Abstract
The Criminals of the Bible by Jones critique book review will evaluate the definition of the crimes and the criminals depicted by the author in the book in the lens of Christian morals and criminal justice laws. The paper will highlight and review specific crimes and the offenders as purported by the writer, analyzing them in the lens of the scriptures and the criminal justice laws in an attempt to substantiate the claims and the position of the author concerning them. The book by Jones highlights 25 crimes committed by the biblical characters and the critique review will analyze a section of the 25 crimes. The paper will evaluate the contextual placement of the crimes, scripture and the legal interpretation of the actions, the lessons from the crimes, and the manifestation of the doings in the current society.
Summary of the Book
The book Criminals of the Bible written by Jones and published in the year 2001 uses the biblical descriptions and scripture to identify the incidences of the crimes and the wrong doings of the characters in the bible. The book analyzes 25 cases in the contextual manifestation, in the scripture interpretation, and in the lens of the criminal and law justice in the modern society. The book is formatted in the similar case representations where the author begins by highlighting on the alleged or the committed crimes in their scripture context.
Crimes Critique Review
During Moses` stay in Egypt, he killed an Egyptian that had been brutalizing the Israelites and concealed the corpse (Jones, 2006, p. 54). He fled from Egypt lest his crime be found and he face the punishment. The scriptures teach that life is Gods given precious gift and no man has the liberty of taking it. One of the Ten Commandments instructs humans not to kill (Thomas, 2010). Moses law demanded an eye for an eye and thus a killer should be killed (Thomas, 2010, p. 238). Today, murder is among the most serious crimes that the law treats with vigor and the offenders are portrayed in the society as social outcast. In most of human history, murderer`s punishment was death and it has been so for many years until recently when the death penalty has been replaced by life imprisonment (Frailing & Harper, 2013).
Jones evaluation of the actions committed by Cain is quite remarkable considering that the biblical setting of the crimes committed by Cain was at a time where there lacked laws that Governed the conduct of human beings in the world. The only provisions that had been offered to Adam and Eve and guided them in living in the Garden of Aden was concerning their relationship with the animals and caring for the environment. The other law that was given as an order was not to eat fruits borne by a certain tree that was described as the wisdom tree. There had not been rules that had been offered by God or by Cain`s parents describing how he should treat his brother (Thomas, 2010, p. 13-24).
Description of Cain`s actions as murder is inferred from the later biblical teachings and the Mosaic law that came to play later in the biblical context. The author succeeds in placing the actions in the contextual setting and mapping the case to the modern day description of the actions that are viewed as murder in the eyes of the criminal justice and law. However, the actions of Cain can be exempted from the Mosaic Law because at the time the event happened, Cain can claim that he knew not that his actions were against the moral conduct of human beings.
It can be argued, to Cain, the best method to resolving such issues as the rejection of his sacrifice by God and acceptance of the sacrifice form his brother would be through eliminating the favored. However, the argument may be opposed by the fact that the human beings had wisdom about the right and wrong that is described as the resulting effect when Adam and Eve ate the fruits of the forbidden fruits. Taking the human being as a morally responsible person that knew the difference between right and wrong, and further assuming that the gained knowledge enabled Cain to determine that killing is wrong, then his actions can be described as murder offense.
Cain`s actions when viewed in the light of the scripture amounts to ethical and moral wrongs committed to humankind. The scriptures teaches that human life is a divine gift from God and no man has the right to terminate it, either by himself or to other human being. One of the Ten Commandments instructs man not to kill (Thomas, 2010, p. 88). The Mosaic Law recognizes the value of human life and the murderers were punished by death penalty. In the modern society, the actions of Cain can be defined as the first-degree murder. The first-degree murder entails pre-meditated actions aimed to cause death to another person (Criminal law, 1955). However, owing to the lack of the guiding principles at the time of event, it would be unjust to judge Cain with the laws and criminal restrictions that came into play later on.
