Why did God require the death penalty for certain crimes?

⮜ Answered Questions

Originally, I was asked: "Why did God require the death penalty for homosexuality?"

I've converted the original question into a broader question, because I think it will both:

1. suggest an answer to the original question, and
2. help place all questions about individual death penalty laws in their relevant Biblical context.

My answer must be somewhat lengthy, in order to show that Biblical context. However, I don't want to lose sight of the original question. Therefore, I want to pre-clarify certain things which the original questioner may be taking for granted. The following facts are important:

• Your life is a free, unmerited gift from your creator YHWH.
• YHWH sentences everyone to spiritual death for their sins ("the wages of sin is death": Romans 6:23). Without the intervention of Jesus' atoning death, you are already under a sentence of (spiritual) death (John 3:18-20) because of your own sin (2 Cor. 5:10, Rev. 20:12).
• All humans are created in the image of God, and no human has the authority to kill another ("Thou shalt not kill": Exod. 20:13), except under certain conditions established by God himself (e.g. self-defense, defense of innocent others, and the judicially-authorized retributive death penalty).
• Homosexual desires (just like any other sinful desires) do not create your identity. Every human being is an image-bearer of God. "Human image-bearer of God" is your true identity.
• God's law contains no civil-government death penalty for homosexual desires, statements of desire or (false) claims to homosexual identity. God's law contains a civil-government mediated death penalty for male homosexual acts which are witnessed by at least two people who are willing to testify and throw the first stones.

Three answers

There are three ways to answer the question about the necessity for the civil retributive death penalty:

1. The clearest answer from scripture is a functional answer, explicit in the motive clauses which YHWH included in his law.
2. There is also an axiological answer. Axiology is a philosophical term for the study of values. The command to use the death penalty helps to teach us about God's own values and the relative "weight", or significance of certain sins.
3. There is also a deeper, theological answer, which has to do with the close connection between humans and the creation in which they were established, and over which they were given dominion responsibility.

I will look briefly at the first two answers, but the third will require longer treatment, in a separate essay.

A functional answer

One of the things which distinguishes Biblical law from other ancient Near East law systems is a feature labelled by Bible commentators as the "motive clause". Motive clauses are propositional statements which explain God's motivation in giving certain commands. For example, consider the following scripture:

6 Whoever sheds man's blood, by man will his blood be shed, for in the image of God he made man. Genesis 9:6

The non-italicized portion of the above scripture is the command. The italicized portion is the motive clause. This motive clause explains that the human-mediated retributive response to the crime is due to the fact that someone has attacked an image-bearer of God. In this case, we do not even need to know exactly what being "made in God's image" means. The motive clause, minimally, teaches us that the ontology of humans is relevant to God's requirement for retributive justice. It also explains why the killing of non-image-bearing animals does not incur similar legal liability.

Many Biblical laws have motive clauses relevant to the question of our essay, but we will highlight two in particular, which are used repeatedly to explain the mandatory death penalties.

According to scripture, the retributive death penalty was an authority given to men by God to accomplish two primary things:

1. To remove certain "high-handed" (witnessed) evildoers from the human community (Lev 20:14, Deut. 13:5, Deut. 17:7, Deut. 19:19, Deut. 21:21).
2. To deter other members of the community from crime, by showing them the just consequence (Deut. 13:11, Deut. 17:13, Deut. 19:20, Deut. 21:21).

These divine "motives" are sufficient to explain, functionally, why there is a death penalty for certain crimes. The death penalty reduces crime both by deterring it, and by removing offenders (who might be tempted to repeat the offense) from the community. If we had no other reasons for the death penalty from scripture, these motives would be sufficient to explain why it is the just response to certain crimes.

An axiological answer

As I mentioned, axiology is the study of value. We all have a certain scale of values. Although every sin is a transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4), we all recognize intuitively that certain sins are greater transgressions than others. Scripture confirms our intuition here:

11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin.” John 19:11WEB 23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone. Matthew 23:23WEB

The key phrases above -- "greater sin" and "weightier matters of the law" -- show that YHWH has a transcendent scale of value which is part of his nature. Sin is "transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4). YHWH teaches us which sins are "greater" through the penalties which he commanded in his law.

Talion ("eye for an eye") and mot yumat ("surely die")

Most retributive penalties in scripture follow what we could label as the "talion" rule. Talion is a derived from a Latin word meaning "like." It refers to the Biblical laws which prescribe equivalent penalties in response to wrongs done. For example:

23 But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise. Exodus 21:23-25WEB

Even the law prescribing restitution for theft follows this principle:

4 If the stolen property is found in his hand alive, whether it is ox, donkey, or sheep, he shall pay double. Exodus 22:4WEB

By paying back double, the thief incurs the same loss which he inflicted upon his victim. Like for like.

Under Biblical law, for talion crimes, the crime victim is allowed to negotiate, or simply accept, an offered monetary ransom in place of the retribution. The case exemplar here is Exod. 21:29-30:

29 But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and this has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death. 30 If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed. Exodus 21:29-30WEB

But there are a certain class of crimes -- the mandatory death penalty crimes -- which cannot be ransomed. If one of these crimes is legally proven, with witnesses, the death of the criminal is required. These crimes are usually signified by a particular Hebrew phrase: mot yumat, which is often translated in English as: "surely die" or "surely put to death". For example:

17 If he struck him with a stone in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. Numbers 35:17WEB

11 “‘The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon themselves. Leviticus 20:11WEB

17 “Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. Exodus 21:17WEB

Axiological Lessons

What do we learn about YHWH's axiology from these Biblical principles?

1. God cares about proportionality and recompense, in justice. He designed his law so that many injuries and property crimes require retribution (or restitution) directly proportionate to the crime.
2. For certain set of crimes/injuries, God gave victims the authority to settle the matter for a smaller monetary ransom, rather than the strictly proportionate penalty.
3. But God considers certain crimes to be so serious that they may not be ransomed, but require the death of the criminal. This mandatory penalty shows how weighty these wrongs are, with respect to God's character/nature. These penalties tend to be reserved for crimes in which someone:

• Intentionally tries to destroy or enslave an innocent image-bearer
• Transgresses a marriage or betrothal covenant
• Commits sexual violence against someone
• Tries to injure a parent or repeatedly transgress their lawful authority
• Tries to lead others into idolatry
• Falsely claims to speak on behalf of YHWH
• Engages in certain occult activity (e.g. sorcery, witchcraft)
• Transgresses certain legal boundaries upon the use of our sexual function (e.g. boundaries of family relationship, boundaries of species, boundaries of gender)

The fact that YHWH mandates such a harsh and final penalty for the above crimes teaches us how seriously he takes these things. Modern civil governments often assign lesser penalties (such as imprisonment) -- or even no penalty at all -- to the above crimes. This shows that they despise YHWH's standards of value, which are expressed in his mandated standards of justice. Indirectly, it also shows that these civil governments devalue the human victims of these crimes.