IBL06: Sixth Commandment

Sixth Commandment

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Prerequisite/Law

Genre: Speech

Track: 34

Dictation Name: RR130S34

Location/Venue: ________

Year: 1960’s-1970’s.

Our scripture is Exodus 20:13. We shall read 20:1-13. Our subject, the sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill. Exodus twenty, one through 13.

“And God spake all these words, saying,

2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

13 Thou shalt not kill.”

The sixth and eighth commandments are the shortest in the table of ten. The sixth commandment appears in both Exodus and in Deuteronomy and both tables of ten without a single variation. There are variations in the statements of the other ten because of Moses desire to bring out another implication. But this is the briefest and it is stated on both occasions without variation. This morning as we begin a series of studies for some weeks on the sixth commandment thou shalt not kill, it will be our purpose mainly to outline it’s most elementary meaning. It’s elementary meaning was clearly summed up by Calvin when he wrote, and I quote The sum of this commandment is, that we should not unjustly do violence to anyone. This is the essence of the commandment. In other words the extreme is stated but it covers all kinds of unjust violence to anyone. Notice that it is defined as unjust violence. When we study the subordinate laws we realize that definitely capital punishment or the death penalty is not forbidden but indeed this commandment requires it, as we shall see next week.

It does not forbid legitimate warfare, nor does it forbid killing in self defence, nor other similar acts. Moreover, as Calvin went on, in his definition of this commandment the negative implies a positive. In other words, as Calvin said, we cannot merely abstain from killing and violence to others and keep this law... Calvin then went on to cite an illustration which I think has an especially modern ring. He said, let us imagine, and it takes very little imagination for us today: a man who is so cowardly and timid, that when he sees someone doing violence to a child or a helpless person, or a woman, that he lacks the courage to interfere and to prevent that violence. Shall we call such a man obedient to this commandment?

Calvin’s answer is emphatically no. That man who refused to intervene was guilty of violating the commandment as surely as the man who was committing the violence, because our Lord summed up the law in two statements, the entirety of the law. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, and being, and thy neighbor as thyself. And certainly such a man showed no love of his neighbor and therefore no love of God, nor any fear of God. His fear was of man. Thus, as Calvin pointed out, If the mere negative observance meant that a man kept this law then frightened and cowardly men would be the most virtuous in our society! And this cannot be.

The sad fact is though that too often in fundamental circles and other church circles it is precisely this type of man who comes to leadership! And in most cases men who are named as church officers are meek mousy characters who haven’t the nerve to stand up to anything that’s going on in the congregation or anything that the pastor might be doing! There are men who are only capable of keeping the law negatively, they lack the courage to keep the law negatively, or to break it. And such people are in the sight of God as surely violators of the law as those who go out and do violence.

Thus as Calvin summed it up and I quote “God not only forbids us to be murderers, but also prescribes that everyone should study faithfully to defend the life of his neighbor.” Unquote. Thus, in view of this meaning of the law, certain fundamental principles, certain elementary principles come into view with regard to the commandment thou shalt not kill. First and foremost, from ancient Israel to present day in America, this law with it’s positives as well as it’s negative side has had a tremendous implication for every citizen. It has meant that every citizen has a police power to enforce the law. Now, this in modern American law which reflects simply the old puritan application of the biblical law to this country, means that the police power is the one power that every citizen has, that he can delegate without surrender. We cannot exercise the right to vote in state or federal legislatures, that is a right we only exercise by delegation. And this is true of most of our civil powers... but the police power is the one power that we can exercise without delegation. That we can delegate without surrender. Now of course in recent years in the last couple of generations because of the drift towards totalitarianism in our society, very little is said about the citizens power to arrest.

We are not informed of our legal rights here. Now, our rights here as elsewhere are governed by law just as the policeman's power to arrest and to police are governed by law. But we still have them, but we are kept in ignorance of them. But this police power of every citizen is in terms of the biblical law. The law asks two things of every man. Obedience and enforcement. To obey a law means to enforce it in our own lives and in the community at large.

