The Insanity Defense

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has averted My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in My jealousy. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I am giving him My covenant of peace;  …

Bearing Up

For I have heard the slander of many, terror is on every side; while they took counsel together against me, they schemed to take away my life.  Psalm 31:13 NASB Slander– Perhaps a pun will help us remember the seriousness of slander. The Hebrew word, dibbâ, seems to be derived from the verb dābab (to move gently or glide over). But from…

In the Neighborhood

You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Exodus 20:13-16 NASB You shall not – Aviya Kushner notices something odd. “In Hebrew, four key ‘commandments’ are crammed into one verse in Exodus 20.13. But in the 1611 King James Bible, they…

Death Wish

Behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera the Benjamite, of Bahurim; now it was he who cursed me with a violent curse on the day I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord, saying, ‘I will not put you…

One Verse Too Many

How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?  Psalm 62:3  ESV Attack – The Hebrew word tehotetu is a hapax legomenon, i.e., this is its only occurrence in the Tanakh.  What does it mean?  Take a guess.  NIV – assault.  NASB – assail.  ESV…

Murder, the Sequel

“Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall he shed, for in the image of God He made man.” Genesis 9:6 Image of God – Walter Kaiser makes the point.  There is no possible ransom for murder because the murderer owes his life to God.  Punishment for murder does not balance the books for…

Paying the Cost

Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death.  Numbers 35:31 Ransom – We can measure the godliness of a society by the measure of its concern with the sanctity of life.  Frankly, the further we slide from God’s…

Too Simple

You shall not commit murder Deuteronomy 5:17 Commit Murder –  The King James Bible did us no favors with this commandment.  You see, there are seven different words in Hebrew that describe killing.  Three are associated with killing animals for sacrifice, one is related to vengeful slaughter and two are connected to execution.  That leaves…