Numbers 35:17. "And if he struck him down with a stone in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death." This certainly seems like God is endorsing the death penalty, something the Church now teaches against. So why the difference?

The story of humanity is an ongoing, unfolding one. We are not static, we are learning and growing, individually and as a species. We have a beginning and an end, individually and as a species. Our intended end is a wonderful promise of reconciliation with God in a paradise even better than the one we lost. But in order to get there, we have to change, we have to give up our vengeful, sinful tendencies and learn to be more like God - loving and forgiving, merciful and just. It is very tricky thing to work out, and we are not there yet (in fact, in some ways, it seems to me we are going backward). God wants to lead us away from those tendencies and let Him be the arbiter of justice, but we have to be led to this gradually, and so God began with the Israelites, newly freed from Egypt.

The Israelites at this time were living in a world very far from God, because most of it had never even heard of Him nor had any encounter with Him - the Jews were the ones He chose to get to the ball rolling. God was going to ask the Jews to behave very differently from the rest of the world. So as they were about to cross into the Promised Land, God had Moses lay out the rules of behavior there. These rules are starting point, not the end game. They are not like the Ten Commandments, eternal law written in stone, they are rules to begin to change hearts and minds; to start accomplishing more God-like justice than was currently being done.

The rule referenced here, that one who acted with intent to murder and did murder should be put to death, is actually a change from what the world of the time would do. It asks for an evaluation of intent and causality. It comes amidst God's command that there be cities of refuge to which anyone who has killed may flee and receive a fair trial. (Numbers 35:12) It distinguishes intentional murder from unintentional killing. (Numbers 35:22-24) It changes drastically the law of the time which satisfied retribution by killing anyone who had killed another.

Since the time of the establishment of this rule, mankind has learned and grown. We have had God himself come to us as one of us and explain that an eye for an eye is not God's way. We are to be learning God's justice, and God is merciful in His justice. That is why the Church now teaches against capital punishment. It is calling us to take another step towards our ultimate end of reconciliation with God. It is holding us to a higher standard, one that might seem just as alien as asking the Israelites to establish cities of refuge for killers.