We cannot say as some relativists are today that, well if you believe something it”s good for you but you have no right to require it of anyone else. If it is good for us it must be good for us because it is an absolute truth that is good for all, and the law we believe is valid for us because it is valid for all and must be enforced for all. Thus the first fundamental principle that comes into view with respect to this law is that the positive side of the law, the positive affirmation declares the police power of every citizen. Second, as Calvin made clear, this positive side requires of course a common defence of Godly order.

But this Godly order is more than political. We have seen that we have a police power, which is political. It has reference to the political order, but it also has reference to the social order. It means therefore that we must take positive action against backbiting and tail bearing regarding other peoples property with respect to their use and abuse, and so for the protection of the family and marriage as a whole. Also, it means that we have a responsibility positively with regard to the use of the earth. For the earth and the natural resources are entirely subject to God and his law. Thus only a fraction of our positive obedience of this law is political. It is social. it is natural, it is conserving in every area. Third, another implication of the commandment thou shalt not kill is the death penalty. It is a part of the law, and as we shall see next week, the subordinate legislation under this commandment requires that life must be protected in terms of god’s law and must be taken subject to God’s law.

Life has been created by God, it must be lived in terms of God’s law, it can be assailed or taken only on God’s terms. So that man must not only avoid committing murder, but he must seek the death penalty against the murderer and against all whom God’s law requires it.

For in terms of the implication thou shalt not kill, since protection of life on God’s terms is basic to this man it becomes clear why medicine and the healing arts generally are so closely linked to religion in our faith. Not too much work has been done in this area but some significant work of late has been done in Europe on the history of medicine in the western world which points out it’s very very close connection with Christian faith. So that it’s basic principles have been very very largely reshaped in terms of Christian principles. That there was indeed a major medical revolution between the times of the greco roman world and Christianity. In recent years rather mechanical and materialistic concepts have crept into medicine which seek to sever the link between Christian faith and medicine. But medicine basically has a conserving and conservative function, thus it is that there has been historically and is today a high correlation between the healing arts and Christianity. So that, you find those who are engaged in the healing arts represent the highest level of participation in Christian activities! No other profession can compare.

Fifth[?] then we must say that while this commandment while it’s positive in it’s affirmation requires the protection of life under God it must not be confused with Albert Schweitzer's principle of reverence for life. It is not reverence for life, per say, that God’s law requires but reverence for God. And nothing, no person nor life nor thing, can be placed ahead of God. Schweitzer’s reverence for life viewed death as the ultimate evil. And any injury to life as a part of that evil.

This is morally wrong. It is not death which is the evil, but it is the consequence of the real evil, sin. Scripture tells us that death enters the world because of sin and we can never place life above God as the highest good, as the modern humanist does. When he does this of course he destroys, as we shall see next week, all morality. Because then life becomes the highest good and it take precedence over any moral law. Sixth we must say that this law means that there are implications not only political and social and religious, but also personal. Adam Clark a couple of centuries ago in line with the practice of the church from the beginning listed as violations of the commandment thou shalt not kill all ascetic practices that did harm to the body. Suicide, drunkenness, gluttony, a general intemperance of character. Also among the personal violations of this commandment are any actions which deface or harm the body.

Among those specifically listed in the scripture are the tattoo’s. The body must be used under God and kept for his purposes and is not to be defaced. It is significant that the tattoo mark has an origin in religion, in paganism. It indicated two things in pagan societies: one, that the person was a slave of a particular God. Second, that he was the slave of a particular person. A tattoo is a mark of slavery, and it is ironic that it should become so popular for it has always, until fairly recent times, retained that meaning. And slaves were tattooed. This was until fairly recent times, the means of identification, and still is in some parts of the world. But in bible times not even a slave could be tattooed, he was still God’s before he was mans.

