Scripture Reading: Genesis 9:1–17
turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 9. We've spent the last couple of weeks looking at capital punishment, the death penalty. It's taught here in chapter 9 at verse 6. We remember that after the ark, God institutes this Noahic covenant, this covenant with creation. and thus far we've seen the protection of life, or rather the propagation of life, verses 1 and 7, the provision for life in verses 2b to 4, and then the protection of life in verses 5 to 6.
We traced through a biblical theology of capital punishment, and then last week dealt with some objections to capital punishment. I want to finish up that sort of an excursus on criminal punishment tonight with some lesser forms of punishment. In other words, what else does the Bible speak to? I've said that it's not necessary or absolutely crucial that the government or the magistrate punish with death every criminal offender, so I think it's helpful for us to understand what Scripture says concerning the subject as a whole.
But I do want to read beginning in Genesis chapter 9 at verse 1. to verse 17. So God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.
Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning.
From the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God he made man. And as for you, be fruitful and multiply, and bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply in it.' Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, And as for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you. and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth.
Thus I establish my covenant with you. Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood. Never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations.
I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud. And I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. The water shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. And God said to Noah, this is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth. Amen.
Introduction
So again, as they exit the ark, God makes this covenant with creation as a whole. It is universal in its scope, and it is perpetual. It's not just Noah, but it's Noah, his family, and all his descendants. It is the created order.
And so it's a common grace covenant. It provides stability to the created order for the preaching of God's special grace. And as I said, that focuses in on the protection of life in verses 4 and 5. Verse 4, he indicates that meat is now an added item to man's diet.
It says, but you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. You'll see that later in the law that it is prohibited to ingest blood. Here it is specified as well, and it highlights the dignity even of animal blood, but beyond that we see the dignity of man's blood in verse 5. Surely for your life, blood, I will demand a reckoning from the hand of every beast, I will require it.
So if a beast kills a man, then that beast must be executed. But it continues, and from the hand of man, from the hand of every man's brother, I will require the life of man. And then 9.6, as we've seen, is the mandate for capital punishment or the death penalty. for the crime of murder. We saw that that's not confined to the Old Testament.
We see it in Romans chapter 13, verses 1 to 4. And so I want to continue with that theme of the necessity for criminal punishment. If the Noahic Covenant is a common grace covenant, and it provides sort of the parameters of the stability for the created order, the rest of God's Word highlights that it's not only capital punishment, but the magistrate has a particular task in terms of punishing lesser crimes. Remember, Luther said, with reference to Genesis 9.6, this was the first command having reference to the temporal sword.
By these words, temporal government was established and the sword placed in its hands by God. I don't think any of us would have any difficulty recognizing that this is a subject that needs to be revisited by modern politicians and magistrates and governing authorities today. Crime needs to be punished. That is God's provision. in the Noahic Covenant for the protection of life.
It should not be the case that person's lives are held with such little regard and with such little concern.
Three Considerations on Criminal Punishment
So I want to look at the necessity for criminal punishment under three considerations tonight. First, the mandate, and that's just a bit of a review. Secondly, the necessity. And then thirdly, lesser forms of punishment that the Bible speaks to.
The Mandate for Criminal Punishment
But in terms of the mandate for criminal punishment, it's right here in Genesis 9. Whoever sheds man's blood by man, his blood shall be shed. And the theological rationale is for in the image of God he made man. This isn't a suggestion, it's not a recommendation, it's not sort of a provision for a better way of life, but rather it is mandated by God.
In this post-flood situation where Noah is functioning as a type of Adam or as a second Adam, Noah is supposed to institute this law for the good or for the protection of mankind. We saw it upheld throughout the Mosaic economy or what's called the Old Covenant. We see it also in the New Covenant in Romans 13. Paul recognizes that the civil government inflicts this or uses the sword.
He is a minister of God to execute vengeance upon criminal offenders. So it is a biblical mandate. It's not something that is simply suggested, but it is rather mandated.
The Necessity of Swift Punishment
Now, in terms of the necessity, I want you to turn with me to Ecclesiastes chapter 8. I referred to this text last week. I think it deserves a bit of amplification. Ecclesiastes chapter 8, we'll read verses 11 to 13.
Ecclesiastes 8, 11. says, because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before him. But it will not be well with the wicked, nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God. Now, many commentators see, obviously, the spiritual application involved in this particular text.
