Proactively Protecting Life

Exodus 20:13 prohibits the unlawful taking of life, reminding us that human beings have no absolute right to take the lives of other people. The civil magistrate, after a just trial with witnesses, is to execute someone who has committed a capital crime (Gen. 9:5–6; Deut. 17:6; Rom. 13:1–7). When our lives or the lives of others are threatened and there is no other way to save the innocent except by using lethal force against an attacker, then killing as an act of self-defense is lawful (Ex. 22:2–3). This includes killing when one is a part of an army participating in a just war. In other circumstances, however, human beings are not allowed to take the lives of other people.

The sixth commandment tells us what not to do with respect to the taking of human life, and in so doing it also enjoins a positive duty—namely, to protect life. Various other commandments in the Scriptures show us this. Deuteronomy 22:8 is one of the best examples of a commandment given to proactively protect life that we find in Scripture. God told the people of Israel to build parapets or fences on the borders of their roofs to prevent their incurring bloodguilt. The ancient Israelites spent a lot of time on their roofs, using them for entertaining and other gatherings. So there was a real danger that people could fall to their deaths whether they were at their own house or visiting someone else. The Lord, therefore, instructed them to fence their roofs to keep people from falling off, thereby protecting life.

Matthew Henry comments that we should note two things in particular from this verse. First, “how precious men’s lives are to God, who protects them, not only by his providence, but by his law.” Second, “how precious, therefore, they ought to be to us, and what care we should take to prevent hurt from coming to any person.” The Lord considers human life so important that He provides not only laws to prevent the intentional taking of human life but also laws designed to prevent the loss of a human life by accident. This should impress on us our duty to seek proactively to protect life through reasonable safety measures. We might not need to build a fence on our roofs, but we might need to make sure that young children cannot access a swimming pool. We might need to establish proper protocols for the use of heavy equipment. We drive carefully to protect ourselves and other drivers. There are any number of ways that we could apply the principle behind today’s passage, but the main point is that we should seek to protect human life at every stage whenever we can.