Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

MURDER

Strictly speaking, the willful or premeditated deprivation of human life. Because of the complications of determining motive, the discussion of murder in the Bible is placed in a broader context of the deprivation of life. A basic distinction is made between premeditation and an act of God (Exod. 21:12-13). Furthermore, distinction is made between premeditation and inadvertence, or accident. Premeditation is determined by previous enmity (Num. 35:20-21; Deut. 4:42), the act of ambush (Num. 35:20; Deut. 19:11) or possession of a weapon of lethal potentiality (Num. 35:17-19). Inadvertence is designated as “without intent” (Num. 35:11, 15; Deut. 19:4).

The punishment stipulated for murder is capital (Exod. 21:12; Lev. 24:17). Asylums were designated to ensure proper trials (Num. 35:9-34; Deut. 4:41-43; 19:1-13; Josh. 20:1-9). The practice of asylum appears designed to regulate the custom of blood vengeance and vendetta (Num. 35:19; Deut. 19:12). Other provisions were the multiplicity of witness (Num. 35:30), and the rejection of bail (v. 32; cf. one exception in Exod. 21:28-30). Unlike other ancient near Eastern law codes, the biblical codes do not discriminate according to class, though it is impossible to gauge to what extent this was the actual practice.

Distinctions are applied within the intentional deprivation of life. The killing of a murderer was not considered murder. Killing someone out of self-defense could also be excluded from being considered murder (Exod. 22:2[MT 1]). Killing in war is also excluded (Deut. 20:13). In the case of unsolved murders, the community enacts a ritual of expiation (Deut. 21:1-9).

The Decalogue compactly prohibits the unlawful deprivation of life (Exod. 20:13; Deut. 5:17). The command is often translated “You shall not murder,” yet the Hebrew word (rāṣaḥ) can also refer to unintentional homicide (Num. 35:25-28; Deut. 4:41-42; Josh. 20:3). Thus the impulse of the commandment seems to extend further than mere murder, to the deprivation of life in general. Connected to this is the recognition that external acts reach back to internal inclinations. Sirach designates economic oppression as murder (Sir. 34:24-27). The NT closely aligns murder with inclinations of enmity (Matt. 5:21-26, 38-48; 1 John 3:15), but this is present in principle in the OT (Lev. 19:17-18).

As foreign empires began to exercise increasing control over Judea, jurisdiction over murder moved into the hands of the foreign states (Ezra 7:25-26). Paul affirms this authority as derivative from God (Rom. 13:4).

Bibliography. M. Greenberg, “Some Postulates of Biblical Criminal Law,” in Yehezkel Kaufmann Jubilee Volume, ed. M. Haran (Jerusalem, 1960), 5-28; B. S. Jackson, “Reflections on Biblical Criminal Law,” JJS 24 (1973): 8-38; repr. in Essays on Jewish and Comparative Legal History. SJLA 10 (Leiden, 1975), 25-63.

Gerald M. Bilkes

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

MURDER

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)