It refers to the judgment of God. Notice, because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. The Bible everywhere emphasizes God's patience or God's long-suffering, and there's a particular reason why God exercises that long-suffering. In Romans 2.4, the Apostle says, "...or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" In other words, God's forbearance or patience or long-suffering is a means of, or rather a reason for, sinners to repent and to flee to the Lord God.
Peter highlights this in 2 Peter 3.15. And consider that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. Now, according to this particular text, because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. In other words, God's long-suffering is to provide a reason for repentance on the part of sinners, but rather it oftentimes works in the opposite direction.
Because he doesn't, you know, deal with sinners the way he does with Nadab and Abihu, or the way he did with Ananias and Sapphira, sinners begin to think that there is no judgment to come, and therefore their hearts are given over to the sorts of things that sinners engage in. It says, therefore, the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. He goes on to highlight the promise of good for those who fear God. Verse 12, and then the promise of woe for those who do not fear God in verse 13.
So there's an obvious spiritual application of this text with reference to sinful man. Matthew Henry says, sinners herein deceive themselves, for though the sentence be not executed speedily, it will be executed the more severely at last. Vengeance comes slowly, but it comes surely, and wrath is in the meantime treasured up against the day of wrath. Again, I don't think anybody would have any trouble seeing the spiritual application, but I would argue that there's a temporal application as well.
In fact, the context seems to indicate that we ought to think in terms of kings and to their reign on earth in Ecclesiastes chapter 8. If you look at verses 2 to 6 specifically, it's man's responsibility to the king. Notice in verse 2, I say, keep the king's commandment for the sake of your oath to God. Do not be hasty to go from his presence.
Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him. Where the word of a king is, there is power. And who may say to him, what are you doing? He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful.
And a wise man's heart discerns both time and judgment. Because for every matter there is a time and judgment, though the misery of man increases greatly." So at least at the beginning of the chapter, there is this orientation toward the earthly king. And then at the end of the chapter, in verses 14 and following, we see this emphasis concerning life on the earth. So while verses 11 to 13 definitely apply spiritually with reference to the judgment of God or the forbearance of God and thus man not repenting and man engaging in wickedness, there's also this temporal or this earthly application.
And we can see this principle at play. When the civil magistrate does not execute judgment speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. In other words, if the authorities don't punish criminal offenders, we get the sort of society that we are looking at today. And this is a principle that the scripture stipulates and mandates for man in this particular generation.
The failure to work speedily creates further lawlessness and increases societal crime. If the Noahic Covenant provides as one of the provisions for the protection of life, the sword in the hand of the civil government, then the civil government must enact that sword. It must execute judgment against criminal activity in a speedy manner so that the heart of the sons of men is not fully set in them to do evil. Now, the failure to punish at all has the same outcome.
In other words, if the civil government turns a blind eye to the sorts of crimes that are typical today, then it's not going to lend itself to a reduction in crime, but rather it's going to lend itself to an increase in crime. And I think that's the principle that Solomon sets forth very clearly here in verse 11. Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Now, for the Noahic covenant to work, now I speak as a man because obviously God has put it in place, He has promised never to again flood the earth, we must do our part in terms of the created order.
In other words, God makes this covenant with Noah for all of creation, it's universal, it is perpetual, so we as people ought to demand or ought to at least pray that civil government functions in a manner that is consistent with the law of God. And if the civil government's specific duties are outlined in the Bible, then it's good for us as God's people to know that so that it will inform us on how to pray and that it will inform us as well on how to vote.
Three Uses of God's Law
Now, I'm going to move through some material tonight that I have no doubt is going to make some of you a little bit uncomfortable. When we look at the Old Testament specifically and some of the things that were implemented in terms of criminal offenders, we get a bit squeamish on this side of the cross because Certainly, our government does not function the way the Old Covenant government did. Our government seems very, very far removed from that. But I simply ask you to have an open mind tonight and just understand what the rationale of Scripture is.
I think we perish for lack of knowledge in the sense that we have no concept whatsoever of what the Old Testament even teaches when it comes to these sorts of things. So if this is a new experience for you, please save your tomatoes and dead cats for the end of the study tonight. If you don't know the history of dead cats and tomatoes, George Whitefield used to be pelted by, or persons would throw dead cats and tomatoes at him in his preaching of the gospel. So that's the reference Isaac had mentioned the other day that he was a bit puzzled by my reference to dead cats.
