The Bible, Murder, and the Death Penalty

The rejection of capital punishment is but the tip of the iceberg of a society which rejects the standards of its Creator. Looking at our society one wonders whether human life has any meaning anymore. The innocent suffer and the guilty often go free. To fail to execute the murderer is in effect to approve of the murder. Since crime is not pleasant to the victim, neither should the penalty be lenient for the criminal. What a farce it is to see the inequalities of justice today, in which “penalties” for murder hardly exceed those for stealing a bicycle. Who says that crime does not pay?

Take your Bibles, please, turn to Genesis 9:6. We are reading from the King James Version of the Scriptures. The Bible says: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man."

We live in a violent society and many of us live in violent cities. Memphis, Tennessee is consistently rated as one of the top 5 most dangerous cities in the country. It is a city bathed in the blood of murder victims. On average, one person a day is killed in Memphis every year.

The Bible says in Isaiah 1:21:

In Jeremiah 4:31 The people of Israel cried out and said: "Woe is me now! For my soul is wearied because of murderers."

Let me say that I believe the average citizen is wearied by murder and murderers. Whether touched by this terrible crime personally or just enraged by what they have heard or read in the news, people are wearied because of murderers.

We are wearied by serial killers like Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, the Son of Sam, Richard Ramirez, and Jeffrey Dahmer. We are wearied by mass murderers such as Timothy McVeigh, Charles Manson, and the teen-age murderers in our high schools.

We are wearied by dictators who systematically and insanely kill millions of other human beings under their dominion, like Adolf Hitler who killed 6 million Jews and others; Joseph Stalin who killed 30 million of his own Russian people; Idi Amin who killed tens of thousands of his own people in Uganda and even cannibalized his victims' bodies; and Slobodan Milosovech who killed thousands in Bosnia.

We are wearied when we hear of murderers who have their death sentences commuted to life in prison by a bleeding-heart jury.

We were appalled at the murder of Mrs. Lee in Collierville in recent years who was carjacked, beaten, and then murdered in cold blood. The murderers said they debated whether to kill her before senselessly ending her life.

We were enraged even more recently when an elderly grandmother was shot in the back of the head and murdered by bank robbers in a holdup.

First let me say that the death penalty is debated by man.

Liberals cite the "no cruel and unusual punishment" clause of the Constitution in reference to capital punishment and say that capital punishment is just that. But this is not a fair argument because the same Congress that put that in the Constitution also approved the "due process of law" whereby the state is authorized to deprive citizens of "LIFE, liberty, or property." They are the 8th and 5th amendments respectively.

Of YEHOVAH God's 10 commandments or words, the 6th commandment says, "Thou shalt not kill." And the liberals in religion and politics say that rules out capital punishment. But the Messiah interprets and defines that commandment for all. In Matthew 19:18, the Messiah quotes the 6th commandment and changes a word. He substitutes the word MURDER for KILL. He says "Thou shalt do no MURDER." So according to the Messiah the 6th commandment is not talking about self-defense or combat, and most certainly not about capital punishment.

There are those who say that the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime. That is an irrelevant argument because the death penalty is primarily a punishment -- that is why it is called capital punishment. It is secondarily meant to be a deterrent.

Another thing the liberal will say is that we are becoming the murderer when we carry out the death penalty, that society is just as guilty as the convicted killer, and that our culture is lowering itself to barbarism. But that is not so according to the Bible.

John Stuart Mill was a British liberal of the 18th century who was for the death penalty. In a speech he made in favor of capital punishment he said it would not deter the "hardened criminal," but it most certainly would deter the average criminal and the normal citizen.

Secondly, the death penalty has been decreed by YEHOVAH God.

In Genesis 9:6 YEHOVAH God instituted the death penalty for murderers. According to the Bible:

1. Murder is an attack on YEHOVAH's creation -- Genesis 9:6.
2. Murder is a work of Satan -- John 8:44.
3. Murder is a work of the flesh -- Galatians 5:21.
4. Murder originates in the heart of man -- Matthew 7:21.

In Numbers 35:16-21 the penalty for murder is death. It says the murderer shall be put to death.

In Numbers 35:30, and in Deuteronomy 19:15 and 17:6, a murderer's guilt is to determined by a court of law, and that "by the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses..." the murderer shall be put to death."

