Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20100221.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Exodus: God's Forming The Nation Israel For His Abrahamic Covenant
Part II: God's Forming Israel To Heed Him, Exodus 15:22-40:38
H. God's Clarifications Of The Ten Commandments In His Exodus 20:22-23:33 "Book Of The Covenant"
2. Clarifications Regarding Human Relationships, Exodus 21:1-36
b. Valuing God's Image In Man For Handling Capital Offenses
(Exodus 21:12-17)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    The secular world's moral compass for handling capital crimes is in great need of repair, a fact we can easily illustrate as follows:

    (1) On Friday, February 12, 2010, Viva Leroy Nash, "the oldest death row inmate in the United States, who spent most of his life behind bars . . . died of natural causes at age 94" in the Arizona State prison in Florence, Arizona. (Bob Christie, AP, "Old age takes nation's oldest on death row," 2/15/10 Rep-Am., p. 1A, 7A))

    Nash was sent to the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas back in 1930 at the age of 15 for armed robbery. (Ibid.) Released, he slew a Connecticut police officer in 1947, and spent 25 more years in prison before being let out in 1972. Five years later, he was sentenced to two consecutive life terms for a robbery and murder in Salt Lake City, but escaped from a prison work crew in October of 1982. Three weeks later, Nash killed a coin shop employee in Phoenix, and, as he ran away, a nearby shop owner pointed a gun at him and told him to stop. Nash grabbed the gun and struggled with the man until the police arrived and arrested him. He was convicted and sentenced to die in 1983. Yet, due to appeals, 27 years later, he died of old age! (Ibid.)

    Something is wrong with the moral compass of a judicial system that did not stop Nash in his 80-year-long murderous life!

    (2) The same day Nash died, Amy Bishop, a Harvard-educated neurobiologist, shot three people to death at a faculty meeting at the University of Alabama-Huntsville for being denied tenure. ("Alabama campus reels after shooting," USA TODAY, 2/15/10, p. 3A)

    Tragic as this event was, it was later learned she had also before shot and killed her teenage brother, Seth in 1986, that when "police were ready to file charges" against her then, they "were instructed by someone in the chief's office to 'stop the booking process.'" (Ibid.)



    The BostonHerald.com posted a story on 2/15/10 at the URL /news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1233381 listing the many serious conflicts her neighbors had with Amy in the years since that shooting!

    Again, something is wrong with the moral compass of a system that did not stop the 24-year violent bent in Amy Bishop!



    Thus, we may ask, "In view of the world's lack of an adequate moral compass to handle capital crimes, what compass can we use instead?!"

    Need: "As the world's moral compass on capital crimes surely needs repair, what sound, practical moral compass can we use instead?!"

