Commentaries, Commentary on Judges · Chapter 9 · Excursus 5
¶Of Murther.
BVt to make the thing more plaine, twoo thinges ſeeme to be intreated of. Firſt, what maner of murther is condemned by the word of God, & ought by the Magiſtrates to be puniſhed. Secondly, who are guilty of thys crime.
As touching the firſt, we muſt know, that not euerye murther is condemned. For if one kil a man by chaunce, in exerciſing a thing honeſt and lawful, he incurreth not the puniſhment of Homicides. Wherfore in the old law there were graunted Cities of refuge. For in verye deede he kylleth not: but as it is there written, God (wythout whoſe wyll nothing is done by chaunce) deliuered him to be killed. A Iudge alſo or Magiſtrate, when he puniſheth flagicious men, is not therefore a murtherer, bicauſe it is not he that killeth, but the law, yea rather God himſelfe, who hath wylled, and alſo commaunded that it ſhould ſo be done. Farthermore, he which is ſet vponupon by theeues or enemyes in a ſolitarye place, or where he can not be holpen by other: if in defending him ſelfe, and according to the lawes, repelling violence by violence, hee ſlay a robber or theefe which inuadeth him, he is not guilty of murther: for as muche as in that caſe he is armed both by the lawes and by the Magiſtrate. For the publike wealth wyl not that a Citizen ſhould ſo periſhe: therefore it geueth hym leaue to defende him ſelfe by weapons.Cicero. By thys meanes Cicero defended Milo, bycauſe hee had ſlayne Clodius, who firſt ſet vponupon him by ſnares. Alſo the woman Thecoites obtayned of Dauid, that the Magiſtrate ſhoulde not kyll her ſonne, who had ſlaine hys brother, falling out in the fielde. They were alone ſayth ſhe, and therefore it is not knowen whyche of them inuaded one the other firſt. Souldiours alſo, when in iuſt warre they ſlay their enemies, commit nothing vniuſtly.
Wherfore that murther, which is to be puniſhed, & cōdēned by ye lawes, is thē iudged to be cōmitted, when of purpoſe a mā is killed of priuate men. And they which wer to be codēned of this crime, wer not by ye Romanes called homicides, but ſicarii. In ye law Cornelia, the title is de Sicariis & not de Homicidis. Sicarii.And they are ſo called, whiche do weare about them Sica, that is a ſhorte ſkayne for to kil a man, and by the figure Synechoche, by the worde ſica is vnderſtand all kindes of weapons. And not onelyonly they whiche kill are guilty of this crime, but alſo they whiche either in dede or counſell doo helpe, and in theyr ſayings and aydes hauehave a reſpect vntounto this, how to kill a man. Yea the will is to be puniſhed,The will is to be puniſhed in this kynde of euill. althoughe it hauehave not ſucceſſe: which thing in the ciuile iudgement is not vſed, but onelyonly in three kinde of crimes, namely of manquellers, called Sicarii, of rauiſhers, and of traitors. Wherfore that manqueller is to be puniſhed, which throweth a weapon at any man, to the end he would kil hym, or hauing that mynde, woundeth him, although he dye not therof, as it is had in the digeſt in the ſame title in the law Diuus, where Adrian ye Emperor anſwereth yt we muſt hauehave a reſpect vntounto the wil, and not to the euente. And that is to be vnderſtand, when the will manifeſteth it ſelfe by any tokē. But I did not without cauſe ſay that all theſe things are thus, as touching ciuill iudgement: bycauſe otherwiſe before God the deſire and decree of the minde, as touching all kinde of ſinnes, are cōdemned for ſinne. Chriſt ſayth, he that beholdeth a woman and luſteth after her, hath already committed aduoutry in his heart. And that the will in thoſe crimes is coūted for the facte, euen the holy fathers and Canons do decree.Ierome. Ierome vponupon Eſay (as it is in the title de Paenitentia, diſtinction the firſt, chap. Omnis) writteth:Ciprian. Thou haſt not killed with the ſworde, but thou haſt killed with the will. Yea and Ciprianus in his Sermon de Mortalitate writeth, yt he which deſireth martirdome, is a martyr before God. It is one thing (ſayth he) for the will to want martirdome, & an other thing for martyrdome to want the wil. Theſe thinges are had in the ſame deſtinction, chap. Nunquid. And in the ſame deſtinction, chap. Periculoſe, Auguſtine.Auguſtine is brought in, who ſayth, yt the Iewes did no leſſe kyll Chriſt then the Romanes, althoughe with their handes they inuaded him not. By this deſtinction he conciliateth the Euangeliſtes, who ſeme to diſagree as touching the houre of the death of the Lord. One of them ſayth, he was crucified the third houre, & the other, the ſixt houre. Auguſtine affirmeth both to be true:Auguſtine. For the Iewes at the third houre cried Crucify, Crucify: wherfore as touching them, they ſlew ye Lord then, who yet was afterward at the ſixt houre crucified by ye ſouldiers of Pilate.
