Chapter 11: God’s Eternal Character

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people or to any individual in particular. He does quote some Scripture, but his essay is simply a rationalization of the premeditated murder of abortion doctors. It mainly cites other men’s opinions, not God’s Word. You might want to read it yourself and then review the chapter on rationalization again.

Hill uses two Old Testament stories as the basis of his rationalization. He feels that if murder is accompanied by “righteous zeal,” it is justified behavior in God’s eyes. We will now examine these stories to see if they support premeditated murder. I suspect another lesson on God’s character

will emerge, because the Spirit is taking me in this direction. [Note: For your information, God does not forbid killing per se. He often commanded the Israelites to do exactly this. The distinction of murder vs. killing per se is in the area of being preplanned and premeditated on our own. In other

words, the killing itself is not from a command of God or out of passion nor is it unintentional. One has to plan to murder. Often killing is out of the passion of the moment and is an unintended consequence of conflict. Some killings are actually accidents [see Number 35:11]. Hill’s first story is that

of Moses killing the Egyptian in Exodus 2.

“Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their

burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two

Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, ‘Why are you striking your companion?’ Then he said, ‘Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’ So Moses feared and said, ‘Surely this thing is known!’ ”

Exodus 2:11-14

“When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian.” Exodus 2:15