Referência sobre Êxodo 21:13

Rav Chisda was very keen in the interpretation of law and he was also very clever in reading new meanings into things by skillful analogies. We shall cite two examples of his way of thinking: In explaining the reason why a man is allowed to go two thousand ells away from his place on the Sabbath even though the Bible says, “Let no man leave his place on the seventh day” (Exodus, 17, 29) Rav Chisda said that in as much as the expression “place” was also used in the verse “and I shall set up a place for you” (Exodus, 21, 13) in the case of an accidental homicide the two passages were parallel and the word “place” (מקום) should be understood to mean a city. Later the word “he will flee” is used concerning an accidental homicide, so that we must understand the word “place” used concerning the Sabbath to refer also to flight. The problem arises how far one may flee. There is another verse “the boundary of his city of refuge that he flees” (Numbers, 38, 26) so that we must interpret the verse “let no man leave his place” as if it used the word “boundary”. The meaning of the word boundary must be inferred from its meaning in its use in the verse which uses the expression outside “and their measures are two thousand ells outside the city” (Numbers, 35, 5). We find therefore that the measure of a “Sabbath pale” from which a man is allowed to flee is the boundary of “two thousand ells”.²²⁾ערובין נ״א א׳.