Worked to Death

On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a sabbath of complete rest, holy to יהוה; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.

(12) And יהוה said to Moses: (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 יהוה have consecrated you. (14) You shall keep the sabbath, for it is holy for you. One who profanes it shall be put to death: whoever does work on it, that person shall be cut off from among kin. (15) Six days may work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a sabbath of complete rest, holy to יהוה; 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 יהוה made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day [God] ceased from work and was refreshed.

Death by the court of law is decreed in important cases: when faith is undermined, or a great crime is committed, viz., idolatry, incest, murder, or actions that lead to these crimes. It is further decreed for breaking the Sabbath (Exod. 31:15); because the keeping of Sabbath is a confirmation of our belief in the Creation; a false prophet and a rebellious elder are put to death on account of the mischief which they cause; he who strikes his father or his mother is killed on account of his great audacity, and because he undermines the constitution of the family, which is the foundation of the state. A rebellious and disobedient son is put to death (Deut. 21:18 seq.) on account of what he might become, because he will likely be a murderer; he who steals a human being is killed, because he is also prepared to kill him whom he steals (Exod. 21:16). Likewise he who is found breaking into a house is prepared for murder (ibid. 22:1), as our Sages stated. These three, the rebellious and disobedient son, he who steals and sells a human being, and he who breaks into a house, become murderers in the course of time, as is well known. Capital punishment is only decreed for these serious crimes, and in no other case.

There is also a lesson here that the success of the work performed during the six days of the week depends on the observance of the seventh day as a holy day. The reason is that the Sabbath is the soul of the world.

שבת שבתון; this expression alludes to the fact that there are activities and even conversations and thoughts which, though not specifically outlawed by the text, are nevertheless something that interfere with the proper Sabbath observance. We have been told already in Exodus 23,12 וביום השביעי תשבות, that the cessation of work etc., has as its objective קדש לה', that this day is to be holy for the Lord, i.e. we are to make it holy. This means that on the Sabbath we ignore secular matters altogether and devote ourselves to spiritual pursuits, and even the mundane pursuits such as eating festive meals must be perceived as part of our honouring G’d on the Sabbath.

כל העושה מלאכה...יומת. It follows that when someone performs secular tasks on the Sabbath they automatically lose track of the purpose of the Sabbath, hence they deserve to be executed.

Although we are all familiar with the comments of our sages who designated all those categories of work which had to be performed in the construction of the Tabernacle as the basic list of forbidden activities on the Sabbath, we must find a better reason why these activities are forbidden on pain of death. Why did they have to draw a parallel with the construction of the Tabernacle? Would it not have sufficed for the Torah to say: "Six days you shall perform work and on the seventh day you must rest?" The Mechilta on 35,2 claims that if we observe the Sabbath legislation the various items on the list are apt to be performed for us by Gentiles. This is the reason the word "you will perform" is expressed in this verse passively, i.e. "will be performed." We may find historical evidence for the truth of this interpretation in the statement in Berachot that the pious people of earlier generations were able to pursue their Torah study without interruption because others attended to their mundane needs. The sages wanted to point out that even in our time such a state of affairs was possible, i.e. that the work to be performed during the six days could be performed by others for those who devoted themselves to Torah in the proper manner.