Among the 613 laws given by God to ancient Israel, there are some real head-scratchers. I’ve been scratching my head over some of them for almost 50 years. But here’s one that is more of a chin-scratcher:
If a slain person is found lying in the open country in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess, and it is not known who has struck him, then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one. It shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man, that is, the elders of that city, shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke; and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley…. All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; and they shall answer and say, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O Lord, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.” And the bloodguiltiness shall be forgiven them. So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord (Deut. 21:1-9).
The immediate thought of most readers is, “But only the murderer is guilty,” followed by the immediate question, “So why does this law seem to impute guilt upon everyone in the nearest town?”
The best answer to that question, in my humble opinion, is that there is no individual sin for which only one individual is responsible. Although you might be tempted to reject that claim, there is plenty of proof it is true. For example, in a study of 56 school shootings, 82% of the shooters were raised in either an unstable family environment or grew up without both biological parents together. Obviously, one or both parents of most school shooters share some of the blame for their children’s violent acts. And that is just one obvious example of what is evident in a thousand more subtle ways. We’re all products of our parents, relatives, neighborhoods, towns, nations and circumstances, for better or worse—all the good, the bad and the ugly.
I am not, of course, absolving anyone of individual responsibility. In reference to God’s instructions regarding cases of unsolved murder that we just read, God also gave instructions regarding cases of solved murder: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed” (Gen. 9:6). That was one of God’s earliest commandments, pre-dating the Mosaic Law by hundreds of years.
All of this is to say, we should be careful to maintain a scriptural balance regarding individual and corporate responsibility. Politically left-leaning folks tend to be light on the former and heavy on the latter, whereas politically right-leaning folks tend to be just the opposite. Being on the right myself (since I want to be righteous!), it is difficult for me to accept the fact that, when someone is murdered near my town, I am partly responsible. My part was likely very small, but my smallest sin could have had a ripple effect through many others that ultimately negatively influenced the murderer. Conversely, my neglect of some small good deed could have had a ripple effect through many others that ultimately positively influenced the murderer and prevented his deed.
Our influence, positive and negative, ripples. Perhaps you’ve been reminded of that when you’ve watched Jimmy Stewart play the part of George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life. Or, maybe you’ve seen the old illustration of the boss who yells at his employee, who then goes home and yells at his wife, who then yells at her son, who then yells at his cat.
Along these lines, I am reminded of German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s famous words, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
Now that I’ve opened a can of worms, I might as well turn the can on its side! There is another scripture, found four times in the Old Testament, that is a real belly-scratcher:
He [God] will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations (Ex. 34:7; see also Ex. 20:5; Num. 14:18; Deut. 5:9).
Many folks interpret this as meaning God punishes people for the sins of their parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. A lot of odd teaching on “breaking generational curses” is based on that interpretation. Personally, I don’t agree with that interpretation, as it portrays God as patently unjust.
Notice that the word “punish” isn’t found in the passage. Rather, it says God will “visit the iniquity of fathers on the children.” The Hebrew verb translated “visit” in the NASB is paqad, which is alternatively translated 112 times in the Old Testament as “numbered.” So, God is keeping track of the sins of fathers on their children.
For that reason, I want to believe God is saying that He will hold people accountable for not only their own sins, but also for the sins that are committed by their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren for which they are partly responsible because of their bad instruction or example. That, to me, seems perfectly just.
In any case, the only remedy for all our individual and corporate guilt is illustrated by the heifer (young female cow) that was sacrificed according to God’s instructions in the Mosaic Law regarding unsolved murders. The penalty must be paid by a guiltless substitute. New Testament readers realize that all of the Old Testament’s animal sacrifices were representative of Jesus Christ and His sacrificial, atoning death. Praise God for that!
No one, however, who reads Deuteronomy 21:1-9 honestly would conclude that God was providing a way for Israelites to sin with impunity. (“Good news everyone! That heifer paid the price for all our sins, past, present and future!”) Why then do so many make that conclusion about the death of Christ? I noticed that He actually didn’t cry out with His last breath, “It is finished, so now everyone can sin without worry!”
