God, the Bible and Political Justice: Chapter 11
Part 2: Moses and the Prescriptive Law
Chapter 11
Crime and Consequences: Death Penalty
All sin is immoral! What should be illegal?
In addition to the form of governance, every nation must decide the content of law and the consequence of breaking law. All must define what our society will consider to be “a crime.” So every culture has two value sets, one that they believe you “ought” to live by and another, which you “must” live by and for which they will prosecute if you do not. The Laws of Moses have these same two distinctions: things you “should “or “should not” do and things you will be prosecuted for doing or not doing.
Our lack of Biblical literacy leads to the impression that all or most of the Laws in Scripture are to be upheld by the judicial process. But that is not verified through study. In fact, in the hundreds of admonitions in the Books of Moses only 50 or so injunctions have prescribed legal consequences.
A second debate in justice systems all over the world is what to do with the convicted. Are the consequences of crime to be punitive, corrective, or restorative? What do we want our penal systems to accomplish? What values do we want them, as institutions, to build on? In the absence of convictions, based on Scripture our prison system will drift toward the values of the culture surrounding us.
If God will judge our nations in part by the way we judge our fellow man, especially the poor, the foreigner, the oppressed and the imprisoned, then this is of grave concern to every believer. We must be able to give a Biblical answer to the values questions of the punitive system and work for a system based on those values.
We Will Not Outlaw Sin
We must start with the premise that we will never outlaw sin. If we were to attempt this everyone would be in jail. Who would be the jailer? God is not idealistic but pragmatic when it comes to the condition of the lost world and the role of the believer in it. We will not perfect our societies but we can improve them and move towards better justice rather than worse. The justice system has a dilemma between the fight for the rights of the criminal and the rights of the community, both based in Scripture. We, as Biblical thinkers seek institutional tension between the two. We do not seek to choose between the two. Our question is, “whose rights are being more violated and what can we do to restore “right order,” justice?”
There are natural consequences to sin and rebellion. The natural consequence of any action, good or bad, are God’s primary way of dealing with human choices. In other words, some consequences of disobedience or obedience are unavoidable. The blessing or the cursing is not a personal directive from God but the natural outcome of a cause and effect material world created by Him. For the purposes of a discussion of crime and consequences via the civil court system, it is important for us to remember that ultimately, God deals with all disobedience and sin. We are not to worry about this comprehensive task as a judicial issue.
No Prisons
No one goes to prison in the Books of Moses. Israel did not have any yet. They will appear later in Jewish history. But for the time being, let’s say that “prison” is an application of a value. The “death penalty” is an application of a value. But what is the value? If we find the values behind God’s thinking then we can ask what application would be most appropriate for our nation and age. “Most appropriate” here meaning “upholds the same values as Scripture for the people of this society.” This is where the hard work of building the Kingdom takes place.
What Is Criminal?
If we ask Moses these two questions:
- “What was considered “criminal” under the Law?” and
- “What were the legal consequences for this criminal behavior?”
We will get a clear matrix of those things God deemed most destructive and leading to the greatest violence and loss of life. In other words, all sin would destroy the sinner, but some sins would destroy the nation or community as a whole and must be curbed by judicial boundaries.
Beginning with Deuteronomy as the core book, I isolated the prescriptive laws that had an obvious mandatory sentences and then went through the other four books of Moses to see what was repeated or added to the list.
The vast majority of the Law addresses how we should “choose” to live and if we do so the consequence will be blessing. However, we are free to make that choice. But some of the Laws mandate the community to take direct judicial action. The Jews were free to change these laws and they did in Biblical history, but God is warning them. These things have dire consequences within the community and are ignored at your own peril.
We will look at these judicial injunctions in two categories, in this chapter those actions deemed deserving of the death penalty and in chapter 12 those assigned other consequences.
The Death Penalty
Capital punishment had a long history before Moses and the Law. As we saw in Genesis, in dealing with murder, God used both the “life sentence” and the “death penalty” with Adam, Cain and finally a violent human race. He adds “generational exile” in His attempt to rid Judah and his progeny of violence by removing their political and economic rights in Egypt. In every case God is trying to curb the violence.
