Shabbat Parashat Mishpatim - 5785

Rabbi Hal Miller

One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. [Shemot 21:12]

But one who did not stalk but God brought it about to his hand, I will make a place for you to

which he shall flee. [Shemot 21:13]

When a man will scheme against his fellow to kill him with guile, from My altar shall you take

him to die. [Shemot 21:14]

One who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. [Shemot 21:15]

In parashat Yitro (Shemot 20:13), one of the Ten Commandments is lo tirtzach, you shall not

kill. Our verses here discuss what that means and when the punishment applies. There are

times when it does not apply, which is not obvious from the original two-word commandment.

For example, a soldier is excused from punishment for killing an enemy soldier in battle, and

the court and court-appointed executioner is excused for killing a convicted criminal for whom

the proper punishment is death. But there are some other rules that are not so obvious,

requiring the Torah to make them clear separately.

Our first verse, 21:12, seems redundant to the command in Yitro. Why do we have it here

again? This verse expands the "do not kill" to mean do not kill by striking, thus an accidental

killing is not covered here, as reinforced by our verse 21:13. Further, in Vayikra [24:17] it says,

"and when a man will strike any human soul he shall surely be put to death". Rashi explains

that the verse in Vayikra expands on ours, to include a woman or a minor victim in the phrase

"strikes a man". Or HaChayim adds that "so that he dies" teaches that the victim does not

need to die immediately, only by direct and proximate cause of the striking.

So what does our verse 21:14 add? The phrases "will scheme" and "kill him with guile" tell

us that there must be a wrong intent to kill. According to Rashi, this makes the "do not kill"

commandment inapplicable to a doctor or to the one who administers lashes on behalf of a

court or to a parent or teacher administering corporal punishment because although they

are intentional strikings, they are not killing "with guile".

If one who kills is given the death penalty, why do we need additional verses for specific

cases? Our verse 21:15 prescribes the death penalty as well, but Rashi notes there is a

difference. The others are for killing someone, this verse expands the death penalty for

merely striking parents without killing.

The Torah can not be read piecemeal. It is a consistent whole, meant to be understood as

Hal Miller