Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam
What we call the 6th commandment, "Thou shalt not kill" was quoted by Jesus as "Thou shalt do no murder" in Matthew 19:18.
YHWH made a difference between murder and the taking of life in battle or in capital punishment. God set up provisions for punishing someone who murdered someone else by instituting capital punishment before the law of Moses in Genesis 9:5-6. In the law of Moses capital punishment was to be administered for certain crimes such as murder, adultery, witchcraft, etc. The Apostle Paul reiterates the divine right for government to take a person's life as punishment in some cases in Romans 13:1-8.
One of the ways God has punished people in the past is by killing them. He did this to individuals and to groups. He did this in Noah's day by sending a flood. He did it in Exodus chapter 12 by killing the firstborn in every home that did not have the blood applied to the doorposts. And He did it through Israel to the people who lived in Canaan. Today we would call the way Israel conquered Canaan genocide or ethnic cleansing but it was the way God brought judgment upon them. Later, God brought judgment upon Israel through Babylon. We see that in the book of Habakkuk. This was under the Old Covenant. Under the New Covenant we are not commanded to kill off people to carry out the judgment of God. |
Would you kill a baby, a woman, or an elderly person with a sword, in the name of Jehovah if they were pleading for mercy, regardless of what time frame we are in?