MURDER (mtledgr), (Heb. raw-tsakh', to kill).
1. The unlawful taking away of a person's life (Mark xv :7).
2. Hatred of, and cruelty to our neighbor, in thought, word, or deed (Matt xix :18 ; John iii :15). The voluntary killing of any person, ex cept in lawful war, execution of public justice, or necessary self-defense, hath been peculiarly marked out by the vengeance of God. Cain, the first murderer, was preserved as a monument of the divine indignation (Gen. iv :15). No sacrifice was accepted for this sin ; no money was to ran som the life of the guilty. Suppose he fled to God's altar for protection, he was to be dragged thence and executed (Gen. ix :6 ; Num. xxxv :27 31 ; Ps. li :DS).
If a man had ever so involuntarily and acci dentally slain his neighbor, the law demanded that the involuntary manslayer be banished from his native abode, and confined to a city of refuge till the death of the high-priest ; and if found without it by the slain person's friend, might he put to death (Num. xxxv ; Dent. xix). If a
body was found murdered in the field, and the murderer unknown, the rulers of the next city slew a heifer, and with washing of hands, sol emnly protested their innocence of the crime and their ignorance of the actor ; and with the priests or Levites present, begged that the Lord would not lay the sin to the charge of the land (Deut. xxi :1-8).
In regal times the duty of execution of justice on a murderer seems to have been assumed to some extent by the sovereign, as well as the privi. lege of pardon (2 Sam. xin:39; xiv:7, it; Kings ii:34). It was lawful to kill a burglar taken at night in the act, but unlawful to do so after sun rise (Exod. XXii:2, 3), (Smith, Bib. Dia. ; Jahn, Arch. ; Keil, Arch.; Brown, Bib. Dia.).