The Torah says "You may not light a fire in all of your dwellings" on the Sabbath. But what about executions ordered by a court? The judicial death penalty of burning requires fire. May it be carried out on the Sabbath?
The Mekhilta answers: no. Burning was one of the general class of forbidden Sabbath labors. The Torah singled it out for specific mention to teach a broader principle. Just as burning — which is both a labor and a form of judicial death penalty — does not override the Sabbath, so too none of the other judicial death penalties override the Sabbath.
A court may not execute a criminal on the Sabbath, regardless of which method of execution applies. Stoning, burning, strangulation, or the sword — all must wait until after the Sabbath.
This ruling establishes a hierarchy. The Sabbath outranks the judicial system. Even a legally ordained death sentence — pronounced by a proper court, after proper procedure, against a duly convicted criminal — must yield to the sanctity of the seventh day. The criminal waits. The Sabbath does not.
The specific mention of fire in the verse is the key. It was not stated because fire is uniquely important among the forbidden labors. It was stated because fire is also a method of execution, and the Torah needed to establish that the Sabbath trumps the death penalty. One verse, singled out from the general prohibition, generates a universal rule about the limits of judicial power on the day of rest.