Murder defined (Exodus 21:12-14)

From Mt. Sinai, God issued ten commandments for the people of Israel. The sixth, “Thou shalt not kill,” (Exodus 20:13) was not God’s first word about murder, nor would it be His last. He had pleaded with Cain against murder (Genesis 4:6-7), demonstrated His displeasure with human violence (Gen. 6:13), and decreed the just punishment of murderers (Gen. 9:5-6), but until Sinai He had not issued a simple dictum prohibiting murder.

In these strong words we don’t have a full description of murder. Questions remain that will be answered in subsequent passages. Is every killing of a human being murder? What about killing in self-defense or war? What about accidental death? What if the victim was a slave or an unborn baby? Greater meaning unfolds in Exodus 21, starting with verses 12-14:

“He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. However, if he did not lie in wait, but God delivered him into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee. But if a man acts with premeditation against his neighbor, to kill him by treachery, you shall take him from My altar, that he may die.” —Exodus 21:12-14

The first sentence reiterates Gen. 9:5-6, saying the person who kills another human being must die. Killers should be taken from God’s altar—presumably where guilty souls would run for sanctuary, or because they’re pretending to be right with God—and executed. God does not ignore murder because it’s an attack on His imagebearer. God cannot abide with murderers (Revelation 22:14-15); they cannot stand in His holy presence (Psalm 15).

Murderers must be killed to satisfy God’s holiness and justice, but who should carry out the execution? This passage does not say, but Gen. 9:5-6 hinted it would be the victim’s brother. 

The second sentence suggests not all killings should result in capital punishment and offers some parameters. Killings that were not premeditated, did not involve treachery, and in which the killer did not lie in wait for his victim would not end in death would not end in the death of the killer; he could run to a place of sanctuary. 

These deaths are said to involve God delivering the victim into the killer’s hand. It’s hard to fathom the mysterious space between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. On the one hand, God makes murderers completely responsible for their deeds yet is willing to acknowledge a victim’s untimely death as being within His plan. As the Sovereign over life and death, He chooses when we will live and die (1 Samuel 2:6). 

We have only to look at the murder of Jesus Christ for an example of this conundrum (Luke 22:22; Acts 2:22-23, 3:14-19, and 4:26-28). God held Judas, Pilate, the Romans, the Jews all responsible for Jesus’ death because they desired it, but Jesus Himself acknowledged it was God’s will (Matthew 26:39, Isaiah 53:10). Jesus submitted to His killers and later offered them forgiveness through repentance and faith in Him! The seeming contradiction or paradox between these truths as taught in the Bible is known theologically as an antimony. 

We need to know more about murder

While Exodus 21:12-14 expands on “Thou shalt not kill,” it still does not answer every question. More insight into the nature of murder and how it should be handled came years later, just as Israel was about to enter the Promised Land, and again as the land was being settled. In Numbers 35, Deuteronomy 19, and Joshua 20. God showed He was very concerned about the proper handling of murder cases. 

In these passages:

►Cities of refuge are identified as the places to which manslayers could flee. These passages specify where they should be, who was in charge, who should be sheltered, and even that roads to the cities should be improved so that refuge could be easily attained. These cities were a merciful solution to the problem of accidental death caused by another person, but amounted to a sort of jail. Killers eligible to live in them had to stay put until the current high priest died. Otherwise they would risk the wrath of the “blood avenger.”

►Blood avengers are the designated executioners. Presumably this would be a brother or blood relative who will answer the requirement or accountability that God places on the loss of human life (Genesis 9:5-6 and Ex. 21:12). 

►“Manslayer” is used to refer to the person who kills unintentionally while the one who kills intentionally is called a “murderer.”

►Judgment about whether a killer was a manslayer or murderer would involve elders of the city of refuge, judges, priests and/or the congregation. Evidence concerning the deed and the relationship between the victim and his killer would be sought and investigated.

They would consider whether or not there was prior hatred or enmity between killer and victim, supplying motive. Unless the victim was known to have been the killer’s friend and not an object of his hatred, the killer would be handed over to the avenger. 

• Did the killer use a weapon such as an iron object, stone, or wooden object sufficient for killing? 
• Did the killer push the victim in hatred, or throw something from ambush, or strike a blow with his hand in enmity? 
• Had the killer sought the victim's harm and lain in wait for him with a premeditated plan?

If any of these conditions were met, the killer was a murderer and his actions were punishable by death. If these conditions were not met, he is a manslayer and should not be turned over to the avenger. The cause of death was accidental. 

Elements of the case would lead to a proper verdict, but no one was to be executed on the testimony of only one witness. 

►These passages warn that both murder and unjust vengeance pollute the land, echoing what Gen. 4:10 said about Abel’s blood crying out to God from the ground. They impress on us the sanctity of human life and the importance of not letting any human death go unresolved. As will be seen in Deuteronomy 21, communities must acknowledge the loss of life and do something about it, even when the cause is unknown. 

►Finally, the Lord told Joshua to make the cities of refuge open to nonJews. Thus the laws concerning murder and manslaughter are universal. Justice is for everyone. Indeed, these laws form the basis of our own laws and punishments concerning homicide and manslaughter.

You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord. —Leviticus 19:18 

Do not devise harm against your neighbor, while he lives securely beside you. —Proverbs 3:29 

The rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you. Thus you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. —Dt 19:20-21

Revisiting the first murder (Gen. 4:8-16)

It’s always puzzled me why God did not demand or require Cain’s death for killing Abel. Was it because the deed fit the category of manslaughter rather than murder? Do these passages shed light on the reason God handled Abel’s death the way He did? 

Cain was forced to wander the earth. He had nowhere to settle, no city of refuge. Cain felt he was being removed from God’s presence (the altar of sacrifice he had just shared with his brother). Does this indicate that, although Cain had struck his brother so that he died, he had not premeditated Abel’s death, lain in wait for him, nor tricked him? Is this why God protected Cain from vengeance?

Cain said something to Abel prior to the killing, but we don’t know what it was. Did he relate what God had said? Or did he entice Abel into the field?

The text says Cain rose up against his brother and killed him, making it seem like a deliberate act, but we don’t know whether Cain had long hated Abel or only in that moment considered him an enemy. This killing seems intentional but could have been spontaneous. Does that make a difference?

The larger biblical context links Cain with murder. The Apostle John, in 1 John 3:11-15, referred to Cain and people who hate their brothers, but uses two different Greek words that could both be translated “manslaughter” or “murder.” 

Ultimately, what Cain did stands forever as a bad example. Abel’s death was left unavenged because the one who should have been his avenger was his killer. Abel’s innocent blood continues to stain the ground and cry out for resolution (Luke 11:49-51; Hebrews 11:4, 12:24).

A couple thoughts about the death penalty:

• The death penalty for murder is not a violation of the principle that mankind is made in God's image; rather it was given in Gen. 9:5-6 to uphold the sanctity of human life.
• Granting that the death penalty is not always carried out justly, those who say it’s not for today seem to be overlooking relevant New Testament passages. In John 19:10-11, Jesus acknowledged Pilate’s God-given right to execute the guilty. In Romans 13:1-4, the Apostle Paul reiterated that right. So, while a very good case could be made that Roman Caesars and other leaders can be very unjust and use their power for unrighteous ends, this does not negate biblical principle.

Next: Murder mystery! (Deuteronomy 21:1-9)

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Image: The City of Refuge, by an unknown illustrator of Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us, compiled by Charles Foster, 1897.