“A wise king sifts out the wicked and brings the threshing wheel over them” (Proverbs 20:26).
Because righteousness exalts a nation and sin is a reproach to any people (Prov. 14:34), the gravest danger to the health and longevity of a country is wickedness. Therefore, the threefold responsibility assigned by God to civil government is: 1) Protect the innocent from the wicked; 2) Punish justly the wicked; and 3) Praise the good instead of the wicked.
It is wise for rulers to separate (or “sift”) the wicked from the innocent. There are clear, unbending distinctions between those who are immoral and evil from those who are not. Once this sifting of the chaff of wickedness occurs, the evil are to be punished promptly and decisively. Otherwise, the cancer of evil will quickly destroy the body politic.
Capital punishment, when carried out as divinely proscribed in Scripture, is essential to the vitality and well-being of every nation in human history.
