Criminals In The Bible
George Houston Hendricks
Liberty University CJUS 500

The act of murder is rampant in the Bible. In much of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, there are laws that command that people be murdered, especially the Old Testament, there are laws that command that people be killed for absurd reasons such as working on the Sabbath, being gay, cursing your parents or not being a virgin on your wedding night. Also in addition to these crazy and immoral laws, there are plenty of examples of God’s Irrationality by his direct killing of many people for reasons that defy any rational explanation such as killing children who who make fun of bald people, and the killing of a man who tried to keep the ark of God from falling during transport. There are also countless examples of mass murders commanded by
God including the murder of women, infants and children.

The First Account of Murder in the Bible

4 Adam ] made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said,
“With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother
Abel.
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[d] While they were in the field,
Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” After history's first murder, God put a curse on Cain: "When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth"
(Genesis:4:12). Cain, instead of thanking God for not taking his life, complained that this punishment was "greater than I can bear!...[A]nd it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me" (Genesis:4:13-14

). God in His mercy responded by placing a mark on Cain "lest anyone finding him should kill him" (Genesis:4:15). These are the accounts and the consequences of the first murder. There were no legal system in place at that time or laws. Murder is the most serious crime in contemporary times and the only one that carries a possible death penalty. God showed the story of Cain and Abel shows that there is good and bad in the world. We all do bad things at times but we must recognize that if we do something bad, we have to be accountable for it. If you do something wrong, you must recognize what you did and do the right thing to correct it. Sin disrupts the relations between God and human beings.
The story shows us that it is dangerous to carry grudges and harbor bitter feelings against others, as Cain did with Abel. Jealousy and bitterness can easily lead to additional sinful acts. Even thinking bad thoughts can be harmful and lead to sinful actions. It’s easy to imagine that Cain killed Abel a hundred times in his head before he actually committed the act of murdering his brother. Cain sinned and then lied about it – to God! Often one sin often leads to another. Doing one small bad thing can often lead to doing even worse things later.
King David and Bathsheba Adultery and Conspiracy to Commit Murder David and Bathsheba committed the act of Adultery and
Conspiracy to commit murder. While David was reigning as king he fell into a moment of human weakness: One