(לב) וַיִּהְי֥וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר וַֽיִּמְצְא֗וּ אִ֛ישׁ מְקֹשֵׁ֥שׁ עֵצִ֖ים בְּי֥וֹם הַשַּׁבָּֽת׃ (לג) וַיַּקְרִ֣יבוּ אֹת֔וֹ הַמֹּצְאִ֥ים אֹת֖וֹ מְקֹשֵׁ֣שׁ עֵצִ֑ים אֶל־מֹשֶׁה֙ וְאֶֽל־אַהֲרֹ֔ן וְאֶ֖ל כָּל־הָעֵדָֽה׃ (לד) וַיַּנִּ֥יחוּ אֹת֖וֹ בַּמִּשְׁמָ֑ר כִּ֚י לֹ֣א פֹרַ֔שׁ מַה־יֵּעָשֶׂ֖ה לֽוֹ׃ (ס) (לה) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה מ֥וֹת יוּמַ֖ת הָאִ֑ישׁ רָג֨וֹם אֹת֤וֹ בָֽאֲבָנִים֙ כָּל־הָ֣עֵדָ֔ה מִח֖וּץ לַֽמַּחֲנֶֽה׃ (לו) וַיֹּצִ֨יאוּ אֹת֜וֹ כָּל־הָעֵדָ֗ה אֶל־מִחוּץ֙ לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֔ה וַיִּרְגְּמ֥וּ אֹת֛וֹ בָּאֲבָנִ֖ים וַיָּמֹ֑ת כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה יְהוָ֖ה אֶת־מֹשֶֽׁה׃ (פ)
(32) Once, when the Israelites were in the wilderness, they came upon a man gathering wood on the sabbath day. (33) Those who found him as he was gathering wood brought him before Moses, Aaron, and the whole community. (34) He was placed in custody, for it had not been specified what should be done to him. (35) Then the LORD said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death: the whole community shall pelt him with stones outside the camp.” (36) So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death—as the LORD had commanded Moses.
וְלַחֲשׁוֹב נָמֵי מִדְבָּר, דְּהָא תַּנְיָא: אֵיזוֹ הִיא רְשׁוּת הָרַבִּים? — סְרַטְיָא וּפְלַטְיָא גְּדוֹלָה, וּמְבוֹאוֹת הַמְפוּלָּשִׁין, וְהַמִּדְבָּר! אָמַר אַבָּיֵי: לָא קַשְׁיָא, כָּאן בִּזְמַן שֶׁיִּשְׂרָאֵל שְׁרוּיִין בַּמִּדְבָּר. כָּאן בִּזְמַן הַזֶּה.
With regard to the places characterized as the public domain, the Gemara asks: And include the desert among the places considered a public domain? Wasn’t it taught in a different baraita: What is the public domain? A main street, and a large plaza, and open alleyways, and the desert? Abaye said: This is not difficult, as here, where it enumerated the desert among the public domains, it refers to the time when Israel was dwelling in the desert, and it was an area frequented by the multitudes. And here, where the desert was not enumerated among the public domains, refers to this time, when multitudes do not congregate there.
אָמַר רַב יְהוּדָה אָמַר שְׁמוּאֵל: מְקוֹשֵׁשׁ, מַעֲבִיר אַרְבַּע אַמּוֹת בִּרְשׁוּת הָרַבִּים הֲוָה. בְּמַתְנִיתָא תָּנָא: תּוֹלֵשׁ הֲוָה. רַב אַחָא בְּרַבִּי יַעֲקֹב אָמַר: מְעַמֵּר הֲוָה.
Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: The wood gatherer who was sentenced to death for desecrating Shabbat (see Numbers 15:33–36) was one who carried four cubits in the public domain. He was stoned for performing the prohibited labor of carrying. It was taught in a baraita: He was one who detached still-growing branches. He was stoned for performing the prohibited labor of detaching. Rav Aḥa, son of Rabbi Ya’akov, said: He was one who gathered sticks together into a pile.
תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: מְקוֹשֵׁשׁ זֶה צְלָפְחָד, וְכֵן הוּא אוֹמֵר: ״וַיִּהְיוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּמִּדְבָּר וַיִּמְצְאוּ אִישׁ וְגוֹ׳״, וּלְהַלָּן הוּא אוֹמֵר: ״אָבִינוּ מֵת בַּמִּדְבָּר״, מַה לְּהַלָּן צְלָפְחָד, אַף כָּאן צְלָפְחָד — דִּבְרֵי רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא.
On the topic of the wood gatherer, the Gemara cites that which the Sages taught in a baraita: The wood gatherer mentioned in the Torah was Zelophehad, and it says: “And the children of Israel were in the desert and they found a man gathering wood on the day of Shabbat” (Numbers 15:32), and below, in the appeal of the daughters of Zelophehad, it is stated: “Our father died in the desert and he was not among the company of them that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but he died in his own sin, and he had no sons” (Numbers 27:3). Just as below the man in the desert is Zelophehad, so too, here, in the case of the wood gatherer, the unnamed man in the desert is Zelophehad; this is the statement of Rabbi Akiva.
