Raca
VIEW:28 DATA:01-04-2020
worthless; good-for-nothing
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary
RACA.A term occurring only in Mat_5:22. It is a Semitic word, probably a popular pronunciation of the Rabbinic rçqâ, a noun formed from the adjective rçq empty. Several instances of its use occur in the Talmud as a term of contempt applied to a person devoid of education and morals. From Mat_5:22 it may be inferred that it was employed as a term of abuse in the time of Christ.
While the general force of our Lords words in Mat_5:21-22 is clear enough, the significance of the judgments referred to is obscured in the present text. A distinction has been drawn between Raca as denying intellectual capacity, and thou fool as denying a mans religious worth, which cannot he sustained. Our Lords reference to the Council (i.e. the supreme Jewish Court, the Sanhedrin) in Mat_5:22, implying its possession of the power of life and death, is especially difficult. The Sanhedrin possessed no such power in fact, nor is it at all likely, that our Lord would recognize the validity of such a claim on its behalf even in theory. It was after all only a provisional institution devised by the Rabbis; whereas the Gehenna of fire is a Messianic judgment.
The true meaning and real antithesis emerge clearly if a slight re-arrangement of the text, first suggested by J. P. Peters (in JBL [Note: BL Journ. of Biblical Literature.] x. (1891) 131f., xv. (1896) 103: adopted in the EBi [Note: Encyclopædia Biblica.] , s.v. Raca, vol. iv. col. 4001), is accepted. The clause about Raca should be transferred to v. 21. Read then: Ye have heard that it was said to the ancients, Thou shalt not murder, and whosoever murders is liable to the judgment, and whosoever says Raca to his brother is liable to the Sanhedrin: but I say unto you, whosover is angry with his brother is liable to the (Divine) judgment, and whosoever says thou fool is liable to the Gehenna of fire. Rabbinic law is very stringent against libellous expressions, which were to be treated as serious offences liable for punishment to the supreme court (like murder).
G. H. Box.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
Chaldee reeiqua, "worthless, vain man" (Jas_2:20; Jdg_9:4; Jdg_11:3). Expressing contempt of one as at once despicable and worthless; three degrees of angry bitterness, and of corresponding punishment, are described Mat_5:22.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Raca. A term of reproach derived from the Chaldee, reka, worthless. ("Raca denotes a certain looseness of life and manners, while 'fool', in the same passage, means a downright wicked and reprobate person."). Mat_5:22.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
a Syriac word which properly signifies empty, vain, beggarly, foolish, and which includes in it a strong idea of contempt. Our Saviour pronounces a censure on every person using this term to his neighbour, Mat_5:22, Lightfoot assures us that, in the writings of the Jews, the word raca is a term of the utmost contempt, and that it was usual to pronounce it with marked signs of indignation.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.
rā?ka, rā-ka? (ῤακά, rhaká, Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek with Codices Sinaiticus (corrected), Vaticanus, Codex E, etc.; ῥαχά, rhachá, Tischendorf with Codices Sinaiticus (original hand) and Bezae; Aramaic ריקא, rēḳā', from ריק, rēḳ, ?empty?): Vain or worthless fellow; a term of contempt used by the Jews in the time of Christ. In the Bible, it occurs in Mat_5:22 only, but John Lightfoot gives a number of instances of the use of the word by Jewish writers (Hor. Hebrew., 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, sú, ?thou,? used contemptuously instead of a man's name. Jerome rendered it inanis aut vacuus absque cerebro. It is generally explained as expressing contempt for a man's intellectual capacity (= ?you simpleton!?), while μωρέ, mōré (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, orgizómenos), to be punished by the local or provincial court (τῇ κρίσει, tḗ krı́sei, ?the judgment?); (2) anger breaking forth into an expression of scorn (Raca), to be punished by the Sanhedrin (τῷ συνεδρίῳ, tṓ sunedrı́ō, ?the council?); (3) anger culminating in abusive and defamatory language (Mōre), 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? (Luk_24:25, ἀνόητοι, anóētoi, practically equivalent to Raca, as is also James's expression, ?O vain man,? Jam_2:20).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Raca
( ῾Ρακά), a term of reproach used by the Jews of our Saviour's age (Mat_5:22). Critics are agreed that it is but the Greek form of the Chaldee term רֵיקָא, ireyka' (the terminal אbeing 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 רוּקconveying 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 Jam_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.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary
RACA.A term occurring only in Mat_5:22. It is a Semitic word, probably a popular pronunciation of the Rabbinic rçqâ, a noun formed from the adjective rçq empty. Several instances of its use occur in the Talmud as a term of contempt applied to a person devoid of education and morals. From Mat_5:22 it may be inferred that it was employed as a term of abuse in the time of Christ.
