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Thou shall not kill. One of God's commandments. Does it include self defense killing, state mandate punishment for murder?
"And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;...a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him."
Adam and Eve's sons were Cain, a farmer, and Abel, a shepherd. Each brought the best that they had had produced as a sacrifice to God. God accepted Abel's sacrifice of meat but rejected Cain's grain offering. Cain's resultant disappointment turned to anger; he killed his brother. God cursed Cain for the murder and sent him to wander the earth. God also put a mark on Cain's body so that nobody who saw him would be motivated to kill him. If anyone killed Cain for the murder of his brother, that person would be very severely punished. Here, banishment and exile is the penalty for murder; capital punishment is specifically prohibited.
The first mention of capital punishment as a penalty for murder is in Genesis 9:6:
"Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man."
This passage regards the killing of a human as an offense against God because humans were made in the image of God, both male and female. Unlike the previous passage which required that the murderer be merely exiled, this verse required the murderer to be killed.
If sufficient proof were provided that a person had committed this crime, the state imposed the death penalty on the guilty person(s). They were either stoned to death, impaled on a stick or burned alive. Witnesses who testified at the trial would often participate in the killing.
To their credit, the courts of ancient Israel required very high levels of proof of criminal behavior before they would order the death penalty.
In USA todays society is lawful to kill in self defense, kill unborn babies and some times mercy killing is allowed and not punished. Not long ago the killing of a young woman who had a brain malady that unable her to become a productive citizen was permitted by the state because her ex-husband, who showed no love or concern for her welfare decide her wanted her dead. Of course money was the reason, she had insurance. Her parents who had been taking care of her were denied their own child and kicked aside. They were willing and had been taking care of her. But evil prevailed on this murder and she was starved to death. A curse on the state and the nation who allowed such a thing. A curse on her ex-husband and all who were involved in killing the poor woman. Do you think God is not going to punish or that he is going to over look such a murderous evil behavior? I say not.
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Posted by airsjc on 2008-07-22 07:15:37 | Rating: | Views: 9
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