Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
Ver. 6. Whoso sheddeth man's blood.] Some are of the opinion, that before the flood, the punishment of murder and other capital crimes, was only excommunication and exclusion from the Church and their father's family. And that now first, God made murder to be a matter of death. The firstborn had power, at first, over their own families, to bless, curse, cast out, disinherit, yea, and punish with death, Gen 38:24 even in case of adultery, as some will have it thus among the people of God. a But what a madness was that in the Egyptians to make no conscience of murder, that they might enjoy their lust! And what a blindness to make less account of murder than adultery!. Gen 12:13 I have seen, saith the Preacher in his Travels, the king of Persia many times to alight from his horse, only to do justice to a poor body. He punishs theft and manslaughter so severely, that in an age a man shall not hear either of the one, or of the other. b A severity fit for France; where within ten years, six thousand gentlemen have been slain, saith he, as it appears by the king's pardons. c
a Godw. Heb. Antiq.
b The Preacher's Travels, by Jo. Cartwright.
c Les Ombres des Defunets Seiurs de Villemor et de Fontaines, p. 46.