So there is the idea of the sacredness of human life, because of
the image of God. I think the greater emphasis is on the owner-
ship of human life.
God made…and so God owns
. God made
you and He owns you.
God is the author and owner of human life. He gives and takes
life as He chooses. When His authority or delegated authority is
in play, as it will be in government and the coming holy war,
killing is okey-dokey.
That seriously offends our modern sensibilities. It may help to
see death from God’s perspective. We see it as an end; God
sees it as a transformation of substance, a change, and one He
has complete control over. But by lightning bolt, old age or
human hand by his direction, our lives are always in His hand.
Murder requires contempt of God’s possession and image of
the human being.
Murder offends both of these ideas. The Hebrew word is focused
on killings for selfish and unsanctioned reasons.
Murder requires contempt of God’s possession and image of
the human being.
In order to kill someone, you have to set aside the idea that
he is sacred in the image of God. And you have to set aside the
idea that his life is God’s possession.
Cities of Refuge
This is all very clearly demonstrated in the Cities of Refuge God
sets up in the Land of Israel. This is an odd concept. Six cities
are set up as cities of Refuge. If you accidentally kill someone,
you can flee to them, and the family (who now probably hate
you) are not allowed to kill you as long as you are in the city of
refuge.
“Sanctuary!”
Deuteronomy 19:4-6, 11-13
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“This is the provision for the manslayer, who by fleeing there
may save his life. If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally
without having hated him in the past —
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as when someone
goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand
swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the
handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies — he may flee to
one of these cities and live.
By contrast, if someone murdered someone, even if he fled to
a City of Refuge, it was an entirely different story:
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“But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and
attacks him and strikes him fatally so that he dies, and he flees
into one of these cities,
12
then the elders of his city shall send
and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of
blood, so that he may die.
13
Your eye shall not pity him, but you
shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it
may be well with you.
What is the dividing line? What is the actual difference between
these two?
…without having hated him…
…if anyone hates his neighbor…
Same action. Same effect. They would have a trial and the elders
would ask this question: did the killer
hate
his neighbor? If so,
death; if not, refuge and sanctuary.
The root of murder is hate.
And what is hate? Hate is sustained anger.
Hate is anger
stretched out over time.
The root of murder is hate, anger stretched out over time.
It was always about the heart.
So we see that this commandment,
never murder
, was always
about the heart. It was always about the heart in Leviticus 19,
which sounds like a familiar New Testament passage.
Leviticus 19:17-18
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“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall
reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of
him.
18
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against
the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor
as yourself: I am the LORD.
Now those sound a lot like Jesus’ famous words, sound like the
second half of the Great Commandments:
Love the Lord, your
God…and love your neighbor as yourself.
That was what Jesus
was quoting.
Right there we see the heart of murder: Hate. Hate wedded to
action is murder. We understand that quite often the difference
between hate and action in murder is more of opportunity and
means than self-control. If I have contempt, and I have hate,
murder is just a question of time and opportunity.
This guy, Jesus, nailed this one. Best commentary ever on the
Ten Commandments, he got a lot of things just spot on, that
Jesus. Good stuff. He dives right to the heart of murder:
Matthew 5:21-22
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“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall
not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’
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But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be
liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable
to the hell of fire.”
We have hate, anger in the heart, anger stretched out over
time. And we have contempt, calling your brother “Raca,” a
contemptuous insult. And then we have “You fool,” wedding
hate and contempt. “You fool,” by the way, used to sound a lot
harsher. What the translators really want to say, and I have this
continued on next page...
The greater emphasis is on the ownership of human life. God made you and He owns you.
SR • January 2016
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