Q&A: The Wood Gatherer
The Wood Gatherer
Question
A. Why was he liable to death, if he violated only a destructive labor not needed for its own purpose?
B. If his intention was to show that the commandments still remain binding even though they would not be entering the Land, why did he choose a prohibition punishable by death? It would have been enough to violate an ordinary prohibition and receive lashes.
C. Why is he not counted among those who commit a transgression for the sake of Heaven?
These questions are of course according to the views that he desecrated the Sabbath for the sake of Heaven.
Answer
A. Maharsha already asked this in Bava Batra 119a, and I never understood his question. After all, that itself is exactly what the wood gatherer wanted—that they should execute him. So clearly the religious court did not know that he had done it for the sake of a commandment, because he did not tell them. Therefore they executed him. Some did, however, ask about this, since in Heaven they certainly did know, and the instruction to execute him came from Heaven (Kovetz Shiurim there, sec. 360).
I now saw discussions of this here: https://daf-yomi.com/DYItemDetails.aspx?itemId=39169
B. He wanted to demonstrate the severity of the prohibition, and to teach that everything remained fully in force, including capital punishments.
C. Where did they enumerate all those who commit a transgression for the sake of Heaven?
Discussion on Answer
One does not generally challenge a homiletic teaching. But certainly, if there is no answer, it is not all that critical, since aggadic exposition does not have to meet halakhic standards. Usually people assume that when such an exposition is stated casually, it is supposed to fit Jewish law, but in truth that is not absolutely necessary.
Why is it acceptable here to raise a difficulty from a homiletic interpretation?