Well, it's from Dalamore's biography on George Whitefield. But I just want you to see that, first of all, the Bible isn't barbaric. Second of all, that it's far more humanitarian, if I could use that language, than what we presently witness. And paradoxically, those who would attack scripture as being so antiquated and so outdated and so barbaric, the reality is that if we saw such things implemented, it would probably fix a whole lot of things going on in our own generation.
Now, if we weren't being taped or we weren't being live-fed, I would ask the question right now, what are the three uses of God's law? And I would expect that someone would be able to say, first of all, there is the civil use, second, there is the pedagogical use, and thirdly, there is the normative use. Imagine all of you would have rattled those off without any problems whatsoever. Is that right?
Give me a great big nod. Yes, Pastor Butler. We would have all got that. Those are the three ways that we use God's law.
The civil use, more on that in just a moment. The pedagogical use. Pedagogue means child tutor. A pedagogue is somebody who leads us to a particular truth.
We preach the law of God as a pedagogue pedagogically, to show sinners their need for Jesus Christ. In other words, it's that Romans 3.20 reality. For by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. We preach God's law to show men their sin, and thus their need for the Savior King.
That's the second use of the law. The third use is the normative. And the normative use is what we do as Christians. In other words, we take God's law by the power of the Spirit, we seek to obey and comply with it.
It's used normatively for the people of God. As the pedagogue, the law points us to the cross. We come to the cross by the grace of God, we believe in the gospel of our Lord Jesus, and then the Lord Jesus points us to the law as a pattern of or as a rule for our lives. It's not the means by which we're saved, the law has no power to justify, but rather it is the means by which we are supposed to live as saved men and women.
Normatively, we seek by the grace and the power of the Holy Spirit to obey the law of God. So that's the second and the third. The first use is called the civil. or it's also called the political use. And Richard Muller, in his very helpful book, Dictionary of Latin and Great Theological Terms, a book I highly recommend to everybody, he says, the political or civil use according to which the law serves the commonwealth or body politic as a force for the restraint of sin.
In other words, it's God's law given to man as creature. Not necessarily to point him to Christ, and not necessarily to dictate or to provide that rule of life for the regenerated believer, but it's that which is imposed on society by God for the restraint of evildoers. It's that which keeps us from being hell on earth. And we need that civil use of the law, that political use of the law, and we ought to hope and pray that our civil officials will engage in the application of such things.
Now, when we consider God's law, and we consider the civil use of God's law, and we consider criminal punishment as a whole, I think we can make a few implications or inferences. First, the punishment of criminals is God's will for governing authorities. I would suggest that a lot of the platforms that political parties run on today are filled with things that God's Word never speaks to for that political party. The two primary emphases that we find when we ask the Bible, what is the function of civil government?
The primary function is that the civil government punishes criminal doers within a body politic and protects innocent persons from foreign invaders. Now again, can civil government do other things? Yes, but I'd be very inclined to say it ought to be delimited, it ought to be narrowly defined. But for our purposes tonight, they must do what God says in terms of the wielding of the sword.
Again, this is like, I might as well speak Japanese because we're so far removed from this. We don't even think about this function for civil government. We think about civil government giving us cell phones, or civil government giving us healthcare, or civil government teaching our kids, or civil government providing everything from cradle to grave except the specific thing God mandates in terms of wielding the sword. You see, we're very far removed from what Scripture even begins to speak to, so that when we get a dose of what Scripture says concerning crime and punishment, it just blows us away.
I mean, the Bible speaks concerning corporal punishment, and we hear about that, and we think, well, that only happens in Singapore. That only happens in sort of these backward nations. Well, Singapore is not a backward nation, and it's a very safe place, probably owing to the fact that they use corporal punishment. I've shared before, when I was first saved, and this is just a little autobiography to illustrate the point.
When I was first saved, we didn't really know how to raise our children. As Mr. Harms would say, you raise cattle, you rear children. We didn't know how to rear our children, so I had a good pastor friend who taught me about spanking your kids.
You know, he gave me proverbs or told me about bridges on proverbs. And if you read bridges on proverbs, there's a lot of good stuff in there about raising children or rearing children. And I remember my mom happened to be over one night, and she found out that we spanked our kids. And she just flipped out on me.
