דברים, פרק י״ג, פסוק ט״ז

Dealing with an entire community that has strayed from the righteous path and embraced idolatry demands the complete eradication of evil from the public sphere. However, this severe judgment is not carried out immediately. Before any sentence is passed, the high court conducts a comprehensive investigation, dispatching scholars to warn the residents and encourage their repentance. Only if the inhabitants stubbornly cling to their folly, proving their decision to be final and unalterable, do they lose their individual rights. At that point, they are judged as a collective entity that has forfeited its share in the World to Come [הכתב והקבלה, רלב״ג]. This extreme measure is applied only to a city whose population ranges from one hundred residents up to the majority of a tribe, as an entire tribe cannot be condemned under this specific law [רלב״ג].

The primary approach among commentators is that if the guilty cannot be executed by the prescribed method of the sword, they must be put to death by any means necessary [רש״י, רבנו בחיי, תורה תמימה, אדרת אליהו, משכיל לדוד]. The use of the sword is mandated because an entire city will not willingly submit to an execution method like stoning, as an individual sinner might. Instead, they will undoubtedly fight back, turning the confrontation into a state of war [בכור שור]. The punishment is strictly directed at the inhabitants of that specific city, excluding residents of other towns who may have been led astray alongside them [מלבי״ם]. However, guests and traveling merchants who have remained in the city for thirty days are legally considered residents. If these individuals are not idolaters, their presence can tip the scales of justice and potentially save the entire city from destruction [תורה תמימה, אדרת אליהו]. Conversely, a guilty resident who attempts to escape the city's fate by fleeing remains condemned, and the sentence applies to him wherever he goes [מלבי״ם, צפנת פענח].

The mandate to completely destroy the city entails the absolute annihilation of the populace and the demolition of all its structures [ביאור יש״ר]. The decree targets the men who initiated the sin, as well as the women who were drawn into the transgression after them [רמב״ן, ביאור יש״ר]. Regarding the fate of the city's children, a fundamental disagreement exists. Some commentators maintain that minors, both male and female, are not put to death under any circumstances [רמב״ן, ביאור יש״ר]. Others, however, rule that even the young are killed. According to this view, once the city is condemned to annihilation, the children are swept up in the collective judgment of the community, despite not having sinned themselves [הכתב והקבלה, צפנת פענח].

The decree of destruction also extends to the city's wealth and livestock. The property of the wicked is entirely forfeited, whether it is located inside or outside the city limits. In contrast, the righteous individuals who are spared from death may keep their assets located outside the city. However, any property they kept within the city walls is destroyed along with the rest of the spoils, as their initial choice to reside in such a corrupt place was driven by their financial interests [תורה תמימה, אדרת אליהו, מלבי״ם]. This destruction applies exclusively to movable goods that can be gathered and burned, exempting crops and fruits still attached to the ground [רלב״ג]. Furthermore, the command to kill the city's livestock serves as an act of vengeance from God designed to completely erase the memory of the city, similar to the mandate to wipe out the memory of Amalek [ספורנו, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. This applies only to animals privately owned by the residents, excluding any consecrated animals or tithes [תורה תמימה, אדרת אליהו]. These animals must also be killed by the sword; even if they were to be ritually slaughtered, the act would not purify them, and they retain the strict status of unkosher carcasses [תורה תמימה].