Today my message is entitled “Say No to Violence. Say Yes to Life! (You Shall Not Murder!)” This is from the Sunday School material being used right now. We are looking at each of the Ten Commandments in a series of sermons and Sunday School lessons. Parents and children will be looking at the same Commandment each week.
First off, we look at Exodus 20:13 in several translations to see how each group of translators state this Commandment.
KJV “Thou shalt not kill”
NIV, ESV “You shall not murder”
Amp, NEB “You shall not commit murder”
Good News “Do not commit murder”
Message “No murder”
NCV “You must not murder anyone”
Webster’s New World Dictionary gives a definition of murder:
“The unlawful and malicious or premeditated killing of one human being by another. To kill with malice.”1
Vines Composite Dictionary
“Exodus 20:13 the word used is Hebrew “rasah”, and since it implies premeditated killing, the commandment is better translated: “Do not murder,” as most modern versions have it.
Rasah means “to kill, murder, slay”. This verb occurs more than 40 times in the Old Testament, and its concentration is in the Pentateuch.”2
Exodus 21:14 NIV
14 “But if a man schemes and kills another man deliberately, take him away from My alter and put him to death.”
Lawrence Richards’ “The Bible Readers Companion” gives us more background on this commandment.
“Murder” is more accurate here than “kill.” The Hebrew rasah is a unique word with no parallel in other societies of the 2nd millennium B.C. It identifies “personal killings,” and includes premeditated murders performed with hostile intent and accidental killings or manslaughter.
The term rasah is not applied to killings in war or to judicial executions. 3
The Wycliffe Bible Commentary says, “The sanctity of human life is upheld, and murder, for any reason, is forbidden. But this command is wrongly quoted in opposition to capital punishment administered by the state. The judicial taking of life in punishment for crime is authorized in Exodus 21, as well as in Romans 13.”4
This all started back in Genesis chapter four, where we read about Cain killing his brother Abel and being sent away from the presence of God. Punishment for sin has come into man’s life, and from then until now sin has caused so much loss of life through murder.
Matthew 5:21 NIV
21 You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.”
Smith’s Dictionary tells us how murder was handled under the law of Moses.
“The duty of executing punishment on the murderer is in the law expressly laid on the “Revenger of blood;” but the question of guilt was to be previously decided by the Levitical tribunal. 5
The Zondervan Topical Bible describes the “Revenger of blood” – a murdered man’s nearest relative had the duty to pursue the slayer and kill him (Numbers 35:19) but the slayer could flee to a city of refuge, where he would be tried and then either turned over to the avenger or be protected. (Numbers 35:9-34; Deuteronomy 19:1-10). 6
The “City of Refuge” was where a person accused of murder could run to for sanctuary until his case was before the courts. As long as he stayed in the city, no “revenger of blood” could harm him.
Until Jesus came to earth as a man, that was the way judgment was handled. Jesus came to give mankind a new way of handling judgment, a new method of “punishment”, new laws to follow.
Jesus, in Matthew 5:17 NIV, states “Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Jesus also gave two new laws that encompass the Ten Commandments.
Matthew 22:36-40 NIV
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
1 John 3:11-12 NIV
11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.
Galatians 6:1-2 NIV
1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
James 2:12-13 NIV
12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,
13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Romans 13:9-10 NIV
9 The commandments, “do not commit adultery,” “do not murder,” “Do not Steal,” “Do not Covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “love your neighbor as yourself.”
10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
I started this message with “Say No to Violence. Say Yes to Life”
Having looked at ‘what is murder’ and ‘what is the result of murder,’ then what Jesus says we are to do with a murderer, now we need to put it into practice. Love the murderer, forgive and show mercy – just as God has done for you!
Murder forbidden
Matt.19:18
1 Peter 4:15
1 John 3:15 *
Punishment of willful
Gen. 9:5,6 *
Ex. 21:12
Lev. 24:17,21 *
Num 35:16-34 *
Deut 19:11
Prov 28:17
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