In this sixth installment of our Ten Commandments series, we turn a shining light on the Sixth Commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.” With a resolute voice, we explore Yahweh’s sacred decree against the taking of life.
Join us as we journey through the heart of the commandment, unpacking the Hebrew root of “ratsach” and exploring common misconceptions that have led to modern incorrect doctrines. With reflections and revelations drawn from Scripture and educational resources, this teaching will challenge you to examine your traditional beliefs.
So come along with us as we learn the God Honest Truth about “Do Not Kill”.
#SixthCommandment #TenCommandments #DoNotKill #DoNotMurder
Transcript
In this video, we open the scroll on the commandment, a commandment that’s been misquoted more times than we can count. You’ve heard it said, thou shalt not kill, but that’s not what scripture actually states. And this trans mistranslation has actually led to mass confusion and misunderstanding over the years, whether it be in courts, in battlefields, in sermons, etcetera. Some have used it to speak against self defense. Some have used it to justify pacifism.
But in this video, we’ll see that it’s not what Yahweh meant, not even close. So join us for this teaching on the commandment, thou shalt not kill or thou shalt not murder. Stay tuned. Alright. So this teaching or episode is gonna be all about the commandment in our continuing series on the 10 commandments.
This is gonna be the commandment of do not kill or thou shalt not kill, however you wanna put it. Now if you like more notes about this particular subject and what you’re seeing here on your screen or what you get during this teaching, then please go to our website at godhonesttruth.com. Click on the post for this particular episode, and there you’ll be able to see the on demand video. You’ll be able to see the draw slides that you see here on your screen if you’re watching on a video platform. You’ll also be able to see the notes that we took for this particular episode, which includes a lot more notes than what you’re gonna get here in this particular teaching.
So go check it out today. You’ll also see the transcript as well if that so happens to be a benefit to you. So it’s all available for you right there on our website @godhonesttruth.com. And, of course, like always, we provide a convenient link to that article post down below in the description, and that should be there whether you’re watching on a video platform or an audio podcasting platform. That link should be down there in the description all the same.
The 60 mammoth is pretty well ingrained in most people’s minds. It’s one of the more shorter commandments as it were, and it’s the pretty much the of the short commandments. And here is the King James version, which I grew up with and probably a lot of you grew up with as well. This is really nostalgic to have those up there in the King James rendering. But the command itself states from the translation we use nowadays, you do not murder.
And that’s the commandment that comes from Exodus chapter 20 verse 13. Now here, as you can if you’re watching on video, you can see all the translations, the English translations that came before the King James version. Of course, the Wycliffe being the or the complete bible anyways. But the Wycliffe says, thou shalt not slay, which is much more different than the kind of language we use nowadays. But the rest of them, the Tyndale, which came before the King James and the King James is well, I’ll just be blunt.
The King James is pretty much about 75, 80% just a copy of the Tyndale anyways. But Tyndale, like the King James, like the Coverdell, like the Great Bible, like the Geneva Bible, and like a lot of other translations, it states, thou shalt not kill. But is that actually what it says? Just killing in general for any old purpose? Is that what it’s really trying to prohibit here?
Well, the word we got here for either slay or kill or murder is Hebrew word and that is Strong’s eight seven five two three, the Hebrew word, rasah. Rasah. And that means, according to outline biblical usage from Blue Letter Bible, to murder, slay, or kill, like we’ve just saw from those various translations. But it refers to and sometimes in scripture, premeditated, accidental, as an avenger, slayer, to be slain, to murder, assassinate, murderer, or assassin. From Strong’s definition, the entry they have here means to dash in pieces, to kill, especially to murder, to put to death, to kill, etcetera, etcetera.
Here’s your Brown Driver Briggs entry for Rasach. Brown Driver Briggs has it, well, pretty much the same way. Meaning, murder, slay, murder, slay with premeditation, slay as avengers, slay as a man slayer, without intent, with intent, assassinate, etcetera, etcetera. And here’s your DeSineas’ Hebrew lexicon. And they all pretty much say the same thing.