The nations that surrounded Israel were certainly not new to the subject of capitol punishment. The Pharaoh of Egypt seeks capital punishment of all Hebrew males at birth as an early form of birth control for the working class. In the New Testament Herod seeks nearly the same sentence for a generation of two year olds in order to make sure he has killed the rumored “King of the Jews.” Here the violence was simply used as a means of maintaining power.
The Human Dilemma
The issue of death embodies the essence of the human dilemma. How do we save the human race from themselves while allowing them to live and be free? Eliminating the problem of violence is simple. Destroy the violent. But that same human race we destroy is the object of God’s affection. How can man be saved from himself?
In the Law God makes that dilemma ours by making us responsible for governing ourselves. He tells us what should be a crime and what deserves the death penalty. These are not unclear scriptures. What is unclear is what are we to do with these scriptures today. Should we: Restore the death penalty? Eliminate the death penalty? Add or subtract to the list of crimes deserving the death penalty? Modify the means of execution? What does a discipled nation look like in relation to crime and consequences? Good questions. Let’s see what God gives us in the Law.
Capital Offence Crimes
Remember what we have already covered in previous chapters. The entire purpose of the Law is to build the sacredness of all life into our understanding. This is of dire importance to God because, left to our fallen selves, we almost immediately devolve to a tragic loss of human value and unnecessary death.
We can break offences deserving of death in to six basic categories: promotion of idolatry, premeditative destruction of life, fraudulent oaths, willful destruction of another’s family, specific deviant sex acts and rejection of specific authorities. The serious destructiveness of all five of these crimes was observable in the seven tribes surrounding Israel in Canaan. These were not abstract scenarios but observable realities in practice in that day in those cultures.
Deuteronomy picks up this theme early in chapter seven with the imperative to fully destroy the seven tribes in Canaan that God has named. If they do not destroy them, they will turn future generations to their murderous, life destroying ways as these same nations have their own children. This is pandemic social destruction. They are no longer tribes with bad people, which is true of every tribe. They are tribes that have institutionalized life destroying values that permeate every person, family and institution within the system, like Sodom and Gomorra, where not just a few come to rape the Angels, all of the men do. The only mercy possible in this scenario is total destruction.
Jewish Idolatry
First emphasized for the death penalty are those who use the religious platform as a means of promoting and spreading institutionalized apostasy and violence. In these passages, it is specifically Jews promoting Jews to follow this path. And it is specifically Jews promoting Jews to follow the religious practices of those nations God has told them to destroy in order to get rid of the exact violent practices they are now promoting.
1. Religious Leaders
There are six passages dealing with Jewish idolatry and the death penalty. Two of them, Deuteronomy 13:1-5 and 18:17-20 relate to the highest religious authorities using their positions to promote worshiping other gods. Pretending to speak in the name of God, these leaders are openly encouraging the breaking of the covenant they and the people have all made with God and each other in drawing the people into the beliefs that have destroyed the nations around them.
Numbers 25:1-5, Deuteronomy 13:1-5 and 18:17-20
2. Family
Deuteronomy 13:6-11 concerns the closest family relationships of brother, son, daughter, loved wife or most intimate friend trying to entice them to worship the gods of the people around you.
3. Community
The passage in Deuteronomy 13:12-16 exhorts the people to deal with any Jewish town or community that has turned on the covenant they have all made with each other to worshipping other gods. The language used here is the language of war and in this case they are to destroy all the people, cattle and positions of the town. Exactly what they were instructed to do with those who worshiped these gods in the land before them and what God has done with Sodom and Gomorrah.
A final passage on idolatry and the death penalty is found in Leviticus 20:1-5. Here the people and the courts are to pursue the prosecution of anyone, Jew or foreigner, who sacrifices a child to the pagan god, Molek, a common practice among the seven previous tribes in Canaan.
Due Process and Cases of Idolatry
Deuteronomy 17:2-5 gives instructions to the courts as to how to process a case where idolatry is an issue and carefully instructs the use of thorough investigation, witnesses and empirical evidence, in order to prove guilt. Jewish scholars do not consider this passage addition to the list of capitol crimes, but rather instructions for the courts in dealing with them in the same way they would judicate (not a word, perhaps officiate?) any other crime.
