Difference between revisions of "Raca"

<div> '''1: '''''Ῥακά''''' ''' (Strong'S #4469 — Noun — raka — rhak-ah' ) </div> <p> is an Aramaic word akin to the Heb. req, "empty," the first "a" being due to a [[Galilean]] change. In the AV of 1611 it was spelled racha; in the edition of 1638, raca. It was a word of utter contempt, signifying "empty," intellectually rather than morally, "empty-headed," like Abimelech's hirelings, &nbsp;Judges 9:4 , and the "vain" man of &nbsp;James 2:20 . As condemned by Christ, &nbsp;Matthew 5:22 , it was worse than being angry, inasmuch as an outrageous utterance is worse than a feeling unexpressed or somewhat controlled in expression; it does not indicate such a loss of self-control as the word rendered "fool," a godless, moral reprobate. </p>

<p> [[Chaldee]] '''''Reeiqua''''' , "worthless, vain man" (&nbsp;James 2:20; &nbsp;Judges 9:4; &nbsp;Judges 11:3). Expressing contempt of one as at once despicable and worthless; three degrees of angry bitterness, and of corresponding punishment, are described &nbsp;Matthew 5:22. </p>

<p> ''''' rā´ka ''''' , ''''' rā ''''' - ''''' ka ''''' ´ ( ῤακά , <i> ''''' rhaká ''''' </i> , Westcott and Hort, The New [[Testament]] in Greek with Codices Sinaiticus (corrected), Vaticanus, Codex E, etc.; ῥαχά , <i> ''''' rhachá ''''' </i> , Tischendorf with Codices Sinaiticus (original hand) and Bezae; Aramaic ריקא , <i> ''''' rēḳā' ''''' </i> , from ריק , <i> ''''' rēḳ ''''' </i> , "empty"): Vain or worthless fellow; a term of contempt used by the Jews in the time of Christ. In the Bible, it occurs in &nbsp; Matthew 5:22 only, but John Lightfoot gives a number of instances of the use of the word by Jewish writers ( <i> Hor. Hebrew </i> ., edition by Gandell, Oxford, 1859, II, 108). Chrysostom (who was acquainted with Syriac as spoken in the neighborhood of Antioch) says it was equivalent to the Greek σύ , <i> ''''' sú ''''' </i> , "thou," used contemptuously instead of a man's name. [[Jerome]] rendered it <i> inanis aut vacuus absque cerebro </i> . It is generally explained as expressing contempt for a man's intellectual capacity (= "you simpleton!"), while μωρέ , <i> ''''' mōré ''''' </i> (translated "thou fool"), in the same verse is taken to refer to a man's moral and religious character (= "you rascal!" "you impious fellow!"). Thus we have three stages of anger, with three corresponding grades of punishment: (1) the inner feeling of anger (ὀργιζόμενος , <i> ''''' orgizómenos ''''' </i> ), to be punished by the local or provincial court (τῇ κρίσει , <i> ''''' tḗ ''''' </i> <i> ''''' krı́sei ''''' </i> , "the judgment"); (2) anger breaking forth into an expression of scorn ( <i> ''''' Raca ''''' </i> ), to be punished by the Sanhedrin (τῷ συνεδρίῳ , <i> ''''' tṓ ''''' </i> <i> ''''' sunedrı́ō ''''' </i> , "the council"); (3) anger culminating in abusive and defamatory language ( <i> ''''' Mōre ''''' </i> ), to be punished by the fire of Gehenna. This view, of a double climax, which has been held by foremost English and Gor. commentators, seems to give the passage symmetry and gradation. But it is rejected among others by T. K. Cheyne, who, following J. P. Peters, rearranges the text by transferring the clause "and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council" to the end of the preceding verse (Encyclopaedia Biblica, IV, cols. 4001 f). There certainly does not seem to be trustworthy external evidence to prove that the terms "the judgment," "the council," "the Gehenna of fire" stand to each other in a relation of gradation, as lower and higher legal courts, or would be so understood by Christ's hearers. What is beyond dispute is that Christ condemns the use of disparaging and insulting epithets as a supreme offense against the law of humanity, which belongs to the same category as murder itself. It should be added, however, that it is the underlying feeling and not the verbal expression as such that constitutes the sin. Hence, our Lord can, without any real inconsistency, address two of His followers as "foolish men" (&nbsp;Luke 24:25 , ἀνόητοι , <i> ''''' anóētoi ''''' </i> , practically equivalent to <i> ''''' Raca ''''' </i> , as is also James's expression, "O vain man," &nbsp;James 2:20 ). </p>

<p> ( '''''῾Ρακά''''' ), a term of reproach used by the Jews of our Saviour's age (&nbsp;Matthew 5:22). Critics are agreed that it is but the Greek form of the Chaldee term '''''רֵיקָא''''' , ''Ireyka'' ' (the terminal '''''א''''' being the definite article, used in a ''Vocative'' sense), with the sense of "worthless;" but they differ as to whether this term should be connected with the root '''''רוּק''''' conveying the notion of [[Emptiness]] (Gesen. ''Thesaur. .'' 1279), or with one of the cognate roots '''''רָקִק''''' (Tholuck) or '''''רָקִע''''' (Ewald), conveying the notion of ''Thinness'' (Olshausen, De Wette, ''On Matthew V'' , 22). The first of these views is probably correct. We may compare the use of '''''רֵיק''''' , vain," inJudges 9:4; 11:3, al., and of '''''Κενέ''''' in &nbsp;James 2:20. Jesus, contrasting the law of Moses, which could only take notice of overt acts, with his own, which renders man amenable for his motives and feelings, says in effect: "Whosoever is rashly angry with his brother is liable to the judgment of God; whosoever calls his brother raca is liable to the judgment of the Sanhedrim; but whosoever calls him fool ( '''''Μωρέ''''' ) becomes liable to the judgment of Gehenna." To apprehend the higher criminality here attached to the term fool, which may not at first seem very obvious, it is necessary to observe that while "raca" denotes a certain looseness of life and manners, "fool" denotes a wicked and reprobate person: foolishness being in [[Scripture]] opposed to spiritual wisdom (Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. ad loc.). (See [[Fool]]). </p>