The Gemara has spent several pages discussing the laws around objects associated with the dead, and the prohibition of deriving benefit from them. On today’s daf, we return to the topic of execution, while maintaining a focus on the property of the deceased:
The sages taught in a beraita: Those executed by a Jewish king, their property belongs to the king. As for those executed by the court, their property belongs to their heirs. Rabbi Yehuda says: Even with regard to those executed by a Jewish king, their property belongs to their heirs. The rabbis said to Rabbi Yehuda: But isn’t it already stated: “Arise, go down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, who is in Samaria; behold he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he is gone down there to inherit it” (1 Kings 21:18)?
The rabbis hold that when a person is executed by the king for trespass against the king himself, the king has a right to the condemned person’s property, whereas when one is put to death by the court for a capital transgression, their heirs inherit just as they would were this person to die a natural death. Rabbi Yehuda, however, believes the king cannot seize the property of someone he executes — either because he believes that right is inalienable, or he fears the potential abuse of a king’s right to inherit from those who rebel against him.
Ironically, the rabbis challenge Rabbi Yehuda’s position from exactly that kind of case, in which a king plots to execute someone in order to seize their property. In 1 Kings, we find the story of the wicked king Ahab who coveted a vineyard owned by one of his subjects, Naboth. When Naboth refused to give up his vineyard on demand, Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, framed Naboth for treason and had him stoned. Following Naboth’s death, the Hebrew text says that Ahab went down to Naboth’s vineyard lerishta — to inherit it. The rabbis argue that this language supports their position that when a king executes someone he inherits their property — even when, as in this case, the subject was innocent.
Rabbi Yehuda counters with an important note about Ahab’s family tree:
Ahab was Naboth’s cousin, the son of his paternal uncle, and therefore he was fit to inherit from him.
According to Rabbi Yehuda, Ahab inherited Naboth’s vineyard not by virtue of his right as king, but instead his right as a relative! But this admittedly stretched explanation is challenged by the rabbis who point out that Naboth had many sons who would have stood in line before any cousin to inherit. But Rabbi Yehuda has a response to this as well:
Ahab executed Naboth and also his sons, as it is stated: “I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons.” (2 Kings 9:26)
Rabbi Yehuda claims that Ahab was Naboth’s closest living relative, since the former executed all the sons of the latter. But the rabbis ultimately read this line differently and say that by executing Naboth, Ahab effectively cut off any children that would have been born to him, had he lived.
While the Gemara never comes to a conclusion on this matter, Rambam rules like the rabbis, likely because in absence of another decider, the opinion of the rabbis outweighs an individual opinion; additionally, a literal reading of the Naboth story does seem closer to the rabbis’ interpretation. According to Jewish law, then, the king has the right to seize the property of anyone he executes — even if he executed them only in order to lay hands on their belongings. We can see this either as another concession to the king’s power that the rabbis feel unable to check, or a lower-stakes decision made in a time without Jewish monarchs.
Read all of Sanhedrin 48 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on February 3, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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