"Thou shall not kill." (Exodus 20:13) The sixth commandment is closely related to the fifth and logically follows it. The fifth deals with the home, the place where life has its origin and is developed. It throws a wall of protection around the family, the beginning of all human relationships. The sixth commandment sets forth the sacredness of human life by protecting and safeguarding it. Because man is of divine origin he is under the sovereignty of the Creator, and his life is a part of God's eternal purpose. As the author of life, God alone can know its value.
Since all life comes from the Creator in whom "we live, and move, and have our being," He alone has the right to withdraw it. The consequences of death are so great and so far beyond the comprehension of man that it would be impossible for him to administer it properly to a fellow creature except under the direction of God. Science has utterly failed in all its efforts to create life or understand its mystery. Before this unfathomable secret the greatest sages of all time have stood baffled, in silent wonder.
Life on this earth manifests itself in three realms--the vegetable kingdom, the animal kingdom, and the kingdom of man. All three of these forms of life come from God and are incomprehensible and unexplainable. Nature is filled with mysteries which science is unable to fathom, and with questions that cannot be answered by finite man. The self-propagation of vegetable life and its development from little seeds or roots into plants and trees which produce the necessities of life for birds, beasts, and mankind, are mysteries beyond the ken of the human mind. The wonder increases as we look at the animal kingdom, which climaxes in human life, before which we stand in reverent awe.
The sixth commandment of the decalogue is doubtless designed to protect life in all its forms, but its chief application is to human life. Although both animal and human life are sustained wholly by vegetable life, which must die in order that the higher forms of life may continue, the Scriptures teach that neither vegetable nor animal life should be unnecessarily wasted. Notwithstanding all the modern efforts to preserve and lengthen human life, the world in general places a low value on it, chiefly because it fails to recognize its divine origin and sacredness. The only answer to the origin and meaning of life is to be found in the Sacred Scriptures, and those who reject or neglect this divine revelation will fail to recognize its importance and sacredness. The greatest evidence of the value of human life was the coming of the Son of God into the world to answer the question, "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?" The value of anything is indicated by the price paid for its possession, and Christ paid the supreme price for man's redemption.
The Command
"Thou shall do no murder" is the Revised Version rendering, and "You shall not murder" is the James Moffatt translation. The Cambridge Bible declares that "the Hebrew word implies violent, unauthorized killing." The sixth commandment forbids the taking of human life because of enmity or hatred. It includes any human life, whether it be our own or that of a fellow being. Man is forbidden to take the life of another either directly or indirectly, either as Cain slew Abel or as David murdered Uriah. The very fact that it is necessary for the Lord to command us not to kill ourselves or others is evidence of the depravity of human nature and the depth to which man has fallen under the curse of sin.
Life is the gift of God, and man has no right to take what he cannot restore. Neither the continuance nor the cessation of life is within the province of man. He must not kill, because he has no power to restore life or undo the act of killing. As far as man is concerned death is final. Murder is also satanic, for the devil was "a murderer from the beginning" and is responsible for the first murder at the gates of Paradise, and for every death that has occurred since.
What Is Not Commanded
"Murder" is a better translation than "kill," for it is impossible even to live without killing. All life owes its existence and continuance to death, as is indicated all through the realm of nature. Life in the animal kingdom is sustained wholly by the death of fellow creatures or the taking of life in the vegetable kingdom. If this command prohibited all killing, strict obedience to it would produce starvation.
We know that the sixth commandment cannot forbid the taking of animal life for food, clothing, or other useful purposes. To Noah the Lord said, "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things." Genesis 9: 3. The Lord commanded His people to kill thousands of animals and birds for sacrificial purposes, and Christ made arrangements for the killing of the Passover lamb, and partook of its flesh with His disciples in the upper room. Although the necessary taking of animal life is allowed, waste of this form of life and unnecessary cruelty are prohibited. Many believe that the Scriptures forbid the taking of animal life for mere sport. Cruelty in the treatment of domestic animals is proscribed in the statement, "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast." (Proverbs 12:10)
Capital Punishment
The death penalty f or the crime of murder is not a violation of the sixth commandment. The Lord has delegated the power of life and death to civil governments to protect the good and restrain the evil. The Lord says: "Surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man." (Genesis 9:5,6; Exodus 21:12,14)
This divine rule was given centuries before the existence of the nation of Israel with its national and ceremonial laws. It points back to and is based on the act of creation. The reason given is just as true and valid today. The taking of human life with malicious intent should be punished with death, for "in the image of God created He him." It is because human life is valuable and sacred. First of all, murder is sin against God, for not only is man created in the image of God but he is God's possession by right of creation. The same principle is set forth in the New Testament. Speaking of civil governments which are "ordained of God" and civil rulers who are the ministers of God, the apostle Paul wrote, "But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." Romans 13: 4. The bearing of the sword indicates the power to execute the sentence of death. The right and duty of capital punishment is of divine origin and sanction, and the legal execution of the death penalty is not murder.
