J G Lorimer
Taken, with editing, from The Christian’s Daily Companion. Lorimer (1804-68) was minister of St David’s, Glasgow, before joining the Free Church at the Disruption.
Genesis 9:6. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man.
The circumstances in which the doom of murderers was thus announced were important. The inhabitants of the world had, for their wickedness, been destroyed in the waters of the flood. Noah and his family were starting anew as the progenitors of mankind. In this situation it was proper to give them various regulations for their guidance. In kindness they were allowed, for the first time, to eat animal food and, lest the memory of the recent fearful destruction of life, by the flood, should lead them to think lightly of life and to treat it carelessly, God specially pointed out its importance.
Though they were to have full use of animals, and were commanded to be fruitful and multiply, yet they were not to abuse God’s gifts. They were to treat the blood with reverence, because the life was in it, and it was a type of the sacrifice, or blood, of God’s own Son, by which redemption was to be accomplished. If due respect is to be shown to the life of other creatures, the life of man is not to be treated lightly. It is expressly stated that the man who wilfully takes the life of a brother shall thereby forfeit his own life; in other words, he shall be put to death. Though this appointment commands itself to reason—to our sense of natural justice—yet its authority, and also its wisdom and goodness, have lately been called in question. The book was published in 1845. The law of many countries has obviously changed since then in, but the biblical principles—which national laws ought to reflect—remain the same.
The divine authority is explicit. Nothing can be clearer. “Whoso”, says God, “sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” This is no mere prophecy of the future. Even if it was, God’s mind would be equally expressed as to the principle, but it was given to guide Noah and his posterity. It was conveyed in the same sort of terms as the permission to eat animal food, and people may as well argue that the one is as much future as the other. Thus it is obligatory for all, Jew and Gentile alike. The law was enacted before the Jews existed as a nation. The reason which is assigned for enacting it was not for them exclusively but is equally applicable to all mankind.
Man’s blood is not to be shed lightly, without being suitably avenged, “for in the image of God made He man”. His origin and his destiny are alike great; therefore his life is to be sacredly protected and honoured. At the same time, the Jewish nation’s law on murder – a law which they received from God – was in perfect harmony with the older, more comprehensive law which we are considering; the argument is thus strengthened. The criminal law of the Jews is particularly explicit on the shedding of human blood. Its general doctrine is that he who smites a man, so that he dies, shall be put to death.
No satisfaction, it was said, shall be provided for a murderer; the cities of refuge are not like churches in many Roman Catholic countries, to be a sanctuary for criminals. No, “if any man hate his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die, and fleeth into one of these cities; then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him unto the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die” (Dt 19:11,12). The case of Joab, the celebrated general of David, is an illustration of the strength of the law. Though the royal house had been so much indebted to him and though he was a soldier, accustomed to the rough procedure of these days, yet because he had taken the lives of two men – lives which ought to have been spared – directions are given that he shall, even in the height of his honour, be put to death. There can be no question then as to the divine law in regard to murder and its punishment. It is clear, express and universally-binding. Not a word can be pleaded from Scripture in favour of relaxing it.
But not a few think it harsh and propose to repeal it. They contend that man should never inflict upon man the punishment of death – that in doing so he takes away what he cannot give, and cuts off the hope and the opportunity of salvation. But were not all these things well known to God in making the law? And what do such pleadings amount to, if not to an insinuation that man is kinder than God. Follow out the same false charity, and it will do away with eternal punishment altogether. Surely it will not be alleged that those who hold such views are more concerned for the salvation of souls than those who hold that it is right that murder be punished with death. Besides, it is the command of God.
It should be remembered that, while the claims of mercy are high, those of justice are no less imperative. The honour of God is involved in the strict vindication of human life, as man was created in the image of God, and the welfare of society demands it. If even with the penalty of death attached to the willful shedding of man’s blood, there is so much violence and so many murders, how much more frequent would they be if the punishment were relaxed? Death may have been attached, in human criminal codes, to lesser offences with which it ought never to have been connected; and public sympathy may thus have been outraged. But that is no reason for abolishing it where the law of God most distinctly requires it.
God’s forbearance in the case of Cain proves nothing but God’s mercy. The case was unique; there was no society, comparatively speaking, to be affected; a father or a brother must have been the executioner. In pity to them the criminal may have been spared.
From the punishment which has been ordained, we may learn anew the high importance of human life. The prodigious waste of it, in all ages, may seem to intimate that as a whole it is of little value; but its strict vindication – requiring life for life – is an impressive proclamation of the opposite. It teaches how much must be suspended on a person’s life. Let us make good use of every hour in its fleeting course and, in the meantime, let us rejoice that we not only live under civil government, but also under God’s, where life is so sacredly guarded.