Now like the first commandment the sixth commandment has reference to the whole law. Thou shalt have no other God’s before me means in part that any violation of any of the ten commandments or of any law involves placing ourselves and our will above God’s law. Thou shalt not kill has a similar meaning, so that the first and the sixth are in a sense total in their application. Thou shalt not kill means that any violation of any of the ten involves the death or injury or destruction of our relationship to God, and therefore our relationship to men.

For example in the second table of the law, the fact of adultery and of theft, of bearing false witness and coveting do injury to our neighbor and potentially destroy him. To have other God’s or images, be guilty of blasphemy, to despise the sabbath and to fail to do honor to our parents destroys our relationship to God. Thus the essence of the law is to worship God alone, and to live is to worship God by using life on God’s terms. Therefore thou shalt not kill.

Thou shalt not take life in terms of your will, but thou shalt take life only when God requires it and protect it otherwise. Salvation which as we have previously seen is a word salva meaning help. For man means wholeness. Many nations act out their faith. Man is born into total meaning because God is the Lord. Everything in the world has meaning because it was created by God for his purpose and his glory. Scripture tells us that the very hairs of our head are all numbered, that not a sparrow falls but our Father in heaven knows it. That he is mindful of the flowers of the field which are today and tomorrow are not. That the world is a world of total meaning. Man, having been created by God into a world of total meaning and in terms of this total meaning requires in every fiber of his being total meaning because God is the Lord.

If he despises God’s total meaning then he seeks to create his own in terms of the satanic terms of life. And a man then acts out his faith. A man lives in terms of a fundamental principle. Thus our Lord said, by their fruits ye shall know them. Every man’s life is geared to meaning. If the meaning to which he gears his life is false, then his life is ultimately empty and suicidal.

To ground our lives therefore on any faith other than the triune God means that ultimately we violate the commandment thou shalt not kill, with respect to our lives. We become suicidal, we become empty of meaning, and therefore of life. Therefore, thou shalt have no other God’s before me for to have other god’s is ultimately to kill yourself. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God we give thanks unto thee that in Jesus Christ thou hast called us to life. That in him we have life and that more abundantly. And we pray our Father that in these troubled times, when the foundations of society are founded on death, grounded on a suicidal course, thou wouldst make us strong in terms of Jesus Christ and his law word. That we may re-establish men and nations on thee that they may live and know thee to be the only true God. Bless us to this purpose we beseech thee, in Jesus name, Amen.

Are there any questions now with respect to our lesson?

[audience member speaks unintelligibly]

Some modern translations give the commandment as thou shalt do no murder, or thou shalt not murder. I think the King james is still more accurate for this reason: first, the word murder has reference primarily to man. When we think of murder we are thinking of an act of a man against a man. Clearly this is forbidden by this commandment, but equally clearly when we study the subordinate legislation we shall see that the application of this law goes beyond man so that it has reference also to the natural world around us. It has reference to conservation, it has reference to our use of animals, it has reference to our dealing with the world and life is a whole. And the word kill brings this out better whereas murder limits it to man. Thus, the modern tendency to use the word murder does help clarify some aspects of the meaning is against the pacifists who try to abuse this commandment, nonetheless it does limit the meaning.

[audience member speaks unintelligibly]

Mhm. Yes, but I don’t think they’re doing it on biblical terms but in terms of other standards, because they cannot cite the bible saying thou shalt not kill and say they’re going to be vegetarians, because the bible very definitely specifies the animals that they are to kill and eat, and exactly how they are to be prepared. They are to be bled and so on. And then it goes on and specifies the nature of their diet and so on so carefully that it’s only by ignoring the rest of scripture and taking this verse out of context that they can use the bible to justify vegetarianism.

Now maybe in terms of taste, they want to be vegetarians. That’s their business. But they cannot do it in terms of scripture.

