“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
Exodus 20:13-16, NKJV
Working our way through the Ten Commandments has now brought us to four commands that seem fairly obvious. Most religions agree with these commands, regardless of whether the religion aligns with the rest of scripture. However; as we will see, these commands are a little more complex than they first appear. We will now examine the first of these Commandments: “You shall not murder.”
There has been much controversy regarding this command. Some translations use the word “kill”, while others (such as our translation of choice, the New King James Version) use the word “murder”. Most non-linguists do not understand the intricacies of textual translation. And this is one case where these intricacies are very important. Do the words “kill” and “murder” mean the same thing? Even in the English language, these concepts differ. What did God mean by this Commandment?
To make an already difficult matter even more challenging, Scriptural Hebrew uses multiple words for the same act of, in this case, murder. Let’s examine these words.
The word used in this passage is רָצַח ratsach (raw-tsakh’), which means to “dash in pieces”; that is, to kill (when used of humans), and specifically to murder. We will discuss this word in a little more detail later. Meanwhile, there is another word which can also be used for premeditated killing. This word is הָרַג harag (haw-rag’), which means to “smite (or kill) with deadly intent”.
In our last blog, regarding the honor to be given parents, we discussed the first known murder – Cain’s killing of his brother Abel. In this case, the word harag is used. In fact, harag is used 22 times in the scriptures before ratsach is mentioned. And what is the first occurrence of ratsach? It is here in our current passage: “You shall not murder.” God carefully chose to use this particular word for murder in this, the sixth commandment. Why would He do this? Why not use the already established “harag”? Does harag not carry the appropriate meaning? “You shall not smite with deadly intent.” Does this not convey the same, and correct meaning?
To this point in my blogs, I have refrained from discussing the meaning or design of individual Hebrew letters. We have, many times, seen the importance of the first mention of each word, in setting the primary scriptural context for that word. We have discussed God’s use of typology in presenting patterns that will ultimately manifest themselves in Christ himself. We’ve shown instances (Christophanies) where Jesus manifested Himself physically in pre-birth situations. And this seems to be an appropriate opportunity to present one more way in which God has hidden beautiful treasures in His Word for His royal children to find. Let’s see where this thought takes us.
Each Hebrew letter was designed with a special meaning. Let’s look at the simplest example of the meanings of Hebrew letters by taking a look at the Hebrew word for father: ab (אַב).
While the meaning of each letter has not changed, the form of the original letters looked different than they do today. Linguists believe that the first letter in the alephbeth, aleph (אַ) was originally drawn like this:
Can you tell what the picture looks like? It is a drawing of an ox. And its meaning is indicative of the ox’s characteristics: power, authority and strength. The second letter of the Hebrew alephbeth is, beth (ב), which originally looked like this:
It represented a dwelling place such as a house or tent. Now, let’s put the two letters together to form a word (remember – Hebrew is read RIGHT TO LEFT, unlike western languages):
What does this now mean? It is the strength or authority of the house. And what does this signify? The father! Each letter adds to the others in an explanation of the true meaning of the combined word. Similarly, do you remember the birthplace of Jesus? It was Bethlehem. Notice the beginning of this name: “Beth”. It is actually the written (spelled) form of the letter ב! Can you guess the meaning of Bethlehem? The word “lehem” means “bread”. So the full word, Bethlehem means “house of bread”. Do you see it?
And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
John 6:35, NKJV
Jesus was the Bread of Life, and Bethlehem, His birthplace, was the House of Bread! Selah!
So, now having been introduced to the importance of Hebrew letters, let us return to the word in question, ratsach. As mentioned earlier, this word for murder, ratsach, is written as רָצַח in Hebrew. This word contains the following three letters: resh (רָ), tsade (צַ) and chet (ח). We will examine each of these letters to see if there are any contextual clues to God’s choice of this particular word.
The ancient picture for the first letter, resh (ר) is 
, the head of a man. Ancient-Hebrew.org tells us that “resh has the meanings of “head” and “man” as well as “chief,” “top,” “beginning” and “first,” each of which are the “head” of something.” It is interesting to note that the symbolic meaning for this letter extends to a characteristic not necessarily seen in the pictograph. The head is bent over, as in poverty or servitude. In essence, the resh can be seen as both a leader and as a head in service to others – and to God. Now I will present a special insight (albeit a very small example) for my readers that desire to connect with God, and His Word in even more special ways.
The Holy (Scriptural) Hebrew language is truly the language of life – and creation. Let’s look at the first word-phrase in scripture: בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית (b’re’shiyth) This means “In the beginning”. The letter בְּ (beth) is being used in a prepositional way, and in this form, means “in”. רֵאשִׁ֖ית (re’shiyth) means “the first, as in time or place – the beginning”. But the phrase can be rearranged to make the following: א רֵשִׁ֖ בְּית. What might this mean? רֵשִׁ֖ (resh) is the written name of the letter resh (ר). This written word, as previously discussed, means “head”. בְּית (bayit, or beth) is another word we described above – it means “house” (or in this case, creation). And how about א? This is the letter Aleph. We have already seen that it means the strength, power and authority. In essence, in this form, it symbolizes God Himself. Look closely: א רֵשִׁ֖ בְּית … Do you see it? In this phrase, God is introducing Himself: the Power and Authority, the Head of Creation. Who existed “in the beginning”? God, the power and authority of all creation! Selah!