But Abimelech and the Sechemites wer murtherers and parricides, not onelyonly in wil, but in helpe, worke, and deede, and therfore it is no meruaile if God ſo ſeuerely puniſhed them.
Furthermore we muſt cōſider, how meruelouſly and wonderfully God vſeth the vngodly. By them (as we here ſee) he taketh vengeaunce of other vngodly, and ſometymes by their labour, he both excerciſeth and correcteth the iuſt. What more? They are his hangmen, whom alſo when he hath vſed, he deſtroyeth alſo at the laſt, either here, or after they be departed out of this life.
He ſent an euill ſpirite betwene them. For they were ſtirred vp one agaynſt an other. The Sechemites (as it is to be thought) againſt Abimelech, bicauſe he both oppreſſed and contemned them. And agayne Abimelech agaynſt them, bycauſe (as the hyſtory declareth) they diſpyſed him.What contēpt is. Contempt conſiſteth in three thynges. And it is well knowen that by contempt is prouoked anger: for it is called an action, whiche pertayneth to eſtimation & opinion, bycauſe ſome thing ſemeth to vsus not worthy of eſtimation, when peraduenture it is not ſo. Moreouer deſpiſing conſiſteth chiefly in thre thinges: for either we contēne onelyonly in mind, when we deſpiſe any men & their goods, or when we do thē any diſcōmodity, not thereby to ſeeke our own gayne, but onelyonly to reioyſe at theyr diſcommodity: or laſtly when we adde wordes or deedes: whiche hauehave ignominy or contumely ioyned with them. Theſe thre things may we eaſely ſee in the Sechemites. Firſt, they deſpiſed Abimelech, when they receaued Gaalus a ſouldier as a captayne, hauing Zebul appointed theyr gouerner by the kyng. And vndoubtedly they ſo receaued Gaal, yt they did put their confidēce in him. Wherfore it followeth that in mynde and eſtimation they deſpiſed Abimelech. Farthermore they dammaged him, when by conſpiracyes they ſpoyled and ſlewe thoſe that paſſed to and fro. Theſe, whom they iniuried, pertayned vntounto Abimelech, or at the leaſt way, for that that he was king. Laſtly they added reprochefull wordes, as we ſhal afterward heare.
Chriſt prohibited anger as the beginning of hatred, murther and deſtructiō, for he ſayd: He that is angry with his brother, is worthy of iudgement. For anger and reuengemēt are ſeperate one from the other, onelyonly as the roote & the fruit. For he that is angry with any man, if he hurt him not, that chaunceth, bycauſe either he can not,Kinges are vehemētly angry Homere. or els feareth the puniſhmēt of the lawes. He yt hateth hys brother (ſaith Iohn) is a murtherer. But amōg thoſe which are counted very angry, kings aboue other are numbred, when they perceaue yt they are deſpiſed of their ſubiectes. Wherfore Homere ſayth: Great is the anger of a kyng diſpleaſed.
The conſpiracies of the vngodly are of no long tyme.Hereby we learne that the conſpiracies of the vngodly can not continew lōg. They are in deede oftentymes ioyned together to do euill, but yet they are eaſely diſſeuered. The kings of the earth ſtoode vp, and the princes aſſembled together, agaynſt the Lord and againſt his Chriſt. But the Lord whiche dwelleth in heauen, ſhall laughe at them, and the Lord ſhal hauehave them in deriſion. Theues, robbers, whoremongers, & ſuch as conſpire againſt the Church, publique wealthes, & princes, do oftentimes confederate together: but ſtraightway great enemityes ryſe vp amōgeſt them, and they betray one an other, yea and ſometymes kill one an other.Ariſtotle. Wherfore wiſely ſayth Ariſtotle, that honeſty is onelyonly the ſure foūdation of amity, bycauſe that whiche is honeſty is not chaunged: but pleaſant and profitable thinges, do not alwayes abide the ſame. Princes of our tyme, as often as they hauehave made league one with an other, hauehave afterward not only ben made enemyes, but they hauehave gone to warre one with an other. Wherfore Salomon rightly writeth in ye 11. chap. of the Prouerbes: Although ye vngodly cōſpire, they ſhall not eſcape. Wherfore their fellowſhippes are to be auoyded, and we muſt enterpriſe or go about nothyng, hauing confidence in the amity of the vngodly.