Just kinda usually put it in a little bit different way of phrasing it, I guess you could say, with some different information there. But like always, if you want the full entry for each of these various lexicons and dictionaries, go to our website, check on the notes that we have provided for you, and that’s all free of charge. Here’s your Jastrow’s dictionary of the Targums for RatSac and your client dictionary entry. And, again, they pretty much got the same thing. Do slay, murder, slay, murder, commit suicide even.
Of course, usually would the full entry in Jastrow’s really doesn’t mean to commit suicide so much as it is to cause the death of someone other than yourself, put it that way. But it technically can mean commit suicide. But here’s some of the differences and the nuances between these two concepts of kill and murder just to try to make it more clear as we go on and discuss whether or not this command means do not kill in general or do not murder specifically. Just as a refresher and to bring it to the forefront of your mind, you probably already know this, but just to say it explicitly, kill is the act of causing death to someone. Obviously.
Right? Or even causing death to something like a animal. Like, you’re going to have food for supper or something. Murder, on the other hand, is the intentional and unjustified act of causing death to someone, generally to someone who is innocent or does not deserve it. Kill may be legal or illegal, while murder almost always is illegal.
Killing may or may not involve intent to cause death. It could just be a self defense thing that just pops up. It could be accidental. But murder almost always involves intent to cause death, premeditation, stuff like that. Kill may be morally justified, such as in a case of self defense.
It is morally justified to take the life of someone. And when you’re hungry and you wanna eat, scripture does not forbid eating meat. So, of course, then you have to kill an animal and it’s morally justified to kill an animal for food. However, murder is generally and just about always unjustified morally speaking. So there’s some of the various nuances between kill and murder.
But generally, in a nutshell, murder is taking the life or causing the death of an innocent or someone who doesn’t deserve to die. Now to put this in an entire context of the entirety of scripture, we just look at that one verse and says, do not kill. We would come to the conclusion and think that, well, maybe it’s saying don’t kill anyone or anything for any reason whatsoever. And this is the kind of thinking that has led to a lot of false doctrines, especially a lot of these pacifist doctrines. And it’s just not true when it comes to the context of scripture, and hopefully, we’ll be able to show that to you tonight.
And by the end of this teaching, hopefully, you’re gonna understand that it’s okay to defend yourself even even in a lethal manner. If someone is trying to harm you or an innocent someone you love, family, friend, or even just an innocent bystander, that you protect them by taking someone else’s life if it so comes to that, and it’s only in extreme circumstances. But if that should arise, then it is justified according to scripture because that would not be murder. Murder, however, is not justified according to scripture. But before we get off on a tangent, let’s go back to this whole thing.
When it comes to the the entirety entire context of scripture, let’s look at some of the things that scripture actually tells us to do, whereas the commandment is something that’s telling us not to do. So let’s see if we can understand this a little bit better. We look back at Deuteronomy chapter 25 verse 19. Therefore, it shall be, when Yahweh your Elohim has given you rest from your enemies all around in the land which Yahweh your Elohim has given you to possess as an inheritance, that you blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens. Do not forget.
Now this is where Yahweh is telling them that when they come into the promised land, that when they get there, don’t forget to blot out Amalek. Okay. That’s an idiot an idiom that we don’t really use in English nowadays, especially here in America. We don’t say we’re gonna go blot someone out. Maybe if you’re in a mafia, but not really.
Anyway, so what does this Hebrew idiom actually mean? Well, from this context, you can kinda start to get it to but to be more specific, to hit the nail more on the head as it were, let’s look at Samuel chapter 15 verse three. Samuel chapter 15 verse three. Now go and you shall strike Amalek and put under the ban all that he has and you shall not spare them, and put to death from man to woman, from infant to nursing child, from ox to sheep, from camel to donkey. So now they’re actually in the land, and they have a king.
This is king Saul. And Yahweh is telling him to go and strike Amalek. And what does he mean by strike Amalek or blot out the remembrance of Amalek? He’s telling them to go and put to death everyone of the Amalekites. All the men, all the women, all the infants, all the nurse and child all the nurse and children, sorry, all the livestock, from the ox to the sheep and camels and donkeys, to put them all to death.
So this is a type of death that is ordered by Yahweh himself. So it’s justified for them to go out and take the lives of these people and these animals because Yahweh told them to do so. Now the Amalekites were not innocent. So this is not the taking of the life of an innocent person or an innocent people. This is taking of the life of someone who is guilty.
