Q&A: Regarding “Do Not Murder”
Regarding "Do Not Murder"
Question
I’m still in the portion of Yitro and the Ten Commandments. I have a few questions, if you’ll allow me:
"Do not murder" is a universal categorical command and is binding in every situation, and applies to every person regardless of their halakhic / of Jewish law obligations. The fact that "Do not murder" appears as a halakhic / of Jewish law command (one of the Ten Commandments) implies that it comes to advance religious values. What is that halakhic / of Jewish law dimension (relevant only to a Jew) that is not included in the categorical command?
In the context of halakhic / of Jewish law statements, you distinguish between a normative statement that cannot be changed and a factual statement whose validity can change if the situation changes. In light of that, "Do not murder" is a normative Jewish law. Can one say that the Jewish law rule "if someone comes to kill you, rise early to kill him first" is a factual rather than a normative statement? I want to infer from the fact that the formulation is "someone who comes to kill you" and not "someone who comes to murder you, rise early to murder him," since "Do not murder" is a categorical command and therefore also normative. Does that seem right to you?
And finally, what is the halakhic / of Jewish law status of a blood avenger or blood vengeance, seeing as from the standpoint of the categorical command they are murder?
Answer
You are expecting an answer to a question I cannot answer. I do not know what the religious purposes are for which the commandments were intended. Not pork, not tefillin, and not murder either. But the command "Do not murder" comes to say that there is a religious problem in murder and not only a moral one. That is why there is such a command. By the way, there are also differences in the definition of the prohibition. The fact is that, from the standpoint of "Do not murder," there are indirect forms in which you do not violate it halakhically, even though morally you are a full-fledged murderer (indirect causation, bringing the thing close to the fire, where the sun will ultimately come, confining someone, and the like).
I didn’t understand the question about "if someone comes to kill you." Give an example and formulate a precise question.
Their status is indeed moral murder, even if halakhically the status is different. What is the question?
Discussion on Answer
It is clear that blood vengeance or a blood avenger are murder from a moral standpoint. I asked what exactly their halakhic / of Jewish law status is. If it is not murder, then what is it?
The question is whether the halakhic / of Jewish law statement "if someone comes to kill you" is normative or a factual statement. And if it is indeed a factual statement, is it possible that for that reason the wording is "if someone comes to kill you" and not "if someone comes to murder you"?