Let me say that there are exceptions: anything other than pre-meditated, 1st degree murder, does not merit the death penalty. Mitigating factors are considered: For example -- was it intentional, done with "malice aforethought" (hatred), or accidental?

Another interesting fact is that no one did life in prison in the Old Testament for murder. There was no alternative to the death penalty for a murderer according to Numbers 35:31, 32.

There are four categories of punishment mentioned in Ezra 7:26 -- confiscation of goods, imprisonment for a prescribed time, banishment from the nation, and death. The Bible is clear that the death penalty is decreed by YEHOVAH God Almighty.

Number three, let me say that the death penalty is deserved by the murderer.

The Bible speaks of those who are worthy of death in Deuteronomy 17:6 -- it says "...he that is worthy of death [shall] be put to death."

In Acts 25:11 the apostle Paul said, "If I have committed anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die" -- one of the greatest Christians of the New Testament ecclesia said he would not object to being put to death if he had committed a crime deserving of capital punishment.

For a modern-day illustration, do you remember Karla Fay Tucker in Texas? Governor George W. Bush would not commute her sentence. She was due to be executed for murdering her lover with an ice pick. She was the first woman executed in Texas since the Civil War. She had become a Christian while in prison, and many believed she had a genuine conversion to the Messiah. Pat Robertson and the Pope interceded for her; even policemen and some of the victim's family pled in her behalf. Yet Governor Bush would not change her sentence, saying that the courts had decided her fate, and that she deserved to pay her debt to society with her life. Ms. Tucker did not protest her execution, but accepted it as the law of YEHOVAH God and man determined it.

Even the Messiah did not protest his own death when he was falsely accused, framed and executed. If the Messiah had protested his execution and succeeded in averting his death on the tree, you and I could not even be saved. Think about that for a while.

Fourthly, capital punishment is the duty of Government.

According to the Bible, in Romans 13:4 the rulers and state officials "beareth not the sword in vain: for he [the officer of the state] is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil."

Government is charged with the duty of carrying out YEHOVAH's decree. Government is to try them, convict them, and then execute them!

In the Bible and in the world there are various methods of capital punishment. There is hanging, the electric chair, the firing squad, the gas chamber, lethal injection, the guillotine, stoning, and the sword.

The word "capital" in capital punishment refers to the head of the executed criminal, the "cap." Just like in baseball "cap."

In the United States of America:

(d) Capital punishment was banned by the US Supreme Court in 1972 (the same court that legalized the murder of babies by abortion also banned the execution of killers!)

(e) In 1976, capital punishment was again legalized by the US Supreme Court and the states were allowed to decide. (At the end of 1997, 12 states still did not have the death penalty.)

(f) Tennessee recently executed its first criminal since 1963. (There are still more than 90 on death row in Nashville.)

Ecclesiastes 8:11 is a Bible verse that gives a principle we all need to consider. It says: "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil."

Government is charged with the responsibility of carrying out the death penalty. And when the State doesn't fulfill its obligation under YEHOVAH God and to man, and it doesn't do it speedily, it encourages the rampant crime and murder we see in our society today.

Lastly, capital punishment is demanded by justice.

The punishment must fit the crime; it must be equal to or greater than the offense, never less or none. According to Numbers 35:33 justice demands that the death penalty be enforced; justice demands that the murderer be punished with the ultimate penalty, in order to protect society, to prevent the murderer from any possibility of repeating his crime, and to cleanse the land that has been polluted by the act of murder.

We should say, "We're mad and we're not going to take it anymore! Let's CLEAN UP this country!!!" Let's do what the Bible says and "cleanse the land" by emptying death row in every state of the union -- and not by releasing them!.

As the blood of righteous Abel cried out from the ground for vengeance and justice, the blood of tens of thousands in America cries out from the ground for the same.

Man DEBATES it.

And Justice DEMANDS it.

In the Bible, all of us are charged with the murder of YEHOVAH's first-born Son, Yeshua the Messiah (Acts 7:52). We are guilty of death -- eternal death, sentenced to a Lake of Fire for our sin (Revelation 21:8). But YEHOVAH God can do something that no man can do. He can pardon us if we repent. Our sins nailed the Messiah to the tree. We are responsible for his death because of our sins. But if we will repent of our sins, and recognize our elder brother as our savior, we can be forgiven by YEHOVAH God and saved.

