12 “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. 13 However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. 14 But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.
Exodus 21:12-14 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/exo.21.12-14.NIV.
God not only reminds us of the sanctity of life but also about responsibility for our actions. If there is the involvement of man in the death of another, someone must bear responsibility. A distinction is made between deliberate and accidental murder… What we refer today as first degree murder and manslaughter respectively. Though accidental, a person responsible for the death of another must run to a designated place to obtain mercy…what came to be known as cities of refuge. Though the intention wasn’t to kill, a price must still be paid because a human life has been lost. It must be accounted for. But for the one who deliberately plans to kill another and does so successfully, the prescription is death…an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth much in the same way the justice system today demands. Scripture seems deliberate in talking about ‘scheming’ to kill. Planning to kill doesn’t just happen over night. It’s a product of harbored emotions…simmering anger that grows over time culminating into the obvious. Christ warns us:
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘ Raca ,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Matthew 5:21-22 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.5.21-22.NIV.
Planned murder is a product of simmering anger. Am I angry at my brother or sister? Let me ask God for forgiveness and seek to make amends because if I let it simmer, it’ll boil over into something else.
“In your anger do not sin” : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,
Ephesians 4:26 NIV
https://ephesians.bible/ephesians-4-26
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