COME AS A CHILD - LESSON 146 - KEEPING THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT

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!

COME AS A CHILD - LESSON 112 - HOW THE PRINCE OF EGYPT BECAME A SHEPHERD OF MIDIAN

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

At some point as Moses grew up in the Egyptian palace as a prince, he must have realized that he was actually a Hebrew. 

He had been nursed by his own mother until he was two.  Perhaps he had memories of being with her in that warm, cozy little house where they lived in Goshen.  

Perhaps his sister had stayed in touch without letting anyone know.  Children are not easily separated.  

It seemed that at some point he knew but did not acknowledge who he really was.

The scriptures speak of Moses as a grown man going out one day and seeing how hard his “brethren” worked and feeling sorry for their burdens. 

One day Moses saw an Egyptian harshly beating a Hebrew.  When Moses looked around and saw that there were no Egyptian witnesses; he killed that hateful Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.  It seemed like the thing to do, since there would be no defense for a Hebrew slave and the Egyptian man was clearly committing a hateful sin.  Moses, in a sense, made his own justice, and then he tried to hide the evidence by covering up the body.

Does anything about this remind you of the story of Cain?  You would not expect to find the same traits of the sinful Cain lurking in the heart of Moses.  Yet, similar to Cain, Moses had become angry and that anger had led to murder.  Of course the man who abused the Hebrew WAS guilty.  Did that make Moses less guilty?  Was his anger righteous anger?  Did the fact that there was no justice for the Hebrew people make Moses’ actions right?  This is something to ponder and perhaps discuss a little later.

Moses thought he had covered up the evidence of the murder. 

The next day two Hebrew men were fighting and Moses approached them and asked them “Why are you striking your companion?”  One of the men apparently had seen Moses kill the Egyptian because he answered “Who made you a prince and a judge over us?  Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”  

The truth always comes out.

Moses became afraid that his secret justice was known.  Word of mouth travels swiftly.  When Pharaoh heard of the matter he commanded that Moses be killed.

Apparently the fondness that Pharaoh showed before when his daughter adopted Moses had worn off.  Moses had presented Pharaoh with an easy and legal way to dispose of his unpleasant company.

Moses and Pharaoh must have disagreed on almost everything as Moses had grown into manhood.  Living in the Egyptian palace might have been a bit uncomfortable for Moses at times.   Pharaoh might have considered Moses a threat to his kingdom from inside its very walls, especially in the times when they disagreed; which was probably every day that passed.   

Moses was not stupid.  He could see where this situation was headed and he ran away.  He had not been very happy in the palace anyway.

Moses went to live in the land of Midian.  When he arrived there he sat down beside a well.  I’ll give you three guesses as to which well this was?  Perhaps we will speak more about this at a later time too.

The seven daughters of the priest of Midian came out to draw water from the same well. They sought to water their father’s flocks, but some shepherds came and drove them away. Moses saw this and stood up to the shepherds for them and helped them to water their flock.  Something about this story sounds oh so familiar.  

Remember how Jacob met Rachel?  The same details are included in both stories.

Perhaps this problem of not being able to use the well until all the other shepherds had left the area happened often to the daughters of the Midian priest.  Maybe they came home late many times over because they had been waiting their turn and had been forced to be the last to water their flocks after all the other shepherds had finished watering their sheep.  One automatically wonders about this because when they arrived back home to their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”

They told their father an Egyptian man had delivered them from the hands of the shepherds and that he stayed and drew enough water for them and their flock.  I had to wonder if this Midian priest knew the old stories of Abraham and his descendants.

The father, Reuel, asked them why they had not called the man to come and eat dinner with them?  It would have been customary to return a favor.  So they ran and found Moses and brought him to their father’s table to share his bread.  Reuel and Moses became good friends.  Reuel invited Moses to stay awhile.  Moses enjoyed their company very much and was content to live under Reuel’s roof. 

Eventually, the father and priest named Reuel gave Moses his daughter Zipporah to be his wife.

Zipporah bore Moses a son. His name was Gershom, meaning “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”  Perhaps we will also have more to say about Moses and his relationship with Zipporah later.

Time passed.

Eventually the King of Egypt died.

 The plight of the Hebrew people only grew worse under the new Pharaoh. They groaned under the burden of their heavy bondage. They cried out to God again.

It is funny how people always seem to remember God when they come into miserable circumstances; though they had completely forgotten Him when they were doing well on their own.

The Israelites in Egypt were not doing well at all and they cried out night and day.

God heard of their bondage.

He remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

God looked down and saw the pain of the Children of Israel and God acknowledged them.  They were, after all, God’s chosen people.