Theocracy in Judaism

Whoever sheds human blood,By human [hands] shall that one’s blood be shed;For in the image of GodWas humankind made.

(22) If any party is guilty of a capital offense and is put to death, and you impale the body on a stake, (23) you must not let the corpse remain on the stake overnight, but must bury it the same day. For an impaled body is an affront to God: you shall not defile the land that your God יהוה is giving you to possess.

(1) באדם דמו ישפך BY MAN SHALL HIS BLOOD BE SHED — If there are witnesses you kill him. Why? Because in the image of God [made He man] and he has destroyed the Divine image (Genesis Rabbah 34:14) (2) עשה את האדם HE MADE MAN — This verse is abbreviated and should be “the Maker made man”; there are many similar expressions in the Scriptures.

(1) כי קללת אלהים תלוי FOR HE THAT IS HANGED IS A קללת אלהים — i.e., a degradation of the Divine King, for man is made in His image and the Israelites are His children. A parable! It may be compared to the case of two twin brothers who very closely resembled each other: one became king and the other was arrested for robbery and was hanged. Whoever saw him on the gallows thought that the king was hanged (Sanhedrin 46b). — Wherever the term קללה occurs in Scripture it has the meaning of bonding in light esteem and despising, as e.g., (1 Kings 2:8) “[Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim] who cursed me with a severe curse (קללני קללה נמרצת)” (cf. II Samuel 16:5—8).

(15) And to the Israelite people speak thus: Anyone who blasphemes God shall bear the guilt; (16) and one who also pronounces the name יהוה shall be put to death. The community leadership*community leadership See note at 8.3. shall stone that person; stranger or citizen—having thus pronounced the Name—shall be put to death. (17) If any party kills any human being, that person shall be put to death.

(10) but the seventh day is a sabbath of your God יהוה: you shall not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements. (11) For in six days יהוה made heaven and earth and sea—and all that is in them—and then rested on the seventh day; therefore יהוה blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.

(12) Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor, in order that your ox and your ass may rest, and that your home-born slave and the stranger may be refreshed.

(14) but the seventh day is a sabbath of your God יהוה; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or your ass, or any of your cattle, or the stranger in your settlements, so that your male and female slave may rest as you do. (15) Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and your God יהוה freed you from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore your God יהוה has commanded you to observe the sabbath day.

(13) If you hear it said, of one of the towns that your God יהוה is giving you to dwell in, (14) that some scoundrels from among you have gone and subverted the inhabitants of their town, saying, “Come let us worship other gods”—whom you have not experienced— (15) you shall investigate and inquire and interrogate thoroughly. If it is true, the fact is established—that abhorrent thing was perpetrated in your midst— (16) put the inhabitants of that town to the sword and put its cattle to the sword. Doom it and all that is in it to destruction:

(1) In the third year of King Hoshea son of Elah of Israel, Hezekiah son of King Ahaz of Judah became king. (2) He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years; his mother’s name was AbiaAbi Cf. 2 Chron. 29.1 “Abijah.” daughter of Zechariah. (3) He did what was pleasing to GOD, just as his forefather David had done. (4) He abolished the shrines and smashed the pillars and cut down the sacred post.bsacred post See note at 13.6. He also broke into pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until that time the Israelites had been offering sacrifices to it; it was called Nehushtan.

(9) Will you steal and murder and commit adultery and swear falsely, and sacrifice to Baal, and follow other gods whom you have not experienced,cexperienced See note at Deut. 11.28.(10) and then come and stand before Me in this House that bears My name and say, “We are safe”?—[Safe] to do all these abhorrent things!

§ The mishna teaches that Rabbi Eliezer said to the Rabbis: Did Shimon ben Shataḥ not hang in Ashkelon women who were found guilty of witchcraft? And the Rabbis replied that no proof can be brought from there since he hanged eighty women on a single day, which clearly indicates that this was an extraordinary measure and therefore cannot serve as a precedent for normative halakha. Rav Ḥisda says: They taught that one court may not judge two capital cases on one day only when the two cases involve two different modes of execution, but when they involve only one mode of execution, the court may in fact judge them on the same day. The Gemara raises a difficulty: But the incident relating to Shimon ben Shataḥ involved only one mode of execution, as all the women were accused of witchcraft, and yet the Rabbis said to him that the court may not judge them on one day.

