(May 10, 2014)
There is value, I believe, in the requirement that the witnesses that condemn a man must be willing to personally put their hands to him to kill him before any others. I notice that the worst things that I do in my life are those things that I do that I don’t actually have to do – namely, those things that I can accomplish without necessarily being responsible for them. If I can create that psychological distance, I managed to deceive myself from time to time into believing that I am not doing anything wrong.
By forcing the witness to put their own hands on the condemned, the Lord through Moses shows us that we are responsible for the things we do. If we condemn someone, we don’t do it in a way that allows us to keep our hands clean of the results of that condemnation. If our testimony is false, then we put our hands on the victim and murder them. Likewise, we are responsible for the consequences (intended and unintended) of our behavior – a frightening prospect that demands nothing less that our wholehearted determination to keep ourselves free from the blood and sins of our generation.
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