THOU SHALT NOT MURDER
(Written by Sheila
Gail Landgraf)
The sixth
commandment, like all the other commandments, has everything to do with the sacredness of human life.
God gave this
commandment in Exodus 20:13 and when translated properly it reads “Thou
shall not murder.” The
translations that say “Thou shalt not “kill” are mistranslations of the Hebrew
into English. There is a HUGE difference
in the meaning of the word “kill” and the meaning of the word “murder.” Killing is not premeditated or planned. Usually it is more about self-defense and not
about anger and hate. It has been used
as a form of judgments demanding justice in extreme cases. Some are killed in wars. Some are killed as punishment when justice
is rendered by the courts under law.
Some are accidently killed. This
type of killing is not what the commandment is speaking of, though we can all
agree that any ceasing of life is sad.
Life
is sacred and it is to be honored in all circumstances. It is
never to be taken for granted.
This sixth commandment is
talking about cold-blooded, premeditated murder, the kind that comes from anger,
hatred, jealousy, pride, lust and arrogance.
It is when someone deliberately decides to take another’s life simply
out of hate or anger or greed or selfishness.
As I have so often
mentioned before this physical life is simply the training ground for our
eternal life. God breathed life into
each of us and gave us the gift of living. It is a most precious and sacred gift and God
hopes to continue this gift for us throughout eternity.
Everything godly is
about maintaining life.
Everything ungodly
is about promoting death.
Murder promotes
death and it is an ungodly act of the human will. God wanted to make it plain to all humans
while He was up there on the mountain with Moses that murder should NEVER
happen among His people.
Only God has
the power to take life and to give life. He is the only One wise enough to make that
important decision. We must respect this
and honor it by keeping the commandment worded “Thou shalt not murder.” To decide to take another’s life is to put
yourself in the place of God. That is yet
another form of idolatry.
Most of us look at
this commandment, cheerfully sigh a sigh of relief, and move on. We don’t consider it too long, and we are
always telling ourselves that we at least don’t have to worry about violating
this one commandment. Most of us, though
we know we are guilty of breaking the other commandments, think we are innocent
of murder.
Most of us are NOT
cold-blooded murders in the physical sense.
But in reality, it just isn’t
that easy when you look at the whole picture carefully. Jesus explained this to
us a little further than God did with Moses on the mountain; and when you
consider what Jesus had to say; practically ALL of us have been guilty at one
time or another. I hate to bear the bad
news to you, it is shocking but true! Let’s just consider the spiritual intentions
of the statements of Jesus in more detail and see if we all might need to take
a closer examination of this sin in our day-to-day lives.
Jesus encouraged us
not to become angry without a cause and not to become violent or abusive to
others. We hear the words of Christ in Matthew 5:21-22. They bear repeating here as we consider the
real meaning of the word “murder.” The
scripture reads: “You have heard that it was said
to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger
of the judgment.” But I say to you that
whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the
judgment. And whoever says to his
brother, ‘Raca!’ (the meaning of this word is “empty head”) shall be in danger
of the council. But whoever says; ‘You
fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. “
Of course we must
note those little seemingly skipped-over and insignificant-at-first words after
“whoever is angry with his brother’ that reads “WITHOUT A CAUSE” because
there IS such a thing as righteous anger, and righteous anger is not sinful
unless it is followed up by unrighteous acts.
We see many
incidents in the old and new testament scriptures where either God or Christ
show righteous anger. But, then again,
they are God! Their anger is different
from ours. Their perspective is different
from ours. Their hearts are pure, ours are not.
Their anger is always controlled
and tempered with patience and mercy.
Even
righteous anger must carefully exercise self-control and not always result in
wrongful violence. We humans do not have the right to judge;
therefore where God can bring violence in certain situations to render judgment,
justification and punishment; that isn’t our role. God is the ONLY judge of the
universe. We are to control our anger,
even if it comes to us from righteousness and a clean and pure heart.