[audience member speaks unintelligibly]

Yes. No. Their either ignorant or depraved and twisting scripture, because the scripture makes it very clear, the law specifies that in the night time if anyone invades your home you have the right to kill them to defend yourself. In the daytime you cannot kill them unless they refuse to surrender or try to assail you because then you have the opportunity to see if they are armed,  or if they’re going to try to kill you to escape or to rob you. But at night time, without determining whether they are going to attack you or not, if you find someone on your property that is within your house, according to the biblical law is its spelled out --we’ll come to that later-- you have the right to kill them. Now they still have had this law on the statute books in this country until lately and now the courts are so interpreting this biblical law with regard to your right to defend yourself and to kill on your property that they have virtually destroyed the meaning. Yes?

[audience member speaks unintelligibly]

No. No, it doesn’t give the right of revolution. Unless there is a leader within the government who has due authority who takes the standard. In other words, from the biblical perspective when a country goes down the drain it’s because the majority of the people have spiritually gone down the drain. And that’s exactly our problem. There isn’t anything worth fighting for in such a case, and it’s morally wrong. Yes?

[audience member speaks unintelligibly]

If you were to try to destroy it you’d end up wiping out humanity. Because thats the reality now. Men, by and large, have become virtually all humanistic today. Their presuppositions are humanistic. You’d have to say, well I’m going to wipe out nine-hundred and ninety-nine out of a thousand all over the world and then when I get through I may have to go through another nine-hundred and ninety-nine of what’s left. That’s how far gone our defection from fundamental principle has gone.

Now, our method must be in terms of scripture to reconstruct. Go ye therefore unto all nations and make disciples, men, and nations. So we reconstruct. And how do we reconstruct? We begin by creating the institutions and orders that God requires. First, the home. Second the Christian schools and institutions and so on. We begin moving in terms of God’s realities. This is where today all people who call themselves conservatives are really radicals, they’re leftist. Because, their attitude is well, we are going to expose the enemy and wipe them out. They’re taking something from the books of the enemy! They’re not creating, they feel the answer is destroy.

So where do you get destroying? You end up by having to destroy yourself because you no longer belong to the christian world, to the kingdom of God. So, our task must be systematic reconstruction. If a tithe of all the money that people spent in the last twenty years fighting subversion and communism and so on --and I am speaking of private groups and individuals-- had been put into christian reconstruction you would see today a very marked trend to Christian law and order.

After all, if all you’re going to do is pull up weeds, you’ll never have a garden. To have a garden you’ve got to grow vegetables and that has to be your primary purpose! And today, the essence of being a conservative or to be a christian is to pull up weeds. And I say, it’s planting a garden. And until we start planting gardens we’re never going to have anything out of the garden. We’re going to spend our lives pulling up weeds, and there’s nothing more futile. Yes?

[audience member speaks unintelligibly]

We have to have a positive program and that positive program of course is given to us in scripture, the trouble is we want a shortcut. A few years ago I talked to a man who was one of the wealthiest men in the state, and I outlined to him what he could do with his money that would be constructive. Well no, he wanted to win now. Well, he has put out a sizable fortune in backing political candidates that he ends up saying within six months, they stink! And he’s no closer to having achieved anything! And this is what you end up with when you confine yourself to pulling weeds. Yes?

[audience member speaks unintelligibly]

First of all with respect to the dietary laws of the bible we’ll come to that a few weeks from now and will consider all of that, what is their function today, what is their meaning. The second part, is we ahve seen previously the commandment thou shalt love thy neighbor is thyself is one that sums up the duties of the so called second table of the law. You love your neighbor if you do not kill him, you respect his right to life, you do not commit adultery, you respect the sanctity of his home, you do not steal or you respect his property, you do not bear false witness, you respect his reputation, and you do not covet what he has. That you respect these things in thought is well is in deed. So you have respect to your neighbors right to life, home, property, and reputation, in word, thought, and deed, then you have kept the commandment thou shalt love thy neighbor is thyself. This is the meaning.

