Economic Liberty, the Death Penalty, and the Bible
A Bedtime Reflection on American Politics
Tonight's Scripture reflection comes from Exodus 21, Deut. 8 and Matthew 11.
Exodus 21 is on the heals of one of the most famous chapters in all of the Bible, in all of human literature, in all of moral philosophy/theology, in all of human law and political science--the Ten Commandments.
Exodus 21:10 : Whoever smiteth another human, so that they die, shall be put to death. Shall surely be put to death.
That is a command of the Lord.
A few verses later, this one: Exodus 21:16: Whoever steals a person [recall Ex. 20:15] and selleth him, or if he be found in possession of the stolen person, shall be put to death.
Brevard Childs, in his commentary on The Book of Exodus, correctly points out that the prohibition on stealing included stealing people, any thing that belong to them, such as freedom and dignity, as well as property.
And Deut. 8 warns against getting too cocky when one has wealth. Verses 17 and 18 are really interesting to me. 17 says that our hearts can wander in wealth. Thou say in thine heart, my power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
But that is sin.
18 says, thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth. The context for this , of course, is the second reading of the Ten Commandments, which occurs in chapter 5. And the concern is that the people of God--whom God delivered and saved--would forget his law, and who saved them.
And Matthew 11 has one of the best endings in all of the New Testament chapters. You can read it for yourself. You really should. The last 3 verses are some of the most famous in all of literature and theology. They of course should be read in context.
One of the many troubling things I notice as a college professor--a Republican on a Democrat -controlled campus, in a Democrat city, in a Democrat state, under the sway of a broader culture and media that is Democrat, is how much they think that wealth can be created without God.
That is the same sin that the Democrats were tempted to defend when they defended slavery, which of course was predicated on a violation of Exodus 20:15 and 21:16--they profited from it , thinking they were creating their own wealth. And they did indeed forget God's law. They stole people. But they were not put to death for it, until such time as the Civil War happened.
(See Lincoln's Second Inaugural, where he interprets that war entirely in Biblical terms, as punishment of the North and the South from God over the sin of slavery--stealing people).
As for the death penalty: It's very easy to tell genuine Republicans from Democrats. It isn't that Republicans have sympathy for the Klan. That is at first humorous, and then quickly just stupid.
But here's how you deal with self-righteous stupidity. Republicans, ask any Democrat or person on the Left, should the person--the KKK person--who smote the other, so that person died--should that KKK person be put to death?
They will say no.
Republicans will say, yes.
Yes, the terrorists should be put to death. That is what Lincoln said so long ago. And, I wonder, maybe he'd see his own assassination as punishment from God for the sin of slavery. That is a possible interpretation of the Biblical theme in the Second Inaugural. I hope to ask him someday.
Remember, Jesus' rebukes the towns that reject the gospel. And that gospel, in Matthew 11 is the unique message of who he is and what he does, what he means for the world. A rejection of that is absolutely horrifying. But his yoke is easy. He asks us to come to him, us who are heavy laden, and he will give us true rest.
Good night.
Copyright Lucas J. Mather, 2017
All Rights Reserved
Originally Published to Facebook on Tuesday 15 August 2017 at 11:26 pm