And, yeah, I can't believe you beat your kids. You beat my kids. You know, it just knocked me back for a moment, and I got a little bit shaken. And then I dug in.
I said, wait a minute. No, God's word says that we need to do this. Withhold, not correction. And then I asked my mom, I said, mom, what happened to you when you were a kid and you got out alive?
And without a hesitation, she said, we got belted. So how is it that I'm beating my children? When you were a girl, you got belted, as you've admitted, and then I went one step further and I said, look at society then, when people like you got belted. The biggest problems in high school was running in the hallways, chewing gum, you know, maybe talking in class and passing notes.
What are the biggest problems facing high schools today? Gun violence, drugs, rape, pregnancy, all manner of sexual indiscret- Is there a correlation between the belting that one generation got versus the non-belting another generation got? I don't know that I developed it that far with her, but I think she did see the wisdom of what I was trying to convey at that particular point. My point here is that many will come to Old Testament passages, and they get shocked, or they get freaked out, and they don't ponder the text.
Don't be the kind of person that doesn't ponder the text. Ponder texts. Think through what God's Word says. As well, the punishment of criminals is necessary to protect non-criminals.
Again, that's what your government is ultimately supposed to do for you. Not give you things, but make sure no one murders you. Make sure nobody bombs you. Make sure nobody, you know, guns you down in the street.
That's their primary job. You only had one job, and that's to keep us alive. That's their function. And I don't mean by keeping us alive with cell phones and all the other accouterments that they want to hand out.
The punishment of criminals serves as a deterrent for would-be criminals. This text. You can add this text as a proof text with reference to a deterrent. Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
What's the converse? The converse is, is if the sentence against an evil work is executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men will not be fully set in them to do evil. As well in the book of Deuteronomy, on two instances at least, and there are others as well. What's one of the take-home lessons when punishment was carried out among the nation of Israel? then you shall hear and fear.
Let all Israel hear and fear. What say the word? Stone him and everybody fears once they see that. There is a deterrent built in.
We need to remember as well, the punishment of criminals is to be consistent with the crime committed. You can turn to the book of Hebrews too. I want everybody to see something before we embark on this sort of overview of crime and punishment. The principle I want to bring out here is the punishment of criminals is to be consistent with the crime committed.
It is to be according to his guilt, according to Deuteronomy 25.2. It's summarized in the Lex Talionis, I for I, tooth for tooth, burn for burn, life for life. You see that in Exodus 21, 23 to 25, which by the way is a passage that really ought to be known by every pro-life advocate because it is the protection of babies in their mother's wombs in Exodus 21, 23 to 25. As well, that Lex Talionis is seen in Leviticus 24 and in Deuteronomy.
And now notice in Hebrews chapter 2 at verse 1. It says, Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the words spoken through angels prove steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received, notice, a just reward. The New Covenant author here to the book of Hebrews, which I would argue is the Apostle Paul, doesn't say the Old Testament is barbaric.
He doesn't say that the sorts of punishments that you see there are antiquated and outdated and should have no place in civil society. But he refers to those transgressions punished under Old Covenant polity and obviously spiritually by God. He refers to it as a just reward. It is just when governments function in the way that God has prescribed.
Lesser Forms of Punishment
Now, in terms of some lesser forms of punishment, you can turn to the book of Exodus. Exodus chapter 22. Probably one of the primary lesser forms of punishment was what was called restitution. Again, I realize this is an antiquated concept.
I mean, the thought that anybody who was caught breaking the windows at a church should actually have to pay for said windows? We don't even think about that. That just doesn't even come to play. Hope you have insurance.
Hope you got some money saved. Because even if we catch somebody who's got a rock in their hand who broke a window, we'll never make them pay for that window. What happened to that? You know, perhaps when your kids were little or you were little and you did something wrong, your parents grabbed you by the hand and made you make things right.
There's no more making things right. There's no more restitution. But the Bible is about restitution because the Bible, let me just encourage you to get this, is pro-victim. It's not pro-criminal, it's pro-victim.
Restitution
Notice in Exodus 22, 1, if a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he shall restore four an ox and four sheep for a sheep. If the thief is found breaking in and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed, a passage that teaches self-defense. If the son is risen on him, there shall be guilt for his bloodshed. He should make full restitution.