The apostle Paul taught that the State is ordained by YEHOVAH God as a means of enacting social justice according to the Law of YEHOVAH God. See Romans 13:4, where he says that the magistrate has the authority to use the sword to punish certain wrong-doers. If that does not refer to capital punishment, then what does it refer to? That it means execution by decapitation is clear from Mark 6, and it is probable that Paul was reiterating the Messiah’s own formula: “All that take the sword must perish by the sword” (Matthew 26:52, Revelation 13:10). Furthermore, and as we have already noted, when Paul himself was on trial he stated, “If I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die” (Acts 25:11). Obviously he felt that some crimes are deserving of death.

Some feel that the Messiah set aside the Law on the subject by pardoning the woman caught in adultery (John 8). Actually, if you read Numbers 35:30 you will find that at least two witnesses for the prosecution were necessary. Since nobody was willing to testify, much less participate in the execution, the Messiah did not pass judgment. In addition, the Messiah was not the legal magistrate or executioner as such, nor were the Judeans at that time (John 18:31). Hence he refused to go along with a lynch mob (Exodus 23:2).

The greatest proof that the Messiah believed in capital punishment is the fact that YEHOVAH God chose it as the means by which He would redeem Israel through the Messiah's sacrifice. Take a good look at Galatians 3. Not only did the Messiah obey YEHOVAH’s Law fully by never sinning, but he also became our legal substitute at the bar of divine justice. “The soul that sins must die” (Ezekiel 18:4), so far as our ultimate destiny is concerned. Therefore “Christ died for sins” (I Corinthians 15:3). He was accounted as guilty of our sins and was punished accordingly.

This took place through YEHOVAH God’s Civil Law as well, remember. That means that the Messiah was treated as a murderer, as Luther put it, and therefore suffered the death penalty. Not only did this accomplish atonement for those of us of Israel but it also exemplified and established the Law (Romans 3). And don’t forget the truth so eloquently confessed by one of the murderers who was crucified with the Messiah: “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve; but this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:410).

Now some Christians admit that capital punishment is taught in the Old Testament but deny that it is the ethical norm for us who live in the New Testament era. This overlooks the explicit statements of Paul and the Messiah, but it also ignores the basic fact that YEHOVAH’s Law is binding upon the people of all Israel and times. “But”, it is argued, “are we not freed from the Law of Moses?” This is a fine point. Scripture indeed states that there were certain laws or ordinances given through Moses which were meant only until the the Messiah came. When the Messiah appeared, therefore, these ordinances were abolished.

However, the Bible also states that YEHOVAH God’s basic Law (what we generally call the Moral Law) is eternal and unalterable. It was not given only to the Judahites but to every person of Israel revealed through nature and conscience (Romans 1 and 2). Likewise, it preceded Moses and continues after the Mosaic dispensation ceased. Now we contend that the death penalty is based upon this unalterable Moral Law, for it rests upon the sixth commandment.

Would anyone suggest that YEHOVAH God now allows murder? Not only that, but note that capital punishment was given as a law to Noah in Genesis 9 several hundred years before Moses. Noah, you will recall, was the new father of the Adamic race after everyone in the land but he and his family were destroyed in the flood (I Peter 3:20). It was given for all his descendants and that includes those of us of Israel.

The crime which the Scriptures most often specify as a capital offence is malicious homicide, or first-degree murder. Numbers 35:20 defines it as the taking of human life “with malice aforethought....intentionally.” Moses differentiated this from accidental or unintentional killing in Deuteronomy 19:4-6, 11, and Exodus 21:13-14. Murder is committed “with a high hand,” and in today’s jargon we would call it pre-meditated and cold-blooded.

Now some opponents contend that the sixth commandment forbids all taking of human life, including capital punishment. “The death penalty is itself murder,” they argue. Nothing could be further from the truth. First, the command clearly reads in the original Hebrew, “Thou shalt not murder” (Exodus 20:12), and is so interpreted by the Messiah in Matthew 19:18. Any Hebrew dictionary will tell you as much. Second, the very next chapter commands the death penalty (Exodus 21:12-32). Third, surely one would not wish to suggest that literally all killing is wrong. Even a vegetarian kills plants in order to live! Life lives off other life and death. Cruelty to animals is certainly wrong -- how much worse is the murder of human lives. (It is questionable whether one can murder a plant or an animal. Let us not confuse Christianity with Hinduistic or Evolutionary concepts of life).

