When God Says “Do Not Kill”… Yet Is Accused of Killing

One of the most common points of confusion in the Bible is this:

God commands “You shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13), and yet many passages seem to show God destroying people, nations, and even the whole world. If God prohibits killing, how do we make sense of verses that say He kills? Has God contradicted His own character? Or is there something deeper happening that we have misunderstood?

This is not just a theological question. It affects how we see God. Is He loving and trustworthy, or unpredictable and frightening? Jesus said eternal life is found in knowing the Father (John 17:3), so getting this right really matters.

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The Commandment Reveals the Character of God

The sixth commandment is simple, yet profound.

“You shall not kill”

Exodus 20:13

This command is not just a rule. It is a revelation of the heart of the One who gave it. It shows that God is not a destroyer, not a taker of life, and not the author of death. God is the Creator, the Life-giver, and the Sustainer of life.

This matches the picture Jesus gave of His Father.

“I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.”

John 10:10

And Jesus immediately contrasts this with someone else.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”

John 10:10

Jesus gives life. The destroyer destroys.

Two completely different characters.

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So Why Does the Old Testament Say God Destroyed People?

Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures you find phrases like:

God struck them

God killed them

God destroyed them

God sent the plague

God burned the city

But the question we rarely ask is:

Who is actually being described doing the destroying?

The Bible is inspired, but the writers were not always perfect in their understanding of God’s character. Jesus Himself said:

“No one knows the Father except the Son.”

Matthew 11:27

The Old Testament writers were faithful to record what happened, but their interpretation of who caused destruction was often based on their worldview at the time. They viewed everything through reward and punishment, blessing and curse, obedience and consequence. When bad things happened, they assumed God caused it.

But when Jesus came, He corrected the misunderstanding.

“The Son does nothing except what He sees the Father do.”

John 5:19

Jesus never took a life.

Jesus never called down destruction.

Even when His disciples wanted to destroy a village, Jesus rebuked them.

“You do not know what spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”

Luke 9:55–56

If Jesus reveals the Father perfectly, then the Father has never destroyed life. Jesus is the correction to all our misconceptions about God.

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What Actually Causes Death in the Bible

The Bible consistently teaches that death is not the penalty God inflicts, but the natural consequence of separating from Him who is Life.

“For the wages of sin is death.”

Romans 6:23

“Sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.”

James 1:15

“To be separated from God is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

Romans 8:6

God does not kill the sinner.

Sin kills the sinner.

God is not the destroyer.

Satan is the destroyer.

“The devil has been a murderer from the beginning.”

John 8:44

The Bible shows God repeatedly trying to protect, warn, and shield His people. But when He is rejected, when people push Him away long enough, His protection is withdrawn because of free will.

And when the protection of the Life-giver is rejected, destruction follows.

Not because God struck, but because God was no longer wanted.

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Examples Where the Writers Blamed God, But Scripture Reveals the Real Cause

Here are three clear cases:

1. The Exodus Plagues

The text says God struck Egypt, yet Psalm 78 clarifies who did the destroying.

“He sent destroying angels among them.”

Psalm 78:49

God pleaded with Pharaoh over and over, but Pharaoh chose destruction.

2. Job’s Children

People said God sent the disaster.

But the story shows Satan did it.

“So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.”

Job 1:12, 2:7

3. King Saul’s Death

One passage says the Lord killed him (1 Samuel 31:6)

Another says it plainly.

“So Saul died because he did not keep the word of the Lord, and the Lord turned the kingdom to David.”

1 Chronicles 10:13–14

Saul killed himself on his own sword. God did not kill him.

Human interpretation blamed God

Scripture clarified the real cause.

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Jesus Is the Final Word About God

If there is ever a tension between the Old Testament writers and the revelation of Jesus, Jesus wins. The Father is exactly like Jesus, because Jesus said:

“He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

John 14:9

Jesus never killed

Jesus never destroyed

Jesus healed, restored, forgave, and raised the dead

So when the sixth commandment says “You shall not kill,” it isn’t simply a rule for us. It is a declaration of God’s own nature:

God does not kill

God does not destroy

God does not take life

That is why sin is so tragic. Not because God will kill us for sin, but because sin separates us from the only Source of life.

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The Father’s Heart

From Eden to the Cross, the consistent story is this:

We run from God in fear

We hide

We assume He is angry and ready to punish

But every time, God comes looking for us with love, saying,

“Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9)

The Father has never been our enemy.

We believed a lie.

Jesus came to reveal the Father’s heart and to break the false picture of a violent, angry God. He came to show that the Father is exactly like Him.

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A Final Thought

People sometimes ask, “If God doesn’t kill, how do the wicked finally perish?”

The Bible answers in simple terms:

“Our God is a consuming fire.”

Hebrews 12:29

Not a fire of violence

A fire of love

Sin, hatred, and rebellion cannot exist in the presence of pure, selfless love.

For those who cling to sin, God’s love is torment.

For those who trust Him, God’s love is heaven.

The same sun that melts wax hardens clay.