Thou shalt not kill (Exodus 20:13 KJV)
You shall not murder. (Exodus 20:13 NASB)
There is a difference between “kill” an “murder”.
When lightning strikes you, and you don’t survive, you were killed in that event; not murdered. Murder is an act performed by a human being on an other human being.
And at person on person mishaps, one may be killed (in an accident) this too is not murder.
Also if you murder someone, the government may decide to give you a death sentence and kill you.
So every person who is murdered is killed, but not every person who is killed is murdered.
The words “kill” (KJV) and “murder” (NASB) in this verse are translated from the Hebrew word חצר ratsach (pronounced as: raw–tsakh’). It appears 47 times in the Bible and the Amplified Version translates it as: slayer (16), murderer (14), kill (5), murder (3), slain (3), manslayer (2), killing (1), slayer (1), slayeth (1), and death (1)
The meaning of the word is: to murder, or slay.
This includes premeditated (intentional), and accidental murder.
Matthew 5:21-22 (NASB)
²¹You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ ²²But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
Okay, let us be honest to ourselves now.
Who of us hasn’t called someone a fool?
You did? Then you are guilty enough to go into the fiery hell, says Jesus.
Jesus gives us a whole different understanding of the commandments than we get from taking them literally.
This is only one of the commandments that he delves further into.
Most people don’t resort to murder and most of those that do, don’t usually start that way.
If you were never angry, you wouldn’t start calling names to people, and if you didn’t call people names, you might not get so angry, that you could get to the level of murder.
We need to understand that violence often begins with the mouth.
Jesus knew that there is a certain progression in sin.
If we have a quick temper, we are more apt to strike out first with the mouth, then physically, and then with greater violence.
This applies to most of the commandments.
In another place, Jesus mentions how lust is the first step toward breaking the commandment concerning adultery.
It is not a surprise that what most people know as the 7 deadly sins, are at the root of the most evil actions.
We all know them: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, and sloth.
We need to take a better look at all the commandments and see what bad habits we might have developed, and work to change them.
Prayer suggestions:
▪︎Ask the Lord, to help you, to be continually willing to follow the rules that He has given you to live by, because they will bring you peace and happiness in your life.
▪︎Ask the Lord, to help you to be faithful to His word.
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