[Avodah] Hebrew terms harag, razah and hemis

[Yitzhak Grossman]

On Tue, 2 Dec 2008 00:58:20 EST
T613K at aol.com wrote:

...

> those two words on the one hand, and lehamis on the other  hand.  IIANM the Torah 
> always uses "lehamis" to describe a lawful killing,  e.g., when a bais din 
> executes someone.  

Incorrect; while lawful or legitimate killing is apparently the most
common connotation of the transitive forms of the root 'mus', there are
numerous examples of their connoting illegitimate killing, particularly
political assassinations:

ve'im shor nagah hu ... ve'hemis ish o ishah (Shemos 21:29)
al yomar adoni es kol ha'ne'arim benei ha'melech hemisu (Shmuel
II:13:32)
vayaku es Gedalyahu ben Ahikam ben Shafan ba'herev vayames
oso (Yirmihayu 41:2)
va'yikshor alav Shalum ben Yavesh ya'yakehu kavel am va'yemisehu va'yimloch
tahtav (Melachim II:15:10)
va'yach es Shalum ben Yavesh be'Shomron va'yemisehu va'yimloch tahtav
(ibid. 14)
va'yikshor alav Pekah ben Remalyahu shalisho va'yakehu be'Shomron ...
va'yemisehu va'yimloch tahtav (ibid. 25)
ya'yikshor kesher Hoshea ben Elah al Pekah ben Remalyahu va'yakehu
va'yemisehu (ibid. 30)
va'yiksheru avdei Amon alav va'yamisu es ha'melech be'veiso (ibid. 21:23)
be'yamav alah Pharaoh Nechoh melech Mizrayim al meleh Ashur al nehar Peras
va'yelech ha'melech Yoshiahu likraso va'yemisehu be'Megido ke'r'osos oso (ibid. 23:29)

> --Toby Katz

Yitzhak
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