מלכים ב, פרק י״ד, פסוק ו׳

King Amaziah possessed the power and authority to exact full vengeance for his father's murder. However, he chose to execute only the assassins themselves, deliberately sparing the lives of their families [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Because of his exact obedience to this Torah commandment, the king earned a great reward, ultimately achieving a major military victory in which he struck down ten thousand men from Edom [חומת אנך].

The guiding principle behind the king's restraint is a strict prohibition against collective family punishment. The primary approach among commentators is that family members are never held legally responsible for each other's crimes [מצודת ציון]. Fathers are not put to death because of the sins of their children, and children are not executed because of the sins of their fathers. Instead, justice is strictly individual, ensuring that only the person who committed the crime faces punishment for it [רלב״ג, רד״ק, מלבי״ם, ביאור שטיינזלץ].

This historical event also highlights a deeper layer of biblical interpretation, showing the relationship between the simple meaning of the law and Rabbinic tradition. The Sages derived an additional legal rule from the original Torah commandment, determining that a person cannot be put to death based on the testimony of a close relative. Even so, the primary warning and simple meaning of the law remain focused on prohibiting the punishment of innocent family members, as clearly demonstrated by the king's refusal to harm the assassins' children [רד״ק]. The Rabbinic rule regarding family testimony was actually derived from additional phrasing in the original command. Therefore, the historical record specifically emphasizes that a person is put to death only for their own sin, clarifying that the king was acting on the direct, literal meaning of the law against collective punishment [מלבי״ם].