Proverbs 28:17

If one is burdened with the blood of another,
     he will be a fugitive until death;
    let no one help him.  

How serious is the crime of murder? The Scriptures speak quite clearly that to take one man’s blood requires that that man give his life for the innocent (Exodus 9:6). There is, too, consequences for the guilty beyond requiring his own blood.

Proverbs 28:17 states that one who commits murder will be a “fugitive until death.” Such a one flees for his very life and is haunted with guilt by taunting himself with fear that the authorities will finally captue him. Remember Cain after his killing of Abel. After he killed his brother, he became a vagabond and feared continually. Such a crime has alienated peoples in the Middle East for thousands of years. Guilt manifests itself in seeking to flee one’s own heart and guilt.

Those who prosecute a murderer , whether rulers or family members, should be vigourous in bringing such a one to prosecution. Those who acquit the guilty murderer, or those who seek to aid and assist a murderer, become participants in the guilt of innocent blood.

The Scriptures, too, speak of a country inhabited by the guilty murderer. Such land needs “purging” of guilty oppressors for it to be cleansed (Numbers 35:33).

May our God have mercy on our own land where guilty murderers are free to roam.