Again, this is not an isolated place in scripture. The concept of restitution. If I deprive you, somebody should make me pay you back. Whether it's a parent, or whether it's a policeman, or whether it's a lawful magistrate.
Restitution is the basic form of criminal punishment in the Bible. And it's a no-brainer. It should be self-evident that if somebody is caught damaging property, they pay to fix the property. It should be self-evident that if somebody steals from somebody else, they not only pay it back, but they pay it with interest.
This is what God's Word says. Now, the second form follows here in 3B. And it's called indentured servitude.
Indentured Servitude
Now again, it's about here that everybody loses it and flips out and says, are you actually advocating that? I'm not actually advocating this, by the way. However, I would suggest those who find it to be a horrific thing to understand what the Bible says concerning indentured servitude ought to see it as an equally horrific thing to think about the modern prison system. Because that is servitude, that is slavery, and there's no remedial end involved whatsoever.
In indentured servitude, there is. The man who cannot pay back his debt becomes a servant to the family that he owes. This is a very beneficial thing, first of all, for the victim, because they get paid back. See, again, we just don't even think that way.
We don't ever stop to think the victim first. Make sure he's happy and he's taken care of. Our minds immediately go to indentured servitude. Well, that's not right.
You can't advocate that a man actually be a slave. What about the guy he stole from? He just loses? He's gone, he's deprived?
He woke up one day and everything's gone and that's somehow okay? But if you think about indentured servitude, and again, don't leave tonight and blog about me and say Butler wants to live in a theocracy. No, I'm simply sketching for us. the contours of crime and punishment in the Bible, and hopefully suggesting some lines of thought for us in our own current situation. And even later, I'm going to ask you to ponder something that we've accepted as valid, that you cannot find in the Bible, that's actually an atrocity.
It's an atrocity on a whole host of levels, but we'll get to that in a few moments. But this idea of indentured servitude, it's addressed in Exodus 21. It wasn't supposed to exceed six years. And again, the idea being that this man is stolen, he has nothing with which to pay back, so he now serves that particular family.
It has a positive effect. Typically, somebody who steals or typically somebody who deprives somebody is somebody who perhaps didn't have the best upbringing. So while he's engaged in indentured servitude, he's with a good family, and he's learning skills, and he's contributing positively, and there is remedial ends, or there is remedy to it, and there's redemptive ends in all of it. He becomes a better person when he does what he's supposed to in terms of paying back.
I remember years ago, Steve and I used to go to Union Gospel Mission, and for the most part, you think about people that are going there for free food, and they got to sit through a sermon, and then they get their meal. You think about the sorts of people there on East Hastings, and you're not typically thinking these are persons that really want to work hard, and they really are diligent. They've just gotten a lot of bad luck. No, that's not the first thing you're struck with.
But every now and then, you'd meet a guy or you'd meet a girl there that did want to work. And I remember this one guy specifically saying, I just want to work for the dignity of it. You know, the dignity involved in work. We've lost that.
Work's just this pain, this thing we have to do to get to the weekend, or this thing we have to do to get to retirement. Work's a blessing. Work's a gift. Work is a good thing.
And we ought to embrace work and delight in work. But I remember that guy highlighting the dignity associated with work. And we need to recapture that, and this whole concept of indentured servitude lends itself to that appreciation.
Corporal Punishment
A third form is corporal punishment. You can turn to Deuteronomy 25. And for those of you keeping track, we're not even going to deal with the incorrigible son tonight. I don't want to blow you off into, you know, irrecoverable places.
But the incorrigible son in Deuteronomy 21 is another passage that we could have looked at, but for time's sake and just to sketch the broad outline, notice the reality of corporal punishment. Deuteronomy 25, 1 to 3. Now again, this seems horrific to us. It seems barbaric.
It seems, you know, just just terrible. The thought that somebody would be able to punish another person in this fashion is abhorrent to the modern mind. And again, I'm not telling you we need to make sure that any judges or any civil government officials be committed to this. I'm not saying that.
You know, we need to think through a lot of this stuff, but I just want to highlight that it's not just this sort of a thing that says, okay, go out and beat that. There's due process involved. Never forget that. Deuteronomy 17, Deuteronomy 19 specifically deal with due process.