The entire race of people, the Amalekites, were guilty. And Yahweh says, go kill them. Wipe them out. Of course, as we know, Saul didn’t do it, and he got a spirit all the good stuff and tried to keep for himself. But it didn’t turn out well for him.
He had the throne taken from him and given to Dawid. So we won’t get into that, but you probably know the story. But, anyways, the point is we’re told here that Yahweh commanded the killing of the Amalekites. So it’s morally justified for them to go out and kill the Amalekites. Now this word, ratseach, in Hebrew that’s used in the commandment, it refers specifically to premeditated or unjust killing of the innocents, not just the I’m sorry.
How do I put this? Not just the, general killing. It’s the premeditated death of innocent people. And it actually doesn’t even refer to accidental death. This is something that is actually specifically spelled out in scripture.
There’s a difference between intending to kill someone and accidentally killing someone, and there are different ways of handling each of those situations. For instance, we look at Exodus chapter 21 verses 12 through 14. He who strikes a man so that he dies shall certainly be put to death. But if he did not lie in wait, but Elohim delivered him into his hand, then I shall appoint for you a place where he is to flee. But when a man acts presumptuously against his neighbor to kill him by treachery, you are to take him even from my slaughter place to die.
So here we can see a distinction has been made in scripture between someone who kills someone intentionally and someone who kills someone unintentionally. Difference between murder and manslaughter as it were kinda distinction we make nowadays. But go on, we look at numbers chapter 35 verses 16 through 25. But if he has stricken him with an instrument of iron so that he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall certainly be put to death.
And if he has stricken him with a stone in the hand by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer. The murderer shall certainly be put to death. But if he pushes him suddenly without enmity, or throws an object at him without lying in wait, or uses a stone by which a man could die, throwing it at him without seeing him, so that he dies, while he was not his enemy or seeking his harm, then the congregation shall judge between him who struck someone and the revenger of blood according to these right rulings. So again, they’re making a distinction between premeditated and non premeditated, accidental killing. Whereas the premeditated side of things, that kind of killing is regarded as a murder.
You can see right here in plain English as it were in this translation anyways. But then they make the distinction between someone who accidentally killed someone and they didn’t actually mean to. The murderer on one hand is to be put to death, but the one who accidentally kills is to be brought before the congregation and they’re to judge accordingly, as it were. Like we said, we go back and we look at the distinction that the entirety the entire context of the scripture makes. And there’s a difference between killing in general and murder, the taking of the life of innocent people.
And I will go ahead and say it from my stance, the way I see things is that all light is precious according to Yahweh. And that’s because we are made in the image of Yahweh himself, or at least the man was and were made in the image of those who came before us. So at least by descent and by linkage that way, we’re made in the image of Yahweh. We look at Genesis chapter one verses 26 through 27. And Elohim said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over all the creeping creatures that creep on the ground.
And Elohim created the man in his image. In the image of Elohim, he created him. Male and female, he created them. Then also at Genesis chapter nine verse six, whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood is shed, for in the image of Elohim he has made man. So here we see the preciousness of life and why humans are so prized above all else, all of the other creation, above animals, above birds, above fish, above everything.
It’s because we were made, at least originally, if nothing else, were made in the image of Yahweh or in the likeness, ever how you wanna put it. But that’s why human life is so precious. Now all life is contained in the blood exactly, and we have blood just like animals have blood, but animals were not made in the image of Yahweh. We were. And this is something, and it extends more than just well, I don’t know if with this.
This commandment about do not murder extends more than just to adults and grown people in wars and the justice system and stuff like that. It also extends on down to the unborn child even. And, well, look at that just so you have it in front of you. This really hits home when it comes to the issue of abortion. We look at Exodus chapter 21 verses 22 through 25.
And when men strive and they shall smite a pregnant woman and her children come out, yet there is no injury, it shall certainly be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband lays upon him, and he shall give through the judges. But if there is injury, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, lash for lash. So here, if two men are fighting and struggling each other with each other and there’s a pregnant woman there and the pregnant woman gets hit and there’s no damage to her or the child, whatnot, then the woman’s husband will determine the fine and they’ll pay the fine and that’ll be it. But if they’re striving and fighting against each other and the woman, her child that she’s pregnant with is miscarried and she had the child dies. Well, that is precious life and they should be given life for life as it says here.
