Capital punishment & the Noah covenant

The Origin of capital punishment in the Noah covenant by lcl

Gen 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons. And He said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

Gen 9:2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon the animals of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon all that moves on the earth, and upon all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered.

Gen 9:3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herb.

Gen 9:4 But you shall not eat of flesh with the life in it, or the blood of it.

Gen 9:5 and surely the blood of your lives will I require. At the hand of every animal will I require it, and at the hand of man. At the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.

Gen 9:6 Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood shall be shed by man; for He made man in the image of God.

Gen 9:7 And you be fruitful and multiply. Bring forth abundantly in the earth, and increase in it.

Gen 9:8 And God spoke to Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,

Gen 9:9 Behold! I, even I, establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

Gen 9:10 and with every living creature that is with you, of the birds, of the cattle, and of every animal of the earth with you; from all that go out from the ark, to every animal of the earth.

Gen 9:11 And I will establish My covenant with you. Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood. Neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

Gen 9:12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between Me and you and every living creature with you, for everlasting generations:

Gen 9:13 I set my rainbow in the cloud. And it shall be a token of a covenant between Me and the earth.

Gen 9:14 And it shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud.

After the flood God promised that He would never destroy the earth’s inhabitants again by water and gave the rainbow as a visible sign to remind all of this pact. Because, He would never remove the sinful mankind by total destruction again, He instead required that man should help remove those most sinful who dared to shed the blood of others and kill them. This was especially sinful in God’s eyes because the blood holds the hope for redemption. Man could have free will to dam themselves, but they would not be allowed to cut off anyone else’s hope for redemption and salvation. Man was made in the image of God and was precious to Him. Man represented God on earth just as Jesus completely represented God when He came to earth to provide a realistic hope for salvation. The 10 commandments, called the Law, was a temporary measure given to keep order until Christ came to offer salvation by grace. The Law was impossible to achieve unless it was completely adhered to in all parts. To be in God’s presence in Heaven requires complete Holiness, even as God is completely Holy. Any sin cannot exist in the presence of the total holiness of God.

Lev 17:10 And any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that are staying among you, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that soul who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people.

Lev 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you on the altar to make an atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.

Foundations of thought throughout the bible:

1. God is the sovereign ruler and does not relinquish his authority. He is the Alpha and Omega (beginning and the end).

2. Life is precious, having been created by God, and deserves the chance for redemption from sin in order to continue living with God after an earthly existence.

3. Capitol punishment was ordained by God to remove those who dared to try and destroy that most precious in God’s sight. Mankind. God established the need for earthly governments to help maintain peace, justice and order in society.

Isa_9:7 There is no end of the increase of His government and peace on the throne of David, and on His kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from now on, even forever. The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts will do this.

Rom 13:1 Let every soul be subject to the higher authorities. For there is no authority but of God; the authorities that exist are ordained by God.

Rom 13:2 So that the one resisting the authority resists the ordinance of God; and the ones who resist will receive judgment to themselves.

Rom 13:3 For the rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the bad. And do you desire to be not afraid of the authority? Do the good, and you shall have praise from it.

Rom 13:4 For it is a servant of God to you for good. For if you practice evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword in vain; for it is a servant of God, a revenger for wrath on him who does evil.

Rom 13:5 Therefore you must be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.

Rom 13:7 Therefore give to all their dues; to the one due tax, the tax; tribute to whom tribute is due, fear to whom fear is due, and honor to whom honor is due.

4. Blood is sacred, making atonement for the soul, and is required to be shed when offering a sacrifice to God.

5. The rainbow was given as a visible sign for all to remember God’s promise to Noah and all mankind after Noah.

6. God made numerous covenants with men to create hope for the future and order. However, the nature of God never changes and His desire for relationship with man created in His image continues on forever.

Some of those receiving God’s promises were:

Adam and Eve, Abram (Abraham), Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Joshua, Israel and mankind through Christ, God’s son. See Genesis 15:18 and 17:21, Exodus 24:8, 31:16, Leviticus 26:42, Matthew 26:28, Hebrews 8:10 and 13:20.

The old law did have some benefits even though it was a temporary fix:

Jos 1:7 Only be strong and very courageous so that you may be careful to do according to all the Law which My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may act wisely wherever you go.

Jos 1:8 This book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it by day and by night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall act wisely.