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Job 24:14
14 The murderer [ratsach] rising [quwm] with the light ['owr] killeth [qatal] the poor [`aniy] and needy ['ebyown], and in the night [layil] is as a thief [gannab]. KJV-Interlinear
14 'The murderer arises at dawn; He kills the poor and the needy, And at night he is as a thief. NASB
In these next few verses, Job describes three categories of sinners. Those who take away life, those who are unfaithful to life and those who take things that do not belong to them.
The murderer is among the seven worst sins, Prov. 6:16. The only overt sin to make that list, by the way.
Each person who is born into this world has the right to pursue their life to the best of their ability, to make choices, to come to know God or to reject Him.
Anyone who denies them that right by taking their life away from them, is among the worst of the worst.
A person cannot come back from the dead and resume their life. They are forever stopped from participating in life. Murder is the quintessence of selfishness, and the ultimate in the theft of ones right to making ones own decisions in life, even to having a life.
Everyone is dependant on God for life, and in that respect everyone is classified as poor and needy. But just living in this world, and because of the nature of the jungle of this world, there are folks who lack many advantages and opportunities in life. They are often times exposed to criminal activities because of the environment in which they live.
But even though the murderer is the lowest of the low, they are still no different than any other person who pursues wickedness.
Light, or the light of the sun, or any light per se, correlates in the Bible with the light of truth.
Everyone who is born into this world, is raised or grows up within the light of truth. Truth is all around. Truth, or the knowledge of it, saturates the earth. Truth is the only force that can stabilize the evils of this world. There is no one who does not have at least some exposure to truth, and therefore there is no one who does not grow up with at least some knowledge of good morals and standards for living.
People know right from wrong, and murder is definitely wrong.
In the ancient world, a murderer would rise up very early and go out to do his dastardly deed. Premeditated because his objective in murder is theft, and therefore his objective is to leave no witnesses in the event he gets caught in the act.
We certainly have murders which are acts of passion, revenge, hate, self-righteousness, and such, but in every case, the taking of ones life is the ultimate theft of someone's future opportunities and right to make their own choices.
Murder is prohibited by God, Gen. 9:5-6, Ex. 20:13, Deu. 5:17, Rom. 13:9. The sin and crimes of murder need to be distinguished from the legal due process of capital punishment or acts taken during war.
Removing the life of another by means of a criminal act, can never advance your own life nor solve any desires or beliefs you may have. Certainly, committing murder in order to get possession of someone's things, will never help your own life.
God provides everything we all need and in a timely manner. All it takes is a dedication to ones spiritual life.
To commit a murder is the ultimate rejection of Gods support, of His promises, and of His plan for ones life.
Everything that comes from God is permanent, legitimate and proper.
Everything that comes from sin or crime, is temporary, illegitimate, and improper.