There is nothing mystical here. These are trials for religiously promoting human sacrifice and practices that will lead to violence and destruction of human life. These are not trials for believing in different gods.
Notice the weaving of individuals, family, communities and institutions in these three texts. God is saying to them, “as important as I have made the individual, the family and the community, as well as the Priesthood, if any of these things begin to draw you away from Me and the value of life, you must correct it.” It is a cancer that will destroy everything in the society as it has in the tribes before you. Can you hear the heart cry of God here?
What Is The Purpose?
As in Genesis, God is clear on why they must prosecute these crimes and His reasons continue to deal with the rampant spread of death and violence.
“You must purge the evil from among you.” “Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.” “You must purge the evil from among you.” God is pleading with the Jewish people to maintain the sacredness of all human life above all other values. You cannot do that without a system of governance. You cannot do that without justice in land. You cannot do that without protecting “due process” and you cannot do that and tolerate religious practices that grossly devalue human life through violence and human sacrifice.
There must be a tension between the authority of the individual, religious institution and community represented by government. No one may be free to do as they please or all freedom will be destroyed by violence.
These idolatry passages are not written for the ignorant and unenlightened lost. God is shouting to His people, “If you would just stop these actions you could LIVE!” But if they turn from the revelation in the Law, if they turn from God, they will become like all other human beings: violent and with little concern for human life, if life in any form. And they do turn away, but that part of the story is for later.
Key Passages: Deuteronomy 13:1-5, 6-11, 12-16, 17:2-7; 18:17-20; and Leviticus 20:1-5
Premeditated Murder
The next capital crime dealt with in Deuteronomy is premeditated murder. Deuteronomy 19 summarizes this as anyone who assaults and willfully seeks to take the life of another for their own reasons. “I thought about it. I planned it. I did it.” In other words, this was not an accident.
Deuteronomy 19:11 But if out of hate someone lies in wait, assaults and kills a neighbor, and then flees to one of these cities, 12 the killer shall be sent for by the town elders, be brought back from the city, and be handed over to the avenger of blood to die. 13 Show no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you.
Key Passages: Exodus 21:12, Leviticus 24:17, Numbers 35:16
Negligent Homicide
A number of passages in Exodus and Numbers deal with negligence that leads to death. In each case the intent was not murder, but reckless behavior has lead to lose of life. The penalty for negligent homicide is capital punishment. However the accused may be able to ransom their life through a judicial process.
The four passages in Exodus on negligent homicide include a fight, the beating of a slave whether male or female, using excessive force to protect yourself and your property, and your wandering bull goring someone. The value of the life is not decreased by social status, gender, the instrument of death or the victim’s criminal intent.
The first passage dealing with this subject in Exodus involves the issue of unnecessary force: Exodus 22:2 “If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; 3 but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed. There is no debate that the property owner has the right to defend their possessions and there is room for doubt that in darkness it may have been accident. But in daylight the property owner is expected to use restraint and not equal the life of the thief with the things that are being stolen. The sentence for theft in the Law is restitution and that sentence is to be executed through due process. This is vigilante law in the protection of personal property and as we have seen before can only lead to escalating violence. This is a capital offence.
Exodus 21:20 “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result,” We will deal with slavery in more detail in future volumes on economics. But for our purposes here, the life of a slave is no less important (sacred) than the life of any one else in society. I have not found passages allowing for the ransom of the owners life. This is a capital offence.
Exodus 21: 22 “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. 23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life… As with the life of the slave, the life of the unborn child is sacred. The sovereignty of the individual life and the contribution of this life to the community has been lost. This is a capital offence. There is no ransom.
In the case of an owners bull goring someone to death the issue of past knowledge becomes important. If there is no knowledge of the bull being dangerous then it is an accident. The bull is to be killed and the corpse destroyed. A human life has been lost. No one should profit. If the owner has past experience and knowledge of the bull being dangerous and has not taken steps to protect the public then they are guilty of negligent homicide. This is a capital offence. However if the family wishes to be compensated for their loss the convicted can ransom his life and pay the compensation… “Of whatever is demanded.” It does not matter “who” the bull gored. We will look at the concept of ransom more in the next chapter.
