Unit 1012: The Victims' Families For The Death Penalty.: THE EXECUTIONS OF RECHAB AND BAANAH (II SAMUEL 4)

God takes no pleasure in the death of sinners, so as to delight simply in their death; rather, he delights to magnify his justice by inflicting the punishment which their iniquities have deserved. A righteous judge who takes no pleasure in condemning a criminal, may yet justly command him to be executed so that law and justice may be satisfied, even though it is in his power to procure him a reprieve.

– George Whitefield, Letter to Wesley, Bethesda in Georgia, Dec. 24, 1740

12 So David commanded his young men, and they executed them, cut off their hands and feet, and hanged them by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner in Hebron. – II Samuel 4:12 (NKJV)

Many Christians oppose to the death penalty have the habit of saying, “Only God has the right to take life.”, to make a case against capital punishment but however, that phrase is unbiblical, as the Bible commands that Murderers must be executed and there is no indication in both the Old and New Testament that it is unjust, immoral, or inappropriate for secular civil governments to execute those guilty of shedding innocent blood.

The following quotes one from Karl Marx, Mahatma Gandhi and many from Helen Prejean shows that they have problem with the state executing murderers:

“It would be very difficult, if not altogether impossible, to establish any principle upon which the justice or expedience of capital punishment could be founded in a society glorying in its civilization.”

― Karl Marx

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/CoEHumanRightsRuleLaw/photos/a.315480495268415/1104895152993608/?type=3&theater

& http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com.au/2017/01/karl-marx-was-against-capital-punishment.html]

“I cannot in all conscience agree to anyone being sent to the gallows. God alone can take life because He alone gives it . . .” - Mahatma Gandhi

[PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.azquotes.com/quote/603471]

http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2017/01/gandhis-anti-death-penalty-quote.html

I cannot believe in a God who metes out hurt for hurt, pain for pain, torture for torture. Nor do I believe that God invests human representatives with such power to torture and kill. - Helen Prejean, Salt of the Earth (1997)

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://libquotes.com/helen-prejean/quote/lbw0o6f]

The paths of history are stained with the blood of those who have fallen victim to "God's Avengers." Kings, popes, military generals, and heads of state have killed, claiming God's authority and God's blessing. I do not believe in such a God. - Helen Prejean

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://libquotes.com/helen-prejean/quote/lbq7n9v]

The profound moral question is not, "Do they deserve to die?" but "Do we deserve to kill them?" - Helen Prejean, Dead Man Walking (1993)

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://libquotes.com/helen-prejean/quote/lbf0x2s]

If we believe that murder is wrong and not admissible in our society, then it has to be wrong for everyone, not just individuals but governments as well. – Helen Prejean

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.azquotes.com/quote/603070]

Proverbs 30:5-6 and Revelation 22:18-19 are Bible verses that warned People not to add or erase anything from Scripture.

⁵ Every word of God [is] pure: he [is] a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

⁶ Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

- Proverbs 30:5-6 (KJV)

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://eleventeengreen.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/proverbs-30/]

¹⁸For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: ¹⁹And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. – Revelation 22:18-19 (KJV)

We will read from II Samuel 4 where David had Rechab and Baanah executed for murdering Ishbosheth before giving our thoughts by also expounding other Bible verses.

Ishbosheth Is Murdered

4 When Saul’s ^[a]son heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he^[b] lost heart, and all Israel was troubled. ²Now Saul’s son had two men who were captains of troops. The name of one was Baanah and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the children of Benjamin. (For Beeroth also was ^[c]part of Benjamin, ³because the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have been sojourners there until this day.)

⁴Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel; and his nurse took him up and fled. And it happened, as she made haste to flee, that he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.^[d]

Rechab and Baanah - Maciejowski Bible, Leaf 38. Two captains of the guard in Ishbosheth's camp sneak into his house and slay him while he sleeps.

⁵Then the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out and came at about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, who was lying on his bed at noon. ⁶And they came there, all the way into the house, as though to get wheat, and they ^[e]stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. ⁷For when they came into the house, he was lying on his bed in his bedroom; then they struck him and killed him, beheaded him and took his head, and were all night escaping through the plain. – II Samuel 4:5-7 (NKJV)

⁸And they brought the head of Ishbosheth to David at Hebron, and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul your enemy, who sought your life; and the Lord has avenged my lord the king this day of Saul and his descendants.” – II Samuel 4:5-7 (NKJV)

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.christart.com/clipart/image/ishbosheth]

⁹But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all adversity, ¹⁰when someone told me, saying, ‘Look, Saul is dead,’ thinking to have brought good news, I arrested him and had him executed in Ziklag—the one who thought I would give him a reward for his news. ¹¹How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house on his bed? Therefore, shall I not now require his ^[f]blood at your hand and ^[g]remove you from the earth?” ¹²So David commanded his young men, and they executed them, cut off their hands and feet, and hanged them by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner in Hebron.

