Q&A: A Moral Torah and Commands to Kill the Unintentional
A Moral Torah and Commands to Kill the Unintentional
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I wanted to know how the seven Canaanite nations could be punished with the death penalty when their only "sin" was that they lived in a land that was not theirs without knowing it! After all, the Children of Israel went down to Egypt, and there wasn't a single Jew left in the land who could explain to them that the land belonged to the Jews.
Also, I wanted to understand how the Torah decrees the death penalty for idol worshippers if they themselves are not aware of that command in the Torah. Fine, if we're talking about a Jew who is supposed to know this. But a gentile from another country?
Answer
They were not punished for living in the land. Where did you get that idea? They were punished for their sins.
There is no punishment for idol worshippers who do so unintentionally and out of sincere belief.
Discussion on Answer
Nadav, are you reading what I write?
What did you see in the conquest of Joshua?
Regarding the seven nations, the Torah explicitly says, "for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete," meaning that until there is sin that justifies it, they are not cast out of the land.
Not "of course," and not correct. An unintentional sin or acting under compulsion does not incur death. What is unclear here? Regarding an idolatrous city, the matter is even stated explicitly by Maimonides (Laws of Idolatry 4:6):
And what is the law of an idolatrous city? When a city is fit to be made an idolatrous city, the Great Court sends and inquires and investigates until they know with clear evidence that the entire city, or most of it, has been led astray and turned to idol worship. After that they send them two Torah scholars to warn them and bring them back. If they repent, all the better; but if they persist in their folly, the court instructs all Israel to march against them as an army, and they besiege them and wage war against them until the city is breached…
The conquest of Joshua. How were they punished for sins if they did not know the Torah?
Of course idol worshippers are to be killed, an idolatrous city, and so on.