Exodus 21:28 “If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull is to be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible. 29 If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death. 30 However, if payment is demanded, the owner may redeem his life by the payment of whatever is demanded. 31 This law also applies if the bull gores a son or daughter. 32 If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull is to be stoned to death.
Ransom may not be used to redeem any one who has committed premeditated murder. Leviticus 27:29 “‘No person devoted to destruction may be ransomed; they are to be put to death.
Key Passages: Numbers 35:30-31, Numbers 35
What is God’s Objective?
Again, we have to ask and remember why God’s law advocates such severe consequences? There is only one reason. That is to stop the escalation of violence and the arbitrary shedding of human blood.
Deuteronomy 19:13 Show no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you.
Numbers 35:33 “‘Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. 34 Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.’”
Key Passages: Deuteronomy 19:11-13, Exodus 21:12-14, 21:22, 21:20-25, 21:28-32; 22:2, Leviticus 27:29, 24:17; Numbers 35:16-20, 35:30-33
Kidnapping
Two passages of Scripture deal with kidnapping. The result of the action may or may not have resulted in the death of the kidnapped, however the sentence was the death penalty regardless.
God is saying that “life” is more than breathing and surviving. “Life” is freedom and self-determination. My God given sovereignty as an individual means that I have the right to make choices, determine my own destiny and live out the consequences of those choices. For someone to “steal” that right from me is the same as killing me. It has the same weight as premeditated murder. This is a capital offence.
Deuteronomy 24:7 If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.
Exodus 21:16 “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.”
Malicious Testimony
Passages in Leviticus and Deuteronomy deal with false testimony, which include both lying and refusing to testify. When the results of these two types of malicious testimony lead to the death of the accused, then the penalty for false testimony is capital punishment, same as they intended for the accused. Both the aggressive and passive disregard for human life are the same as premeditated murder. The only difference here is that the weapon used is the court system.
Deuteronomy 19:16 If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, 17 the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. 18 The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, 19 then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party. You must purge the evil from among you. 20 The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. 21 Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Leviticus 5:1 “‘If anyone sins because they do not speak up when they hear a public charge to testify regarding something they have seen or learned about, they will be held responsible.
Notice the emphasis on the obligation of a member of a community to play their part in assuring justice by speaking up. It is not enough for the judicial system to be committed to truth. If the individual citizen is not also actively engaged in the deterrence of crime it will be nearly impossible to prove. And that obligation did not stop at speaking up but was carried on through with active participation in executing justice.
Deuteronomy 17:7 The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting that person to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge the evil from among you.
Again you can imagine the words of the people: But I never touched the guy! I wasn’t even there! True but you testified that you were there and saw this person do it. And, to spare you own life, or gain a bribe, or because you didn’t like them or you just felt like it, you lied with the intent of convicting an innocent person with the consequence of their death. You have sentenced yourself to death with your own value system.
But I didn’t testify? I refused. I was afraid. Exactly, and so with your silence you condemned and innocent man to death and you gave a guilty man freedom endangering other peoples lives. In all ways you understood the consequence of this would require a life to be taken. You knowingly collaborated in creating a community where fear has imposed a culture of silence, and murder can be committed with impunity. Known killers roam safe and innocent people fear for their lives.
Destructive Sexual Practices
Of the 14 or so forbidden sexual practices listed in the prescriptive Laws of Moses, about half were to be enforced by capital punishment. The remaining were not given judicial sanctions at all but left to community or consequential action. Here is the list of forbidden sex acts:
Forbidden: Consequence Death
1. Your mother or stepmother X
Deut. 27:20, Lev.18: 8, 17, 20: 11
2. Your granddaughter You are dishonored
Lev.18: 10
3. Your sister or stepsister Remove from people
Deut.27: 20,22, Lev.18: 9,11, 20:17,19
4. Your Uncle’s wife Will die childless
Lev.18: 12,13,14, 20: 20
5. Your daughter-in-law X
Lev. 18: 15, 20: 12
6. Your sister-in-law Will die childless
Lev.15: 24, 33, 18:16, 20:21
7. Both a woman and her daughter X
Lev.18: 17, 20: 14
8. A woman during her period Cut off from people
Lev.18: 19, 20: 18
9. A man with a man X
Lev.18: 22, 20:13
10. An animal X
Lev.18: 23, 20: 15,16, Ex.22: 19
11. Do not make your daughter a prostitute Your land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness
Lev.19: 29
12. Another man’s wife X
Lev.18: 20, 19:20, 20: 10
13. Rape Marry/Cannot divorce
Deut.22: 28, Ex. 22: 16
14. Rape of a married women X
Deut 22:20,21,22, 23-25,27
This is a troubling and controversial list for most today and one severely prone to misinterpretation. In order to grasp God’s heart cry with these laws we must keep it in mind what God has been laboring since Genesis chapter three. The human race separated from His destiny and meaning degenerates rapidly into violence and total devaluation of human life. As before the flood, murder becomes the norm.
