THOU SHALT NOT KILL/MURDER

 Pastor:

Your sermon today dealt with, according to your numbering, the 5th Commandment (i.e., “You shall not murder.”) In recalling quite a discussion that arose during a Bible Study at St. Paul’s in Concordia, I began researching Exodus 20:13 in the Hebrew text. However, my confusion was compounded when I found the following:

(1) Exodus 20:13: לא תרצח (Lo tirtzach) “(You[sing.]) No murder”

and

‎(2) Exodus 20:13: רָצַח (ratsach) “to murder, slay, kill”

Would you be willing to shed some light on which of the foregoing terms appears most accurate? Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Good Morning!

Thanks for the message.  Not every day that I get to dust off my Hebrew syntax and morphology!  

So, after looking at what you have asked about, לא תרצח (lo tirzach)doesn't seem, at least as I look at the root for  תרצח being רָצַח (ratsach), to have any kind of reference to singing.  So, what we have, then, in Exodus 20:13 is לא (lo) which means "not, no, un-, without, -less; northing" (according to BDB, and of course, it depends on what kind of word לא is attached to i.e. noun, verb, adjective, etc.). When connected to the Qal, imperfect, second person, masculine singular of רָצַח (which then becomes תרצח), the phrase becomes "You shall not murder."  So, basically, any time (and that may be painting with a broad brush a bit)that the word לא is added to a verb, that verb is negated.  In other words, it becomes a prohibition or command to not do what the verb does...if that makes sense.  And, of course, you have to take into consideration the tense, gender, and person of the verb too.

I think that drives at your question, but If I'm missing the mark, let me know!

Pastor:

I appreciate your response. My question was apparently unclear.

I don’t know how a reference to “singing” emerged. Additionally, my query was not intended to express confusion regarding the negation (viz., “lo”) of “tirtzach.” It was confusion regarding the variances in the use of “tirtzach” vis-a-vis “ratsach.” Please note that the bracketed “sing.” referenced the singularity of the pronoun “you,” not “singing.”

The discussion included Luther’s comment that we should not “hurt or harm our neighbor in his body.” The semantic domain for “lo tirtzach” would appear to be much broader than “hurt or harm [to] our neighbor in his body.”

I would draw your attention to Ibn Ezra’s commentary on Exodus 20:13: 1: Murder. Whether physically or by your speech--by lying, gossiping, deliberately giving fatal advice, or failing to reveal a secret that might save a life. If you do not reveal it, you are like a murderer. (Emphasis added.)

This, in my estimation, lends credence to the following order of The Ten Commandments: (1) Commandments 1-5 deal with man’s relationship to God, the 5th having to do with the parents as God’s earthly representation to their offspring; and (2) Commandments 6-10 representing man’s relationship to man. This of course obviates the need to uncouple the Commandment regarding covetousness.

 

Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was one of the most distinguished Jewish biblical commentators and philosophers of the Middle Ages. If the reference to speech is accurate, this suggests a much greater scope of life to which the Commandment applies. This would suggest an incorporation of the 8th/9th Commandment (i.e., You shall not bear false witness).

The inquiry was to determine which of the two terms, “tirtzach” or “ratsach,” is the most accurate. Are you able to offer guidance as to when we are to use these terms?

Thank you once again for your consideration.