Deals with laws concerning witnesses. You didn't just act willy-nilly. There were things built into the law that would inhibit sue-crazy sort of a society. In Deuteronomy 17, the witnesses would be the first to stone the one that was found guilty.
Now, we hear that, we think about that. Consider that you live in the same community. You better be really sure if you're going to pick up a stone and throw it at your neighbor, that your neighbor's actually committed the crime that you have said that they've committed. And then in Deuteronomy 19, I think I've pointed this out.
If I were, I picked on Dawn before, I'll pick on her again. If I took Dawn to the magistrate or to the judge, and I said that Dawn committed murder, and the judge heard the case and found out that Dawn was innocent, I would be executed. Not because I committed murder, but because I wrongfully accused her. Do you know how that would reduce the amounts of frivolous lawsuits on the books?
If I knew that I go to this judge and I allege that so-and-so did such-and-such, and so-and-so is innocent, I'm going to get the punishments. I guarantee you're going to think twice. There's no doubt about it that you'll think twice. But there's none of that today, because there's no repercussions.
You can just say, oh yeah, this guy this, or this guy that, and nothing happens to you. You can ruin people's lives and reputations. You can ruin their livelihood, and there's no sanction. It's just OK.
Fine. Yeah, that's the price of doing business in this nation. But if you look at Deuteronomy 25, there are several things in place. Again, this is the point that I'm trying to stress, is that there is a rationale.
Whether you agree with corporal punishment or not, you need to see that it's done in a way that is consistent with rule, consistent with authority, consistent with God's design.
Due Process in Corporal Punishment
Notice first, there must be a trial. There must be a trial, verse 1, if there is a dispute between men and they come to court that the judges may judge them and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. Brethren, if we sacrifice due process, we are no better than animals. We as God's people ought to be about due process.
It's right here. In other words, we don't get to the place where we punish people until we've had a trial, until we've determined guilt or innocence. This isn't a totalitarian state. It's not communism.
This ain't, you know, take them out to Siberia and put a few in their head. You cannot operate that way and expect things to go well. Notice there must be supervision. If it is the case that he is found guilty, then it shall be, verse 2, if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence.
Again, this isn't mob rule. Take him out back and thrash him. No, there's supervision. Craigie, commentary on the book of Deuteronomy, said if the judges declared that corporal punishment was in order, then the flogging was to be carried out in his presence.
In this way, the judge was able to see that the sentence was properly executed and that the offender was not treated too leniently or too harshly by the officer of the law entrusted with the task. Again, whether you come down on the side of yes for corporal punishment or not, just appreciate that there's process, there's strictures, there's parameters, there's definition, there's marching orders. It's not a free-for-all. You don't jump back into the theocracy and people are wandering around gouging everybody's eyes out or chipping out people's teeth or, you know, lopping off arms in the name of the Lex Taliotis.
There were law courts, there were judges, there was adjudication, there was due process, there were witnesses, and when punishment was made it out, there was supervision. Notice as well there must be proportion. If the wicked man deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence according to his guilt with a certain number of blows. It's not arbitrary.
It's not the case that the guy who's delivering the blows can go into a temporary bout of insanity and go into a frenzy and beat the guy with an... No! It's specified. There's a sentence rendered and there's a verdict handed over and that is what they operate according to.
Notice that there must be a limit. Verse 3, 40 blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these. So you see there's a cap on this. Again, whether you come down on the side of pro or against corporal punishment, please appreciate the process.
That's my point. Appreciate the rigors. Appreciate the strictures. Appreciate the parameters.
Appreciate the reality. that the theocracy wasn't a bunch of mayhem and chaos where people just wandered around engaged in vigilante justice. It just wasn't that way. But notice before we leave this section, there must be a concern for dignity. And note here, it's the dignity of the criminal.
Because the criminal still bears the image of God, doesn't he? Notice what the text says in verse 3, 40 blows he may give him and no more lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these and your brother be humiliated in your sight. He doesn't stop being a part of the covenant community. He doesn't stop being a brother.
He doesn't stop being somebody that no longer bears the image of God. So even in the punishment inflicted upon these persons, there was to be a respect for him as an image bearer of God, which I think lends itself to our understanding today that if there is a system in place that strips men of every shred of dignity, Can it really be consistent with God's rule or God's will with reference to crime and punishment? The criminal is still a brother and thus part of the covenant community. The criminal is to be spared from a punishment that would be degrading and humiliating.
