Jurisprudence without the Prudence, 2

Some of the most widely neglected sections of the Bible—sections often skipped over by those who begin the new year with a good resolve to read the Bible through—are sections that contain case law (e.g., Ex. 21-23). These are sections designed for use by the judges of Israel to guide them in rendering just judgments in the cases that come before them. The laws seem irrelevant to many modern readers because they were given in the ancient world to a people living an agrarian lifestyle and having customs very different from our own. But a careful reading of these laws, with an understanding of their historical and cultural contexts, will amply repay the effort by revealing basic principles of justice and imparting wisdom for daily life (Deut. 4:6; Ps. 119:98; Prov. 28:5).

In a previous post we examined the not so prudent jurisprudence of Islamic law regarding theft in light of the prudent jurisprudence of biblical case law. A recent story in the news caught my eye today that further highlights the stark contrast between the Bible and other sources dealing with crime and punishment. According to Newsweek, Ramzan Kadyrov, current head of the Chechen Republic and Putin ally, announced that government forces would punish the relatives of criminals if the criminals themselves cannot be found to be punished. 

“If someone infringes on public safety, an officer or a tourist, and if we don't even find the offender, we won't keep looking for them, but we will definitely find their relatives. As is customary from time immemorial, if one of the relatives has done wrong and the criminal cannot be found, their brother, their father would be killed.” 

Kadyrov is correct. The practice has been “customary from time immemorial.” It has also been forbidden in Scripture for 3,500 years. “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deut. 24:16). 

The commandment represents a significant departure from the practice of many ancient Near Eastern law codes which often imposed penalties on the guilty party and/or the members of his family. But God’s law clearly and strictly prohibits this. It prohibits the application of penalties to any but the parties actually responsible for the offense. Anything beyond that is a gross injustice.  

The Code of Hammurabi, one of the most famous law codes of the ancient Near East, deals with a man who strikes a pregnant woman and causes her to die. It says, 

¶ 210 If that [pregnant] woman should die, they shall kill his [the offender’s] daughter. 

Not the man who actually caused her death, but his daughter. This was obviously a severe punishment of the offender, that he should be made to lose his daughter. He caused the death of another man’s daughter, so his own daughter must die. Perhaps this looks like justice, but only if one looks at it superficially. In reality, it’s a grave injustice because an innocent person is made to suffer for a guilty one.  

Here’s another case: 

¶ 229 If a builder constructs a house for a man but does not make his work sound, and the house that he constructs collapses and causes the death of the householder, that builder shall be killed. 

This is a case of negligent homicide and, depending on aggravating or mitigating circumstances, the penalty may be warranted by justice. But the next law says,  

¶ 230 If it should cause the death of a son of the householder, they shall kill a son of that builder. 

In this case, the son of the builder suffers for the criminal negligence of his father. 

All these laws are grossly unjust. Standing against them, and against all such laws, we have Deuteronomy 24:16, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.”  

This can be applied by way of implication to other family relationships as well. “Brothers shall not be put to death because of their sisters, nor shall sisters be put to death because of their brothers,” “husbands for wives, nor wives for husbands,” and so on. 

In the Middle Assyrian Laws, if a married man raped a virgin, the rapist’s wife was to be given over to be raped (¶55). But again, Biblical jurisprudence forbids it. 

The last statement of Deuteronomy 24:16 makes it clear that legal liability only falls on the responsible party. “Each one shall be put to death for his own sin [crime].”  

The principle also applies by way of implication to other crimes besides capital punishment. Scripture consistently emphasizes individual responsibility and individual rather than corporate guilt.  

But everyone shall die for his own iniquity (Jer. 31:30) (speaking of divine judgment) 

The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. (Ezek. 18:20) 

This principle, by the way, destroys one of the cherished principles of wokism, that one is to be judged first and foremost by his or her group identity (race, class, sex, etc.), and that that identity marks one as either oppressor or oppressed, and is thereby deemed to be either virtuous or vicious, innocent or guilty, regardless of one’s own behavior. It also delegitimizes the call for reparations for slavery which requires people who never owned slaves to compensate people who never were slaves. It punishes the innocent for the sins of the guilty.

 

 

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