. And the man who treats with contempt [so as] not to listen to the priest [who] [is] standing to minister on behalf of Yahweh your God or to the judge, that man shall die; so you shall purge the evil from Israel.
then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and they shall give him into the hand of the avenger of blood, and he shall be put to death.
then the two men {to whom the legal dispute pertains} shall stand {before} Yahweh, {before} the priests and the judges who are [in office] in those days.
"If someone slain is found in the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you to take possession of it [and] [is] lying in the field, [and] it is not known who {killed him}, then your elders and your judges shall go out and shall measure [the distance] to the cities that [are] around the slain one. read more. {And then} the nearest city to the slain one, the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd that has not been worked with [in the field], that has not pulled a yoke, and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a {wadi that flows with water all year} and [that] has not been plowed and has not been sown; [then] {there they shall break the neck of the heifer in the wadi}. Then the priests, the descendants of Levi, shall come near, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to bless in the name of Yahweh, and every legal dispute and every [case of] assault will be {subject to their ruling}. And all of the elders of that city nearest to the slain person shall wash their hands over the heifer [with] the broken neck in the wadi. And they shall declare, and they shall say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see [what was done]. Forgive your people, Israel, whom you redeemed, Yahweh, and [do] not {allow} the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, and let them be forgiven [with regard to] blood.' And [so] you shall purge the innocent blood from your midst, because you must do the right thing in the eyes of Yahweh.
Then David called to one of the young men and said to him, "Come near; strike him." So he struck him down and he died. David said to him, "Your blood [is] on your head, for your mouth has testified against you by saying, 'I killed Yahweh's anointed one!'"
And look, all of the family has risen up against your servant, and they said, 'Give up the one who struck his brother, that we may kill him in exchange for the life of his brother whom he murdered. We will also wipe out the heir,' and so they would put out my embers which remain, by not preserving for my husband a name and a remnant on the face of the earth." Then the king said to the woman, "Go to your house, and I myself will give the command concerning you." read more. The Tekoite woman said to the king, "On me, my lord the king, [is] the guilt, and on the house of my father, but the king on his throne [is] innocent." The king said, "[Whoever] has spoken to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you again." Then she said, "Please may the king remember Yahweh your God, {to prevent the increase of blood avengers who kill}, [so that they] not wipe out my son." He said, "{As Yahweh lives}, surely not one hair shall fall from your son to the ground."
"Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me when he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner son of Ner and to Amasa son of Jether, and he murdered them and put the blood of war in [a time of] peace. He put the blood of war on the leather belt that was on his waist and on the sandals which were on his feet. You must act according to your wisdom, but you must not let his gray hair go down to Sheol in peace.
Then the king said to him, "Do as he spoke; fall upon him and bury him, and so you shall remove the innocent blood that Joab shed from on me and from on the house of my father.
So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, and he fell on him and killed him, and he was buried in his house in the wilderness.
but it happened [that] the word of Yahweh [came] over me, saying, 'You have shed much blood and have made much war; you shall not build a house for my name because you have shed much blood upon the ground before me.
for he [who] {avenges bloodshed} remembers them. He does not forget the distressed cry of [the] afflicted.
You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father! That one was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand firm in the truth, because truth is not in him. Whenever he speaks the lie, he speaks from his own [nature], because he is a liar and the father {of lies}.
not as Cain, who was of the evil one and violently murdered his brother. And {for what reason} did he violently murder him? Because his deeds were evil and the [deeds] of his brother [were] righteous.
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that every murderer does not have eternal life residing 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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Then Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, listen to my voice; O wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, Even a young man for injuring me.
And {your lifeblood} I will require; from {every animal} I will require it. And from the hand of humankind, from the hand of [each] man to his brother I will require the life of humankind. "[As for] the one shedding the blood of humankind, by humankind his blood shall be shed, for God made humankind in his own image.
for it is God's servant to you for what [is] good. But if you do what [is] bad, be afraid, because it does not bear the sword to no purpose. For it is God's servant, the one who avenges for punishment on the one who does [what is] bad.
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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" '{Whoever strikes someone} and he dies will surely be put to death.
But if a man schemes against his neighbor to kill him by treachery, you will take him from my altar to die.
" 'If a thief is found in the act of breaking in and he is struck and he dies, there is not bloodguilt for him. (If the sun has risen over him, [there is] bloodguilt for him. He will make full restitution. If {he does not have enough}, he will be sold for his theft.
" 'And when a man kills any human being, he certainly shall be put to death.
And a killer of a domestic animal must repay [for] it, and a killer of a human shall be put to death.
And look, all of the family has risen up against your servant, and they said, 'Give up the one who struck his brother, that we may kill him in exchange for the life of his brother whom he murdered. We will also wipe out the heir,' and so they would put out my embers which remain, by not preserving for my husband a name and a remnant on the face of 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 must live in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the killer will return to the land of his property.
"If someone slain is found in the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you to take possession of it [and] [is] lying in the field, [and] it is not known who {killed him}, then your elders and your judges shall go out and shall measure [the distance] to the cities that [are] around the slain one. read more. {And then} the nearest city to the slain one, the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd that has not been worked with [in the field], that has not pulled a yoke, and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a {wadi that flows with water all year} and [that] has not been plowed and has not been sown; [then] {there they shall break the neck of the heifer in the wadi}. Then the priests, the descendants of Levi, shall come near, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to bless in the name of Yahweh, and every legal dispute and every [case of] assault will be {subject to their ruling}. And all of the elders of that city nearest to the slain person shall wash their hands over the heifer [with] the broken neck in the wadi. And they shall declare, and they shall say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see [what was done]. Forgive your people, Israel, whom you redeemed, Yahweh, and [do] not {allow} the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, and let them be forgiven [with regard to] blood.'