Our justice system could learn from the Book of Joshua
I recently read Chapter 20 of the Book of Joshua (found in both the Jewish Torah and the Christian Old Testament). Its topic surprised me and enlightened me because it’s a pathway to returning justice to our Justice system to a time when appropriate punishment was meted out to someone found to have intentionally and with hate committed premeditated murder.
In my Bible, the heading for that passage was “Six Cities of Refuge.” Despite reading through the Bible frequently throughout my life, this chapter affected me deeply and differently for the first time. Why? Well, it’s because it reveals how far our system of justice has strayed from the Jewish and Christian God’s justice.
In Joshua, a picture of genuine and true justice appears. It states,
Then the Lord spoke to Joshua saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, Designate the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, that the manslayer who kills any person unintentionally, without premeditation, may flee there, and they shall become your refuge from the avenger of blood.’
So, they appointed six cities for the Israelites and sojourners to flee to for anyone who killed someone unintentionally.
Image made using AI and a photo by Chris 73. CC BY-SA 3.0.
Not all deaths caused by another are counted or punished the same. Manslaughter is distanced from murder because it’s not intentional, premeditated, or with hatred. God’s justice requires punishment but tempered with mercy.
The passage further states that if the “avenger of blood” pursues the manslayer to their city of refuge, the elders of the city “shall not deliver the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unintentionally and did not hate him beforehand.” This focus on “hatred” is something that’s important to recognize.
The corollary to banishment for causing death without intentionality or malevolence is that it strongly implies that the consequence or punishment for one who kills another with those motives cannot receive mercy. Furthermore, it is indicative of the justice of capital punishment.
According to both the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, this is divine justice; that is, God-blessed, genuine, legitimate, and true justice. Such a perspective emphasizes the seriousness of killing someone intentionally, premeditatively, and hatefully, i.e., first-degree murder.
Capital punishment may be perceived as rightfully avenging the victim’s loss of life. In other words, it is fair and righteous punishment to redress the most evil and heinous act against another person. “A life for a life” is basically an equivalent penalty. However, in our society and justice system, we have unreasonably discounted and devalued victims’ lives by failing to apply the most just consequence to such evils.
In the few and rare instances where capital punishment is carried out, it is generally close to a lifetime later and in a more merciful, gentler manner than what the victims experienced. The murderers are not subjected to cruel or unusual punishments; they are generally sedated beforehand.
I am not advocating for the state to execute murderers as cruelly as the murderers killed their victims. However, justice would be best served if executions occurred closer to the time of sentencing in order to be a deterrent to such violent crimes. Surely, someone who has killed several or many people should definitely face capital punishment.
This might appear to be harsh, but justice must be equal to the crime if it is to be just. The victims and their families deserve it. Society also deserves it, as it is taxed with financially supporting the guilty parties for many years while criminals do not fear just repercussions for their behaviors and crimes, and society is less protected.
Some reject religious principles related to this subject, but moral issues are dealt with in religion, especially the Judeo/Christian tradition. The Joshua passage in the Torah and Old Testament testifies to both fairness and mercy applied to the manslayer while the murderer faces impartial, true justice. Couldn’t our justice system benefit from these ancient systems by becoming more just?