A bill establishing the death penalty in Alaska has been introduced in the Legislature. We have all heard most of the arguments both for and against. It is cruel and unusual punishment. It will let people know that certain types of crimes will not be tolerated. It is too expensive; life imprisonment is cheaper. The Bible says “You shall not kill.” Punishment should fit the crime; murderers should pay the price. But what if a mistake is made?

Before I begin my comments, I would like to establish two points. First, the Legislature has the right to make such a law. Second, religious people, like myself, whether arguing for or against, have a right to have their say, publicly and loudly.  The Legislature has no obligation to listen. I hope they do. They can turn a deaf ear. They can agree or disagree.

I confess that I write as a religious person, who tries to live by the precepts of my faith. I begin my contribution to the debate about the death penalty by retelling an ancient story. It is the story of a Mesopotamian named Noah and his experience of a great flood that was sent by God. The story is told in chapters 6-9 of the Hebrew Bible. God created human beings in his own image. Human beings did not behave well.

Without giving particulars, God saw their behavior as being wicked. God was enraged that human beings were so irresponsible after being given a very good start. God decided to wipe them out and start all over. He found one exception. He liked Noah and chose him as the vehicle for starting over. God told Noah that he was going to destroy all human flesh with a great flood.

According to the myth, God instructed Noah to build a ship. The instructions called for a ship that was almost 500 feet long and about 80 feet wide. The ship was to have three decks and a roof to cover the whole thing. Noah was to take his family aboard along with a pair of every kind of animal on the earth. Once everyone was aboard, heavy rain came for 40 days and 40 nights. The water was so deep it covered the highest mountains in the world.

After a few months Moses sent out a dove as a scout for dry land. After one unsuccessful trip, the dove went out again and came back with a leaf in its mouth. The water was receding. The ship came to rest on a mountain side, and all aboard the ship disembarked. When the land dried up, God took a look at the carnage and was horrified with what he had done. God repented of what he had done. He promised Noah and all Noah’s descendants that he would never do such a thing again. God put a rainbow in the sky as a seal of his promise. He gave Noah the responsibility to repopulate the earth.

From where did such a story come, and why is it a part of the foundation stories of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam? 

All of the Bible patriarchs trace their history back to Mesopotamia, an area that covers the valleys of two great rivers, the Tigrus and the Euphrates, modern Iraq. The patriarchs were wanderers, who led their clans around the large territory east of the Mediterranean to the mountains of India. The stories of Mesopotamia became their stories.

The flood myth in its earliest form was a Mesopotamian story about an angry God who expected people to behave under the threat of severe penalty, even death. The story dates back possibly to the 27th century B.C.E. and is a part of the oldest known myth in history, the Gilgamesh Epic. In the story an angry God destroys humankind with a great flood.

Fast forward to the 10th century B.C.E. The Israelites through bloody warfare had taken control of Palestine. Jerusalem was their capital and Solomon was their king. Under the blessing of King Solomon, priests revised, expanded, edited and put into written form the stories that the Israelites had carried with them for centuries. Priestly writers of that era wrote the flood myth in the form that we read today. They authored a greatly expanded version and added an ending to the flood story. In the new ending, a repentant God renounces killing and seals his promise with the rainbow. The message is plain. Killing did not do what God wanted to accomplish.   

 This was a huge transition in the Israelite understanding of the nature of their all powerful God.

Jews, Christians and Muslims have all struggled with this renunciation of killing. All three traditions in their holy writings have clear passages that reject killing human beings. However, they all at times revert back to the angry, killing God. At times all three have turned their backs on the rainbow message. All three have been happy to be God’s designated killers.

It is not mine to argue with Jews and Muslims. It is mine to argue with my fellow Christians. Christians can certainly quote Bible verses that appear to support killing and by inference the death penalty. However, no Christian can find support from Jesus of Nazareth for killing a human being. Christians cannot in good conscience avoid the rainbow message.

           

The Rev. Howard Bess is pastor emeritus of Church of the Covenant, an American Baptist church in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.