Do Not Steal Read as a Warning Against Kidnapping

Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 298:5

The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: "You shall not commit adultery" — there shall not be adultery in you, whether by hand or by foot. Rabbi Elazar said: What is the meaning of what is written, "Your hands are full of blood" (Isaiah 1:15)? These are those who commit adultery by hand. "You shall not steal" — from where do we derive the prohibition against one who steals a person? Rabbi Yoshiyah says: From "You shall not steal." Rabbi Yonatan says: From "They shall not be sold as a slave is sold" (Leviticus 25:42). And they do not disagree: one reckons the prohibition of stealing, and the other reckons the prohibition of selling. It was taught: "You shall not steal" — Scripture speaks of one who steals a person. Or is it only one who steals money? You say: Go out and learn from the thirteen principles by which the Torah is interpreted — a matter learned from its context: about what is Scripture speaking? About lives [souls, the prohibitions of murder and adultery beside it]; so here too it speaks of lives.

Themes