Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.

Poor Mr. Smith! Let’s Ignore The Victim.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is in an uproar again. The state of Alabama executed convicted murderer Kenneth Smith using Nitrogen Gas, in a procedure called nitrogen hypoxia. Smith was a part of a crew hired to murder Elizabeth Sennett. He and John Forrest Parker stabbed her to death in her home, on instructions from her husband. Convicted of murder, Smith sat on death row over 20 years. He was executed almost 36 years after he brutally assisted in murdering this woman. Alabama had tried to execute him by lethal injection (the procedure used to kill Parker) but failed because they were unable to find a suitable vein. Executed by nitrogen hypoxia, the ACLU said “Mr. Smith shook, convulsed, writhed, and gasped for minutes until he was pronounced dead at least 22 minutes after the execution began, though just how long it took is unknown since Alabama closed the execution curtain before the official time of death”.

I wonder how long Elizabeth Sennett “shook, convulsed, writhed, and gasped” as Smith and Parker drove knives into her body? Did those men deserve to die because they callously took her life? Does the state have the right to execute murders? The answer to both questions is an emphatic YES!

Tonight we’re going to look at The Sixth Commandment, and what this commandment entails. The world’s oldest profession is farming, as Adam was placed in the “Garden of Eden to work it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15).

The first sin ever committed was to ignore the clearly presented Word of God (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:1-7) in order to follow self. The second sin committed was when Cain ignored God’s Word as his father Adam did, and murdered his brother (Genesis 4:6-8).

Murder and killing has been with humanity since our beginning. The prohibition on murder is the one command that everyone agrees with, though not everyone agrees with how murderers are to be dealt with. Three well known characters in the Bible, Moses (Exodus 2:11-15), King David (2 Samuel 11), and the Apostle Paul before he was saved (Acts 8:1; 22:19-20; 26:9-11) were guilty of murder. Moses killed an Egyptian Taskmaster. King David killed Uriah, so he could take his wife in adultery. Saul, before he was Paul, murdered Christians. All three – though never executed – suffered horribly because of their actions.

God told David that “the sword will never depart your house because you despised Me, and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own wife” (2 Samuel 12:10). It is a universal Law of God …

Galatians 6:7 (ESV) Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

David’s conscience bothered him his entire life. In Psalm 51 he wrote “my sin is ever before me” (vs 3) and “deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation” (vs 14). Not only did David have to contend with his conscience, his son Absalom rose up against him, and sought to murder his own father so he could take the throne of Israel. Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness of Midian a fugitive because of his actions. The Apostle Paul never forgot what he did, saying “I am CHIEF OF SINNERS” (1 Timothy 1:15).

Murder is a sin that demands the greatest of punishments. Though the first murderer, Cain, was not executed for his sin, he was marked for life (Genesis 4:15) as a living sign that God despises murder! Life is a sacred gift from God.

In America, someone is murdered every 30 minutes. In 2023 there were 18,450 people murdered in the United States, close to half the population of Maury County. Though the ACLU would have you believe that America has the highest homicide rate, we have about 7.8 homicides per 100,000 people. Any murders are too many, but third world countries like El Salvador, Jamaica, South Africa, Nigeria, Mexico, etc, have 4 to 6 times higher numbers. The farther a people get away from the God of the Holy Bible, the more cavalier they are about the value of life.

Slide 4

Proverbs 29:18 (ESV) Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.

Children are fed a diet of video games simulating murder and mayhem, and television often glorifies the taking of life. One source I found noted that by the time an American youth reaches 18 years old, that child will have witnessed 80,000 murders by television, movie, or video games.

What Does The Sixth Commandment Forbid?

Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.

Word Study: The Sixth Commandment is only 4 words in the English, but just two words in the Hebrew: lō’ rāṣaḥ (pronounced raw-tsakh’). Literally, these words mean “No Murder” or “No Assasination”. The word is only found 47 times in 40 verses in the Bible. There are other Hebrew words in the Bible for “kill”, but rāṣaḥ refers to unlawful killing.

