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many cases, rheir lives hanging in rhe
balance, wonderi ng if rhey would
evenrually be execured.
However, anorher argumenr
against ir involves rhe presenr
unequal adminisrrarion of rhe dearh
penalty. Crirics charge rhar ir is used
primarily againsr rhe poor and rhose
belonging ro minoriry groups.
The big reason ofcen heard, how–
ever. is rhar srarisrics don'r prove rhe
effecriveness of che dearh penal ry in
dererring crime.
Those favoring abolition poinr out
rhat rhere is no evidence capital
punishmenr, as now administered,
prevenrs crime. The murder rare is
jusr as h igh in srates where rhere is a
dearh penalty as in srares where ir has
been abolished.
Advocates of che dearh penalty, on
rhe orher hand, argue thar 80 percenr
of a!l murders resu lr from "crimes of
passion" between people who know
each other or are members of rhe
same family, and thar such murders
probably couldn't be dererred by any
kind of penalries. They rherefore
point out rhar rhere is no evidence
capiral punishmenr
doesn't
derer orher
forms of crime.
Simply because a dearh penalty is
on che books doesn'r make ir an
effecrive dererrenr ro crime. lts effec–
tiveness would be associared wich irs
consisrenr use. As rhose in favor of
rhe death penalty poinr out, 70 per–
cenr of rhc major crimes are commit–
red by
repeaters.
The dearh penalty
would obviously be a dererrenr ro a
criminal who was
executed.
On rhe
orher hand, few releascd murderers
become repearers.
Thus rhe conrroversy rages. Opin–
ions are sharply divided. How, rhen,
can we reach che proper conclusion?
Should capital punishment be abol–
ished everywhere? Is rhe death penalty
inherendy
ineffecrive) Is
ir
a barbarous
anachronism in our modero world?
Borh sides commonly cire rhe
Bible in suppon of rhcir particular
views. Sorne daim the Bible advo–
cares capital punishmenr. Others say
that since God is a God of merey and
love, capital punishmenr is nota suir-
38
able penalty for serious crime. Since
borh sides often cite the Bible ro
bolster cheír opinions, we oughr ro
look inro the Bible and see what ir
really says on rhis issue.
Whar does rhe scriprural record say
regarding capital punishmenr' You
may be surprised.
T he First Murder
In che dawn of human civilization,
asserrs rbe Biblical record, a man
named Caín rose up and murdered bis
brorher, Abel, in a fir of rage (Gen.
4:1-8).
What was rhe punishmenr
which God imposed on Caín for this
firsr recorded homicide? Inreresringly,
it was
not
the dearh penalty!
Rarher, as you read rhe account,
you will discover that Cain was
banished
from sociery - exiled inro
the wilderness of Nod (verses
9-16).
In chis case, God allowed Caín ro
live; rhe world's firsr murderer was
nor put ro death.
After those days, according ro che
Bíblica] account, men began
tO
mul–
ciply on che earrh. And soon there
followed the second recorded murder
in history, when Lamech, a descen–
danr of Cain, slew a young man who
apparenrly had foughr wirh him
(Gen. 4:23). No menrion is made of
Lamech being put ro death for bis
homicide (verse 24).
But as men began
tO
mulriply, che
earth became filled wirh increasing
violence (Gen.
6:1, 11-12).
A cursory
srudy of rhe Biblical accounr shows
rhar, in rhe absence of a dearh penalty
for crimes, che earrh became
FILLED
wirh violence! One mighr condude
rhar since criminals were nor speedíly
execuced or dealt wirh appropriarely,
rhe world experienced a spiraling
crime epidemic!
A New Order
Such were rhe condirions which
prevailed before che deluge according
ro che Biblical accounr. Soon after rhe
deluge, rhe Bible conrinues, God
determined rhar human beings, who
wanred their own governmen ts,
would be granred rhc righr, or
aurhority, ro exccure rhose guilry of
murder. You can read che accounr in
Genesis 9, beginning in verse .5: "And
1 will avenge che shcdding of your
own life-blood;
1
will avenge ir on
any beast, I wi ll avenge man's life on
man, upon his brorhcr-man; whoever
sheds human blood, by human hands
shall his own blood be shed - for
God made man in his own likeness"
(verses .5-6, Moff.1cr).
God, as che Crearor of man, and as
rhe supreme life-giver, has aurhoriry
ro cake one's life íf ir is misused or
abused (Dcut. 32:39). So we read thar
afrer rhe deluge, God also permitred
human
governmenr - human beings
- rhe use of rhe dearh penal ry for
particular crimes.
Capital Punishment in
Ancient Israel
When ancienr Israel carne out of
Egypr, they received a sysrem of laws,
srarures and ordinances, based on rhe
Ten Commandments (Exodus 20).
The Bible implicirly says
God
gave
rhese laws ro Israel.
Was capital punishmenr a part of
thar sysrem of laws? In Exodus
21:12
we read: "He who srrikes a man, so
thar be dies, musr be pur ro dearh."
Furrher, in verse
14,
we read: "Only if
one man wilfully arracks anorher, ro
murder him craftily, you musr rake
rhar man from my very altar and pur
him ro dearh." Capital punishmenr
was decreed and enforcedl
Obviously, rhe death penalty for
capital offenses was
NOT
considered
"cruel or unusual punishmenr" by rhe
early writers of rhe Bible. Ir was a
pare of rhe law enforcement pro–
cedure given
tO
ancienr Israel.
Execurions were carríed our pub–
licly. The witnesses themselves, after a
person was convicred by rhe judges,
participared in carryíng out che
punishmenr. Thus orher would-be
criminals would ' 'hear and fear" ro
commit rhe same crimes (see Joshua
7:19-26).
A nd
it
worked.
As long as rhe laws
of God were enforced, rhe people of
Israel had peace and safety (see Joshua
24:31).
The shock of public execu–
tions for major crimes caused people
PLAIN TRUTH November 1972