Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

The commandment on the court (beit din) to kill with strangulation one who is liable: That we have been commanded to kill the transgressors of some of the commandments of the Torah with strangulation, as it is stated (Exodus 21:12), “He who strikes a man and [that man] dies shall surely be put to death.” And this one of “He who strikes a man” is one of the ones whose death penalty is with strangulation. Since it is written about it, “[he] shall surely die” — and in the explanation, they, may their memory be blessed, said (Sanhedrin 52b), “Any death penalty stated in the Torah undifferentiated is only strangulation.” We have learned that those that are liable for the death penalty do not have repayment, as it is stated (Exodus 21:11–12), “there is no money. He who strikes a man and [that man] dies, etc.” — Mekhilta.

The root of this commandment is revealed to all, as “by justice a king sustains the land.” As were it not for the fear of judgment, people would kill one another. Therefore, God, blessed be He, commanded us to kill the murderer. And in His wisdom, blessed be He, He saw that it is fitting to punish him with the death penalty of strangulation. And the matter is beautiful, also according to our [understanding], since “as he has done, so shall it be done to him” — since the intention of the killer was to kill the murdered quickly, as from [the killer’s] fear of him, he will quicken his death with all of his might. And so too was the Torah lenient with his judgment to kill him with strangulation, which is a quick death penalty; and not with stoning and burning, which are with great pain. (In the other editions, it is written, “The truth is that the death penalty of the murderer is with the sword, [whereas] he who hits his father and mother has a death penalty of strangulation.”) However, with the statutes of licentiousness, in which the transgressors derived pleasure from the sin and the pleasure continued a bit, they sometimes get burning and sometimes stoning.

How are the laws of this commandment [performed]? For example, that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Mishnah Sanhedrin 7:3) that we place the guilty one in manure up to his knees and tie a hard handkerchief onto his neck, one pulls towards himself and [the other] one pulls towards himself until his soul departs; [this] and the rest of its details are elucidated in the seventh chapter of Sanhedrin 52. (See Mishneh Torah, Laws of Murderer and the Preservation of Life 1.)

And this commandment is only practiced in the Land [of Israel], since we only judge capital cases in the Land. And whoever has [it] in his hand to make a judgment and does not do so, has negated this positive commandment. And his punishment is great — “as were it not for the fear of [judgment], man would swallow his fellow alive.” And Ramban, may his memory be blessed (on Sefer HaMitzvot, Shorashim 14) does not count this commandment in his calculation. And so [too] does he not count any of the four death penalties of the court — which are stoning, burning, killing (decapitation) and strangulation — that Rambam, may his memory be blessed, counted as four commandments. And [Ramban] said that through the verse of “and you shall destroy the evil from within you” (Deuteronomy 17:7), the Torah commanded more generally that we destroy those that do evil from among us; and within it are included all of the laws. And when Scripture specifies the laws according to their punishments afterwards, it is not considered a [separate] commandment, as it is only an elucidation of the topic. And “the sage will choose for himself that which is straight in his eyes.”