Death Before Age Twenty: The Zohar on Divine Judgment, Mercy, and Early Death

Rabbi Rabbi Elazar said to his father, Rabbi Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai: You said earlier, in the portion of Vayera, that the Heavenly Court does not punish a person until the age of twenty. If so, one must ask: what about someone who departs from this world from the age of thirteen and above, but has not yet reached twenty? Since the Heavenly Court does not punish until twenty, from where is such a person punished for their sins if they die before reaching that age?

He explains that this is known: one who is below the age of thirteen is not liable to punishment on their own account, not even in an earthly court, and does not die because of their own sins. Rather, at times a child is punished for the sins of their father, since the child is still under the father’s authority, and therefore may die because of the father’s sin.

But one who dies from the age of thirteen and above, having already left the authority of the father, yet before reaching the age of twenty, which court punished them for their sins by causing them to die?

Rabbi Shimon, his father, said to him: It is revealed and known before the Holy One, blessed be He, that had this person grown older, they would have corrupted their ways and sinned. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, had compassion on them, allowing them to die while still innocent and without sin, and granting them good reward in the World to Come for the mitzvot they performed in this world. This is preferable to their growing older, sinning, and then dying guilty, in which case they would be punished in the World to Come. For the Holy One, blessed be He, is the Master of goodness, and His desire is to bestow good upon His creations. (Zohar, Pekudei 248; Matok MiDevash p. 342)

What Is the Judgment of a Wicked Person Who Dies Before the Age of Twenty?

Rabbi Elazar again said to his father Rabbi Shimon: You have answered me only that it is possible for a person to die without sin so that they will not later corrupt their ways. But I asked about one who is wicked, who sinned and is liable to death for their sin, and who is thirteen years or older but has not yet reached the age of twenty, and then dies. What is their status?

Rabbi Shimon said to him: Regarding such a wicked person, the verse is fulfilled, “And there is one swept away without justice” (Mishlei 13:23). This means that all the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He, are governed by justice that is rooted in mercy. He is slow to anger and compassionate toward His creations, even when they sin before Him.

However, when the attribute of mercy withdraws from the attribute of judgment because of the sins of those below, then the wicked person is judged by strict justice, as is fitting, without the extension of patience.

He further explained: When the punishment of strict judgment descends into the world due to the intensification of the sins of the wicked, to punish sinners, then this individual, who is under the age of twenty but has sinned, encounters the destroying angel unintentionally and is punished by it. This person is not judged by the Heavenly Court nor by an earthly court. Rather, they were not guarded from above, because their sins caused the divine protection to be withdrawn and the attribute of mercy to depart from them. Therefore, the destroyer, the Angel of Death, is able to kill them.

Regarding such a person it is written, “His own iniquities shall ensnare the wicked” (Mishlei 5:22). The word “his” comes to include even one who has not yet reached the age of twenty and is not ordinarily subject to punishment. Even so, their sins ensnare them, and they are seized by the hand of the destroying angel.

This means that through the removal of divine protection from above, their sins trap them in the net of the destroyer. It is not the Heavenly Court that punished them, but rather the destructive forces created by their own sins, upon which they lean as they accompany them. In other words, the sin itself prosecutes against them and exacts retribution.

They are also not punished by an earthly court, for this discussion does not concern one who committed sins that incur the death penalty by human judgment. (Tikkunei Zohar 81, Tikkun 40; Matok MiDevash pp. 654–655)