By Jeffery M. Leonard, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biblical Studies, Samford University
Honor Life
Exodus 20:13; 1 Samuel 26:7–11, 22–25
Some biblical commands are elegant in their simplicity. Consider, for example, the Decalogue’s command, “Thou shalt not steal.” What could be clearer? And yet, a moment’s reflection tells us that behind this apparent simplicity lies a web of complexities that requires a great deal of explanation and clarification.
Although stealing might seem to be something as simple as breaking into a person’s home and taking that person’s property, the Torah tells us that lots of other actions can be thought of as stealing too.
Taking another person’s ox is stealing (Ex. 22:1), but so is letting your grazing livestock wander over and eat in a neighbor’s field (22:5), carelessly letting a fire get out of control and burning up a neighbor’s grain (22:6) or leaving an open hole and letting a neighbor’s animal fall in and get hurt (21:33–34). All of these actions are stealing in a sense.
On the other hand, there are times when taking property is not seen as stealing. Reasonable taxes, for example, are not treated as stealing in the Bible, even though they involve taking away someone’s property.
Stealing is a more complicated matter than it might first appear.
Human life is precious to God — and should be precious to us. (Ex. 20:13)
What is true for stealing is certainly true for another of the Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt not kill.”
As masterful as the King James Version can be, its rendering “kill” has generated a great deal of confusion. After all, the Bible condones and even commands killing of various sorts. Key here is that the command is directed not against killing per se but against murder.
Here, Numbers 35:15–21 provides a helpful clarification as it outlines the difference between a person who kills someone unintentionally and the person who does so on purpose. It is the latter person who is described using the same term as the Decalogue (Hebrew ratsakh). But even the added element of killing a person on purpose does not entirely square things away. After all, Numbers 35 also commands that the murderer be killed, and this imposition of the death penalty is certainly done on purpose. One additional clarification is needed: murder involves intentionally killing a person without divine permission.
We respect life by acknowledging God’s authority over it. (1 Sam. 26:7–11)
An illustration of this last element of murder is vividly played out in David’s interactions with Saul. On one occasion when Saul was pursuing David through the wilderness, David and two of his men daringly snuck right into Saul’s camp.
David’s companion Abishai begged him to let him kill Saul and rid David of his enemy. But David refused. David was certainly not without his flaws, but on this occasion his actions were exactly right.
David insisted, “The Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed.”
We respect life by treating every life as equally valuable. (1 Sam. 26:22–25)
David recognized that even though Saul was his enemy, he did not have God’s permission to harm the one God had anointed as king. To do so would have been murder. David took the king’s spear and water jug to show Saul that though he could have killed him, he did not. Clearly moved by David’s having spared his life, Saul himself called off the pursuit of his young rival.
The effect that David’s act of mercy toward Saul produced taps into a much deeper aspect of the sixth commandment. What God ultimately desires for humanity is an ethic of life and mercy rather than violence and revenge. This ethic of mercy only begins with the command not to murder; it does not stop there.
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