פירוש על ברכות 42:11

I.e. use the severest form of execution (viz. stoning) on such flimsy grounds! He therefore proceeds to give a stronger argument.

Why is it specially mentioned of them that they shall be stoned? Cf. Lev. 20:27.

This is an illustration of the eighth of R. Ishmael's exegetical principles by which the Torah is expounded : If anything is included in a general proposition [diviners are in the category of sorcerers] and is then made the subject of a special statement [as in Lev. xx. 27], that which is predicated of it [viz. death by stoning] is not to be understood as limited to itself alone, but is to be applied to the whole of the general proposition ; Singer, pp. 13 f. It is hereby shown that R. Judah rejected the inference from juxtaposition and based his conclusion upon this rule.