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Ten Commandments (6)
The Ten Commandments (6)
The sixth command is very brief: “You shall not murder” (Exod. 20:13, NKJV). The KJV has “Thou shalt not kill” but I have chosen the NKJV because the Scriptures themselves distinguish accidental killing (Exod. 21:12-14), killings in war (see 2 Sam. 2:21-27 where the Scriptures distinguish a soldier [Joab] killing another [Abner] in the time of peace from killing in a time of war), and capital punishments (Gen. 9:6) are not murder.
The seriousness of murder can be seen from God’s commandment for the punishment of murderers: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man” (Gen. 9:6). Despite the unintended mistakes men make in punishing criminals, God still commanded that an investigation be conducted and that those who violated the “you shall not murder” commandment be put to death.
Murder is commonplace in America. The National Center for Health Statistics reports that 24,576 were killed by homicide in 2020 (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/homicide.htm). That is 67 murders a day! CNBC news reported that there was a 6% increase in 2021 over 2020, bringing the total to 26,279 murders or 71 murders every day in America (https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/11/us-murder-rates-stayed-high-last-year-but-trend-may-be-reversing-.html)! God holds the perpetrator responsible for his sin, regardless of what weapon he uses to commit his crime (gun, knife, poison, blunt force [a hammer], etc.).
King Solomon wrote, “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (Eccl. 8:11). It seems evident that ancient wisdom in dealing with murder was better than the modern method of trying to rehabilitate murderers, life sentences, or taking more than seventeen years to punish someone guilty of a capital offense. Not every modern thought is better than ancient practices.
Mike Willis