Having a glimpse of the meaning of resh, let’s move to the next letter, tsade. The pictograph used for tsade (צ) looks like a trail ending in a wall or a stronghold, 
. Tsade has the primary physical meaning of “side”. It is also related to a “stronghold”. Ancient scholars taught that this letter is made of a yud (י) being wedged into the upper right side of a bent over nun (נָ). This will be particularly interesting to us as we begin to look at the picture drawn by these letters.
- The yud is meant to look like an arm or hand, and includes thoughts that extend to the result of the hand such as “to work”, “to make” and “to throw”. It is the smallest letter in the alephbeth, and it is suspended in air, with its top pointed toward Heaven and its bottom toward Earth. In the context of the world, the yud is the connection of the two, symbolizing creation.
- The nun symbolizes a seed or the offspring. But in the context of divinity, the “bent nun” also symbolizes God sitting on His throne, ruling over His creation.
The tsade, as a whole and from a spiritual sense, symbolizes humility. But in a divine context, the tsade, found in this form (in the middle of the word), represents God reaching down to man in His righteousness. It is interesting to note that the letter tsade begins words such as Tsadiq (righteous) and tsadakah, charity.
Finally, the letter chet was originally drawn like this, 
, and is a picture of a tent wall. This letter can mean protection from the outside, as the function of the wall is to protect the occupants from the elements, it can mean “half”, as the wall in the middle of the tent divides the tent into the male and female sections, and in the secular, as something that is simply outside. In the context of creation, the chet can be seen as a gate, allowing passage between the divine (heaven) and the created, (earth). Having the value of 8, the chet also symbolizes “new beginnings”.
So, in essence, we have the following:
- Resh (ר): The head, noble – the chief.
- Tsade (צ): Side, a stronghold, coming from the union of an arm which forms or makes a seed and a bent nun representing a Holy God on His throne, bending down toward His creation.
- Chet (ח): a wall that protects or divides, or a gate providing passage.
There are many potential combinations of the meanings of these letters. We will focus on just a few of them. We will start with the following combination of the letter meanings:
- Probably the simplest picture is that of a head (רָ), or chief, dwelling in the stronghold (צַ), with a wall of separation dividing Him from the outside (ח). In this picture, we see the post-fall picture of our creation. Adam (ironically, the “head or chief” of Men) was separated from God’s stronghold (and paradise) due to his sin. This is described for us in Genesis 3, which ends in the deployment of an Angel with a flaming sword to keep Adam and his future lineage away from the Garden. This is the downfallen state of the world.
Next, we have the following combination of pictures:
- A servant (ר), originating from a stronghold (צַ), and traversing through the gate to the outside (ח). As mentioned above, the resh (head) is bent in humility (and poverty), depicting a servant. This servant once dwelt within the stronghold, but has emerged and joined the outer dwellers. Did Christ not do likewise?
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
Philippians 2:5-7, NKJV
Indeed, Christ did leave the stronghold as a servant and join those on the outside – fallen man.
Yet another picture of our letters רָצַח can look like this:
- A Chief or Head (רָ), looking down and using His hand to create the seed [the bent nun (נָ)/yud (י) combination)] which would ultimately open the gate (ח) to cross the divide between the divine and the created. Did this happen?
“And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
Genesis 3:15, NKJV (God to the Serpent, upon the Serpent’s treacherous act leading to Eve’s sin)
And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
Luke 1:35, NKJV (the Angel Gabriel to Mary, the mother of Jesus during his announcement of the immaculate conception)
Finally, I have saved my most remarkable and blessed view of this word for last. We have already introduced the tsade as a bent nun with a yud wedged in the side. Remember – along with meaning a seed, or an emergence, the bent nun can also portray God sitting on His throne. The yud does in fact symbolize a hand, and it symbolizes something done with the hand, such as creating. It can also represent throwing, thrusting or piercing.
There is another aspect of the yud that goes deeper yet. You see, the yud (י) is the smallest letter in the Hebrew Alephbeth, and ancient Jewish sages referred to it as “the little that holds a lot”. This letter represented the contraction that had to occur for an infinite God to create a finite world. God had to “contract His infinite being” in order to find a place to hold His finite creation. And as such, the yud can be looked at as all of finite creation. It is interesting to note that God’s Holy name, יְהוָ֥ה (Yehovah, or Yahweh) starts with the letter yud.
- So our last picture drawn by the word רָצַח shows the God of creation, as the head, coexisting on His thrown, and at the same time, carrying the weight of creation as He is thrust in the side. And the chet (ח)? Could it be the doorway upon which our savior’s blood was spilt? The very same doorway that He opened to us to come into the throne room of our Father in Heaven?
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ that you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.'” So the people bowed their heads and worshiped. Then the children of Israel went away and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
Exodus 12:21-28, NKJV (Moses to the leaders of Israel on the eve of their exodus from bondage in Egypt)
But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”
John 19:34-37, NKJV (Of Jesus upon being pierced while nailed to the cross – for our sins)
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:5-11, NKJV
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16, NKJV
Could God have used this new word, רָצַח (ratsach), to indicate the way in which His seed (Jesus) would ultimately bring salvation to His creation and open the doorway to the throne room of God? In this way, Jesus did indeed fulfill yet one more of the commandments: “You shall not murder,” in that He would ultimately be the One giving His life over to the ones destined to “murder” him in order to bring life to His people. Praise be to the Holy One that hides things from the wise and reveals them to the children! Selah!
This marks the first time that we have examined the Hebrew letters that give breath and life to the Words making up Holy Scripture. We will continue our use of this thought process in our next blog regarding the seventh commandment: “You shall not commit adultery.”
Until then, may God richly bless your study of His Holy Word!
YouJi