אָמַר לוֹ רַבִּי יְהוּדָה בֶּן בְּתִירָא: עֲקִיבָא, בֵּין כָּךְ וּבֵין כָּךְ אַתָּה עָתִיד לִיתֵּן אֶת הַדִּין: אִם כִּדְבָרֶיךָ — הַתּוֹרָה כִּיסַּתּוּ, וְאַתָּה מְגַלֶּה אוֹתוֹ?! וְאִם לָאו — אַתָּה מוֹצִיא לַעַז עַל אוֹתוֹ צַדִּיק.
Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira said to him: Akiva, in either case you will be judged in the future for this teaching. If the truth is in accordance with your statement that the wood gatherer was Zelophehad, the Torah concealed his identity, and you reveal it. And if it the truth is not in accordance with your statement, you are unjustly slandering that righteous man.
אפילו קטנה שבהן לא נשאת פחות מארבעים שנה. נראה לרשב"א דסבר לה כמ"ד (שבת דף צו:) צלפחד היינו מקושש ומעשה המקושש היה בתחלת ארבעים מיד אחר מעשה מרגלים דאמר במדרש דלשם שמים נתכוין שהיו אומרים ישראל כיון שנגזר עליהן שלא ליכנס לארץ ממעשה מרגלים שוב אין מחויבין במצות עמד וחילל שבת כדי שיהרג ויראו אחרים ולא נשאו עד סוף ארבעים שנה כדמוכחי קראי:
...The story of gatherer accord in the beginning of the forty years immediately after the story of the spies as it says in the Midrash his intent was for the sake of heaven as the Jewish people were saying it was decreed on us not to enter the land..we are not obligated in the Mitzvoet. He went and violated Shabbos in order to be killed so others will see...
ויש שאלו בזה בת"י היאך חטא באיסור שבת כדי לידע באיזה מיתה דנין המחלל שבת וי"ל כיון שלא היה צריך למלאכה זו אלא לידע באיזו מיתה כו' ה"ל מלאכה שאינה צריכה לגופה כמו חופר גומא וא"צ אלא לעפרה שהוא פטור לר"ש ומיהו הוא ודאי דהיה חייב מיתה בדיני אדם שלא ידעו העדים שהתרו בו שהוא עשה על דעת זו ואינן אלא דברים שבלב ודנין היו אותו למיתה ע"פ העדות וכן י"ל לפי המדרש שכתבו התוס' לקמן דצלפחד היינו מקושש והיה בתחלת מ' שנה ולשם שמים נתכוין שהיו אומרים כיון שנגזר עליהם שלא ליכנס לארץ ממעשה המרגלים שוב אין חייבים במצות עמד וחילל שבת כדי שיהרג ויראו אחרים עכ"ל דה"ל נמי מלאכה שאינה צריכה לגופה וק"ל:
English
Kedushat Levi
...Our sages, quoted in a Tossaphot Baba Batra 119, claim that the individual gathering firewood on the Sabbath and subsequently executed for having violated the Sabbath (Numbers 15,32-36) had committed his sin with a noble motive, i.e. to demonstrate the Torah’s warning of the penalty dealt out to the deliberate transgressor is not an empty threat. He did not want his peers to think that seeing that they would not enter the Holy Land anyways that the Torah laws no longer applied to them.
The whole episode of the Israelite gathering firewood is puzzling even without this especial motivation that he supposedly had for this. We have a general rule that when a major violation of the Sabbath is performed without the intention being that this act is the one intended, i.e. that it had been used for when building the Tabernacle (מלאכה שאינו צריכה לגופה), the act is not punishable by death. Seeing that this is so the execution of this individual appears highly questionable, as what he did was not the classic desecration of the Sabbath. We must therefore conclude that his execution was a signal to the other Israelites not to consider Torah laws as no longer binding for the adults who would not enter the Holy Land.
...Our sages, quoted in a Tossaphot Baba Batra 119, claim that the individual gathering firewood on the Sabbath and subsequently executed for having violated the Sabbath (Numbers 15,32-36) had committed his sin with a noble motive, i.e. to demonstrate the Torah’s warning of the penalty dealt out to the deliberate transgressor is not an empty threat. He did not want his peers to think that seeing that they would not enter the Holy Land anyways that the Torah laws no longer applied to them.
The whole episode of the Israelite gathering firewood is puzzling even without this especial motivation that he supposedly had for this. We have a general rule that when a major violation of the Sabbath is performed without the intention being that this act is the one intended, i.e. that it had been used for when building the Tabernacle (מלאכה שאינו צריכה לגופה), the act is not punishable by death. Seeing that this is so the execution of this individual appears highly questionable, as what he did was not the classic desecration of the Sabbath. We must therefore conclude that his execution was a signal to the other Israelites not to consider Torah laws as no longer binding for the adults who would not enter the Holy Land.