It is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya’akov says: I heard that the court may administer lashes and capital punishment, even when not required by Torah law. And they may not administer these punishments with the intention of violating the statement of the Torah, i.e., to disregard the punishment stated in the Torah and administer another punishment; rather, they may administer these punishments to erect a fence around the Torah, so that people will fear sinning.

And an incident occurred involving one who rode a horse on Shabbat during the days of the Greeks, and they brought him to court and stoned him, not because he deserved that punishment, as riding a horse on Shabbat is forbidden only by rabbinic decree, but because the hour required it, as people had become lax in their observance of Shabbat and therefore it became necessary to impose the severe punishment for a relatively minor offense. Another incident occurred involving a man who engaged in intercourse with his wife in public under a fig tree, and they brought him to court and flogged him, not because that punishment was fitting for him, as such conduct is not forbidden by the Torah, but because the hour required it. People had become remiss in matters of modesty; therefore, stringent measures had to be taken to rectify the situation.

6. If one planned his work such that it would be left for hol hamoed and did it on hol hamoed, the court destroys what he accomplished, repossesses it, and renders it ownerless. Rem"a: If he did work for others such that it is impossible to penalize him, like if he is a tailor or a scribe who does work for others, they would excommunicate him and lash him (Beit Yosef and Rabbenu Yerucham). If he died, his son should not be penalized. [His son] is permitted to do the work if there is a potential loss involved.

(9) A divorced woman who comes with her divorced [husband] to judgement, they ostracize them or beat them with rebellious lashes.

(33) And you I will scatter among the nations, and I will unsheath the sword against you. Your land shall become a desolation and your cities a ruin. (34) Then shall the land make up for its sabbath years throughout the time that it is desolate and you are in the land of your enemies; then shall the land rest and make up for its sabbath years. (35) Throughout the time that it is desolate, it shall observe the rest that it did not observe in your sabbath years while you were dwelling upon it.

(8) Seven kinds of punishment come to the world for seven categories of transgression:When some of them give tithes, and others do not give tithes, a famine from drought comes some go hungry, and others are satisfied. When they have all decided not to give tithes, a famine from tumult and drought comes; [When they have, in addition, decided] not to set apart the dough-offering, an all-consuming famine comes. Pestilence comes to the world for sins punishable by death according to the Torah, but which have not been referred to the court, and for neglect of the law regarding the fruits of the sabbatical year. The sword comes to the world for the delay of judgment, and for the perversion of judgment, and because of those who teach the Torah not in accordance with the accepted law.

The Tosefta continues with a discussion of the sins of the Jewish people over the generations: Due to what reason was the First Temple destroyed? It was destroyed due to the fact that there were three matters that existed in the First Temple: Idol worship, forbidden sexual relations, and bloodshed.

(10) Aliens shall rebuild your walls,Their kings shall wait upon you—For in anger I struck you down,But in favor I take you back. (11) Your gates shall always stay open—Day and night they shall never be shut—To let in the wealth of the nations,With their kings in procession. (12) For the nation or the kingdomThat does not serve you shall perish;Such nations shall be destroyed.

(16) All who survive of all those nations that came up against Jerusalem shall make a pilgrimage year by year to bow low to the Supreme GOD of Hosts and to observe the Feast of Booths. (17) Any of the earth’s communities that does not make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to bow low to the Supreme GOD of Hosts shall receive no rain. (18) However, if the community of Egypt does not make this pilgrimage, it shall not be visited by the same affliction with which GOD will strike the other nations that do not come up to observe the Feast of Booths.jBecause Egypt is not dependent on rain, it will suffer some other punishment, presumably that described in v. 12.(19) Such shall be the punishment of Egypt and of all other nations that do not come up to observe the Feast of Booths.

