A Community Responsibility

A Community Responsibility

The death penalty was a community duty.

Numbers 35:16-21

“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. 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. 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. The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. And if he pushed him out of hatred or hurled something at him, lying in wait, so that he died, 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.”

We can imagine that, in a community where such laws as this were read over and over—in homes, at gatherings for worship, and once each seven years as part of a national feast—people would be inclined to think carefully about what they were considering when they took a club or stone or hammer in hand with anger in their hearts toward their neighbor.

This text further details facts in a case involving the death of a neighbor which judges would have to consider and prove: the instrument of death, the motive, and the intent to murder (lying in wait) would all have to be proved before the offender could be sentenced to death. Those conditions being satisfied, the convicted party would be turned over to the avenger of death and the rest of the community to carry out the punishment.

The avenger would throw the first stone, then be joined by all his neighbors.

In our day the death penalty is carried out by professional executioners and witnessed by only a handful of people. We can imagine how this community-wide involvement in carrying out the death penalty must have further served to deter murder.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.