While the general force of our Lords words in Mat_5:21-22 is clear enough, the significance of the judgments referred to is obscured in the present text. A distinction has been drawn between Raca as denying intellectual capacity, and thou fool as denying a mans religious worth, which cannot he sustained. Our Lords reference to the Council (i.e. the supreme Jewish Court, the Sanhedrin) in Mat_5:22, implying its possession of the power of life and death, is especially difficult. The Sanhedrin possessed no such power in fact, nor is it at all likely, that our Lord would recognize the validity of such a claim on its behalf even in theory. It was after all only a provisional institution devised by the Rabbis; whereas the Gehenna of fire is a Messianic judgment.
The true meaning and real antithesis emerge clearly if a slight re-arrangement of the text, first suggested by J. P. Peters (in JBL [Note: BL Journ. of Biblical Literature.] x. (1891) 131f., xv. (1896) 103: adopted in the EBi [Note: Encyclopædia Biblica.] , s.v. Raca, vol. iv. col. 4001), is accepted. The clause about Raca should be transferred to v. 21. Read then: Ye have heard that it was said to the ancients, Thou shalt not murder, and whosoever murders is liable to the judgment, and whosoever says Raca to his brother is liable to the Sanhedrin: but I say unto you, whosover is angry with his brother is liable to the (Divine) judgment, and whosoever says thou fool is liable to the Gehenna of fire. Rabbinic law is very stringent against libellous expressions, which were to be treated as serious offences liable for punishment to the supreme court (like murder).
G. H. Box.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
Chaldee reeiqua, "worthless, vain man" (Jas_2:20; Jdg_9:4; Jdg_11:3). Expressing contempt of one as at once despicable and worthless; three degrees of angry bitterness, and of corresponding punishment, are described Mat_5:22.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
Raca. A term of reproach derived from the Chaldee, reka, worthless. ("Raca denotes a certain looseness of life and manners, while 'fool', in the same passage, means a downright wicked and reprobate person."). Mat_5:22.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
a Syriac word which properly signifies empty, vain, beggarly, foolish, and which includes in it a strong idea of contempt. Our Saviour pronounces a censure on every person using this term to his neighbour, Mat_5:22, Lightfoot assures us that, in the writings of the Jews, the word raca is a term of the utmost contempt, and that it was usual to pronounce it with marked signs of indignation.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.
rā?ka, rā-ka? (ῤακά, rhaká, Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek with Codices Sinaiticus (corrected), Vaticanus, Codex E, etc.; ῥαχά, rhachá, Tischendorf with Codices Sinaiticus (original hand) and Bezae; Aramaic ריקא, rēḳā', from ריק, rēḳ, ?empty?): Vain or worthless fellow; a term of contempt used by the Jews in the time of Christ. In the Bible, it occurs in Mat_5:22 only, but John Lightfoot gives a number of instances of the use of the word by Jewish writers (Hor. Hebrew., 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, sú, ?thou,? used contemptuously instead of a man's name. Jerome rendered it inanis aut vacuus absque cerebro. It is generally explained as expressing contempt for a man's intellectual capacity (= ?you simpleton!?), while μωρέ, mōré (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, orgizómenos), to be punished by the local or provincial court (τῇ κρίσει, tḗ krı́sei, ?the judgment?); (2) anger breaking forth into an expression of scorn (Raca), to be punished by the Sanhedrin (τῷ συνεδρίῳ, tṓ sunedrı́ō, ?the council?); (3) anger culminating in abusive and defamatory language (Mōre), 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? (Luk_24:25, ἀνόητοι, anóētoi, practically equivalent to Raca, as is also James's expression, ?O vain man,? Jam_2:20).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Raca
( ῾Ρακά), a term of reproach used by the Jews of our Saviour's age (Mat_5:22). Critics are agreed that it is but the Greek form of the Chaldee term רֵיקָא, ireyka' (the terminal אbeing 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 רוּקconveying 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 Jam_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.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.
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