Hi Mike,

I pray all is well with you and your family. I have another question. I know we are now under grace rather than the law, and I agree that we are not to kill anyone spiritually or physically. My question is while under the law, the Jews received the 10 commandments, one of which was thou shalt not kill, yet there are numerous occasions in the old testament where God had them kill their enemies and their own when they transgressed the law. How is this not a contradiction? As always, thank you for your time.

Your brother,
S____

Hi S____,
It is good to hear from you, and thank you for your question.

The answer to your question is that the word ‘kill’ should read ‘murder,’ instead of ‘kill.’ Israelites were commanded not to murder one another. There was never a commandment given in the law of Moses against killing a fellow human who was not an Israelite. Israel was, in fact, commanded to “destroy everything that breaths” in the cities of their enemies.
I had a Jewish friend who told me that the Law of Moses taught that Jews were to love their enemies, just as Christ taught. As it turns out the way the Jews think and believe is very similar to the way God told the Jews to think and live under the law of Moses.
I asked my Jewish friend if the concept of ‘love your enemies’ was only referring to your Jewish enemies, and he said, yes, that is true. Jews believe that Jews should love their Jewish enemies, but only their Jewish enemies, and they have no such thoughts or ordinances concerning their Gentile enemies.
That is the same message I have heard from the mouths of many Christian ministers who name the name of Christ. I heard a minister say that Christians are commanded to love their enemies regardless of what kind of an offense had been committed. I was taken with this message teaching love of one’s enemies to the point that I told all the children to remain quiet until this minister was finished. I kept expecting him to say ‘Except…’ but the exception just seemed to never come. He went out of his way to make it clear that it mattered not what was the offense, we were to love and forgive. I could hardly believe my ears. But my suspicions were correct, and in the last minute of the broadcast he made himself clear. “Now am I saying that you ought not protect your family against an intruder? Absolutely not!” he said. “You should step on that man like a cockroach, if he comes into your home and threatens your wife and children,” he proclaimed. “Am I saying that you ought not join the military and protect your country against intruders?” he asked. “Absolutely not! You are expected by God to fight against any who would invade you country and attempt to change you into a Moslem or a communist, or any other threat against your country.”
That is Satan’s mode of operation. Agree with God’s words. Affirm its truths and at the same time deny what Christ actually taught. That is what is always the most successful way of keeping the multitudes deceived. That is what is always done by the ministers of Babylon. They always agree with Christ and His doctrine. Is God love? Yes, they will always say. But with the same breath they will affirm that if you do not go to church and tithe, you will burn in hell forever. Is God sovereign? Of course He is, they will readily affirm, and with the same breath they will tell you that your free will can thwart God’s sovereignty.
That is why we will never understand what is the purpose for the calling of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and why God “loved Jacob and hated Esau, while they were in their mothers womb having done neither good nor evil.”

Rom 9:11 (For [ the children] being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Until we understand that everything done in the Old Testament was a carnal fleshly type of “good things to come.” Nothing in the Old Testament was the real thing. It was never intended to be the finished product. It was all a type and a shadow of the finished product.

Heb 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, [ and] not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

God was working with a carnal nation with carnal commandments which were never designed to have any affect whatever upon the hearts and minds of those to whom these commandment were given. God actually told Israel to “destroy any thing that breathed,” of the cities of their enemies:

*Heb 7:15 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
Heb 7:16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
Heb 7:17 For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 7:18 For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.
Heb 7:19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God. Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Heb 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. [* Added 4/22/2012]
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Is that true? Was Israel to hate their enemies? Yes, they were, and it was by God’s command:

Deu 20:16 But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee [ for] an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:

So my Jewish friend was right. The law of Moses distinguishes between “a freeman” meaning an Israelite who has not been enslaved by debt, and a Gentile, who was either to be killed or to submit to becoming a slave in Israel:

Deu 20:10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.
Deu 20:11 And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, [ that] all the people [ that is] found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.
Deu 20:12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:
Deu 20:13 And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
Deu 20:14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, [ even] all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.

Those are very carnal commandments for a very carnal nation:

Heb 7:12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.
Heb 7:13 For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.
Heb 7:14 For [ it is] evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
Heb 7:15 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,
Heb 7:16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

Christ’s New Covenant was indeed a “change also of the law.” It asks more than the flesh is capable of giving, and it necessitates Christ living His life of dying daily within us.
Joh 8 and 1Co 3 reveal that all “babes in Christ are yet carnal.” It requires coming out of the doctrines of Babylon to have a true change of heart and have a change of spirit which will be able to do what the flesh cannot do.
I feel sure you already know all this, but I hope I have answered your question concerning why God told Israel “Thou shalt do no murder,” as opposed to “Thou shalt not kill,” any human being.

Your brother in Christ.
Mike