Footnotes:

2 Samuel 4:1 Ishbosheth
2 Samuel 4:1 Lit. his hands dropped
2 Samuel 4:2 considered part of
2 Samuel 4:4 Merib-Baal, 1 Chr. 8:34; 9:40
2 Samuel 4:6 Lit. struck
2 Samuel 4:11 Or bloodshed
2 Samuel 4:11 Lit. consume you

OUR THOUGHTS:

II Samuel 4 together with Genesis 9:6, I Samuel 15, I Kings 2, Matthew 26:52 Luke 23:39-43, Acts 25:11 and Romans 13:1-4 are Bible verses or Chapters that are deathblow to the argument that “Only God has the right to take life.”

If you notice those verses mentioned above that God gave the right to those in judicial authority to put murderers to death. It totally refutes the idea that only God has the right to take the life of murderers.

Proverbs 20:26:

A wise king sifts out the wicked,

And brings the threshing wheel over them.

- Proverbs 20:26 NKJV

[PHOTO SOURCE: http://biblepic.com/proverbs/20-26.htm#.WGSDKX1rGJI]

http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2016/12/proverbs-2026.html

Saul versus David:

Most Christians who support the death penalty will quote Genesis 9:6 & Romans 13:1-5. We, the comrades of Unit 1012, will strongly agree to that for sure. We encourage Christians to read I Samuel 15. King Saul, who was the head of State, was anointed by God but he feared to obey the Almighty and did not execute a mass murderer like Agag. He got his Kingdom rejected.

I Samuel 15:33 is obedience to the verse, Genesis 9:6. Samuel was NOT PLAYING God when he executed Agag.

The lesson we can learn from here is that those in authority will answer to God for failing to put murderers to death. If this was occurring in the New Testament, King Saul had failed to obey Genesis 9:6 & Romans 13:1-5.

But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel

hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

- I Samuel 15:33 (NKJV)

Samuel kills Agag
Artist: MERIAN, Matthaeus the Elder
[PHOTO SOURCE: http://colonialart.org/artworks/571A]

[Blog Link: http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/samuel-versus-agag-christian-article.html & http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/samuel-versus-agag-christian-article_20.html]

Psalm 101:4-8 English Standard Version (ESV)

⁴A perverse heart shall be far from me;
I will know nothing of evil.

⁵Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly
I will destroy.
Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart
I will not endure.

⁶I will look with favor on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
he who walks in the way that is blameless
shall minister to me.

⁷No one who practices deceit
shall dwell in my house;
no one who utters lies
shall continue before my eyes.

⁸Morning by morning I will destroy
all the wicked in the land,
cutting off all the evildoers
from the city of the Lord.

However, David was obedient to God when it was coming to putting murderers to death, if you see II Samuel 4:9-12, David obeyed God and he did not spare the lives of Rechab and Baanah.

On the brink of death, David told Solomon to have Joab killed citing Joab's past betrayals and the blood that he was guilty of, and for this Solomon ordered his death by the hand of Benaiah (1 Kings 2:29-34), who then replaced him as commander of the army. Joab was buried in 'the wilderness' (1 Kings 2:34). Benaiah, as ordered by King Solomon, kills Joab in the House of Yahweh.

Was David playing God? No. He was obeying God in putting murderers to death. David was in authority and he had the right to take life. Please see The Catechism of Trent on THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT: "Thou shalt not kill" on the section: Execution of Criminals

“Another kind of lawful slaying belongs to the civil authorities, to whom is entrusted power of life and death, by the legal and judicious exercise of which they punish the guilty and protect the innocent. The just use of this power, far from involving the crime of murder, is an act of paramount obedience to this Commandment which prohibits murder. The end of the Commandment is the preservation and security of human life. Now the punishments inflicted by the civil authority, which is the legitimate avenger of crime, naturally tend to this end, since they give security to life by repressing outrage and violence. Hence these words of David in Psalms 101 verse 8: In the morning I put to death all the wicked of the land that I might cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord.”

INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.catholicapologetics.info/thechurch/catechism/TenCommandments-fifth.shtml

Crucifixion by Hans von Tübingen showing the good thief on the right side of Christ, and the impenitent thief on the left side of Christ with a devil. Others portrayed are the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John, and the three Marys (Mary Cleophas, Mary Salome and Mary Magdalene).

Jesus Christ and the Penitent thief

The execution of Rechab and Baanah reminds us of the trials and crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the two thieves justify the death penalty in both word and deed. There are several examples that prove it which we will began writing about.

Professor Michael Michael Pakaluk was once quotes in his writing, ‘The Death Penalty: An Opposing Viewpoints Series Book, Greenhaven Press, (hereafter TDP:OVS), 1991’:

"If no crime deserves the death penalty, then it is hard to see why it was fitting that Christ be put to death for our sins and crucified among thieves. St. Thomas Aquinas quotes a gloss of St. Jerome on Matthew 27: ‘As Christ became accursed of the cross for us, for our salvation He was crucified as a guilty one among the guilty.’ That Christ be put to death as a guilty person, presupposes that death is a fitting punishment for those who are guilty."

Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword (Matthew 26:52, King James Version)

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://genius.com/Slayer-die-by-the-sword-lyrics]

In Matthew 26 verse 52 (NKJV), Jesus told Peter, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”

In this case, Jesus has saved Peter’s life from being charged with murder. He healed the ear of the servant but warned Peter that if he had killed somebody, he would pay with his life too.

Jesus did not do anything wrong to be put to death, even the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate found no fault in him. In John 19 verse 10 to 11 (NKJV):

Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?”

Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

The Cross not only shows the love of God more gloriously than anything else–it also shows His righteousness, His justice, His holiness, and all the glory of His eternal attributes. They are all to be seen shining together there. - Martyn Lloyd-Jones

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://christianquote.com/the-cross/]

https://lutherandcalvinbrigade914.blogspot.com/2020/01/revelation-19-return-of-jesus-christ.html

This means that Christ accepted Pilate as the judicial authority, in punishing evildoers. In this case, Christ went through the trial to save us from our sins. Despite the painful death and sufferings, he had to put up with, he did it to crush Satan’s works. Christians and Roman Catholics should not mix up the love and justice of God, Christ taught us to love and forgive our enemies but he respected the judicial authorities he had ordained on this earth to smite evildoers.

Barabbas was supposed to be the one to be crucified and not Jesus, he deserved to die for being a murderer. It was an injustice to reprieve a murderer. However, this was God’s plan to set Barabbas free, and let the Son of Man die in his place.

The impenitent thief was a perfect example that if a criminal does not repent on the face of death, it denounces the myth that he will ever repent even given life imprisonment. It is true that the worst of the worst criminals are beyond any rehabilitation. As Saint Thomas Aquinas once wrote in Summa Contra Gentiles Book III Chapter 146:

The fact that the evil, as long as they live, can be corrected from their errors does not prohibit the fact that they may be justly executed, for the danger which threatens from their way of life is greater and more certain than the good which may be expected from their improvement. They also have at that critical point of death the opportunity to be converted to God through repentance. And if they are so stubborn that even at the point of death their heart does not draw back from evil, it is possible to make a highly probable judgment that they would never come away from evil to the right use of their powers.

The argument that evildoers should be allowed to live in the hope that they might be redeemed was rejected by Aquinas as frivolous. If they would not repent in the face of death, it was unreasonable to assume they would ever repent. "How many people are we to allow to be murdered while waiting for the repentance of the wrongdoer?", he asked, rhetorically. Using the death penalty for revenge, or retribution is a violation of natural moral law.

We were touched by the penitent thief who repented and acknowledged his sins in front of Christ, he reminded us of Reverend Larry Townsend’s last rite with the convicted killer, William Sallie. Saint Thomas Aquinas once said:

"...a secondary measure of the love of God may be said to appear. for capital punishment provides the murderer with incentive to repentance which the ordinary man does not have, that is a definite date on which he is to meet his God. It is as if God thus providentially granted him a special inducement to repentance out of consideration of the enormity of his crime...the law grants to the condemned an opportunity which he did not grant to his victim, the opportunity to prepare to meet his God. Even divine justice here may be said to be tempered with mercy."

Despite the penitent thief repenting of his sins, Jesus told him in Luke 23 verse 43 that the he will be with him in paradise. Jesus did not tell him to get off the cross and live his life again; moreover, the criminal had to be punished but was forgiven and gone to a better place. The late Chuck Colson, the founder of Prison Fellowship who was a death penalty opponent but became a supporter said:

While the thief on the cross found pardon in the sight of God - ‘Today you will be with Me in Paradise’ - that pardon did not extend to eliminating the consequences of his crime - ‘We are being justly punished, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds.’ (Luke 23:39-43)". Neither God nor Jesus nor the Holy Spirit nor the prophets nor the apostles ever spoke out against the civil authorities’ use of executions in deserving cases - not even at the very time of Jesus’ own execution when He pardoned the sins of the thief, who was being crucified alongside Him. Indeed, quite the opposite. Their biblical support for capital punishment is consistent and overwhelming. Furthermore, Jesus never confuses the requirements of civil justice with those of either eternal justice or personal relations.

- Chuck Colson

To those Anti-Death Penalty Christians who keep quoting Jesus as a victim of the death penalty to say capital punishment is wrong, they are ignoring the fact that Barabbas and the two thieves deserved to be put to death by judicial authority. The two thieves paid with their lives and Barabbas was reprieved. If there was no death penalty, Jesus Christ would not have died for our sins when he did no wrong, but for his love, he paid for our sins with his blood.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. – Isaiah 53:10 (KJV)

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/516577019752817344/]

Rather than use our savior, Jesus Christ as a victim of the death penalty, I rather those Christians use Satan as a defendant on capital trials. Satan the devil is the one that must be put to death and when Christ returns to earth, he will be our ultimate judge and Satan will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.