The word love there has a primarily juridical or legal rather than emotional reference. Today, we’ve converted it into a feeling. And these people who talk so much about loving everybody today are the ones who are doing the most damage to property and to life and to reputation. And have no respect for the sanctity of the home. Now, this means therefore that you have a regard for these things in others, including your enemies. It does not mean that you surrender what you have to them! That’s a violation of the commandment, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

I certainly don’t have much regard for myself if I throw away what I have, if I despise what is mine. And we’re not loving our enemies by giving them foreign aid... we robbing our taxpayers and despising ourselves by throwing away our own wealth. That’s not love, that’s suicide. So it is not love, it hasn’t any resemblance to what scripture is requiring of us. And it constitutes a subsidy to evil doers, we are never told to subsidize evil doers!

[audience member speaks unintelligibly]

No, my statement was this --and I never referred to the M.A.A.M.A. and I have no intention of doing so-- what I made was the observation that inspite of the materialistic and mechanistic interpretations that have crept into medicine the highest ratio of church membership and conservative church membership was still there. This is simply a statistical fact.

[audience member speaks unintelligibly]

No. Take any Orthodox group of Christians. whether it will be a Presbyterian or an Episcopal church, or a Baptist church (that is very conservative) you will have a higher ratio from the medical profession in that church then you will have of lawyers, or of say physicists, or any other profession you could name, even educators. Now, I’m just stating a statistical fact, I referred to--

[audience member interrupts and speaks unintelligibly]

Well, I was referring to the professions, I made a statement of fact, you see. With regard to the profession, that’s all. Now, there’s a low ratio of teachers. Very low. This has been reported more than once with regard to the professions. Go near any campus, near any university campus -and I’ve lived in campus towns- and you will find that it’s extremely rare to find a professor or a teacher in any of the congregation. Now, I’m just giving a statistical fact that has been reported again and again and again. This is the reality.

[audience member speaks unintelligibly]

Well, yes, you might redefine profession, but I don’t know what the ratio would be if you took in farmers and all. I was just citing a statistical fact that has been regularly reported in religious periodicals is they study teacher’s and scientists and... ah.

[audience member speaks unintelligibly]

I was just saying that the background of medicine is that it has been very closely tied to religion. SO, irrespective of whatever you may believe this tie maintains itself to this day in that there is a closer association to churches. Yes?

[audience member speaks unintelligibly]

Well now, wait a minute. I think your statement is slanderous because--

[audience member interrupts and speaks unintelligibly]

No. No, I think your statement is slanderous because you’re dealing with a whole profession and there’s no class of men that you can say that of. I happen to feel that the lowest profession in the world today is the clergy. I don’t think there’s any class of men that I regard more lowly. But I still don’t feel that you can say of clergy is a whole, really, anything! You cannot generalize that way. So that it may be true that there are some doctors, and some lawyers, and some of this and that class that are so but you cannot generalize that way. And I--

[audience member tries to interrupt again]

--wait a minute. No... Well the fact is, the majority of them don’t join. But there is a higher ratio of membership by doctors than any other class! And I have been a pastor in a number of congregations and I know a number of congregations, and I would say certainly that I can name (and I can name right now) one in particular who is a member of a very fine church whom I regard with distinction. By and large, however they have been very dedicated members. Now this is a fact, a statistical fact, plus a personal observation as to the character.

I think we’ve discussed this far enough so let’s go on to another point. Yes?

[audience member speaks unintelligibly]

That’s our subject next week, the death penalty and the plea of not guilty by insanity. What is it’s status. And there are some very interesting laws with respect to that in scripture that are neglected today, so that that is an extremely important subject and very timely today, because what the bible has to say there speaks to the most pivotal issues of our day. They’re coming to focus, the Tanner Trial today, for example is I think the most important trial that’s going on because the man is a convicted rapist, and the attempt now is to have him released on the grounds that there is a difference in the chromosome structure in his body which would render him not guilty. So, we will be dealing with this next week and it is is I say, of central importance today. Yes?

[audience member speaks unintelligibly]

Mhm. Yes. We will deal with the {?} rule and the durham rule next week, but our time is up now... one thing. Those of you who are not on the mailing list to receive the newsletter please give me your name and address and you will be on the mailing list. Thank you.

[audio ends abrubtly]