Rather, Ravina says: Actually, Rabbi Eliezer’s statement is in accordance with the opinion of the Rabbis, that the married daughter of a priest is executed by burning and the betrothed daughter of a priest is executed by stoning. And reverse the wording of Rabbi Eliezer’s statement as follows: When she is with her father, i.e., when she is betrothed, she is executed by stoning, and when she is with her father-in-law, i.e., when she is married, she is executed by burning. And the fact that the tannastates the phrase: With her father, instead of simply stating that she is betrothed, is because he was merely drawn to the common usage, i.e., the wording of the verse, and employed it.

Rav Naḥman says that Rabba bar Avuh says that Rav says: The halakha in this matter is in accordance with the explanation that Ravin sent in the name of Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina. Rav Yosef said in response: Does one issue a halakha for the messianic period? Since the destruction of the Temple, courts do not have the authority to adjudicate capital cases (see 52b), and this authority will be restored only once the Temple is rebuilt, in the messianic period. Therefore, what is the purpose of stating the halakha in this matter when it is not currently relevant?

If a king will arise from the House of David who diligently contemplates the Torah and observes its mitzvot as prescribed by the Written Law and the Oral Law as David, his ancestor, will compel all of Israel to walk in (the way of the Torah) and rectify the breaches in its observance, and fight the wars of God, we may, with assurance, consider him Mashiach.If he succeeds in the above, builds the Temple in its place, and gathers the dispersed of Israel, he is definitely the Mashiach.He will then improve the entire world, motivating all the nations to serve God together, as Tzephaniah 3:9 states: 'I will transform the peoples to a purer language that they all will call upon the name of God and serve Him with one purpose.'

(3) If [a husband] wrote [his wife] a ketubah and it became lost or destroyed, specifically if it was written: I accept [the payment of] my ketubah, [the husband] is required to write a new one because it is forbidden for a man to delay with his wife for a single hour without a ketubah. Rem"a: If the militia overtakes a city, or [the people] were exiled from the city, and the women lost their ketubah [documents], new ketubahs are required even though the claim could be made that they may yet find their [old] ketubot afterwards ketubahs, or they will be returned. Nevertheless, once the ketubah is presumed lost [because of such a situation], another one is required. And if the sum for the ketubah is not known, if some [ketubahs] remain, we go according to [their sums]. And if not, we judge them according to the elders of the city, and according to custom, the wealthy according to his wealth, and the destitute according to his destitution (Bet Yosef in the name of the Responsa of the Geonim). And when the ketubah is lost and he came to write for her another ketubah, he needs to write for her a ketubah as large as the original. (Maharik Shoresh 116). And look later at siman 187, and in the place that they only divorce according to the will of the woman, he does not need to write a ketubah; if so, in our time in our lands, that they do not divorce the woman by force because of the ban of Rabbenu Gershom, and it is like what was explained later in siman 119, it was possible to be lenient in the writing of the ketubah but this is not the custom, and it should not be changed (this is his own opinion).

We shall explain this further in respect to one of the aforementioned considerations. We learned (Sanhedrin 40b): "The rabbis taught: 'The witnesses are to be cross-examined in the following manner: Do you recognize him [the defendant]? Did you warn him and did he acknowledge the warning? Did he commit the crime knowing it was punishable by death? Did he kill right after you had warned him?…'" Unquestionably, all of these are prerequisites for a "righteous judgment." For why should a man be killed for a transgression which he did not know to be punishable by death? This explains the necessity for his acknowledgment of the warning and for all of the other things mentioned in that baraitha. This is the true, righteous judgment in itself, that was assigned to the judges. But if law-breakers were punished in this context alone, the structure of society would break down completely, for, in the absence of the fear of punishment, the number of murderers would dramatically increase. Therefore, for the well-being of society, the Blessed One mandated the appointment of a king, as stated in this parshah (Deuteronomy 17:14-15): "and when you come to the land… place a king over you…," this constituting a mitzvah to appoint a king, according to the tradition of our sages of blessed memory (Sifrei, Sanhedrin 20b). And the king can punish without prior warning as he deems fit for the good of the kingdom. We find, then, that the appointment of a king serves a common purpose for Israel and for the other peoples who require a societal structure, and that the appointment of judges serves a distinct purpose for Israel, as stated: "and let them judge the people a righteous judgment." That is, the purpose of the judges and the area of their jurisdiction is the administration of judgments that are righteous and true in themselves.

