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EXODUS — 20:13 murder

EXOD454 Saving a human life is the most meritorious deed. By the same token, taking a human life is the most heinous crime [this verse]. Even a nation at war must take all possible steps to avoid the shedding of blood. According to a biblical injunction, the Jewish army must offer peace before launching an attack (Deuteronomy 28:10). In the words of Maimonides (12 cent.), one may not wage war against a nation without first offering peace, regardless of whether it is a permissive war or a war of obligation (i.e., In self-defense; Melachim 6:1). Josephus (1st cent.), a military commander in the early stages of the Jewish rebellion against Rome, wrote as follows: "When you are about to go to war… it is a right thing to make use of words to them before you come to use your weapons of war.… assure them that you do not wish to wage war, nor take from them what they have… and if they hearken, it would be proper for you to keep peace with them" (Antiq. bk 4, chap. 8:41). Josephus also reasserted the regard which Judaism has for the enemy who is killed in battle. "Let our enemies that fall in battle be also buried; nor let any dead body lie above ground, or suffer a punishment beyond what justice requires (Antiq. bk. 4, chap. 24). The moral repugnance against taking another person's life, even an enemy's, was expressed by Rabbi Yitzchak (4th-5th cent.): "Just as David was praying to God that he should not fall into the hands of Saul, he also pray that Saul should not fall into his hands" (Shochar Tov, Psalms 7:1). A defeated the enemy, who no longer poses any danger, should be accorded humane treatment. Rabbi Chamam b. Chanina (3rd century) struck a highly moral tone in the following statement: "Even though your enemy has 'risen up early' to kill you [Exodus 22:2], and [after being disarmed] he comes hungry and thirsty to your house, give him food and drink" (Midrash Proverbs 25:21).

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EXODUS — 20:13 murder

EXOD453 It is a negative commandment to kill no living human being as Scripture says, You shall not murder [this verse]. If someone kills a human being deliberately, his execution should be by the sword [decapitation]. If he did not kill him with his own hand but only caused his death, he is not subject to execution by court verdict, but is punishable by death at Heaven's hands. If someone destroys even one living person in Jewry, it is as though he made a whole world perish. If someone closes a person's eyes at the departure of his life [instead of afterward] he thus sheds blood [by shortening the other's life, however briefly].

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EXODUS — 20:13 murder

EXOD460 The sixth word: “Thou shall not murder,” may present a special difficulty. Some may argue that even if every other word from three through ten is a moral rule [i.e., per the author, morals rules permit exceptions, unlike moral principles, which do not -- AJL], surely this sixth word permits no exceptions and is a moral principle. What is the correct translation of לא תרצח, the sixth commandment? “Thou shalt not kill,” is the King James translation. “Thou shalt not murder,” is the Jewish Publication Society rendition. Neither translation is completely accurate. The King James version falters because the English verb, “to kill,” is far broader in meaning than the Hebrew verb, רצח. The prohibition, “Thou shalt not kill,” rules out a wide spectrum of acts including those of legitimate self-defense. The Hebrew original has no such intention. Any attempt, therefore, to base a claim of conscientious objection to military service on the sixth word is not justified by the Hebrew text. The Jewish Publication Society translation, “Thou shalt not murder,” on the other hand, is too narrow. For the Hebrew לא תרצח goes beyond premeditated (first degree), and intentional but not premeditated (second degree) murder to include unintentional killing (manslaughter). Stamm and Andrew, The Ten Commandments in Recent Research. Alec R. Allenson, 1967, pp. 98,99. Thus, the Hebrew phrase לא תרצח prohibits not only the malicious, but even the careless destruction of human life. It applies, among other things, to such modern instruments of manslaughter as mercury poisoning caused by the irresponsible discharge of industrial waste into waters which flow into fishing grounds. In the previous chapter, I mentioned as one of the less comprehensive moral principles, the principle that killing for the sake of killing is always wrong. The sixth word obviously covers much more territory than this moral principle. The moral principle has no exceptions, but I believe the sixth word does--certainly cases of euthanasia, for example. Perhaps murder would be justified in the case of a man in agony who was hopelessly caught in the burning wreckage of a plane and pleads to be shot. In regard to manslaughter we can certainly conceive of a group required to use, for its defense, dangerous weapons such as landmines which could cause fatal accidents. Despite these exceptions, the sixth word remains the deepest of the moral rules, the closest to essential morality. It rightly heads the second tablet. It should be set aside only with supreme reluctance.

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EXODUS — 20:13 murder

EXOD459 The Commandment "Thou shall not kill" is more precisely rendered as "Thou shall not murder" [this verse]. (1) Ending a life is murder when, and only when, it stems from base motives, malice, and violence, against the victim's will. (2) Ending a life is irresponsible when the motives, though not base, are superficial and ill-considered (as when a man in his prime takes his own life because of a career fiasco, without considering his wife and children). (3) Yet the ending of a life can also be responsible when happening in its due time. Both the Bible and traditional Catholic concepts hold that "Life is, of possessions, not the highest" (Schiller). The idea that life is beyond our power of disposal is by no means unconditionally valid: risking life for the sake of a higher good, individual and collective defense unto the death of the aggressor, the fatal shot which saves lives when hostages are being taken, and deploying troops at the risk of their lives – – all these are regarded as morally acceptable.

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