How many murderers did it take to write the Bible? By my reckoning, three. Moses wrote the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, the foundation of our faith. David wrote most of the Psalms--the Bible's hymnal, the default source of comfort for believers through the ages. Paul wrote most of the New Testament epistles, the church's instruction manuals. Not that being a murderer is a prerequisite to Bible authorship, but neither is it a hindrance.
Moses was not held responsible for the lives of those who died in the plagues, drowned in the Red Sea, or he defeated in battle. But he killed an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite, and for that, even his fellow Jews, considered him a murderer. David killed many men in battle, but the death that made him a murderer was not even committed by his own hand. He murdered his mistress' husband, Uriah, by arranging for him to be killed in battle. Murder by remote. Treachery was the drone warfare of the ancient world. And then there is Paul, whose ritually clean Pharisee hands were complicit in the murder of Christians he persecuted. I wonder how many people in the churches he started and ministered to, lost a loved one because of Paul.
Why does it matter that three of the forty men who wrote the Bible committed murder? Because we let the guilt of our past sins limit our service to God, and God is bigger than that. He does not condone our sin, but He uses, even that, for His own purposes. Even to do something as magnificent as writing the Bible.
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