Approximately 45 people are murdered every day in the United States (approx. 1200 every day throughout the world). While all murder is terrible, people are particularly disturbed by mass murder events, such as the one that occurred last Sunday night in Las Vegas. At the time of this writing, 59 people have died from that shooting. People of conscience are saddened by such tragedies for many reasons. People lost their lives. Survivors lost their family members (sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, husbands, wives). People lost close friends. Hundreds of others were wounded, and some of the wounded may never again enjoy full quality of life.
Immediately after these considerations comes the question, why? Why did he do it? Why did a man kill and injure so many people? People that he didn’t even know! The search for this answer becomes almost an obsession for many people. They want to know why the murderer did what he did.
Homicide investigations typically involve a search for the killer’s motive or motives. Obviously, the motive does not change the victim’s condition, but establishing motive is very important when determining a killer’s punishment. For example, the Bible makes a distinction between accidental killing (manslaughter) and murder (deliberate killing of an innocent person). Numbers 35:15-34 goes into great detail to describe the difference. In an accidental killing, there is no “intent” to kill, no premeditation — no “hatred” or “enmity” (Numbers 35:15, 20-23). Deuteronomy 19:5 gives the example of a man going to chop wood and the axe head flying off of the handle and striking someone. The wood chopper had no intent to kill. The death was accidental. In these instances of accidental killing, the “cities of refuge” passages in Deuteronomy 19; Numbers 35 and Joshua 20 allowed the manslayer to seek lawful asylum in one of the six cities of refuge. If he successfully arrived at the city and if his case was determined to be legitimate, then he had to remain in that city and under its protection until the death of the present High Priest (Numbers 35:28).
On the other hand, Numbers 35 and other Bible passages also address the practice of what we sometimes call cold-blooded “murder.” Moses described cases in which a man deliberately struck someone with an iron, stone or wooden tool with the intent to kill (Numbers 35:16-18). In cases where there were two or more witnesses to the crime (Numbers 35:30), the murderer was to be executed by the avenger of blood. The Bible has always given the death penalty for murder (Genesis 9:6; Exodus 21:12; Acts 25:11; Romans 13:3-4). It was Cain’s jealousy that caused him to murder Abel (Genesis 4:5-8). Covetousness caused Ahab and Jezebel to kill Naboth (1 Kings 21). When Herod learned that it pleased the Jews when he killed James, he was then politically motivated to try to also kill Peter (Acts 12:1-ff). Jesus warned His disciples that some would be religiously motivated to kill others (John 16:2 — note that this was because of their false religious concepts). The one thing that these accounts have in common is the exercise of power over others. Killing another person is the ultimate exercise of power and control over that person. Sadly, we are living in a time of declining respect for the sanctity of human life. A lack of respect for God means a lack of respect for man, for man is made in the image of God (Genesis 9:6). This will continue to be a problem as long as people grow up believing that “God” does not exist and that humans humans are the only “gods.”
—Tim Haile