Murder anywhere in the world will be motivated by a very short list of issues including property, vendetta and crimes of passion or jealousy. If there is no monetary gain or history of aggravation found in a murder investigation the police will focus in on close relationships and love interests and sexual conduct. When we are slighted in matters of the heart, we are prone to kill. And no matters of the heart are more explosive than those having to do with our core family, parents, spouses and children.
Look at the list again with that grid of sexual sins in mind. God is trying to stop the violence. The rippling effect of these violations of love and trust will continue through families for generations. Nowhere is this more graphically labored in Scripture than in the passages dealing with jealousy.
Deut 22:13-21 and Numbers 5:11-31 give us long detailed accounts of how due process is to be conducted in the case of accused infidelities. What we come away with from these instructions is that the simmering effect of domestic violence will spill over into community violence. It must be resolved and dealt with judiciously if we are to decrease the violence.
Of course, all of these laws will be challenged, changed and ignored in Biblical history. David will commit adultery. David’s son Amnon rapes his stepsister Tamar and then refuses to marry her, all without impunity. The simmering anger of this injustice builds in Tamar’s brother Absolum’s chest until he strikes out and murders Amnon. This, also undealt with, leads to takeover coup by Absalom of David’s throne and Absalom having sex with David’s concubines in public as revenge. And the violence continues to compound. God’s point is perfectly exemplified in Biblical history.
There are two sex crimes on the list that fall outside this family dynamic: sex with animals, sex between men both which call for the death penalty. Again this makes no sense outside the context of what God is wrestling with. Sin is not sin because it is sin. God does not arbitrarily forbid behavior. If God says not to do it, it is because it destroys our life and that of the community. If God gives the severest of penalties for doing something it is because that behavior is more lethal than all the others. It becomes a small, imperceptible black dot of melanoma appearing in the community.
We only have to study the findings of virologist on the number of diseases that have been transferred to humanity from the animal kingdom. We can add to that the cumulative tragedies of venereal disease, incest, abuse of children, rape. Not only damages minds but lost lives. The statistics of deaths do to aids alone surpass already the total deaths from World War I and II. There is no such thing as “sex without consequences” and God is giving us fare warning.
The idea of “sex without consequences” has perhaps taken the lives of more human beings than all wars combined. From God’s perspective this is violence.
I think it is worth noting two things here. One is the consistent emphasis on the responsibility of the men in these sexual laws. Not that the women involved are excused of any wrongdoing. But the Laws are all directed at the male participant. And secondly we must note the consistent emphasis of women and children as the abused.
We will look at the sexual issues that do not require the death penalty in the next chapter.
Rejection of Authority and Anarchy
With all of the emphasis on the freedom and importance of the individual in the foundations of Kingdom thinking, what are we to make of the Scriptures that prescribe capital punishment for the rejection of institutional authority? There are strong exhortations to deal with those in the community who reject and rebel against the authority of parents, priests and judicial leaders.
It is easy to isolate these passages and draw the conclusion that God wants us to obey authority absolutely, whether in the family, the church or the government. It is only one step from then seeing these institutions as gods in our life. But that would make nonsense out of all the emphasis on the authority and importance of the individual and limits to authority, placed by God, on each of these very institutions (I think this sentence needs to be rephrased, its not clear). So where does that leave us?
