The purpose of this saying is that people should check their behavior to see if perhaps calamities are punishments for what they have done. While it is true that humans will often not be able to see a direct correlation between what happens to them and what their actions are, Judaism continues to believe that there is such a correlation. We should also note a couple of other theological statements made by this mishnah. First of all, the mishnah talks about collective punishments and not individual ones. Second of all, the mishnah teaches that God’s punishments are “measure against measure”, in other words, the punishments somehow fit the crime. Third, and perhaps most important, God is seen as responsible for everything, even the bad things that happen in this world.
Seven kinds of punishment come to the world for seven categories of transgression:
When some of them give tithes, and others do not give tithes, a famine from drought comes some go hungry, and others are satisfied. In this section and in the following two, we will see that tithes are connected to rain. In a perhaps more modern interpretation of this concept, we might say that our attitude towards the food that we grow can have an effect on the earth itself. In the first section the punishment of famine due to drought, is seen as the least of the types of famine (it is also clearly not uncommon in the dry land of Israel). Since some tithe and some do not, the punishment will only fall on part of the community. However, the mishnah does not state that those who tithe will not be punished and those who don’t will.
When they have all decided not to give tithes, a famine from tumult and drought comes; If all people decide not to tithe, then famine comes not only as a result of lack of rain, but also as a result of war. Since people will be out fighting war, they are not able to tend to their lands and many more people will go hungry.
[When they have, in addition, decided] not to set apart the dough-offering, an all-consuming famine comes. When making bread, Jewish law dictates that a piece of the dough be separated and given to the priests. This dough is called “challah”. If Jews don’t separate the challah and they don’t separate tithes, a total famine will come. In this famine people will die of their hunger.
Pestilence comes to the world for sins punishable by death according to the Torah, but which have not been referred to the court, and for neglect of the law regarding the fruits of the sabbatical year. There are several possible explanations for “sins punishable by death according to the Torah, but which have not been referred to the court”. This might refer to crimes that should have been punished by death, but were not brought to trial for various reasons (for example not enough witnesses or the perpetrator was not properly warned). Another explanation is that this refers to cases that could have been brought to trial, and maybe were, but for some reason the courts neglected their duty to execute. Yet another explanation is that this refers to crimes punishable by death at the hand of Heaven (in other words they were not referred to the court because by definition the court could not punish for these crimes. If enough people commit these crimes, perhaps reasoning that a court won’t punish them anyway, pestilence will come to the world. In addition, pestilence comes to the world because people transgress the laws of the fruit of the sabbatical year. According to Jewish law, fruit that grows on its own during the sabbatical year may be collected in order to eat, but not in order to sell. If one collects in order to eat but then has extra, he may sell the extra. Since this system is open to abuse, for only God can tell what a person’s intentions were when he collected, the punishment is great. One who thinks that he won’t bring punishment into the world because people do not see his sins, is actually causing even greater punishment.
The sword comes to the world for the delay of judgment, and for the perversion of judgment, and because of those who teach the Torah not in accordance with the accepted law. The sword, representative of war, comes to the world because of delay and perversion of justice. In other words because the system of justice was not implemented properly, society will decay into the anarchy of war, an inherently unjust situation. The sword also comes when people teach Torah not according to the accepted halakhah. Although there are many interpretations of this sentence, my sense is that it means that this person teaches Jewish law from what seems to them to be the simple meaning of the Torah. Jewish law is derived from the Torah, but it is mitigated by the oral Torah, the traditional teachings that have always accompanied the Torah. The Sadducees were the ones who taught literal interpretations of the Torah, whereas the Pharisees used tradition to help them interpret and make legal rulings.