What would a nation look like if God were king? Israel was selected, chosen by the LORD to be His nation. As such, He had a zero tolerance for crime. The list of capital offenses that required the death penalty may astound you. Israel was not going to be a nation of prisons! Justice was swift, immediate and hard hitting. Restoration for losses was immediate with repayment, plus over and above the loss. The penal system was not going to give you any chance of getting away with your crime. The law of the land in Israel was going to make crime; not worth the risk. High penalties for crimes of commission, and of omission; were going to make Israel a nation of responsible people.
Cain asked God, after he slew Able his brother; am I my brother’s keeper. The answer was yes. In Israel you could expect your neighbor to watch out for your belongings. If your neighbor’s animal got loose and you saw it; it was your responsibility to take it and care for it until your neighbor could come to claim it. There was no “Finders keepers, losers weepers,” in Israel. If you left a hazard on your property and your neighbor’s animal was injured or killed, you had to make restitution. The crime did not take forever to go to court; justice was administered quickly. The law had teeth, in order to prevent crime.
Exodus 21:33-36 ESV "When a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, (34) the owner of the pit shall make restoration. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead beast shall be his. (35) "When one man's ox butts another's, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price, and the dead beast also they shall share. (36) Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall repay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his.
God was not fooling around. The nation of Israel was not going to have a high crime rate. Justice was going to be swift and restitution was going to be made.
AN EXAMPLE OF OUR WEAK PENAL SYSTEM
My parents had a neighbor whom they believed to be trustworthy and they left their house keys with the neighbor when we went on vacation. Unbeknown to the neighbor or our family; their adult daughter and her boyfriend had heroin additions. On the night of a community dance, when the neighbors were gone for three hours, they had their adult daughter come to their house to watch their younger children. She and her boyfriend had access to our house keys and literally cleaned out our house of everything of value; approximately $5,000 worth. They literally took it out by the truck load. When they were finished, they threw a large rock threw the back door window, making it look like forced entry. When the father came home and discovered the break in; upon opening the door, he had to push the large rock out of the way in order to enter. He had no clue what his daughter had done and there was no proof and no leads. The crime was never prosecuted. My parents never left their house keys with anyone after that; but their house was broken into two more times. My father literally had to install steel plates to cover the back door and windows, reinforced with locked steel bars. The strung out druggies were now living with her parents next door. Everyone in the neighborhood was hit multiple times, yet there was not enough proof to charge them, but her parents knew. She bragged to them. My father only found this out when after the third break in he went next door and confronted our neighbor. When Dad asked, “How long is this going to go on?” The man broke down in tears and admitted that he and his wife knew what heir daughter had done; but he didn’t know what to do. The daughter had also cleaned them out as well, wrote checks on their accounts and stole every dollar in their house. Dad said, “Call the police and swear out a warrant for her arrest!” He did and once he turned a witness against his daughter, many crimes were solved and she and her boyfriend were put away in prison for fifteen years. But no restitution was ever made.
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY CARRIED THE DEATH PENALTY
There was to be no tolerance for juvenile delinquency. If a child were to strike either of their parents, the child was to be put to death! If the child just even cursed either of their parents, the child was put to death. A child that became a delinquent, who would become unruly to the point that the parents could not handle their own child; the child was brought before the elders and was stoned! There was zero tolerance for juvenile delinquency and juvenile crime.
Exodus 21:15 & 17 ESV "Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death. (17) Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.”
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 ESV "If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, (19) then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, (20) and they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.' (21) Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
A friend of mine had a twelve year old son who kept getting into trouble. We are not talking little infractions or “kid stuff.” This boy was stealing cars and would destroy tens of thousands of dollars of personal property on his “joy rides.” The courts did nothing! With each crime, the crimes got bigger and more costly! There was literally no penalty. He was a good natured child, who always seemed to be a respectful boy; but he self destructed as he became thirteen. Losing track over the years; when we reconnected, this man’s son had already served three years in prison and it was uncertain, how long his sentence was going to be, because he kept getting into more trouble in prison.
Israel was not going to be a nation of jails and prisons like our nation is today. Long sentences are reduced because of overcrowding in the prisons. Criminals are released because there just are not enough cells to hold them all. God wanted a holy nation. Do a crime, you pay restitution in some cases seven times. There was to be no such thing as sitting in jail to “pay you debt to society.”
CAPITAL CRIME
Capital crimes were clearly and swiftly dealt with. There were refuge cities where a man, accused of accidental man slaughter; could flee to until his case could be heard. The victim’s family could not avenge the death of their loved one if the perpetrator was in a city of refuge. If the perpetrator was found guilty, he was put to death; if not, he had to live out his life in the city of refuge. If he left that city; the avenger could kill him.
Exodus 21:12-14 ESV "Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. (13) But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. (14) But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.”.
CITIES OF REFUGE
Numbers 35:11-12 ESV Then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there. (12) The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.
REFUGE WHEN THERE WAS NO CRIMINAL INTENT — MURDERS PUT TO DEATH
Numbers 35:15-21 ESV These six cities shall be for refuge for the people of Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills any person without intent may flee there. (16) "But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. (17) And if he struck him down with a stone tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. (18) Or if he struck him down with a wooden tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. (19) The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. (20) And if he pushed him out of hatred or hurled something at him, lying in wait, so that he died, (21) or in enmity struck him down with his hand, so that he died, then he who struck the blow shall be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.
KIDNAPPING AND HUMAN TRAFFICING—DEATH PENALTY
Exodus 21:16 ESV "Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.”
EYE FOR AN EYE
Exodus 21:23-25 ESV But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, (24) eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, (25) burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
This section of Exodus is just the beginning of God addressing Laws of the Land for Israel. The remainder of the book of Exodus along with Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are filled with other details of Civil and Criminal Laws. Truly early law makers of the United States incorporated many of these Civil and Criminal Statutes; laws given by God to Israel.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, where there is love, there is no need of law. Thank you for calling me out of this world and instilling in me your love. Help me to have a heart like yours and lead me in your righteousness, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Copyright © 2011 Thomas C. Blake
No comments:
Post a Comment