We are left with the dilemma of human freedom. Freedom, unrestrained, will lead, in a fallen world, to some form of anarchy. As we have seen in human history, unrestrained anarchy will produce the greatest violence and loss of human life. The second greatest violence against humanity will come from the tyranny of unrestrained institutional authority.
Therefore, the best we can achieve in a fallen world, is a tension of powers, a system of checks and balances between competing authorities and rights… “proper order.”
This then is the most important task of civil governance. To make sure there is a proper tension between the rights and responsibilities of the individual and God’s appointed social institutions. Law is the drawing of the line between the tyranny of the one and the many, between the individual and the community whether represented by the family, the religion or the government.
The lines law draws must be very carefully thought through. Draw the line to far one way you will have the destruction of the nation from individual anarchy. Draw it too far in the other direction you will destroy the nation from institution tyranny. But, the Scriptures make it clear that individuals can go too far in their freedom. When they do the community must take action.
1. Priesthood
Four times in the book of Numbers we are reminded that only the Levites may approach and do the work of the Tabernacle. God has chosen who will serve Him in this capacity and that choice must be respected. The individual does not have to “believe” but he has to respect others right to “believe” and order their belief.
Numbers 1:51 Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall do it. Anyone else who approaches it is to be put to death.” Numbers 3:10, 3:38,18:5
Exodus 31:14-15 The context of this passage is during the building of the Tabernacle. Jewish scholars indicate that this mandate may pertain to working on building the Tabernacle on the Sabbath rather than a law for work on all Sabbaths.
“‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. 15 For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of Sabbath rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. “
The passage in Leviticus 24:15 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who curses their God will be held responsible; 16 anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.” is a very specific law pertaining to cursing God in the assembly of believers using God’s most holy of names.
Leviticus 20:27 “‘A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.’” This passage can only be understood within the context of the reality of the unseen world of the dead and fallen angels.
Hebrew “tradition admits that this method of gaining knowledge of the occult is effective but places it strictly off-limits for Israelites.”
The providers were to be executed but the consumers shunned. Nothing blurs human responsibility more than allowing for powers from the unseen world to access our daily lives. Anyone who has ever lived in cultures where this is common practice knows the death and violence that results as a regular result. While allowing for increased violence and loss of human value it will produces a victim’s mindset on the community.
2. The Judicial
One passage in the prescriptive Law deals with disregard for judicial authority. The context is that of the final and highest appeal possible to the Priesthood. This appeal was used when all other appeals through the court system had failed in a finding. Most often this would have been in cases where there were no witnesses and inadequate evidence. Showing contempt for the courts here would be to deny the authority of due process resulting in vigilantly law. As we have discussed in previous chapters this can only spiral the community into violence and chaos. This cannot be allowed.
Deuteronomy 17: 8 If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge—whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults—take them to the place the LORD your God will choose. 9 Go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict. 10 You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the LORD will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do. 11 Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left. 12 Anyone who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the LORD your God is to be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel. 13 All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again.
3. Parental
Neither mainstream evangelical nor Jewish scholars hold that these passages on parental authority to be strict legal pronouncements, but rather, strong, emotive exhortations to beware. For the Jews parental authority was the corner stone of social “order” (justice) and all authority. They saw these passages as God warning of “severe danger to society.”
Deuteronomy. 21:18 If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20 They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” 21 Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.
Leviticus 20:9 “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. Because they have cursed their father or mother, their blood will be on their own head.”
I think we would be closer to the mark to compare these Scriptures to what we today would call a “sociopath,” defined in one source as “a syndrome with strong behavioral features of impulsivity and fearlessness and a strong interpersonal domain comprised of aggressive social relations, manipulation, rebelliousness, self-centeredness, and a tendency to externalize blame.” Sociopaths make up as much as 25% of a prison population.
The passage in Deuteronomy 21 emphasizes the responsibility of the parents to raise the alarm for the community and take the first legal action to curb their child’s behavior. Also notice the community’s responsibility to take action in supporting the legal finding. There are no passive observers here. Coupled with the estimate that 70% of sociopaths come from fatherless homes and 30% are born out of wedlock, there is a heavy emphasis here again on the destructiveness to the community from the destroyed family unit.
Next we will look at those crimes for which the consequences did not require a life.