Life for life, eye for eye, etcetera, etcetera. So even the unborn child is considered murdered at that point because his life was taken from him. And we actually have an entire episode on the issue of abortion if you want to go back in the on demand archives and check that out. But this command, do do not murder, extends all the way to the unborn and it even goes up into the young child’s life, the, I say, infant or toddler, that kind of age right there too. So it’s not just the unborn children.
It’s not just grown humans, but also the in between. We see various things throughout scripture like people sacrificing their children. These are young children, by the way. Sacrificing their children to these false gods like Molech. We look in x I’m sorry.
Leviticus chapter 18 verse 21. And do not give any of your offspring to pass through to Molech, and do not profane the name of your Elohim. I am Yahweh. And then Leviticus chapter 20 verses two through three, saith to the children of Israel, any man of the children of Israel, or the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who gives any of his offspring to Molech, shall certainly be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones, and I I shall set my face against that man, and shall cut him off from the midst of his people, because he has given of his offspring to Molech, so as to defile my set apart place and to profane my set apart name.
And finally tonight, we’re gonna look at Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 10. Let no one be found among you who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices divination or a user of magic or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer. So you probably already know this, that back in those times, there were people who would sacrifice children. Horror of horrors. They would actually sacrifice their children to this false god, Mole.
Unfortunately, people are sacrificing children even today. They’re sacrificed to the god of themselves when they go and have an abortion. But here, these young children that these people are sacrificing to Molech is considered murder because people who do this, it says they shall be stoned with stones. They shall be killed for making their children or sacrificing their children to Molech. So this command, the command, doesn’t just apply to adults.
It doesn’t just apply to the unborn, but also applies to young children and to toddlers to all ages, all different levels of the process of human life. This do not murder goes throughout all stages of life, not just adult. And the origination of murder itself goes on or comes from not just the action, but from what we think of in our hearts and our inner beings. And this is something that Yeshua explains and expounds on in the Brit Chadashah. We look at Matthew chapter five verses 21 through 22.
This is Yeshua speaking. Quote, you heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders shall be liable to judgment. But I say to you that whoever is wroth with his brother without a cause shall be liable to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, Raca, shall be liable to the Sanhedrin, but whoever says, you fool, shall be liable to the fire of Gehenom. And then going on to Matthew chapter 15 verse 19.
For out of the heart come wicked reasonings, murders, adulteries, whorings, thefts, false witnessings, and slanders. So Yeshua is saying here not he starts out by saying, you’ve heard it said, you shall not murder. And then he goes on to explain more in detail. So he’s not throwing a contradiction here and saying, well, it used to say do not murder, but now you don’t have to worry about all that because that whole law thing’s been done away with. No.
He’s not saying that. He’s saying, you have heard it said you shall not murder. Well, here is a more expounded, more in-depth teaching on what that actually means. And he says here in Matthew chapter 15 that such things like murder and adulteries remember those two because we’ll get into those here in just a minute. He says that such things like murders and adulteries and etcetera etcetera come from the heart.
It’s conceived and grows in the thoughts and in the emotions of our hearts and then it comes out of us through our actions, through what we do, what we say a lot of times. And that’s what that’s the fruition, the fruits of our innermost feelings and thoughts, but originally it comes from the heart like Yeshua said. Even in one John, they go on to continue the same thought process from Yeshua in one John chapter three verse 15. Everyone hating his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has everlasting life staying in him. Now, grievous absolutely horrid, grievous sins like murder and adultery, it all call for the death penalty.
And John, it says those who are murderers have no everlasting life staying in them. So does that mean there’s no hope for a murderer or an adulterer or things like that? No. It does not because we look at various examples throughout scripture and we see that there is even hope for murderers and adulterers and things like that. We look at Exodus chapter two verses 11 through 12.
And in those days it came to be, when Moshe was grown, that he went out to his brothers and looked at their burdens, and he saw a Mitsrian struck in a Hebrew, one of his brothers. So he turned this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he struck the Mitsrian and hid him in the sand. So here, Moses, before he leaves Egypt the time, Moses kills an Egyptian. He is a murderer. Maybe you disagree.
