“Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor” (Ex. xxxii, 27).
“Spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling” (1 Sam. xv, 3).
“Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children” (Ezek. ix, 6)
“Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood” (Jer. xlviii, 10).
For the leader and legislator of his chosen people, God selects a murderer. The first recorded act of Moses was premeditated murder. “He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand” (Ex. ii 12).
For committing a murder, Phinehas is rewarded by Jehovah with “the covenant of an everlasting priesthood” (Num. xxv, 6–13).
Samuel “hewed Agag,” a captive king, “in pieces before the Lord” (1 Sam. xv, 32, 33).
Jehu murders all the house of Ahab, and God rewards him for it:
“And Joram turned his hands and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah. And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart and he sunk down in his chariot.
“But when Ahaziah, the king of Judah, saw this, he fled by the way of the garden house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot. And they did so.