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THE DEATH PENALTY AND THE BIBLE
FROM LAW AS RETRIBUTION TO LAW AS COVENANT LOVE

by Millard C. Lind

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE: WHAT THIS ESSAY IS ABOUT

INTRODUCTION: THE CHURCH AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY

A SERIES OF THREE:

On the Mountain with Moses, Exodus 19—24
On the Mountain with Elijah, 1 Kings 19
On the Mountain with Jesus, Matthew 5—7

CONCLUSION AND PROSPECT

BIBLIOGRAPHY

AUTHOR’S PREFACE: What this Essay is About

The New York Times Book Review reports that although every other developed

nation in the West has abandoned capital punishment,in America the death penalty is a

booming business. It states that in just a decade “the execution rate has gone up 800

percent,” that in l999 more Americans were executed than in any year since 1952. An all-

time record, over 3500 prisoners now await their destiny on death row (NYTBR:34). It

occurs to me that since most Americans claim a relationship to some church, there may

be an interest in adiscussion of what the Bible, especially Jesus, has to say about law

and the death penalty. Or is American Christianity so tepid that such a discussion seems

irrelevant?

When people are in community, there is a need for just relationships. When

relationships are seriously violated, they are sometimes settled in court, according to the

law. These laws often develop over many years and are the product of how people have

settled disputes in the past. The laws are often based on religious or philosophical

principles embedded deeply within a society as the society relates itself to divinity or to

the universe. An example of such development of law may be found in Jethro’s advice to

his son-in-law,Moses. He counsels, “You should represent the people before God and

you should bring their cases before God; teach them the statutes and instructions and

make known to them the way they are to go and the things they are to do.”Then he tells

him to “look for able men among all the people, men who fear God, are trustworthy, and

hate dishonest gain .... Let them sit as judges for the people at all times; let them bring

every important case to you, but decide every minor case themselves” (Exod. 18:19-21).

But besides settling an already violated relationship, people need to know what is

expected of them beforehand so that they can deal justly with their neighbor and avoid

disputes. This is likely the main function of the law summariesand law codesof the

Pentateuch and of other such comparable ancient Near East (NE) literature (cf. Exod.

20:2-17; 20:22—23:33; Lev. 16--26); Deut. 12—26,28; 27:11-26; ANET:178). The NE

law codes were first written when peoples from different city-states and backgrounds are

forced together by conquest to form an empire. In order to do business, they need to

know what justice in the empire demands of them. Similarly, though not empire law but

the law of an inter-tribal covenant community, the Sinai law is given by Yahweh through

Moses to the disparate clans so that they might know how to be God’spriestly kingdom

and holy nation. Instead of uniting the world by dominating it militarily, they are to

exemplify a truly just community (Exod. 19:4-6; cf. Amos 3:9), from which the nations

may then learn to reshape themselves (Isaiah 2:2-4).

In the Pentateuch, the oldest of these legal summariesis the Decalogue, and of the

law codes, the “Covenant Code” (Exod. 20:22-23:33). It is this Decalogue and Covenant

Code with their introduction and conclusion that I refer to mainly in this essay—to Moses

as he receives them on Mount Sinai; to Elijahas he reassesses them at Sinai-Horeb; and

to Jesusas he fulfils them in his Sermon on the Mount.

Moses at Sinai begins this revolution in NE law and justice. I note first how this

Sinai law is like other NE law, embracing with it the death penalty. It has major

differences, however, which, as the story suggests, arise out of the tension of human law

with Yahweh’s theophany and covenant. This theophany and covenant provide a new

motive and model for law: Yahweh’s historic deliverance of Israel from state slavery, and

infinite forgiveness for those who commit themselves to Yahweh and this divine way of

freedom. This Nachfolge Jahwe (imitation ofYahweh’s saving acts for Israel) is to be

the pattern for Israel’s internal relations, and for its calling as a light to the nations.

Elijah’s pilgrimage to Sinai-Horeb clarifies how Yahweh differs from the Baal-

like gods of the NE on this very point.Yahweh is represented primarily by the persecuted

Elijah, rather than by the human offices ofNear East (NE) kingship; by a still small

voice to the prophetrather than by wind, earthquake and fire--natural powers represented

on the societal level by power politics and the armed services (1 Kings 19:11-- 12).

Throughout the books of Kings,this leadership of“the law and the prophets” with its

concept of freedom and forgiveness struggles on the political plane to overtake the

natural inclination of“law and retribution.”Yahweh’sway to victory over retribution

is envisioned especially in the prophetic books, from the eighth century Hosea to the

exilic period of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the Servant Songs of Isaiah 40-55, and in the late

apocalyptic book of Daniel (164 BC). This way to victory is initiated, however, in the

earlier Sinai covenant law:by the motive-model introduction to the Covenant (Exod.

19:4), and Decalogue(Exod. 20;2, 6), and by its attachment to some of the laws in the

Covenant Code (Exod. 20:22—23:19).