מקושש עצים: עונש המוות למחלל השבת

(13) Speak to the Israelite people and say: Nevertheless, you must keep My sabbaths, for this is a sign between Me and you throughout the ages, that you may know that I the LORD have consecrated you. (14) You shall keep the sabbath, for it is holy for you. He who profanes it shall be put to death: whoever does work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his kin. (15) Six days may work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does work on the sabbath day shall be put to death.(16) The Israelite people shall keep the sabbath, observing the sabbath throughout the ages as a covenant for all time: (17) it shall be a sign for all time between Me and the people of Israel. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and was refreshed.

(1) מות יומת SHALL SURELY BE PUT TO DEATH if there are witnesses and a warning

(2) ונכרתה SHALL BE CUT OFF if no such warning had been given (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 31:14:3).

(3) מחלליה means, whosoever treats it as non-sacred in its sanctity.

The Sages taught in a baraita: The wood gatherer 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” (Numbers 27:3). Just as below the man in the desert is Zelophehad, so too, here, the unnamed man in the desert is Zelophehad; according to Rabbi Akiva.

And they found him. It should say and they saw him. From here the sifrei derives that Moshe set up watchmen on the matter. And this explains that they searched for and then found. And the reason he (Moshe) did this is because the generation was full of Sabbath violators as is explained in Ezekiel 20, that they violated Shabbat greatly in the desert. And the prophet didn't mean the gathering on the first Shabbat, or this instance of the wood gatherer. For the language isn't fitting for this instance. Rather, the whole generation was violating Shabbat. From this Moshe and the court needed to set up watchmen... And all of this is learned from "and they found."

(1) כי לא פרש מה יעשה לו BECAUSE IT WAS NOT EXPLAINED WHAT SHOULD BE DONE WITH HIM — i.e. what kind of death penalty he was to die had not yet been explained, but they were fully aware that one who desecrates the Sabbath is punishable by some death penalty (Sifrei Bamidbar 114; Sanhedrin 78b; cf. Rashi on Leviticus 24:12).

(1) כי לא פורש מה יעשה לו, “for it had not been specified what should be done to him.” Rashi explains that whereas it was known that the man had to be executed, which of the four methods to be used in this case had not yet been explained. If you were to ask why this man should not be executed by strangulation seeing that it had not been stated that he has to be stoned, and strangulation is the standard method of execution for most capital sins, the answer is that Moses was in doubt what precisely was the sin that called for execution here, if desecration was equivalent to desecrating the name of the Lord by worshipping an idol, in which case execution was to be by means of the sword. This is why he was kept locked up until Moses received an answer from G-d. If you were to say, that in accordance with the view of Rabbi Yehudah that if the sinner had not been warned of what kind of death penalty he could expect, no conviction could be obtained from a court, you would have to answer that the witnesses advised him that he would be liable to one of the four kinds of executions provided for by the Torah.

...

(1) (Bamidbar 15:34) "And they placed him in ward": We are hereby apprised that all who are liable to krithuth ("cutting off") are put in ward (pending judgment). "for it was not made clear what should be done with him": But is it not written (Shemot 31:14) "He who profanes it shall be put to death"? What, then, is the intent of "For it was not made clear"? He did not know with what specific type of death until it was told to Him by the Holy One. (Ibid. 35) "And the L-rd said to Moses: Die, shall die the man": (i.e., this is the judgment) for all the generations (and not just in this particular instance.) "stone him with stones": in this particular instance. "the entire congregation": in the presence of the entire congregation. You say this, but perhaps it is to be understood literally (i.e., that the entire congregation is to stone him.) It is, therefore, written (Devarim 17:7) "The hand of the witnesses shall be against him first to put him to death." How, then, am I to understand "the entire congregation"? As in the presence of the entire congregation. (15:36) "And the entire congregation took him outside the camp": We are hereby taught that all those who are liable to the death penalty are put to death outside of beth-din. "And they stoned him with stones": One verse states "with stones," and another, (Vayikra 24:23) "with a stone." How are these two verses to be reconciled? The stoning site was two stories high. One of the witnesses pushes him on his thighs. If he turns over on his heart, he is turned over on his thighs. If he dies thereby, it is sufficient. If not, the second witness takes a stone and places it on his heart. If he dies thereby, it is sufficient. If not, all of Israel stone him with stones, in fulfillment of "the hand of the witnesses shall be against him first to put him to death, and the hand of all the people thereafter." There are thus reconciled "stone him with stones" and "and they stoned him with a stone."

(1) And the LORD said to Moses: the reason that this passage deviates from the norm in that it says, 'And HE said' whereas in all of scripture it says 'And HE spoke' can be explained by the teaching pf the Sages (Yalkut): When Moses saw the event of the Sabbath woodcutter he said to the LORD, "On the weekdays the Israelites don phylacteries (tefillin) and thereby remember the commandments. On Sabbath, (when it is forbidden to don phylacteries) how are they to remember?" The Holy Blessed ONE responded, "I am hereby giving them the commandment to tie fringes, through which they will remember, etc." This is why "And HE Said" is appropriate. It implies soft words that satisfy the heart of a questioner.

§ The mishna teaches: All those liable to be executed with different court-imposed death penalties who became intermingled are sentenced to the most lenient form of execution. The Gemara noted: Conclude from the mishna that an individual who is forewarned for a severe matter is forewarned for a lesser matter.

Rabbi Yirmeya rejects that proof and says: With what are we dealing here? It is a case where the witnesses forewarned the individual that if he violates the prohibition he is liable to be executed, without specification of the mode of execution. And this halakha is in accordance with the opinion of this tanna, as it is taught in a baraita: With regard to all the others, those who are liable for the various death penalties stated in the Torah other than the inciter to idol worship, the court executes them only when the following elements are present: The congregation, represented by the court, and witnesses, and forewarning just before the defendant commits the transgression. And the court does not execute him unless the witnesses informed the defendant that he is liable to receive the death penalty from the court. Rabbi Yehuda says: The defendant is not executed unless the witnesses informed the defendant by which form of death penalty he is to be executed.

Based on the statement of Rabbi Yehuda, it may be inferred that according to the first tanna, although they must inform him that he is liable to be executed, they are not required to inform him of the specific mode of execution. The Gemara explains the basis for the dispute between the first tanna and Rabbi Yehuda: The first tanna derived forewarning from the incident of the wood gatherer (see Numbers 15:32–36), who was executed even though even Moses did not know with which death penalty he was to be executed. Clearly, the mode of execution could not have been included in his forewarning. Rabbi Yehuda says: The execution of the wood gatherer was a provisional edict based on the word of God. The halakha throughout the generations cannot be derived from it.

(10) A court that would execute somebody once in seven years would be considered destructive. Rabbi Elazar Ben Azariah says: "Once in seventy years." Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva said: "If we were on the Sanhedrin , nobody would have ever been executed." Rabban Shim'on Ben Gamliel said: "They also would have increased murder in Israel."