Unintentional Killing
That it is possible to kill human beings without being guilty of breaking the sixth commandment is evident from the provision the Lord made for the protection of those guilty of unintentional slayings done "unawares" or "unwittingly," or without malice aforethought on the part of the slayer. In the city of refuge the slayer was safe from "the avenger of blood" until it was established whether the crime was premeditated or unintentional. If the murder was premeditated, the criminal was denied the sanctuary and was delivered to his pursuers to be put to death. If investigation showed that the crime was without intent to kill, the accuser was permitted to remain in the place of safety. Although deprived of his full liberty till the death of the reigning high priest, he was safe as long as he remained in the refuge city. (See Numbers 35)
This shows that the Lord recognizes a distinction between mere killing and murder. The statement of Christ to Peter, "Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword" (Matthew 26:52), is sometimes used as an argument against capital punishment. The fact is that it proves exactly the opposite. Jesus never spoke contrary to His own laws found in the Old Testament. The person who wields the sword against his neighbor must himself suffer the same penalty by the same weapon. He who ministers death must suffer death. This is the divine law.
Self-Murder
It is evident that suicide, or self-murder, is included in the prohibition of the sixth commandment. God is the giver and owner of human life by right of creation. Also, we are His by right of redemption. Paul declares that we are not our own but have been "bought with a price." Suicide is worse than the murder of another because of the fact that the self-murderer has no opportunity to repent of his sin, and we are clearly told that "no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." (1 John 3:15) "Do thyself no harm," was the command of Paul to the Philippian jailer who was in the act of taking his own life. (Acts 16:28)
There are more than ten thousand suicides a year in this country, and this crime is rapidly increasing among all classes and in all lands. Suicide is a cowardly act to escape what braver men and women patiently bear. Plato said it was a desertion of the post of duty. The Bible records only four suicides, and none of them were good men. They are King Saul; his armor-bearer; Ahithophel, the fellow conspirator with Absalom; and Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus.
Indirect Murder
In the crime of criminal carelessness or negligence, the party responsible for the crime is just as guilty as if he had perpetrated it himself. This also is a divinely given rule: "If an ox gore a man or woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit. But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he bath not kept him in, but that he bath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death." (Exodus 21:28,29)
Likewise the person who plans a crime and gets others to commit it for him is, if possible, more guilty than the person who does the actual deed. David was more of a murderer than Joab and his soldiers who executed his orders to bring about the death of Uriah. Through the prophet Nathan the Lord said to David: "Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and bath slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house." (2 Samuel 12:9,10)
Murder by Degrees
It is possible to kill ourselves by degrees through indulgences and dissipations that are known to be injurious to health. Anything that shortens our own life or the lives of others is a form of suicide and murder. Any pleasure or indulgence engaged in at the price of premature death is a sin included in the sixth commandment. Millions of people who would be shocked at the very thought of suicide or murder are engaged in the prolonged process of self-murder and are digging their own graves with their teeth. Their appetites and passions are killing them. Thousands are carrying on a conscious program of slow suicide and are making no effort to check it. It is a Christian duty to become acquainted with the laws of health and to obey them to the best of one's ability. Appetite is a means to an end and should never be made the end itself. We should eat to live and not live to eat. The sixth command goes with us to the table. It commends and commands practices that produce health and long life and condemns those that impair health and shorten life. It condemns all needless physical risks. In fact, the whole broad subject of healthful living is embraced in the sixth commandment. Like all the other commands, the sixth is "exceeding broad," so that the ten embrace "the whole duty of man."
Most Popular Form of Murder
Someone has truly said that "hate is murder on the way, just as lust is adultery begun, and covetousness is theft in embryo." We are told that Jesus came to "magnify the law," and Matthew 5:21-26 is the sixth commandment under the magnifying glass of spiritual illumination. The Master declared that anger and hatred, which contain the spirit and seeds of murder, make one a potential murderer. The apostle said, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and you know that no murderer bath eternal life abiding in him." (1 John 3:15)
This language cannot well be misunderstood. These texts track murder to its very source. Not alone the fatal blow that strikes down the victim, but also the angry passion that prompts the blow is forbidden. Anger is dangerous, because it eventually hardens into hatred, and the hater is a potential murderer.
It is always proper to hate iniquity provided we love righteousness. Hateful and malicious words are the first weapon used by selfish anger, and they produce deep and deadly, though bloodless, wounds. The uncontrolled tongue "is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." (James 3:8) It is as murderous as a sharp sword, a piercing arrow, or a speeding bullet. It cuts and slashes its victims with murderous intent and purpose. The tongue is the great character assassin, and what form of murder could be more serious in its consequences than that which destroys the character, which alone can take us into the life that is eternal?
The Positive Phase
The positive phase of the sixth commandment is, "Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself." It requires that we have our neighbor's interests at heart so that we seek his welfare. We are not only to refrain from injuring or killing him or even shortening his life, but we are also to practice the golden rule in all our dealings with our fellow men, including our enemies. Jesus said: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matthew 5:44,45)
The apostle Paul said, "Therefore if your enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shall heap coals of fire on his head." (Romans 12:20) This is the sixth commandment in the positive; it is Christianity in action. This precept not only refrains from evil; it also enjoins righteousness, for, says the psalmist, "All Thy commandments are righteousness." May this commandment with all its breadth be written on the fleshy tables of our hearts so that we will be living epistles "known and read of all men."