You shall not kill. Exodus 20:13
It would seem that of all the commandments, this prohibition against murder is the easiest one to fulfill. After all, comparatively few actually commit this act in their lifetimes. We are aware of our Lord’s expansion of this commandment to include anger and insults (Matt. 5:22), but it is very hard for most of us to make the connection between what seems to be common practice (anger and insults) with such a radical act of violence as murder. Perhaps Jesus was talking in hyperbole here like He does a few verses down when He suggest that we pluck out our eyes, or cut off our hands to avoid adultery?
To understand this commandment, we need to look at the previous covenant that God made with all humanity through Noah (Gen. 9). The two prohibitions of this covenant tell us something about the human race since the fall from grace: the human race is bloodthirsty. We are not to eat the flesh improperly drained of its blood like animals do in the kill, and we are not to kill a fellow human being. Violence and animalistic behavior became so prevalent before the judgment of the flood that God placed requirements on the human race to protect the image of God in man. In fact, the reason God gives us for not shedding human blood is because God made man in the image of God. To strike out against another person is really to strike out against God in the most concrete manner possible.
Even without this theological reason it is universal to the conscience of humanity that murder is wrong. So Chrysostom:
How was it then when he said, “You shall not kill,” that he did not add “because murder is a wicked thing?” The reason was that conscience had already taught this beforehand. He speaks thus, as if to those who know and understand the point.
Homilies Concerning Statues 12.9
This fifth commandment of the Mosaic covenantal law code picks up on this old universal law of the Noachian covenant and natural law itself. The prohibition tells us something uncomfortable about ourselves. There is the potentiality of murder in every human heart. We might even go so far to say that there is a monster in us all lurking within the depths of our soul, just below the surface of our consciousness. Given the right situation, all of us by nature, in spite of our outward civility and smiles, would commit the act. Perhaps this explains why most of us, even Christians, are so fascinated with murder mysteries and violence on the media; on some level it is vicarious murder without actually involving our own hands. How we ache to see the “bad guy” killed and justice served. By this we focus all our energies outwardly to the evil around us so that we are absolutely blind to the murder that is in our own hearts.
It is commonly believed in Orthodox Christianity that every human being bears guilt in every human crime. We see this in Dostoevsky’s brooding novels like The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment. This is very mystical, and we certainly do not come about it with our reason, but somehow I find it a very arresting thought. Perhaps this is where Jesus wants us to go in His expansion of this commandment in the Sermon on the Mount were he equates anger and insults with murder. What violence rages within us! All violence is somehow our violence! Oh how we flare up against other persons made in the image of God with our own overinflated idea of justice. What would we do if the right buttons were pushed at the right time? What we must come to fear is not others and external evil as much as ourselves and what is inside of each of us. If we cannot see the murder in our own hearts, we cannot see at all; we remain superficial and dangerous.
Be this as it may, this law in and of itself cannot stand alone without qualification. As we see, these “command laws” of the Ten Commandments are followed up with “case laws” we will soon see in what is called the “Covenant Code” in chapters 21-23, specifically Chapter 21:12-36 where we see unpremeditated murder, accidental killing, and death brought about by negligence are dealt with. Note that there is not a separate word in Hebrew that distinguishes “murder” from “killing” as we have here in English.
All this does not address the problem of sanctioned killing in the Bible. Capital punishment obviously did not fall under this commandment, and its justice was not questioned. Indeed, as we have noted before in our post Introductory
Thoughts on Law, breaking of any of these Ten Commandments was considered a criminal offense liable to capital punishment. Moreover, the notion of holy war as an unavoidable reality is fundamental to the world view of the Old Testament. We will deal with this later. We will only say here what Augustine teaches:
What about the prohibition, “you shall not kill,” which is also there? If killing is evil in every respect, how will the just who, in obedience to a law, have killed many, be excused from this charge? The answer to this question is that he does not kill who is the executer of a just command.
On Lying 13.23
Takeaway: There is a difference between “killing,” distinguished by “murder” in the English language, and just killing executed by the command of God. We are all closer to murder in our hearts than we think.
Questions: Killing, whether it be criminal, or done as justice, is perhaps the most startling action taken by humanity. 1) Does killing seem all that remote from you? If so, why? If not, explain.
Resources Used:
ACCS, vol. III, p. 106