Not all killing is unlawful. Some killing is decreed of God, Who is the Giver of life. Murder is when you take life outside of the will of God.

For instance, God allows you to defend yourself and your property. The Bible says:

Job 24:14 (ESV) The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief.

Exodus 22:2-3 (ESV) If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, 3 but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay.

If someone sneaks into your home and tries to do you or your family harm, you are allowed to kill that person. If the sun is up, and you can thwart the invader without killing him, you should do so – for life is precious. But God does not expect you to allow others to sneak in and hurt your family.

In the Book of Esther, there was a plot against the Jews. The King of Persia allowed Mordecai to write an edict of protection for Israel, saying:

Esther 8:11 (ESV) … saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods …

The purpose of government is to protect the lives of its citizens. When King David directed that General Joab “set Uriah {the husband of Bathsheba} in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down and die” (2 Samuel 11:15) David was guilty of murder for hire. As leader of Israel, it was his responsibility to protect the citizens of Israel (and Uriah was a good citizen), not to us his office to murder a man to take his wife in adultery. God condemned David, saying:

2 Samuel 12:9 Why have you DESPISED THE WORD OF THE LORD, TO DO WHAT IS EVIL IN HIS SIGHT? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites …

Was it wrong for Alabama to execute Kenneth Smith? Is this murder, and forbidden by the Sixth Commandment? Absolutely not! Government is ordained of God to protect the lives of its citizens. God told humanity when Noah disembarked from the Ark:

Genesis 9:3-6 (ESV) Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

God established human government to protect the lives of its citizens. When a person violates the will of God, God has the right to receind the life that He gave. God told Israel as they gathered at Sinai for the giving of the Law:

Exodus 19:11-13 (ESV) … be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. 13 No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.”

God demanded that His Presence and His Word be respected. If anyone treated God’s Presence in a cavalier manner, God demanded that the COMMUNITY TAKE THAT LIFE. The Apostle Paul talks about the responsibility of human government to exercise CAPITAL PUNISHMENT in:

Romans 13:1-4 (ESV) Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.

God ordains government to “BEAR THE SWORD”, that is, to execute capital punishment on those who threaten the life of its citizens. We are not to avenge ourselves (“do NOT avenge yourselves; leave room for God’s wrath … vengeance belongs to God, He will repay” – Romans 12:19). We are to allow God’s government to avenge murder. In the same Book that God forbade MURDER, He said:

Exodus 21:12-14 (ESV) Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. 13 But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. 14 But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.

In the Law of God, the Lord differentiated between MANSLAUGHTER and MURDER. Murder was intentional. Manslaughter was accidental. Those guilty of manslaughter could run to a city of Refuge, and would not lose their lives. But the willful murderer was to die! Period!

In Numbers 35:9-34 God told Israel to set up six …

Numbers 35:11-18 (ESV) cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there. 12 The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. 13 And the cities that you give shall be your six cities of refuge. 14 You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge. 15 These six cities shall be for refuge for the people of Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills any person without intent may flee there. 16 “But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. 17 And if he struck him down with a stone tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. 18 Or if he struck him down with a wooden tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death.

The MANSLAYER who accidentally and unintentionally killed someone could go to a city of refuge, and there have his or her case examined. If the action was unintentional, the person stayed at that city of refuge – kind of like a better class of prison. But if it was intentional, God decreed “The murderer shall be put to death”.

Accidental deaths were considered MANSLAUGHTER, but deaths that could have been prevented but were not were also considered acts of murder. For instance, in the holy land the people of Israel often spent the hottest days on the roofs of their homes. God told the Israelite:

Deuteronomy 22:8 (ESV) When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.

A “parapet” is a low, protective wall or guard rail along the edge of a roof, bridge, or balcony that keeps someone from accidentally walking off the side. If you failed to put up a parapet, then you brought “the guilt of blood upon your house”, that is,you could bew considered a murderer. You knew better, and heard God’s decree – but ignored it and someone died. One Jewish Commentary notes:

“The parapet had to have a minimum size of 10 hand-breadths. The law of the parapet applies only to flat roofs on which people can walk. The Talmud (Bava Kama 15b) records that the second-century teacher, Rabbi Nathan, extended the law of the parapet to prohibit keeping a vicious dog or a precarious ladder in the home.”

