“Do not murder.”
-Exodus 20:13
Although this 6th Word of God is usually rendered “Thou shall not kill“, “murder” is definitely the more appropriate word which should be used.
The Hebrew word here is the verb RATSAH and it clearly means “to murder”.
This is specifically a ban on criminal acts of taking a life.
It refers ONLY to unjust killing whether the act was intentional or not.
A law found later in the Torah uses the same verb and makes this clear:
“If someone strikes another
with an iron implement so that he dies,
he is a murderer;
the murderer should be put to death.
Or if someone with a stone in his hand
that could cause death
strikes another so that he dies,
he is a murderer;
the murderer should be put to death.
Or if someone with a wooden implement
in his hand that could cause death
strikes another so that he dies,
he is a murderer;
the murderer should be put to death.”
-Numbers 35: 16– 18
Some pacifists will argue “thou shalt not kill” means that war is wrong.
Biblically speaking, this is patently absurd.
The Lord repeatedly requires the total extermination of entire enemy populations during times of war.
And when Yeshua returns, it will be as one of the mightiest and most ferocious warriors mankind has ever witnessed.
So RATSAH is absolutely NOT referring to a lawful “execution” that is carried out in accordance with a judicial sentence.
I would say the modern western notion of “murder” or “manslaughter” captures the correct meaning of RATSAH.
However, this does lead us to the question of what exactly constitutes the unjust killing of a human being?
This is where the Torah comes in pretty handy because starting from the next Chapter 21, there are actually a multitude of regulations and ordinances that cover pretty much every conceivable situation of how manslaughter could occur, including if the perpetrator kills somebody by accident.
We’ll look at the Hebrew civil codes governing these situations when we get to them.
Although God says ONLY He has the right to take human life, He has assigned human government the task of not only determining the guilt or innocence of a person accused of murder but of carrying out the required capital punishment if the accused is found guilty.
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