Both sides agree that it is wrong for anyone to take the life of an innocent man, for that is exactly what murder is. But capital punishment is the direct opposite. That is when the innocent takes the life of one who is guilty of murder. One is forbidden, the other is commanded. Rather than contradicting the sixth commandment, the death penalty is actually based upon and demanded by it. This commandment no more condemns capital punishment as murder than the seventh commandment condemns sexual relations within marriage as adultery.

We repeat: Our sole authority is the Word of YEHOVAH God, not human arguments. And there is no argument against the Word of the Living God. One popular argument has advocates on both sides. This concerns deterring other persons from committing the same crime: “Capital punishment does not stop murders, so let’s stop capital punishment.’” If you look at it for a moment, it begins to appear quite ridiculous, actually. It would be the same as saying: “Jail does not stop theft, so let’s stop jailing thieves.” Don’t you see that this is really calling for the legalization of these crimes?

Furthermore, statistics alone refute this argument to all intelligent persons except those who are prejudiced by a baseless jurisprudence. The death penalty obviously deters the murderer himself, if nobody else, from committing another murder. Don’t forget that many murders are committed by convicted murderers free on parole or suspended sentences, not to mention those serving life sentences. What will deter them in jail if prison is the worst that can punish them? However, the chief end of capital punishment is not to deter the innocent from becoming guilty, but to punish the guilty themselves. Even so, it warns others. “When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong” (Ecclesiastes 8:11).

“But,” says another opponent, “a person should not be executed because we can never really be sure if he is guilty or not.” This is legal nonsense. First, what about confessions and eyewitnesses? Second, it overlooks the fact that most criminal cases, even murder, are resolved fairly easily in the present legal system, weak as it is, compared with Biblical Law. Finally, if one argues that there should be no penalty for the convicted murderer, one cannot logically call for a penalty for anyone convicted of any other crime. Would the proponents of this argument substitute a society of anarchy? Some do.

“Life imprisonment is a penalty more severe than death,” suggests another popular argument, but if this were true then we should find it in Scripture and we do not. And if it were valid, then life imprisonment would be downright cruel and sadistic rather than just. As a matter of fact, the Bible says almost nothing about imprisonment, much less about parole, suspended sentences, plea-bargaining or pleas of temporary insanity, drunkenness or environmental pressure. Unless this is recognized by the magistrates and social psychologists, our society will continue to deteriorate.

An argument similar to the above runs like this: “It is more merciful to forgive than to punish.” Sometimes they who argue thusly appeal to the Messiah and the woman caught in adultery. But apply this in society and there is anarchy. The naivete of this suggestion is equaled only by its ridiculousness. It is not ours to forgive murder in the law courts. The only two who could forgive are the victim (to forgive is to pay the penalty oneself, but the victim is already dead) and YEHOVAH God (and we are not God; besides, YEHOVAH God has already commanded capital punishment).

Anything other than the death penalty is explicitly forbidden by YEHOVAH God as a miscarriage of justice (Numbers 35:31). Moreover, if you plead the necessity of forgiving this crime, which is the worst of all crimes, why not also for all lesser crimes as well? The argument is a non-sequitor.

These critics generally cry that death by execution is a cruel and unusual punishment. Biblically this is blasphemy, for it charges the Almighty Himself with being cruel and tyrannical in laying down the death penalty in His Law. YEHOVAH God instructed specific persons to enforce it (e.g., I Samuel 15:3), and sometimes YEHOVAH Himself carried it out (e.g., Numbers 16). Therefore we unequivocally oppose this argument in all forms.

Opponents sometimes charge that ours is a position of revenge. On the contrary, we warn against lynch mobs which take the law into their own hands (Romans 12:19, Exodus 23:2). More than that, we reply that our antagonists themselves reject true justice by neglecting YEHOVAH’s Law. For instance, they often carp that the criminal is sick, not sinful; he needs treatment in a mental hospital, not punishment in a prison or on a gallows. They thus substitute medicine for morality, and a flexible secularism for an absolute God.

