QUOTE: Wilful murderers must be put
to death. This is the sin which is here designed to be restrained by the terror
of punishment (1.) God will punish murderers: At the hand of every man's
brother will I require the life of man, that is, "I will avenge the
blood of the murdered upon the murderer." 2 Chronicles 24:22. When God requires the
life of a man at the hand of him that took it away unjustly, the murderer
cannot render that, and therefore must render his own in lieu of it, which is
the only way left of making restitution. Note, The righteous God will certainly
make inquisition for blood, though men cannot or do not. One time or other, in
this world or in the next, he will both discover concealed murders, which are
hidden from man's eye, and punish avowed and justified murders, which are too
great for man's hand. (2.) The magistrate must punish murderers (Genesis 9:6): Whoso sheddeth man's blood,
whether upon a sudden provocation or having premeditated it (for rash anger is
heart-murder as well as malice prepense, Matthew 5:21,22), by man shall his blood be
shed, that is, by the magistrate, or whoever is appointed or allowed to be
the avenger of blood. There are those who are ministers of God for this
purpose, to be a protection to the innocent, by being a terror to the malicious
and evildoers, and they must not bear the sword in vain, Romans 13:4. Before the flood, as it should seem
by the story of Cain, God took the punishment of murder into his own hands; but
now he committed this judgment to men, to masters of families at first, and afterwards
to the heads of countries, who ought to be faithful to the trust reposed in
them. Note, Wilful murder ought always to be punished with death. It is a sin which
the Lord would not pardon in a prince (2 Kings 24:3,4), and which therefore a prince
should not pardon in a subject. To this law there is a reason annexed: For
in the image of God made he man at first. Man is a creature dear to his
Creator, and therefore ought to be so to us. God put honour
upon him, let not us then put contempt upon him. Such remains of God's image
are still even upon fallen man as that he who unjustly kills a man defaces the
image of God and does dishonour to him. When God allowed men to kill their beasts,
yet he forbade them to kill their slaves; for these are of a much more noble
and excellent nature, not only God's creatures, but his image, James 3:9. All men have something of the image of
God upon them; but magistrates have, besides, the image of his power, and the
saints the image of his holiness, and therefore those who shed the blood of
princes or saints incur a double guilt. [Matthew
Henry’s commentary on Genesis 9 verse 6]
AUTHOR: Matthew Henry (18 October 1662 – 22
June 1714) was an English commentator on the Bible and Presbyterian minister. He
was born at Broad Oak,a farmhouse on the borders of Flintshire
and Shropshire.
His father, Philip Henry, had just been ejected
under the Act of Uniformity 1662. Unlike most of his
fellow-sufferers, Philip possessed some private means, and was thus able to
give his son a good education. Matthew went first to a school at Islington,
and then to Gray's Inn. He soon gave up his legal studies
for theology,
and in 1687 became minister of a Presbyterian congregation at Chester.
He moved again in 1712 to Mare Street, Hackney. Two years later (22 June 1714),
he died suddenly of apoplexy at the Queen's Aid House (41 High Street) in Nantwich
while on a journey from Chester to London.
No comments:
Post a Comment