Again, the difference between murder and manslaughter is based on intent and deliberation. The Bible says:

Exodus 21:28-29 (ESV) When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable. 29 But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.

If a person owned an ox – which was commonly used to plow fields – if that ox gored someone and killed them, the ox was to be put down while the owner was fined (see verses 30-32). However, if the ox had gored someone before “and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in”, then BOTH the ox and the owner were to be executed. Why? Because the owner showed the same carelessness for life that a common murderer would have. It was a preventable death, and hence was MURDER.

Why Does God Require The Death Penalty For Murder?

God is the Giver of Life, and so God has the right to remove life any time He desires. When God takes life, He is not murdering – He is just removing the gift He gave. When the earth became so filleds with evil that God determined it was unredeemable, the Bible says:

Genesis 6:11-13 (ESV) Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

The Bible says “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1). God can do what He will with His creation, just as you can do with what belongs to you. But Beloved, your soul is the Lord’s. He says, “BEHOLD, EVERY SOUL BELONGS TO ME” (Ezekiel 18:4). You were made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and were made to glorify God. When you murder someone, you are taking something that does not belong to you. As Job said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21). God can do what He wants with what is His – but we have no right to take life outside of the will of God.

As we have said before, the taking of life inside of the lawful government of nations is not murder. Divine punishment is not murder. The soldier who takes life under the direction of lawful government authority is not a murderer. Accidental killing is not murder.

Murder is to unlawfully and unbiblically take a life. Suicide is self murder. Abortion is murder (Psalm 51:5; Luke 1:15; Psalm 139:6). Murder is horrible, because it robs God of His property, and fails to honor the God Who gave that life. God can forgive the murderer, because He has forgiven murderers. God forgave Moses, King David, and the Apostle Paul.

God can use the murderer for His glory. But unless God intervenes – and He has the right to intervene – the murderer is supposed to pay life for life under capital punishment.

God can use the murderer. God used a murderer named Barabbas to execute His Son for our sins. The day that Jesus died for us on Calvary, the Governor Pilate offered to release Jesus and execute Barabbas. The crowd cried out:

Luke 23:18 (ESV) … Away with this man {Jesus}, and release to us Barabbas…

The Lord of Life died instead of Barabbas who deserved it. The Bible says “{Pilate} released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.”

Barabbas was a known murderer (Mark 15:6-7) but Jesus, Who had done no wrong, went to the horror of the Cross. Peter preached:

Acts 3:13-15 (ESV) The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.

Jesus was murderered in a murderers place (Acts 7:51-53) for our sins, according to the Will of God (Acts 2:23-24; 4:27-28). Murderers do NOT go to Heaven (Revelation 21:8) unless they receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. He died for us all, so that we might all find life in Him.

Life is precious. The root cause of murder is selfishness, and self centered lovelessness (Matthew 5:21-22; 1 John 3:15-18). Jesus died on the Cross so that He might defeat the sin that so enslaves us, and ruins our lives. Life is precious. God does not want us squandering the great gift He has given us. Jesus was murdered for us, so that rising from the grave He could offer us lives that we cherish and enjoy. I will close with this passage from Hebrews:

Hebrews 12:22-24 (ESV) … you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

When Abel was killed by Cain, his blood cried out for vengeance. God said to Cain, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.” (Genesis 4:10-11). But when Christ was murdered, His Blood cries out in a different way. PastorDan Shambro wrote:

“Abel’s blood cried out, ‘Let my murderer be cursed in payment for my death’. Jesus’ Blood cries out, ‘Let My death be the curse in payment for My murderers.”

Murder must never be justified by the state. But those on death row have hope, the same blessed hope we all have. They have Jesus. If they would but turn to Him, repenting, their next chapter will not be eternal punishment but everlasting life. Oh, that all people would discover the joy of life in Christ. May God the Holy Spirit draw you to Christ this very day. Amen and Amen.