But the Word of YEHOVAH God states that Man is basically evil, not good. Crime is due to sin, not sickness. Man is responsible for his actions. If this were acknowledged there could be both justice and mercy, for there can be no mercy if there is no such thing as justice. If Biblical ethics were applied in the social and legal spheres, these would be possible. Instead we find ourselves rapidly heading towards a macabre nightmare in which an ungodly totalitarian State performs “treatment” on all who do not meet its capricious standard of acceptability. Is this really preferable to the Biblical ideal?

The legal structure of a society needs to recognize a basic tenet of Biblical Law, namely the concept of Lex Tallonis (Law of Retribution). In laymen’s terms this means that the penalty for breaking a law must be equal to the crime itself. “Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7, see Isaiah 59:18). It is the principle of punishment and retaliation, not rehabilitation or reformation. Hence, the purpose of the penalty for breaking the Law is to bring back on the criminal exactly what he has committed. Since crime is not pleasant to the victim, neither should the penalty be lenient for the criminal.

What a farce it is to see the inequalities of justice today, in which “penalties” for murder hardly exceed those for stealing a bicycle. Who says that crime does not pay? Then certain reformers come along and assert “convict and ex-convict rights” in such a way that makes them privileged members of society, not to mention the way in which the media often glorifies criminals and their crimes.

If Biblical Law were enforced, it would be seen that the criminal is the one responsible for his crime and the penalty he has brought upon himself. A murderer in effect takes his own life when he murders someone else. When a life is taken a life is owed, and the debt is owed not so much to society (as is commonly held) but ultimately to YEHOVAH God. Since murder is the greatest crime, the greatest debt is owed -- one’s own life. It does not matter if he is a mass-murderer or the killer of only one. Death is the ultimate penalty.

At this point it might be appropriate to ask our opponents if they would have called for the execution of Adolf Hitler or Osama Bin Laden. Can you imagine the outcry if we were to say, “Oh, the merciful thing to do would be to forgive them. They need treatment, the poor souls, and only for a few years. Let them live and then let them loose on society.” That would be insanity. Now if these fiends deserve hanging, why not the thug who kills an old lady for a handful of change? Our society is so liberal and decadent that the only way to stir up people is by referring to the extreme cases, while the single case is conveniently swept under a carpet of complacency and expediency. The sad thing is that the killer of one is as deserving of death as is the murderer of a million.

That the Bible holds both the State and the citizen responsible carries definite implications. We are sometimes asked, “Could you personally pull the switch which terminates another person’s life?” In most cases we would not be allowed or required to do so unless we were commissioned by the State. Yet in some cases Scripture demands that certain witnesses or next of kin of the victim participate in the execution (Deuteronomy 13:9, 17:7). Incidentally, the Scriptural means of execution are fourfold: stoning, decapitation, burning and hanging. But to answer the question, yes, we could participate in the execution. We would be hypocrites like our opponents if we were to reply otherwise. But the real question is not could we, but should we.

It should be plain, then, that what is really at stake is the Law of YEHOVAH God itself. To the frequently heard argument, “You cannot legislate morality,” our reply is, “If you don’t legislate morality, you necessarily legislate immorality.” Our standard of right and wrong is the Bible, including the Law of YEHOVAH God, and this implicitly negates the option of putting it to a majority vote.

At present, public opinion is certainly in favor of the restoration of the death penalty (a fact which is an embarrassment to the “democratic” opponents of it, who choose to ignore it), but we will not change our position even if public opinion were to change. Popular opinion probably will change, since it has no substantial foundation. But we will not alter our views because they are based on YEHOVAH God’s unchangeable Word.

The rejection of capital punishment is but the tip of the iceberg of a society which rejects the standards of its Creator. Looking at our society one wonders whether human life has any meaning anymore. The innocent suffer and the guilty often go free. To fail to execute the murderer is in effect to approve of the murder. Take heed to this warning: YEHOVAH God judges that society which fails to deal with its killers (Numbers 35:33). Do you now see why the rejection of capital punishment is one of the reasons for the many maladies which our nation suffers? Restoring hanging is not the end-all of the mess we are in, nor can there be national blessing to the optimum without its reinstatement. But it can at least be a start.

Who says the death penalty is right? YEHOVAH God, that’s who.

Hope of Israel Ministries -- Courage for the Sake of Truth is Far better Than Silence for the Sake of Unity!

Hope of Israel Ministries
P.O. Box 853
Azusa, CA 91702, U.S.A.
www.hope-of-israel.org

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