Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. – Exodus 21:12

Today's Scripture Reading (October 8, 2021): Exodus 21

"He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else." The words belong to Benjamin Franklin, and they speak of our exceptional potential to make excuses. Our behavioral reality is that we often do whatever it is that we want to do. And after we have followed our desires, we put a lot of effort into making excuses for what we wanted to do. We do it all the time, and sometimes the excuses are pretty obvious. I have a friend who loves to spend time golfing. And if you talk to him about the amount of time he spends on the golf course, he will speak of the health benefits of walking around the course. But what he doesn't tell you is that he never walks; he uses a golf cart to take him over the course. Yes, he takes a few steps from the cart to his ball, but the reality is that exercise has become an excuse for the fact that he wants to spend his time golfing instead of doing other things. And there is nothing wrong with that, except maybe in his mind, so he keeps up the lie.

Excuses allow us to do the things we want to do while providing moral cover for our behavior. Sometimes, it is over something as innocent as the time we spend on the golf course, but it is often about much more serious behavior. Comedian Flip Wilson made a career out of the excuse "the devil made me do it." It could be used for any behavior in which we might want to engage. But maybe an even bigger problem is the amount of time we spend trying to excuse our behavior. We could accomplish so much more if we would just leave our excuses behind. Leading us back to Benjamin Franklin's words, "He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else."

God makes it clear that we are responsible for our actions. We are not to be a people of excuses. And if someone dies because we did something, that is a significant transgression to moral living. And the reality is that it doesn't matter why or how; the death of someone else will cost us. An official statement supporting capital punishment goes back to God's Covenant with Noah after the Great Flood. God tells Noah;

I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.

"Whoever sheds human blood,
    by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God
    has God made mankind (Genesis 9:5b-6).

God stresses this point with Moses. But that doesn't mean that all deaths are equal. If the death is accidental, God says there will be places where the person can go to live. But that doesn't mean that they can get away with the murder. The penalty for death is death, a life for a life. If you can prove that the death is accidental, then there will be a place where you can go and live. But the death penalty will still be hanging over your head. If you decide to leave that place of safety, you will be in danger of dying at the hands of those seeking vengeance for the one murdered. Death will always change the lives of those left behind, regardless of whether they are the friends of the victim or the one accused of the crime.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 22