ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Tu’apulelulu Ma’asi 23, 2023

Killing Mosquitoes and Men  רצח 

TAMATE’I ‘O HA KI’I NAMU MO E FAKAPOO TANGATA

EXODUS 20:13

"YOU SHALL NOT MURDER.

‘EKISOTO 20:13

‘Oua na‘a ke fakapō.

Despite its many literary home runs, the KJV struck out in translating this "Thou shall not kill." Hebrew has a verb for kill, harag, but that is not used here. Harag is a broad term, used to describe killing people (Gen. 4:8) or animals (Lev. 20:15). The verb used in Exodus 20 is ratzach. One frequently hears that ratzach refers only to murder, but that is not correct either. It does refer to murder (Ps. 94:6), but it also refers to manslaughter or accidental killings (Num. 35:6). Whatever the situation or motivation, however, to ratzach is always to take a human life. One cannot ratzach a mosquito. Ratzach is also never used for soldiers killing in combat or for when God or his agents exact the death penalty.

To ratzach is of ultimate seriousness, because the victim is of ultimate significance. "Whoever sheds the blood of man," God says, "by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image" (Gen. 9:6). To ratzach is to de-image God's image-bearer. This underscores all the more how merciful the Father has been to us in his Son: our shedding of his blood, rather than being the world's end, is the world's new beginning. In the ratzach of the Messiah, we are redeemed.

Father, forgive us for all the times we have hurt or harmed our neighbors, and enable us to help and support them in love.