We don't think that way. He deserves what he's supposed to have. If he deserves capital punishment, then by all means, give him capital punishment. But that doesn't mean you have to poke his eyes out first, and burn him first, and engage him.
No! You carry things out according to the will and mind of God. It's not animalistic. It's not barbarism.
Klein said the just punishment of the guilty was to be dispensed in such a way that his individual human dignity was honored. And then Wright, Christopher Wright says, it is sad that in the popular perception, the Old Testament is so often vilified for the severity of its punishments, whereas this law with its careful limitations and its explicit protection of the rights and dignity of criminals is overlooked. See, that's the point. We get this concept in the Old Testament that it was just this barbarism.
Did you know? Did you appreciate? Did you ever think? I'm not asking for a show of hands, but did you think in terms of the fact that God actually demands that dignity be given to a criminal offender who's being corporately punished?
I mean, that sounds not barbaric to me at all. It sounds consistent with the fact that man bears the image of God. And man who bears the image of God at times does horrible criminal activities, and he should be punished for those criminal activities, but he doesn't resign or renege on the image of God. He's still an image bearer and should be treated thus.
Critique of the Modern Prison System
Now, the thing that I wanted to bring up, just again, not to say, you know, go stand outside of Kent and Mountain and say no more prisons, but have you ever thought through the prison system? Have you ever really considered the prison system? The concept of restitution, if that's fundamental to jurisprudence, the prison system completely works against that. And, you know, if I rob from Kurt or I steal from Kurt, I'm put in jail to pay my debt to the state.
Why would I pay my debt to the state when I stole from Kurt? That's not fair. And especially now that Kurt's got to pay taxes so that I can eat. He gets it twice in terms of having to foot the bill for me.
Now, if the lex talionis is fair and equitable, which I think everybody would admit, whether you're into the eye for eye, tooth for tooth, we all appreciate it in its modern sense of the punishment must fit the crime. That's all lex talionis. The law of retribution, it's that punishment must fit the crime. So, you know, the scripture uses the eye for eye, tooth for tooth, burn for burn, stripe for stripe.
All of that just underscores the principle that the punishment must fit the crime. Well, what would be the punishment that would be appropriate for prison if I imprison somebody else? That doesn't happen a lot. I realize it does happen.
There's some sick people out there that kidnap and they imprison people and they do all kinds of untoward things for them. But it's really not an appropriate punishment for most of the sorts of crimes that are out there. The imprisonment of a criminal thwarts always the principle of restitution. For the example I just made, if I steal from Kurt, I steal from Chris, I steal from any of you, and I'm put in jail, I have to pay my debt to the state, or my debt to society.
You've all heard that, right? You're looking at me like I'm nuts. This is the common parlance. He's paying his debt to society, but he robbed me.
Why should he pay his debt to the rest of you? I want mine. He took it from me. You see, the idea of imprisonment thwarts the principle of restitution.
Now, there is slavery involved in the modern prison system. The man is deprived of meaningful work. He's deprived of any right to privacy. He's deprived of the ability to spend time with family.
I think indentured servitude, as it's outlined in the book of Exodus, is a whole lot more appropriate and a whole lot better than it would be to be in prison. You're either in a family's house, perhaps with your family nearby, and you're able to see your family, or you're in a prison cell with somebody that really doesn't like you. The prison system doesn't remove crime, it only relocates crime. Do you think that there's crime in prison?
There's absolutely crime in prison. It does nothing to fix the crime problem, it just removes it from our sort of view. It's a terrible thought to me, brethren, that a guy can be sentenced to however long in prison and go into prison and be raped. That is a common occurrence for men when they go to prison.
That's not good punishment. Nobody should wish that on anybody. That is horrific. And the thought that, well, you know, prison fixes everything.
Again, I'm not saying go out and, you know, argue against prisons, but there's no prison in the Old Testament. I mean, there were holding cells, there were, you know, temporary custody for those awaiting trial, perhaps. Joseph was in prison, but that was in Egypt. You just don't get the vibe that there was this penitentiary system in Old Covenant Israel.