This self-control
that must be exercised with anger (anger is not the sin; but the RESULTING ACTIONS of anger are
actually the sin) requires more than just restraining from physical violence;
it also requires that we be very careful with what we say and how we use our words.
So many are
surprised and shocked to learn that you can commit murder simply by the wrong
use of your tongue!
Are you surprised
to hear that the tongue can be deadly? This is how my own sins of murder have been
committed. I have often prayed to God
for forgiveness for things I have said that were wrong to others, and I’ve
often asked God for help in overcoming this hurtful trait. For many of us, murder with the tongue is
like a generational curse that must be broken by a change of heart in the people
of the present generation.
Can you recall times from your past where you
have used your tongue to commit murder of someone’s spirit?
The tongue is a
very dangerous weapon and mature Christians have to learn to use it wisely. The murders we commit by the use of the
tongue usually stem from hate. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer (1
John 3:15) and we know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We
must get rid of the hate inside our hearts and replace it with love. This is
the cure for spiritual murders.
When the tongue is
spoken of in the book of Proverbs it is compared to a little fire that begins
to grow and grow until it burns a whole forest. So, be very careful how you use your
tongue!
Never start fires that cannot be put out
without damaging results!
Stop for just
a moment and think of the wounds you have received in this life from wrong
words of the tongue, many of these words that have held you back from becoming
the person that God intended you to be.
How many of these injuries came from an insensitive person using their
tongue to speak something wrong into your life? Thus, through the wrong words of someone’s
tongue, you were robbed of the abundant life that God created you to live. Someone’s tongue brought you death instead of
life! God has given us the power and
authority to reverse this. Try to
forgive them and move on to a better and healthier life. God does not wish for us to be living in
negativity and condemnation; that is spiritual murder, and God has commanded that
we do not murder.
The tongue is probably
the most used weapon for committing murder; and this type of murder could be called murder of the
spirit.
There seems to be three types of
murder, physical, mental and spiritual.
All three are wrong in the eyes of God.
These three types of murder are typically carried
out in one of twelve ways; by the tongue
(spiritual), by hand (physical), by the mind through malice and hate (mental),
by maligning another or wishing evil against them (spiritual), by use of the
pen (through the rule of unjust courts, rulers and laws) (mental and physical), through
plotting and scheming against someone (indirectly physical and mental); by
giving poison in a cup (physical), by witchcraft and sorcery (spiritual), by
intending to kill whether or not you actually do (spiritual and mental), by
being unmerciful (physical, mental and spiritual), and by not swiftly executing
the law in a timely manner (physical, spiritual and mental).
There are
countless examples of such types of murders all throughout history and
scriptural examples that can be studied and analyzed for each different type of
murder. Each story from the past has
something to teach us about maintaining a godly character as we travel through
time with the gifts of our sacred lives. We can learn countless lessons about how to
counteract murder from the lives of Joab and Abner and Amass, Pilate and Jesus,
David and Uriah, Jezabel and Naboth, Herod and Christ, Saul and David, Saul and
Stephen, and many, many more. Stories of
people committing different types of murder are sprinkled all throughout the
scriptures. They are there to teach us
the sacredness of life, so that we may not murder but live in peace and harmony
with one another.
Of all the forms of
murder we could consider; perhaps the saddest form of murder is that of one who
murders his own soul. This can happen in
many ways; people can disregard that there is a God or a future in the life to
come and commit physical suicide; or they can remain living yet let the things
that murder their minds and spirits rule over them to the point that they do
not really live anymore. For some it is
lust, hate, jealousy, bitterness; whatever the cause some people will allow
things of the enemy of God control them in such a way that they are completely
robbed of the things that God gives them for abundant and joyful lives. This is yet another type of spiritual
murder. We all have choices to make; God does not make
them for us. God allows us to chose the path that we will take.
Let us chose life
in the fullest and that would be a life to give God glory!
Remember the sixth
commandment and keep it in your heart and mind as well as with your hands. Choose life!
