Let’s start by making sure we understanding what this commandment really says because it is often misquoted. In many early translations of the Bible this verse was translated as Thou shall not kill – which led to questions about whether or not killing animals was ok, and then what about capital punishment and war? How could God forbid all killing but then call people to kill animals as part of the sacrificial system of Israel? Or how could God forbid all killing and then call the nation of Israel to head off into war – or give instructions about how to put to death those who have disobeyed the law. All these questions came about because of how early Bibles translated that word. There are eight different words in Hebrew that all refer to killing in and so God gave careful attention to the word he chose and the word was ratsach – which means the intentional taking of an innocent life. More than that, it means to plot and scheme in the taking of someone’s life.
So the word is not just to kill, we are not talking about the accidental taking of a life, we aren’t talking about punishment or the taking of life in the context of war, this is what we would call pre-meditated first degree murder and we know this is what God had in mind because in Exodus 21, as God expands on what these commandments are all about we hear him say (Exodus 21:14). So we first need to be clear that what God is talking about here is the willful taking of another life, we are talking about murder.
Again, most of us are probably still feeling pretty good when it comes to being obedient to this commandment and if we only had the Old Testament teaching, we might be ok, but we have to look at this commandment in light of Jesus teaching as well because Jesus talks about this particular commandment in his sermon on the mount. Look at Matthew 5:21-22. After hearing this, I don’t know about you, but I’m not feeling so confident. When we expand out what God is saying here and look not just at our actions but to our attitudes and the thoughts that lie in our heart – my guess is that we all stand guilty before God because who among us has never been angry with someone or insulted someone? Suddenly I’m not so sure we have this commandment all covered and so like the rest of the 10 Commandments, we have to read it with humble hearts ready to confess our failures and ask God not only for forgiveness but for the strength to live a more faithful life.
So this commandment is not just about the act of murder, it includes the attitudes of our hearts and the thoughts of our mind, but I think it goes deeper than that. This commandment is not just a call to not murder others or to not be angry with others, this is a call to lift up and honor the sanctity of life which makes it radical and revolutionary for its time. Remember when the 10 Commandments were given: Israel had just spent generations as slaves in Egypt and when you live as slaves – life is cheap. Many times slaves aren’t even seen as being fully human so taking their life or treating them in inhuman ways was not seen as a big deal. This wasn’t just true for the Israelites living as slaves in Egypt; we see this wherever there is slavery. It wasn’t that long ago that we saw some of this in our own nation’s struggle with slavery. While some slave owners may have treated their slaves well, they were still considered property and many slave owners didn’t even see slaves as being human beings.
Unfortunately this attitude still remains in many parts of the world today. At last year’s Global Leadership Summit we heard from Christine Caine who helps care for those who have been victims of human trafficking, which is just another name for slavery. Christine told the story of young girls who had been taken from their homes and country and sold to be sex slaves in Europe. When their boat was being tracked by the authorities, their captors simply tossed the girls into the ocean, as if they were simply unwanted cargo. It’s hard for us to imagine that this sort of thing still takes place today, but it does and as long as it does we have to ask ourselves if we are doing all we can to honor and lift up the sanctity of life?
In many ways, this was the context in which Israel lived for generations. As slaves, life was hard and many times life didn’t hold a lot of value. If you remember the story of Moses, the reason his mother put him in a basket and floated him down the river when he was an infant was because the king of Egypt had said that all the Hebrew baby boys were to be killed. God’s people lived in an environment where there was not much value given to their lives, but as God leads his people out of slavery and into a new land he wants them to not only experience a free life, he wants them to learn that there is value in all of life and so this command to not murder is also a command to elevate life and honor all human beings and we need to hear it the same way today. Instead of ignoring this command because we have never plotted or planned to kill someone, we need to stop and ask ourselves if we are doing all we can to honor life. Maybe this means we get involved in issues like human trafficking, or maybe is just means that we begin to see the value and worth and dignity in the people around us with whom we disagree. Can we see value and worth in the people who are different than we are, and are we willing to respect and even love and work with those who might at times make us angry?
As we begin to expand our understanding of what God is calling for here, we not only see that this is challenging but we also begin see our failure in living it out, and while we have failed at times, all hope is not lost because the Bible is a testament to the power of God to forgive and change the hearts and lives of murders. I have to say that I have never really considered this before I read Win Green’s book on the 10 Commandments, but he makes the observation that most of the Bible is written by murders. It’s true! Most of the Bible has been written either by or about murders. Moses, who is believed to have written or at least helped compile the first 5 books of the Bible, was a murder. In his anger and frustration, Moses murdered an Israelite slave. David, who is the subject of 1st & 2nd Samuel and 1st Chronicles and the author of most of the Psalms was also a murderer. While he didn’t actually kill Uriah, he was the one who plotted to have him killed and David was one God held responsible for Uriah’s death. And then there is Paul whose letters to the church fill the New Testament, and Paul authorized the murder of Christians, and it is even recorded in the book of Acts that Paul was the one who held all the coats of the men who stoned Stephen to death.
So a good percentage of the Bible was written by murders. Three of the strongest leaders God has used in all of human history were murders and what this says is that if God can forgive and transform them – he can forgive and transform us as well. So no matter whom we are today, and no matter what our past may hold, God calls us to honor life not just by refraining from anger and envy which can lead to murder, but to honor life by seeing people in a fundamentally different way. Let us look at all those around us as brothers and sisters, children of God who hold within in them the life and breath of God, and let us work for their care and well being.
