Makkos 9b

מכות ט׳ ע״ב

Makkot 9b

Learn Makkos 9b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

אבימלך and the liability of a בן נח; who goes into גלות (a blind person, an enemy); and how the ערי מקלט were set up

Overview

The גמרא finishes the story of אבימלך and שרה. Any man's wife must be returned, prophet or not. אבימלך's excuse fails because אברהם only hid that שרה was his wife after seeing how strangers were questioned there. From this we learn that a בן נח is executed even if he didn't know, because he should have learned. A new משנה then asks whether a blind person or an enemy of the victim who killed by accident goes into גלות. The גמרא traces the מחלוקת about the blind person to the words ״בלא ראות״. It explains that רבי יוסי's harsh ruling on the enemy follows the view that a warning only serves to prove intent. It then settles two ברייתות that seem to contradict each other about רבי שמעון's view. A further משנה describes the six ערי מקלט, the roads leading to them, the scholars who escort the killer, and the trial that decides his fate. The גמרא explains how משה and יהושע placed the cities and begins to explain why the small east side of the ירדן got three of them; the explanation continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (29)

1. ChallengeMust only a prophet's wife be returned?
2. ResolutionReturn the man's wife no matter what
3. Rejectionאבימלך's excuse is rejected
4. ConclusionA בן נח is punished because he should have learned
5. StatementNew משנה: does a blind person go into exile?
6. StatementAn enemy who killed: not exiled, or even executed
7. Statementרבי שמעון: it depends whether it looks deliberate
8. StatementThe ברייתא: does ״without seeing״ leave out or include a blind person?
9. QuestionWhat is רבי יהודה's reason?
10. ResponseThe forest פסוק includes everyone, and ״without seeing״ takes the blind person out
11. Responseרבי מאיר: two limiting phrases in a row actually include
12. ChallengeHow does רבי יהודה handle the double limit?
13. Resolution״Without knowledge״ comes to leave out someone with intent
14. StatementBack to the משנה: רבי יוסי on the enemy
15. ChallengeBut he was never warned
16. ResolutionThe משנה follows רבי יוסי בר יהודה
17. Statementרבי שמעון: when an enemy is exiled
18. ChallengeA second ברייתא says the opposite
19. ResolutionSnapped: friend versus enemy
20. ResolutionThe 'slipped' contradiction depends on רבי versus רבנן
21. StatementThe killer is exiled to six cities of refuge
22. StatementThe cities only protected once all six were set up
23. StatementRoads were prepared leading to the cities
24. StatementTwo scholars escort the killer, and רבי מאיר says he speaks for himself too
25. StatementEvery killer first runs to a city of refuge, and the court then decides his fate
26. Statementמשה and יהושע set up three cities each, lined up across from each other
27. StatementThe cities divide the land into four equal parts
28. ChallengeWhy does the small east side get as many cities as all of Israel?
29. ResolutionKillers were common in גלעד