Honor Killings in the Bible

May 16, 2018Science & Faith

“‘If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire” [Leviticus 21:9]

If the priest’s daughter commits a bad sexual act, she is to be burned because of her fathers reputation, because it is against his honor.

“Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.” [Exodus 21:17]

So here the children are put to death for insulting their parents, this is another example of honor killings, the children are put to death for dis-honoring their very own parents and the punishment is death.

One can say that this is Old testament and it doesnt applied on us

This is wrong…lets see that jesus said

Matthew 15:1-9
1 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked,
2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 *****Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?*****
4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
5 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’
6 he is not to ‘honor his father’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 ” ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'”

There are few points to notice here:

1- Notice in verse 3, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for breaking the Commands of GOD Almighty.

2- In verse 4, he used the cursing of parents’ punishment as an example. The context, however, is not limited to just this example!

3- In verses 7,8 and 9, he used a quote from the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament, to further prove that they are not following the Commands of GOD Almighty.

4- Jesus clearly had a problem with them not following the punishment of death for cursing the parents or any punishment of death that is commanded in the OT for this matter! In fact, Jesus himself said:

“Do not think that I [Jesus] have come to abolish the Law (the Old Testament) or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke or a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law (the Old Testament) until everything is accomplished. (Matthew 5:17-18)”