Rabbi Shimon says: Many warnings are written here, as it is stated: “If men quarrel and one strikes the other” (Exodus 21:18). Nothing good and no peace results from a quarrel. Cain harmed his brother only from the midst of a quarrel, “one strikes another with a stone or a fist (Exodus 21:18). Here God cautions, as it is stated: “If he arises and walks outside…[he shall give only his livelihood and he shall provide healing]” (Exodus 21:19).70Even if one does not kill the other, he is obligated to pay for the damage he caused, including loss of livelihood and medical costs.
Why is judges [elohim] written here, regarding each and every matter?71As the Torah presents the ordinances in Exodus chapters 21–23, there are several instances in which the Torah refers to judges as elohim, a term ordinarily reserved for God. See, e.g., Exodus 21:6, 22:7. It is because people are steeped in the evil inclination, as it is stated: “As the inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21).72Therefore, due to man’s weaknesses, the Torah uses a term for judges that also can be used to refer to God, as an indication that people should consider that they will be held accountable not only by man but by God.
If the Holy One blessed be He would eliminate the evil inclination, everyone would come under His wings. The Holy One blessed be He will kill it [one day]. You find that the evil inclination accustoms a person to sin, and it kills him, as it is stated: “Its justice and its onus will emerge from it” (Habakkuk 1:7).73Sin causes man to die. Alternatively, having caused man to sin, it is the evil inclination who then kills man, as the Gemara states: Satan, the evil inclination, and the Angel of Death are one (Bava Batra 16a).
That is why the Holy One blessed be He cautioned them regarding the ordinances of the Torah, as it is stated: “These are the ordinances.” The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘Maintain justice in this world and I will rescue you from being sentenced to Gehenna.’ Therefore, the Holy One blessed be He judges the wicked over all these laws, as it is stated: “Behold, I am here, and I will judge between the fat lamb and the lean lamb” (Ezekiel 34:20).
Egypt enslaved Israel, and He exacted retribution from them, and judged them in Egypt and judged them at the sea. To what were they comparable? To robbers who entered the king’s vineyard and destroyed grapevines. The king came and found his vineyard damaged.
He became filled with rage and descended upon the robbers. He did not need anything or any person, but rather, he descended, cut them, and uprooted them, just as they had done to the king’s vineyard. So too, Egypt judged the children of God [and executed upon them] harsh judgments. The Holy One blessed be He became filled with rage and afflicted them with the first plague, and the second, but was not sated with their blood.
He judged them ten times and said: ‘I have not done anything to them.’ They came to the sea and He killed countless multitudes. From where is it derived that Pharaoh will not be consoled over his multitudes until he will see Gog? As it is stated: “Pharaoh will see them and be consoled for his entire multitude” (Ezekiel 32:31).