No, because restitution, corporal punishment, and capital punishment would have taken care of it. You've got a punishment fit for just about every type of criminal. Send them away for 20, 30, 40 years on the taxpayer's dime. The prison system does not promote effective rehabilitation.
There's a man by the name of Verne Poythress. Those of you who are perhaps thinking that I'm speaking like a theonomist or a reconstructionist, I'm not. I'm simply trying to point out what scripture says. Poythress, who's not a theonomist, makes this observation concerning prisons.
He says, have the most hope for rehabilitation if they feel the justice of their punishment. Now brethren, I believe that with every fiber of my being because I believe that man is created in the image of God. I'm not for this, just throw that guy in there and you know, too bad for him. Now, I have that in me, to be sure, but when I stop and think biblically and rationally, we really want rehabilitation, don't we?
Don't we want somebody to be fixed? Don't we want them to stop criminal activity and become productive members of society? Isn't that the goal or the hope? I mean, somebody that's worthy of capital punishment, by all means, execute the criminal offender.
But these other forms of punishment, when you impose restitution, the goal was he pays back the money and he no longer steals. Because he knows that if he steals again, he's going to have to pay it back. You've taught him a good lesson. Corporal punishment.
You give the guy 39 whacks. The goal is, when he gets up and he rubs himself off, he thinks to himself, I'm not going to do that again because I don't want 39 whacks. You see, the goal of punishment is to rehabilitate the offender. Prison doesn't do that.
Prison typically makes them a whole lot worse than what they were when they went there. But back to Poitras. Criminals have the most hope for rehabilitation if they feel the justice of their punishment. In addition, criminals have a greater chance to reform if they are in normal contact with normal society.
Again, brethren, think image bearer. Think social interaction. What's more profitable for a fellow? If he's socially interacting with a covenant family that he's paying back through faithful, diligent, hard work, or he's in the prison yard talking about how they're going to hurt somebody else.
That's just not good for a man's psyche. He says, they then have opportunity immediately to engage in just, socially profitable work and contributions to others. The abnormalities of prison life can never become a viable environment for training in righteousness. Again, I believe that with every fiber of my being, and I don't know how in the world we could ever get to the point where we could return to a more humanitarian way of punishing people, when we've just accepted that these are the ways we deal with people, these are the ways that are antiquated and barbaric, and modern social engineers have it all figured out better than God.
Again, I would ask that you don't go home and blog or post that Butler wants corporal punishment. I'm just asking you to think. Think about what Scripture says. Think about the rationale behind each of these particular punishments, that there is a rehabilitative sort of goal with each one.
So that each one after he is punished, except of course with capital punishment, that's just retributive justice, which is fitting and appropriate for the crimes that are broken or the crimes engaged in by such persons. But for these lesser forms of punishment, the end result is that they don't go out and do these things again. And the structure that we have inculcated and the structure that we presently have does not lend itself to rehabilitation. All right.
Well, there's a brief sketch of some lesser forms of punishment. As I said, you've been spared from the incorrigible son. The incorrigible son, actually we could deal with it very quickly in Deuteronomy 21. Everybody freaks out about that. because the son is being brought and delivered over to the elders, and he's stoned to death.
This isn't a two-year-old. He's a glutton and a drunkard. He's an adult rebel son that the parents have exercised a great deal of influence on, the parents have exercised a great deal of restraint on, the parents have exercised love, and that parental pressure, and the son is incorrigible. So it gets to the point where he is delivered up as a result of his sin and depravity.
Closing Prayer
Well, let's close in a word of prayer. Father, thank you for your word and help us to think clearly concerning these various texts. Help us, God, to have an understanding of what God's will is with reference to crime and punishment. We thank you for this Noahic covenant.
We thank you for the civil government. and for the civil magistrate. We can thank you for that office, even though at times some of the officers perplex us and disturb us. We do thank you, God, for the fact that you have put in place a structure designed to hopefully protect body politic. And we do pray for our governing officials.
We pray for those newly elected ones that they would exercise their roles in a responsible and in a decent manner. We pray with reference to the federal level that your will would be done in the election of a good man that would exercise the the kind of government that we should hope to see in a situation like ours. Be merciful throughout the earth. We know there are many oppressive regimes, those built on totalitarianism, those built on no due process.
God have mercy upon such things, and be gracious and merciful to your people that are living in such situations. Go with us now, we pray, and we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.