“Thou shalt not kill.”-Deuteronomy 5:17
I’ve had countless discussions with a lot of folks who are against the Bible and are always trying to find one way or another to discredit the power and truthfulness of God’s teachings.
One way they do this is to point to the 6th commandment which says “Thou shalt not kill“.
What they’ll do is hold that commandment up against all the numerous instances in Scripture where killing occurs and then with a smug smile of satisfaction on their faces say…
…”See, look at how hypocritical the Bible is! The 6th Commandment says one should not kill, yet in countless other places in Scripture, God commands the merciless slaughter of entire populations of people including men, women and children! How can I trust such a barbaric and primitive book like this?!“
My answer.
Let’s look at the original Hebrew.
In Hebrew, the word being used for the word “kill” is RATSACH.
Here’s the thing.
RATSACH does NOT just mean “kill“.
“To kill” itself I think has a very generic and neutral meaning.
RATSACH actually means to kill UNJUSTLY.
In other words, it means “murder“.
Hence, the purpose of this commandment is actually very limited in its scope and application.
During a hunting expedition, you wouldn’t say I RATSACH a deer for instance.
Legal executions such as the death penalty do NOT fall under this commandment.
Death during war also isn’t a concern of the 6th commandment.
Heck, even manslaughter isn’t a concern of this commandment as long as there was no deliberate intent to harm the person killed or the death wasn’t the result of gross negligence.
The 6th Commandment of “Thou shall not kill” means ONLY one thing.
It means that a man is to not to UNJUSTLY kill another human being with an emphasis on the word “UNJUSTLY“!
The Complete Jewish Bible properly grasped the nuance of the word RATSACH and as a result has translated this commandment as “Do not murder”.
The simple truth of the matter is that while the unjust taking of life is prohibited, there are many instances when the JUST killing of an individual is not only expected but demanded by God.
Administering the death penalty to someone who has murdered somebody is a perfect example.
Or again, the killing of enemy forces during war is totally just and obviously called for.
The sixth commandment says that “You shall not commit murder”.
If you want to make war,then ratsach means murder. I hate war and we should never kill anyone. So for me ratsach means you shall not kill.