Exodus 21:13

ואשר לא צדה AND IF A MAN LIE NOT IN WAIT — i. e. if he did not lie in ambush for him (the person whom he killed), nor did he premeditate the blow (Makkot 7b). צדה is a term denoting “lying in wait”; similarly it says, (I Samuel 24:12) “yet thou liest in wait (צדה) for my soul to take it”. It is, however, not correct to say that צדה is of the same derivation as, (Genesis 27:34) הצד ציד “he that hath hunted (הצד) venison”, for a ה has no place in the verbal forms of the term denoting “hunting beasts”. Then again, the noun form of the latter is צַיִד and that of the former צְדִיָה, whilst the participle of the verb “lying in wait” is צוֹדֶה and that of the other is צָד. I therefore say that its meaning is as the Targum gives it: “and if he did not lie in ambush for him”. Menachem ben Seruk placed it in the same section as הצד ציד (i. e. he held that the root is צד and that it has the meaning of “hunting”), but I do not agree with him. If it is to be placed in one of the sections of צד we had better place it in the same section as, (Isaiah 66:12) על צד תנשאו “ye shall be borne upon her side (צד)” and (I Samuel 20:20) “and I will shoot [three arrows] on the side thereof (צדה)”, and (Daniel 7:25) “and he shall speak towards the side of (against) the Most High”. Thus, here, the words אשד לא צדה could be taken to mean, “he did not turn aside (צִדֵּד)” to seek some side (occasion) for killing him. But there are objections even to this explanation. At any rate, even if it be connected with צד in this sense, it would still have the meaning “lying in wait”. והאלהים אנה לידו means, BUT GOD GOT IT READY FOR HIS HAND. It has the same meaning as this root has in, (Psalms 91:10) “No evil shall be got ready (תאנה) for thee”; (Proverbs 12:21) “There shall no evil be got ready (תאנה) for the just”; (2 Kings 5:7) “he gets himself ready (מתאנה) for me”, i. e. he gets himself ready to discover some occasion against me. והאלהים אנה לידו BUT GOD GOT IT READY FOR HIS HAND — But why should this go forth from Him (be brought about by God)? This is just what David tells us: (I Samuel 24:13) “As says the proverb of the ancient (הקדמני) “Wickedness proceededeth from the wicked”. — “The proverb of the קדמני” is the Torah, the maxim of God, Who it the “Ancient” (Whose existence preceded that) of the world. But where indeed does the Torah say, “Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked”? It says it implicitly in the verse: “But God got it ready for his hand”. For what is Scripture here speaking about? About two men, one of whom killed a person with premeditation and the other killed inadvertently, and in neither case were there witnesses to the deed who could testify about it. Consequently, the former was not put to death and the latter was not forced into banishment to a city of refuge (cf. Numbers 35:11). Now God brings them together at the same inn. He who killed with premeditation happens to sit beneath a ladder, and the other who killed inadvertently ascends the ladder and falls, when descending it, upon the man who killed with premeditation and kills him. Witnesses now being present they testify against him, so compelling him to be banished to one of the cities of refuge. The result is that he who killed inadvertently is actually banished and he who killed with premeditation actually suffers death (cf. Mekhilta and Makkot 10b). ושמתי לך מקום AND I WILL APPOINT THEE A PLACE — in the wilderness also — WHITHER HE SHALL FLEE — Which was the place that offered him an asylum? The camp of the Levites (Mekhilta; Makkot 12b).

וַאֲשֶׁר֙ לֹ֣א צָדָ֔ה וְהָאֱלֹהִ֖ים אִנָּ֣ה לְיָד֑וֹ וְשַׂמְתִּ֤י לְךָ֙ מָק֔וֹם אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָנ֖וּס שָֽׁמָּה׃ {ס}        

And if a man did not lie in wait, but God allowed it to happen to him; then I will appoint thee a place to which he shall flee.