(Exodus 21 — 28) "the ox shall be stoned and its flesh shall

Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael Mekhilta Tractate Nezikin 10:8

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published January 11, 2025

(Exodus 21:28) states: "The ox shall be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten." The Mekhilta asks: why is the prohibition against eating the flesh necessary? If the ox has been stoned to death, it is a neveilah — an animal carcass that died without proper ritual slaughter. Eating neveilah is already forbidden. What does "its flesh shall not be eaten" add?

The answer addresses a specific scenario. Suppose the ox was taken out to be stoned, and before the execution could occur, the owner intervened and ritually slaughtered it. Technically, the animal was now properly slaughtered — not a neveilah. Could its flesh be eaten?

The Torah says no. "Its flesh shall not be eaten" applies even when the ox was slaughtered before the stoning could take place. Once the animal has been condemned — once the legal process has designated it for death — its flesh is permanently forbidden, regardless of how it actually dies. Proper slaughter does not override the court's sentence.

This ruling reveals that the prohibition is not about the physical state of the meat but about the legal status of the animal. The ox has been judged guilty. That judgment attaches to the animal itself, making it unfit for consumption whether it dies by stoning, by slaughter, or by any other means. The death sentence transforms the animal from a source of food into something forbidden. Legal condemnation operates independently of physical reality.

Themes

Wisdom Egypt Exodus Passover

Biblical References

Exodus 21:28

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