LEV950 (Continued from [[GEN715]] Genesis 9:6 in ROSNER-BLEICH 137) R. Meir Simhah of Dvinsk, in his Biblical novella, Meshekh Hokhman, Exodus 35:2, offers an interesting scriptural foundation for this prohibition, demonstrating that, while not a penal crime, the killing of a fetus is punishable by "death at the hands of heaven." He observes that Scripture invariably refers to capital punishment by employing the formula "mot yumat--he shall surely be put to death." The use of the single expression "yumat--he shall be put to death" as, for example, in Exodus 21:29, is understood in rabbinic exegesis as having reference to death at the hands of heaven. Thus, R. Meir Simhah argues, the verse "and he that smiteth a man shall be put to death – yumat [this verse] is not simply a reiteration of the penalty for homicide but refers to such destruction of life which is punishable only at the hands of heaven, i.e. the killing of a fetus. Reference to the fetus as "a man" poses no difficulty since the fetus is indeed described as "a man" in the above stated verse (Genesis 9:6) prescribing death for feticide under the Noachide Code.