Commentary for Exodus 21:29

מתמל שלשם [BUT IF THE OX HAS BEEN WONT TO THRUST] YESTERDAY AND BEFORE YESTERDAY — Here you have including the present occasion the three times an ox must gore before it can be declared a מועד (Bava Kamma 23b).‎

AND ITS OWNER SHALL BE PUT TO DEATH. Our Rabbis have received by Tradition¹⁶⁷Mechilta here on the Verse. that this death means by the hand of Heaven. Similar cases are these verses: and the common man that draweth nigh shall be put to death;¹⁶⁸Numbers 18:7. Punishment for a non-priest who performs the Divine service in the Sanctuary is death by the hand of Heaven (Sanhedrin 83 a). and they die therein, if they profane it.¹⁶⁹Leviticus 22:9. This is with reference to an unclean priest who ate clean heave-offering [which is forbidden to him as long as he remains in his state of uncleanness], and the punishment is death by the hand of Heaven (Sanhedrin 83 a).
I have noticed that where the Torah speaks of those liable to be put to death by the court, it does not mention just yumoth (he shall be put to death), but always says, moth yumoth (he shall surely be put to death). Do not object to this rule from the verse, and he that killeth a man ‘yumoth’ (shall be put to death),¹⁷⁰Leviticus 24:21. In this case his punishment is death by the court, and yet it says only yumoth! or from the verse about the Sabbath,¹⁷¹Of the Sabbath it is said, Whosoever doeth any work therein ‘yumoth’ (shall be put to death) (further 35:2), and his punishment is death by the court! or a prophet who misleads,¹⁷²And that prophet… ‘yumoth’ (shall be put to death) (Deuteronomy 13:6), and there too his punishment is by the court (Sanhedrin 84 a). for in each of these cases He has already clearly explained elsewhere about them [that they are liable to death by the court, by using the phrase: moth yumoth].¹⁷³In the case of smiting a man — see above Verse 12; for the Sabbath, see further, 31:14. For a prophet who misleads, see Deuteronomy 13:10: ki harog tahargenu (for thou shall surely kill him).
Now I do not know the reason for Onkelos’ rendering yumoth as yithk’teil [“he shall be killed”, which indicates that his death is to be by the court, instead of by the hand of Heaven]. Perhaps his intention is to state that the owner, [who had been previously warned that his ox had gored three times, but still did not guard it, so that it went out and killed a man or woman], deserves to be put to death, but is instead made liable to the payment of a ransom. Or perhaps Onkelos means to explain that that which Scripture states, and its owner also shall be put to death means that the owner will perish in a similar manner to that by which the gored person was killed, for his day shall come to die, or he shall go down into battle, and be swept away;¹⁷⁴I Samuel 26:10. the Eternal will not hold him guiltless.¹⁷⁵Above, 20:7. Thus Onkelos wanted to teach us that the owner of the ox is liable, according to the view of Heaven, to die by the hand of a killer, and not by a natural death, something like it is said, and I will kill you with the sword.¹⁷⁶Further, 22:23. In the verse, and the common man that draweth nigh shall be put to death,¹⁶⁸Numbers 18:7. Punishment for a non-priest who performs the Divine service in the Sanctuary is death by the hand of Heaven (Sanhedrin 83 a). Onkelos also translated yumoth as yithk’teil [“he shall be killed,” indicating that his death is to be by the court], because he agrees with the opinion of Rabbi Akiba who said that a non-priest who performed the Divine service in the Sanctuary is put to death by strangulation.¹⁷⁷Sanhedrin 84a. The Sages, however, are of the opinion that his death is by the hand of Heaven.

וגם בעליו יומת. A reference to judgment by heaven which will be exacted from the guilty party if we cannot convict him due to lack of witnesses.