“Anyone who assaults and kills another person must be put to death."

Exodus 21:12

Exodus 21:12 begins a series of laws having to do with capital punishment. In general, these laws are meant to protect the community from people who might damage it. Specifically, verse 12 addresses the case of murder, when someone intentionally kills an innocent victim (not in war, self-defense, etc.). The next two verses make it clear that verse 12 focuses on murder, not accidental killing.

It’s tempting for us to jump immediately from Exodus to modern debates about the death penalty. There is a place for this conversation, to be sure, but it needs to be done carefully, because it’s easy to miss the larger point of Exodus 21:12 and similar verses. We might be inclined to see them as somehow devaluing human life. In historical context, however, these laws assumed and underscored the sanctity of human life. In other cultures of the Ancient Near East, murderers were not held to a high standard of accountability. The Laws of Hammurabi, for example, required only that murderers pay a fine to the victim’s family. But Israel was distinct in its superlative valuing of human life, such that those who took a life unjustly owed their own lives in return.

We will continue to see lively debates in our time of history about the sanctity of human life in relationship to capital punishment, abortion, war, and other crucial matters. However we work out the implications, we who anchor our thinking to biblical revelation must be committed to the sacredness of each human life. Moreover, we are impelled by Scripture to treat every person with dignity, not only in the “big issues” of our society, but also in each encounter with each person. Our commitment to the sanctity of life should be evident, not just in our opinions, but also and mostly in our day-to-day interactions with our colleagues, subordinates, neighbors, strangers, and family members.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: How does the sanctity of human life matter in your life? In your ethical and political views? In your relationships at work? In how you treat people in the community or at home?

PRAYER: Dear Lord, you have made us in your own image. Thus we are sacred at the core. Even sin, however pervasive in our lives, cannot erase our fundamental sanctity as creatures who bear your image.

Help us, dear Lord, to understand how the sanctity of human life should be lived out in today’s world. Give us your wisdom as we work through such contentious issues as abortion, capital punishment, and war.

Moreover, may our commitment to the sanctity of human life move us to care for people in need, not only by keeping them alive, but also by reaching out to them in their suffering and pain. May your people continue to be on the forefront of caring for and empowering the poor and hungry throughout the world. May we reach out with love and grace to foreigners, prisoners, and victims of injustice.

Help me this day to treat all people as ones who bear your image. May I offer them the dignity they deserve. Amen.