I understand the plain meaning of the verse as follows: It is accepted that men need judges to judge between them, for in their absence (Avoth 3:2) "One man would swallow the other alive" and the world would become corrupt. And every people requires some form of government, the sage going so far as to say: "Even thieves recognize the necessity of justice within their society." And Israel needs this just as the other nations do. But they also need judges for an additional reason — to enforce the laws of the Torah and to punish those liable to stripes or to judicial death penalties, whether or not their transgression is detrimental to society. And, certainly, these two considerations entail two functions, respectively: one, punishing a man in accordance with true justice; the other (though he not be liable to punishment in terms of true justice), punishing him for the benefit of society and the exigencies of the hour. The Blessed One assigned each of these functions to distinct functionaries. He commanded that judges be appointed to administer true, righteous judgment. This is the intent of "and let them judge the people a righteous judgment." That is, the verse indicates the function and jurisdiction of these judges, saying that the purpose of their appointment is to judge the people with a judgment that is true and righteous in itself, and that their jurisdiction does not extend beyond this function. And because the needs of society are not completely served with this alone, G-d provides for the appointment of a king.

Pursuing this further, in light of the fact that our Torah is distinguished from the ethical codes of the nations by mitzvoth and chukim [statutes], it follows that these mitzvoth and chukim have nothing whatsoever to do with societal structure at all, but that their sole purpose is to effect the investiture of the Divine Immanence within our nation and to cause it to cleave to us. Whether this is apparent to us (as in the case of the sacrifices and all that transpires in the Temple) or unapparent (as in the case of the statutes, whose reasons were not revealed), there is no doubt that they are oriented to effecting this investiture and this cleaving — although their manner of doing so defies reason. And our ignorance in this regard is not at all surprising, for if we are ignorant of the reasons for so many natural phenomena (whose existence can, nonetheless, not be denied), then how much more ignorant should we be of the reasons for the investiture and cleaving to us of the Divine Immanence! And our holy Torah is herein distinguished from the ethical codes of the nations, which have nothing to do with such things, but only with the regulation of society.

Therefore, I hold (and it should, indeed, be believed) that just as the statutes do not enter at all into the societal area but are exclusively confined to the investiture of the Divine Immanence — in like manner, the judgments [mishpatim] of the Torah enter, to a great extent, into this last area, so that they are divided, as it were, between effecting the investiture of the Divine Immanence among us and furthering the societal common good. And it is possible that they are more greatly oriented to the more sublime area than they are to the ordering of society, for this last function is completed by the king that we appoint over us. The function of the judges and the Sanhedrin, however, is to judge us with judgments which are true and righteous in themselves, and which cause the divine Immanence to cleave to us, whether they do or do not completely fulfill the societal objective. It is therefore possible [paradoxically] that some of the judgments and laws of the nations will be found more effective in furthering societal order than some of the laws of the Torah. We lose nothing thereby, however, for whatever is left incomplete in this regard is completed by the king, and, of course, we gain great eminence thereby, for the laws of the Torah, being righteous in themselves (as stated: "and let them judge the people a righteous judgment"), ennoble us through the investiture and cleaving of the Divine Immanence.

(1) אשר נאכל במצרים חנם [WE REMEMBER THE FISH] WHICH WE DID EAT IN EGYPT FOR NOTHING — If you say that they meant that the Egyptians gave them fish for nothing (without payment), then I ask, “But does it not state, (Exodus 5:18): [Go, therefore, now, and work], for there shall no straw be given you”? Now, if they did not give them straw for nothing, would they have given them fish for nothing! — What then is the force of the word חנם? It means: free from (i.e. without us having been burdened with) heavenly commands (Sifrei Bamidbar 87).

(1) בכה למשפחתיו [THEN MOSES HEARD THE PEOPLE] WEEP THROUGHOUT THEIR FAMILIES — i.e. the members of each family gathered together and wept in order to display their discontent in public. Our Rabbis, however, said that למשפחתיו means “the people wept because of family affairs” — because of the intermarriage of blood-relaltives that had been forbidden to them (Sifrei Bamidbar 90; Yoma 75a).