Murderers Cannot Murder Again if Theyve Been Put to Death
Question
Does God killing people brand Him a murderer?
Answer
The Onetime Attestation records God killing multitudes of people, and some people want to believe this makes Him a murderer. The misconception that "killing" and "murder" are synonymous is partially based on the King James mistranslation of the 6th commandment, which reads, "Thou shalt not kill" (Exodus 20:thirteen). However, the word impale is a translation of the Hebrew give-and-take ratsach, which well-nigh ever refers to intentional killing without cause. The correct rendering of this word is "murder," and all modern translations return the command equally "Y'all shall not murder." The Bible in Bones English all-time conveys its significant: "Exercise not put anyone to death without cause."
It is true that God has intentionally killed many people. (God never "accidentally" does anything.) In fact, the Bible records that He literally wiped out entire nations including women, children, cattle, etc. In addition to that, God killed every living creature upon the face of the earth with the exception of viii people and the animals on the ark (Genesis 7:21-23; 1 Peter three:20). Does this make Him a murderer?
As already stated, to kill and to murder are different things. Murder is "the premeditated, unlawful taking of a life," whereas killing is, more generally, "the taking of a life." The aforementioned Law that forbids murder permits killing in cocky-defense (Exodus 22:two).
In order for God to commit murder, He would accept to act "unlawfully." We must recognize that God is God. "His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He" (Deuteronomy 32:4; see also Psalm 11:seven; 90:9). He created man and expects obedience (Exodus xx:iv-6; Exodus 23:21; two John i:6). When homo takes information technology upon himself to disobey God, he faces God's wrath (Exodus 19:5; Exodus 23:21-22; Leviticus 26:14-18). Furthermore, "God is a merely judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If [man] does not turn back, He will sharpen His sword; He bends His bow and makes it ready" (Psalm 7:eleven-12).
Some would contend that executing the innocent is murder; thus, when God wipes out whole cities, He is committing murder. However, nowhere in Scripture can nosotros observe where God killed "innocent" people. In fact, compared to God'southward holiness, there is no such thing equally an "innocent" person. All have sinned (Romans 3:23), and the punishment for sin is death (Romans vi:23a). God has "just cause" to wipe united states of america all out; the fact that He doesn't is proof of His mercy.
When God chose to destroy all flesh in the Flood, He was totally justified in doing so: "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:v).
During the conquest of Canaan, God ordered the consummate destruction of unabridged cities and nations: "But of the cities of these peoples which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain live, but y'all shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, merely as the LORD your God has commanded y'all" (Deuteronomy 20:16-17).
Why did God give such a control? Israel was God's instrument of judgment against the Canaanites, who were evil, about beyond what nosotros can imagine today: "Every abomination to the LORD which He hates they accept done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the burn down to their gods" (Deuteronomy 12:31). Their utter annihilation was commanded to forbid Israel from post-obit their ways: "Lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have washed for their gods, and you sin against the LORD your God" (Deuteronomy twenty:18; also Deuteronomy 12:29-30).
Fifty-fifty in the dire judgments of the Old Testament, God offered mercy. For example, when God was near to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, God promised Abraham that He would spare the whole urban center in order to relieve ten righteous people there. Though God did destroy those cities (ten righteous people could not be found), He saved "righteous Lot" and his family unit (Genesis 18:32; Genesis 19:15; 2 Peter 2:7). Later, God destroyed Jericho, only He saved Rahab the harlot and her family in response to Rahab's faith (Joshua 6:25; Hebrews 11:31). Until the final judgment, at that place is e'er mercy to be found.
Every person dies in God's own time (Hebrews 9:27; Genesis iii:19). Jesus holds the keys of decease (Revelation 1:18). Does the fact that everyone experiences concrete death make God a "killer"? In the sense that He could prevent all death, yes. He allows united states of america to die. But He is no murderer. Expiry is part of the human experience because we brought it into the world ourselves (Romans v:12). One twenty-four hours, as John Donne put it, "Decease shall exist no more; death, thou shalt die." God, in His grace, has conquered decease for those who are in Christ, and one twenty-four hour period that truth will be fully realized: "The last enemy to exist subdued and abolished is death" (i Corinthians 15:26).
God is faithful to His give-and-take. He volition destroy the wicked, and He holds "the unrighteous for the twenty-four hours of judgment, while continuing their penalty" (2 Peter two:9). But He has too promised that "the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans half dozen:23b).
Questions about God
Does God killing people brand Him a murderer?
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This page last updated: Jan iv, 2022
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