God forbids taking human life as one of His ten holy precepts that define duty to fellow human beings, and to break it is sin. The command requires perfect obedience with no excuse, to be learned, kept, and done in mind, soul, and body, while refusal comes from unbelief and failure to reverence God. Like all transgression of His law, violating it brings suffering and a curse upon earth, animals, and people. Keeping it with all His commandments, statutes, and judgments brings covenant mercy, love, blessing, life, and prosperity and shields from temptation, while disobedience forfeits that blessing. This obedience is learned by remembering God's forty-year leading in the wilderness to humble, prove, feed, and chasten His people to live by every word from His mouth, because all must answer for their deeds before the Judge in the present time of investigation before the final review.
Giving and Historical Setting
The prohibition was spoken by God Himself face to face from the mount out of the midst of fire and fiery cloud at Horeb, after bringing the people out of Egypt from the house of bondage. It was given as a covenant made not with their fathers but with those alive that day.
It was repeated by Moses east of Jordan at the river Jordan to all Israel and the whole encampment before his death and before entering Canaan to possess the land. The repetition was needed because the new generation had largely not witnessed the giving of the law, and few of the present generation were old enough to comprehend its awful solemnity. God therefore directed Moses to rehearse the deliverance from Egypt and the wilderness journeyings and to present God's claims anew. In this setting the command against killing was set before them as they were soon to pass over Jordan and take possession of the promised land.
The rehearsal came in mercy after Israel failed to fulfill their first solemn covenant, giving them another opportunity instead of destroying them. Moses summoned the people in solemn assembly with a trumpet call demanding earnest attention to communicate matters concerning their eternal welfare. He called them to hear, learn, keep, do, and bind themselves to observe the statutes and judgments. Israel had promised to govern all their words and actions by God's law and were thereby denominated unto God.
The prohibition belongs to what God required in Deuteronomy 4-8 and to the commandments repeated in Deuteronomy 5:6-21 that Israel keep as a holy people unto Himself. The commandments were to remain constantly before the people and be taught to their children and later generations. They are recorded also for study and practice in principle in 1901, making the path plain and shielding from temptation. They are to be studied now with profit.
Meaning and Required Obedience
The prohibition against taking human life stands among the Ten Commandments, the ten holy precepts that express God's requirements, with the latter part of that law defining duty to other people, and to break any of those commandments is sin. The laws governing human physical life belong to that same divine law, so to violate them is likewise sin, and transgression of God's law brings suffering and a curse upon the earth, upon animals, and upon people.
The command against killing must be learned, kept, and done as part of the sanctification of mind, soul, and body, requiring perfect obedience for which there is no excuse. Failure to keep it comes from unbelief and a clouded mind that does not reverence God or obey His law, and many who profess to serve the Lord refuse to obey it. Keeping it together with the commandments, statutes, and judgments brings covenant mercy, God's love and blessing, the Lord's cooperation, multiplication, life, possession of the promised land, removal of all sickness, and prosperity. Obedience is the condition of prosperity and blessing, while disobedience forfeits that blessing, and the commandments make the path plain and shield from temptation.
Obedience is learned by remembering God's forty-year leading in the wilderness to humble and prove the heart, by His feeding with manna to teach that man lives by every word from God's mouth, and by His chastening as a man chastens his son, that His people may walk in His ways and fear Him. This keeping matters now because the world must stand before the Judge of all the earth to answer for deeds in the present time of investigation, when every character will be investigated and every case decided for eternity before God's great final review.
God forbids taking human life as one of His ten holy precepts that define duty to fellow human beings, and to break it is sin. The command requires perfect obedience with no excuse, to be learned, kept, and done in mind, soul, and body, while refusal comes from unbelief and failure to reverence God. Like all transgression of His law, violating it brings suffering and a curse upon earth, animals, and people. Keeping it with all His commandments, statutes, and judgments brings covenant mercy, love, blessing, life, and prosperity and shields from temptation, while disobedience forfeits that blessing. This obedience is learned by remembering God's forty-year leading in the wilderness to humble, prove, feed, and chasten His people to live by every word from His mouth, because all must answer for their deeds before the Judge in the present time of investigation before the final review.
Giving and Historical Setting
The prohibition was spoken by God Himself face to face from the mount out of the midst of fire and fiery cloud at Horeb, after bringing the people out of Egypt from the house of bondage. It was given as a covenant made not with their fathers but with those alive that day.
It was repeated by Moses east of Jordan at the river Jordan to all Israel and the whole encampment before his death and before entering Canaan to possess the land. The repetition was needed because the new generation had largely not witnessed the giving of the law, and few of the present generation were old enough to comprehend its awful solemnity. God therefore directed Moses to rehearse the deliverance from Egypt and the wilderness journeyings and to present God's claims anew. In this setting the command against killing was set before them as they were soon to pass over Jordan and take possession of the promised land.
The rehearsal came in mercy after Israel failed to fulfill their first solemn covenant, giving them another opportunity instead of destroying them. Moses summoned the people in solemn assembly with a trumpet call demanding earnest attention to communicate matters concerning their eternal welfare. He called them to hear, learn, keep, do, and bind themselves to observe the statutes and judgments. Israel had promised to govern all their words and actions by God's law and were thereby denominated unto God.
The prohibition belongs to what God required in Deuteronomy 4-8 and to the commandments repeated in Deuteronomy 5:6-21 that Israel keep as a holy people unto Himself. The commandments were to remain constantly before the people and be taught to their children and later generations. They are recorded also for study and practice in principle in 1901, making the path plain and shielding from temptation. They are to be studied now with profit.
Meaning and Required Obedience
The prohibition against taking human life stands among the Ten Commandments, the ten holy precepts that express God's requirements, with the latter part of that law defining duty to other people, and to break any of those commandments is sin. The laws governing human physical life belong to that same divine law, so to violate them is likewise sin, and transgression of God's law brings suffering and a curse upon the earth, upon animals, and upon people.
The command against killing must be learned, kept, and done as part of the sanctification of mind, soul, and body, requiring perfect obedience for which there is no excuse. Failure to keep it comes from unbelief and a clouded mind that does not reverence God or obey His law, and many who profess to serve the Lord refuse to obey it. Keeping it together with the commandments, statutes, and judgments brings covenant mercy, God's love and blessing, the Lord's cooperation, multiplication, life, possession of the promised land, removal of all sickness, and prosperity. Obedience is the condition of prosperity and blessing, while disobedience forfeits that blessing, and the commandments make the path plain and shield from temptation.
Obedience is learned by remembering God's forty-year leading in the wilderness to humble and prove the heart, by His feeding with manna to teach that man lives by every word from God's mouth, and by His chastening as a man chastens his son, that His people may walk in His ways and fear Him. This keeping matters now because the world must stand before the Judge of all the earth to answer for deeds in the present time of investigation, when every character will be investigated and every case decided for eternity before God's great final review.