  1. After giving Israel His Ten Commandments, God CLARIFIED the REASONS behind these commands in the "Book of the Covenant" supplied in Exodus 20:22-23:33, Bible Knowledge Com., O. T., p. 140; www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org, "Book of the Covenant."
  2. Exodus 21:12-17 of that book explains God's INTENT in giving His law was meant to CORRECT ABUSES in the ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN LEGAL CODES with the MORAL COMPASS of RESPECTING HIS IMAGE IN MAN for judging CAPITAL cases:
    1. Many great abuses existed in the Ancient Near Eastern law codes of Moses' and Ancient Israel's day: they often called for the ghastly maiming of part of a criminal's body where the punishment often did not fit the crime, or where the punishment was either too lenient or too harsh, Ibid., Bible Knowledge Com., O. T., p. 298.
    2. Such abuses came from pagan man's lack of an adequate moral compass in that he failed to view human life as existing in God's IMAGE (as we found man exists in God's image in our last sermon)!
    3. Thus, God directed in Exodus 21:12-17 that crimes that show HEINOUS CONTEMPT for those EXISTING in GOD'S IMAGE must be SPEEDILY PUNISHED by DEATH by the state :
      1. Man's existence in God's image was to guide all judicial rulings regarding man's slaying of other men, Exodus 21:12-14:
        1. If a human killed another human by premeditated murder (Ex. 21:12, 14a), he showed heinous contempt for the value of the image of God in the victim, so if rightly convicted, he was to be executed by the state, to have his own life forcibly taken in death by the state, cf. Genesis 9:6; Romans 13:3-4.
        2. Additionally, and contrary to today's practices, this crime could not be appealed so that its punishment could be delayed and even prevented: the guilty was to be forcibly taken from even grasping the horns of God's altar where he would there appeal for protection, for God Himself did not want murderers to escape their due execution, Exodus 21:14b; 1 Kings 2:28b-34.
        3. However, if someone in God's permissive will had allegedly accidentally killed another, opposite the typical Ancient Near Eastern practice where a relative of the slain could retaliate in killing him, as there was no yet proven disdain for God's image in the slayer's act, he could flee to a city of refuge and there be protected until he received a fair trial, Ex. 21:13; Num. 35:9-34.
        4. Depending on the outcome of that trial, the slayer would either be convicted of first degree murder and executed by the avenger or be acquitted and allowed to stay protected from the avenger in that city until the death of the current high priest. Then he could to return to his own home town in safety, Num. 35:25-28.
      2. Man's existence in God's image was to guide all judicial rulings regarding man's harming the cradle of his humanity, his parents:
        1. If someone intentionally physically harmed or verbally cursed his parents, since his parents were the cradle of his life in God's image, the man's act signaled he reviled the image of God in his origin, so he justly forfeited his own life, Exodus 21:15, 17.
        2. Such a ruling may seem extreme in our era, but Dave Kopel's May 2, 2000 article, "Fatherthelessness: The Root Cause," (nationalreview.com) noted that two-parent homes where children respected their parents enough to live under their rule were the greatest deterrent to crime! So, for the good of society alone, it is imperative that children respect their parents!
      3. Man's existence in God's image was to guide all judicial rulings regarding man's stealing of other men, Exodus 21:16:
        1. Stealing another human being showed heinous contempt for the value of the victim as existing in God's image.
        2. Such a theft also interrupted the victim's function in his family, and since the family included one's parents, the cradle of human life made in God's image, kidnapping repudiated God's image at two levels, so the guilty had to have his own life taken in death.
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ as Savior from sin to be justified from sin and spiritually born into God's spiritual family, John 3:16; 1:11-12. (2) As a believer, (a) may we RESPECT the IMAGE of God in our OWN lives and in our FAMILY lives in INFLUENCING a spiritually amoral world for the Lord!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 The need for the home to teach respect for parents and all who exist in God's image to avoid capital crimes can be clearly illustrated:

(1) Mayor Eddie Perez of Hartford, Connecticut in an interview on February 17, 2010 on "The Talk of Connecticut" radio talk show, said the biggest problem Hartford faces is gun crime, with the biggest block of it, 33 %, due to "domestic violence" in the home!

(2) In our introduction, we reported on the University of Alabama at Huntsville shootings by Dr. Amy Bishop. Significantly, later reports show her failure at home led to this shooting spree.

The BostonHerald.com on February 17, 2010 posted the story, "DA: Suspect could have faced multiple charges in '86 slay", noting the 1986 police report of Amy's shooting of her brother showed Amy had told Braintree, Massachussetts Officer Ron Solimini she had "argued with her father right before the shooting." It added that Amy's mother "was then a Town Meeting member," and Braintree's current Chief of Police, Paul Frazier, in his February 13, 2010 official news release, claimed a call from a ranking officer had then told the arresting officers "to stop the booking process" of Amy, and that she had then been "turned over to her mother and they left the building via a rear exit."

Frazier added, "The release of Ms. Bishop did not sit well with the police officers . . ." (Ibid.) Little wonder, too: Frazier noted they had to seize the shotgun from Amy at gunpoint after she had fled her home upon shooting her brother! (Ibid.) Also, the 1986 police report cited above claimed that after Amy had left her house, she had held the shotgun to the chest of nearby auto body shop worker, Tom Pettigrew!

Amy Bishop had a history of an unchecked disregard for others, starting with disrespect for her own family, and it led to capital crimes!

Exodus 21:12-17 is TRUE -- upholding belief that MAN is made in the IMAGE of GOD STARTING in the HOME with PROPER RESPECT for PARENTS, is ESSENTIAL for PREVENTING CAPITAL CRIME in society at large.

May WE thus trust in Christ as Savior, and ALIGN our PERSONAL and FAMILY lives with the MORAL COMPASS of REALIZING the IMAGE of GOD in INDIVIDUALS and in those individuals in the HOME. In doing so, we will influence not only ourselves, but our world to avoid capital crimes, and eventually influence reform of related legal abuses in the judicial system!