If you do, let us know down in the comments. But just beating another man is not really cause for death. But Moses, in this particular instance, did go ahead and kill that Egyptian for striking one of his Hebrew brethren. We look at two Samuel chapter 12 verse nine. Why have you despised the word of Yahweh to do evil in his eyes?
You have struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and his wife you took to be your wife, and you have killed him with the sword of the children of Ammon. So here, the prophet Nathan is coming to King Dawid, and he’s telling him his sins because Dawid tried to hide it. He committed adultery with Bathsheba. And when she got pregnant with his child, he tried this whole scheme to make it look like Uriah’s, but that didn’t work. So he eventually murdered Uriah in a roundabout way, but it was Dawid who murdered Uriah.
So Dawid was both a murderer and an adulterer. So keep that in mind. Then we look at Acts chapter nine verses one through two. But Shaul, still breathing threats and murder against the taught ones of the master, having come to the high priest, asked from him letters to the congregations of Damasek or Damascus, so that if he found any who who were of the way, whether men or women, to bring them bound to Jerusalem. So here, there is a Pharisee named Paul or Shaul, and he is persecuting Christians or messianics, however you want to put it.
He’s persecuting them even to the point of death. He was killing them. You remember the martyr, Stephen, Paul was actually there at that stoning because this was during his time of persecution of Messianics or Christians. So Paul was a murderer. Now, what’s something that all three of these have in common here that we just looked at?
Here, Moses, Dawid, and Paul were all murderers. Dawid was even an adulterer on top of that. They were all murderers and they had hope. Moses, before he was called by Yahweh, and even Paul, before he was called by Yahweh, were murderers. And Yahweh still called them and redeemed them.
Dawid repented. After Nathan came to him and exposed his sin, Dawid repented of his sins, of his murder and of his adultery. And, he was forgiven and used by Yahweh. So, even when someone commits these heinous and grievous sins like murder or adultery, there’s still hope. If you have done something as horrendous as commit murder or if you have done something horrendous such as commit adultery, there is still hope.
Reach out to someone, especially, you know, pray to Yahweh, seek forgiveness from the almighty. But if you need to talk about it, hey, we can call us. We can set up a time to video chat with you. You can chat through email, whatever it takes. It would be great if you could sit down with someone face to face in your local community.
If there’s someone there that you could trust to be able to speak with, but reach out to someone. There is hope for you. It’s not like you committed this grievous sin and now there is no hope and you’re automatically going to go to the Lake Of Fire. No. There is still hope for you even for grievous sins such as murder and adultery.
So in summary, the commandment, the commandment, is thou shalt not kill. But as we learned tonight, there is a difference between general killing and murdering. So more accurately, the command is do not murder. And like we said, the most accurate translation that we have seen as we put together all the original Hebrew words and the context of scripture and the various examples that we went over. The most accurate translation is do not murder instead of do not kill.
Strong’s h seven five two three, Ratsech, means murder, slay, dash in pieces, put to death, something like that. Scripture distinguishes between killing and murdering. And just as a quick reminder, killing is the taking of life and in all forms, but murdering is the taking of innocent life, premeditated generally, but the taking of innocent life, the unjustified taking of life. Human life is precious because we are created in the image of Yahweh. I know there’s some dissension or disagreement on that whether we nowadays are or if it was just Adam.
That’s fine. Even the original humans were created in the image of Yahweh, and then each of their descendants were in their image, so on and so So in a roundabout way, we’re still made in the image of Yahweh. And that’s why human life is precious and why we are above and different and set apart from all the other creatures such as animals, plants, etc. The commandment and scripture in general forbids the taking of innocent life. In other words, murder.
And this is the taking of innocent life, the murder murdering of innocents like young children being sacrificed to false gods, young children being sacrificed to the God of self nowadays through things like abortion and other various forms of killing. Yeshua, as we saw in the Brit Chadasha, actually expounds on the commandment, teaching how such things as murder and adultery, etcetera, etcetera, these things come out of the heart. That’s where they originate from. And there is hope as we saw from various examples, Moses, Dawid, the apostle Paul, etcetera, etcetera. There is hope even for people who have committed such grievous sins like adultery and murder.
And that’s just the God honest truth.
