Genesis 9:6 - Exposition

Whoso sheddeth . Literally, he shedding, i.e. willfully and unwarrantably; and not simply accidentally, for which kind of manslaughter the law afterwards provided ( vide Numbers 35:11 ); or judicially, for that is commanded by the present statute. Man's blood . Literally, blood of the man, human blood. By man . Not openly and directly by God, but by man himself, acting of course as God's instrument and agent—an instruction which involved the setting up of the magisterial office, by whom the sword might be borne ("Hic igitur fens est, ex quo manat totum jus civile etjus gentium."—Luther. Cf. Numbers 35:29-31 ; Romans 13:4 ), and equally laid a basis for the law of the goel subsequently established in Israel ( Deuteronomy 19:6 ; Joshua 20:3 ). The Chaldee paraphrases, "with witnesses by sentence of the judges." The LXX . substitutes for "by man" α ̓ ντι Ì του ͂ αι ̔ ì ματος αυ ̓ του ͂ — an interpretation followed by Professor Lewis, who quotes Jona ben Gannach in its support, Shall . Not merely a permission legalizing, but an imperative command enjoining, capital punishment, the reason for which follows. For in the image of God made he man. To apply this to the magistracy (Bush, Murphy, Keil), who are sometimes in Scripture styled Elohim ( Psalms 82:6 ), and the ministers of God ( Romans 13:4 ), and who may be said to have been made in the Divine image in the sense of being endowed with the capacity of ruling and judging, seems forced and unnatural; the clause obviously assigns the original dignity of man (cf. Genesis 1:28 ) as the reason why the murderer cannot be suffered to escape (Calvin, Poole, Alford, 'Speaker's Commentary,' Candlish, Lange)