ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף שמות 35:3

לפיכך אין דנים לא בערב שבת – as it will be found that the completion of the legal proceedings will be on Shabbat [proper] and to delay it until after Shabbat is impossible because of the delay in executing judgment [is illegal], and to judge him on that [selfsame] day is impossible, for the four forms of capital punishment do not override the Sabbath, as it says (Exodus 35:3): “You shall kindle no fire throughout your settlements on the sabbath day,” it taught regarding those who were liable for burning, that we do not burn them on the Sabbath, and this same law applies to the other forms of capital punishment.

Most of tractate Shabbat goes into great detail as to what type of work is prohibited on Shabbat. There is not a lot of information about this in the Torah itself. Indeed the only four activities specifically prohibited in the Torah are plowing and reaping (Exodus 34:21), fire (Exodus 35:3) and gathering wood (Numbers 15:32). The paucity of verses and the volume of rabbinic halakhah led the rabbis to conclude that “the laws of Shabbat are like mountains hanging by a thread” (Hagigah 1:8). There is a little bit of information in the prophets about the observance of Shabbath, but this does not add up to much. However, from the literature that remains from the Second Temple period it seems that Jews were very stringent about the observance of the Sabbath. From Josephus and the books of the Maccabees we learn that some Jews did not even want to engage in battle on Shabbat, and rather than do so gave up their lives, until Mattathias taught them that engaging in battle to save one’s life was permitted. The Book of Jubilees, a rewritten version of Genesis popular among certain groups of Second Temple Jews is very stringent on Sabbath observance. So too were the groups that composed the Dead Sea scrolls. However, in this period the concept of prohibited “work” on the Sabbath was somewhat ill-defined. In contrast, the Rabbis define “work” in great detail. There are 39 categories of work, and anything that is considered to be prohibited from the Torah must fit somehow into one of these categories. These will not be listed until chapter 7, mishnah two. These are called “avot” or arch-categories of work. Anything derived from one of these arch-categories is either an arch-category in and of itself or is a “toldah”, a derivative. Anything that does not fit into one of these categories, and yet is still prohibited is considered to only be prohibited from “rabbinic law”—derabbanan— and not from “toraitic law”—deoraita. I should emphasize that a law’s being “derabbanan” does not necessarily make it less important. It only means that the rabbis could not somehow tie it into one of the 39 categories. These laws are also called “shvut” which means “rest”. The rabbis prohibited certain activities so that a person would be able to rest on Shabbat.

ועוד בה וגו׳ And yet in it shall be, etc. According to some: Ten more kings will rule over Judah before the exile, and then ושבה והיתה לבער it^18*The kingdom. shall again be removed¹⁹A. V., Shall return and shall be eaten.: comp. ובערת And thou shalt put away (Deuter. 21:21); others compare לבער with תבערו You shall kindle (Exod. 35:3)—and the number of kings from that time, Uzziah included, was really ten. Some explain, the tenth part will be left in the land. Grammatically, עשיריה is an adjective, the tenth; but different from עשירית the tenth part; comp. שלישיה (19:24) the third. It is, therefore, clear that עשיריה refers to the number of kings.²⁰עשיריה being an adjective, and the feminine noun מלכות being supplied, the phrase ועוד בה עשיריה וגו״ is explained by I. E., But yet in it shall be a tenth reign, and then it shall again, etc.