Jones has made a tremendous effort in determining the depth and the length of the contextual information offered in the different case scenarios. Throughout the book, Jones has identified the importance of explaining to the readers the circumstances surrounding the alleged and committed crimes. He has utilized background information that surrounds the events based on the context and the scripture reading that paints a clear picture on the alleged and committed crimes to the reader. In the crimes that are easy to deduce, the writer employs two lines or one paragraph that describes the event. However, in the crimes that require the reader to develop a clear picture of the events that were taking place to determine the criminality of the actions, the writer utilizes an in-depth analysis of the situation, traditions, and the social and moral responsibilities expected in such situations.
An example is the case concerning King Ahab who was coerced by his wife into committing a murder by indirect participation (Jones, 2006, p. 98). The author identifies the need to describe the preceding events leading to the killing of Naboth, a poor vineyard owner, and how his death can be tied back to King Ahab. Jones describes the responsibilities and the functions of the King in the then community. He describes the powers given by the King declarations, statutes, and their effect on the subjects so that the reader can understand how the actions of the king were linked to the murder of Naboth.
The case can be described as one of the civil crimes or white-collar crimes in the modern day society. It was a plot fueled by the greed of the King`s wife that prompted her to impose on the husband to use the power bestowed to him by the virtue of the throne against the subjects. The Kingship comes with the powers that should be used to safeguard the interest of the nation and to make decisions for the wellbeing of the citizens. However, a ruler may use his kingship powers to act against the sovereignty of the citizens and to promote socio-economic welfare of the nations. Such actions are crimes that can be described as abuse of office, misuse of power, and extra-judicial killings in the modern day criminal and legal systems (Chapter 30. Crimes against State Power, the Interests of State Service, and Service in Bodies of Local Self-Government, 1997).
In the scripture teachings, the case amounts to wrong actions by the leaders by the fact that the duties and responsibilities of the leaders were well-defined in the Israelites traditions. Acquisition of another person`s property through deceit is was a social crime condemned in the scripture teachings. In addition, one of the Ten Commandments instructed against bearing false witness against your neighbor. Currently, the actions of King Ahab and his wife Jezebel remain to be one of the serious crimes that a leader can commit against his citizens/followers (Frailing & Harper, 2013, p. 213).
Conclusion
The book “Criminals of the Bible” by Jones that was published in 2001 describes the 25 events in the Old and New Testament that can be viewed as crimes. Jones describes the events in employing varying contents and in-depth analysis to enable the reader to gain a clear insight picture of the situations and thus attaining an enlightened position to determine whether the actions can be viewed as crimes or not. The author has utilized a simple but quite informative format by capitalizing on the choice of the words to bring vividly the description of the events, give their scripture interpretation, their relation to the modern day criminal and justice law, as well as offering the lessons that the Christians can learn from the deeds. The author has succeeded in placing the crimes in their contexts, mapping the events with the scriptures teachings, the Mosaic Law, and their implication to the modern day criminal justice law.
References
Blinn, K. W. (1950). First Degree Murder. A Workable Definition. Journal of Criminal Law and
Criminology (1931-1951), 40(6), 729. doi:10.2307/1138263
Chapter 30. Crimes against State Power, the Interests of State Service, and Service in Bodies of
Local Self-Government. (1997). Statutes and Decisions, 33(5), 64-69. doi:10.1080/10610014.1997.11502325
Criminal Law. Second-Degree Murder Instruction Held Prejudicial to Defendant in Statutory
First-Degree Felony-Murder Trial. (1955). Virginia Law Review, 41(3), 385. doi:10.2307/1069899
Frailing, K., & Harper, D. W. (2013). Fundamentals of criminology: New dimensions
Jones, M. (2006). Criminals of the Bible: Twenty-five case studies of biblical crimes and
outlaws. Grand Haven, MI: FaithWalk Pub
Thomas Nelson Publishers. (2010). Exodus 20: 1-17. In The Holy Bible: Containing the old and
new testaments : NKJV, New King James version.
