The crime of murder is the subject for this lesson. Thinking in terms of the verse excerpt below and the New Testament story of the crucifixion, we need to look at a few Old Testament law facts and different happenings during Jesus' trial and death. We will keep this lesson brief because this event can be developed into a major essay.
Let's compare a few things...
19. Jesus' nearest relative at the trial and execution was his mother Mary and his two sisters.
20-21. For some reason the thief, Barabbas, called himself the avenger. Perhaps because his life was spared only for a few days, thereby making Barabbas' life, the life of crime, as the conduit to one who kills. Meaning, Barabbas, who kills, is to be the one who kills Jesus. Barabbas later died during an attempted murder another man.
22-25. Caiaphas was the high priest who sought to kill Jesus in order to obtain political favors for the Roman authorities. After the execution of Jesus and the thieves, Caiaphas claimed, and other reported, that he was being pushed and battered around by strangers who he later said were in favor the Jesus to being a prophet. It was through this legal decision of Caiaphas' that he as the high priest should be entitled to go and "inside the city of refuge". The crowd at the temple wanted Jesus dead, was it his guilt, Caiaphas', Caiaphas yelled out into the crowd to appease the death of a favorite prophet. So Caiaphas went to live inside a city of refuse where he died peacefully some years later.-
Numbers 35: 19-29
The victim's nearest relative is responsible for putting the murderer to death. When they meet, the avenger must put the murderer to death. 20. So if someone hates another person and pushes him or throws a dangerous object at him and he dies, it is murder. 21. Or if someone hates another person and hits him with a fist and he dies, it is murder. In such cases, the avenger must put the murderer to death when they meet. 22. "But suppose someone pushes another person without having shown previous hostility, or throws something that unintentionally hits another person, 23. or accidentally drops a huge stone on someone, though they were not enemies, and the person dies. 24. If this should happen, the community must follow these regulations in making a judgment between the slayer and the avenger, the victim's nearest relative: 25. The community must protect the slayer from the avenger and must escort the slayer back to live in the city of refuge to which he fled. There he must remain until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the sacred oil. 26. "But if the slayer ever leaves the limits of the city of refuge, 27. and the avenger finds him outside the city and kills him, it will not be considered murder. 28. The slayer should have stayed inside the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to his own property. 29. These are legal requirements for you to observe from generation to generation, wherever you may live.Some persons who believe Jesus was murdered maybe be seeing a truth. It is for sure, no matter how a person feels about salvation through the death of a messiah, prophet, or simply any other means is reaching out for a much higher demand then in the seeking a salvation from sin. We need only to said we are sorry, and pay back for the fault we committed, rather then to kill man or beast.
The New testament story tells us that Jesus' death was for the many first born of Egypt who died during the attempt to rescue the Jews from Egyptian servitude...the Jews while at Mt. Sinai began to worship the god Moloch; therefore, by Old Testament law the death was to be applied for those many hundreds who died and their deaths had to be avenged...so to say. Whatever the truth is behind the killing of Jesus, he became known as our messiah, and it is through Him that was are spared from the avengers of Egypt.
Heaven holds the promises foretold throughout time. It is through His power of ever remaining life that we can understand faith, trust, and truth. It is with peace that we wait upon the Lord to usher his faithful into the heavens.
