(3) You shall kindle no fire throughout your settlements on the sabbath day.

(1) לא תבערו אש YOU SHALL NOT KINDLE A FIRE [THROUGHOUT YOUR HABITATIONS ON THE SABBATH DAY] — There are some of our Rabbis who say that the law about kindling fire is singled out (i.e. it is specially mentioned here although it is included in לא תעשה כל מלאכה, the law prohibiting all work on Sabbath) in order to constitute it a mere negative command (thus indicating that, like all other negative commands, its infringement is punishable by lashes but does not make the offender liable to death as does the doing of other work on Sabbath). Others, however, say that it was singled out in order to separate the various kinds of work comprised in the term כל מלאכה (thus indicating that each transgression of the Sabbath law is to be atoned for separately if several of them have been committed at the same time and under the same circumstances) (cf. Shabbat 70a; Yevamot 6b; Sanhedrin 35b; cf. also Pesachim 5b).

(1) לא תבערו אש, seeing that in connection with the festivals the Torah wrote that work in connection with the preparation of food was permitted on such days, meaning that the handling of fire was permitted. (Exodus 12.16) Moses had specifically permitted baking and cooking (Exodus 16,23). In view of this the Torah considered it as necessary to repeat the prohibition of handling fire on the Sabbath. If this kind of work was prohibited on the Sabbath, other work which was far less urgent was certainly prohibited also.

(1) YOU SHALL KINDLE NO FIRE. Since Scripture earlier mentioned with regard to the first and the seventh day of the festival of unleavened bread, no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat (Ex. 12:16), namely, that it is permitted to prepare food on these days, it now states with regard to the Sabbath, you shall kindle no fire to bake bread or to cook meat, for fire is required in preparing all food. Rabbi Saadiah Gaon composed a very important work refuting those who dispute with the ancients regarding the Sabbath lights.

(1) YOU SHALL KINDLE NO FIRE THROUGHOUT YOUR HABITATIONS UPON THE SABBATH DAY. The meaning of this verse is clearly to prohibit also on the Sabbath doing any work necessary for the preparation of food, since God said, whoever does work therein shall be put to death, and God further explained that they should also not kindle fire, in order to bake bread and boil meat, for fire is needed in the preparation of all food. This had to be stated because God did not say here: “whosoever does ‘any manner’ of work,” just as God said in the Ten Commandments, you shall not do any manner of work, but instead He merely said “work” without specifying any type. Therefore we might have excluded from the general statement [whoever does work …] all activity necessary for the preparation of food, for we find it said about the feast of unleavened bread, you shalt not do work therein, and yet the preparation of food is not included [in the scope of its prohibition]. It is for this reason that here God mentioned expressly that the preparation of food is also forbidden on the Sabbath.
I have found a similar text in the Midrash: “Rabbi Nathan says: You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath-day. Why is this said? Because it is stated, And Moses assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel. I might think that one should be allowed to light a candle, to put away food to be kept warm, and to make a fire on the Sabbath. Therefore Scripture says, You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath-day.” This corresponds closely to that which we have said, that these works [mentioned in the Mechilta], since they are of direct benefit to the body, were not included in the first prohibition. Thus Rabbi Nathan wanted to say that the purpose of the verse here is not to prohibit baking, cooking, and the rest of the activities involved in the preparation of food, for these have already been prohibited to them by the verse, Bake that [on the sixth day of the week] which you will bake [i.e., which ye intend to bake on the Sabbath], and cook that which you will cook. But yet I might think that all activities which benefit man in such a way that the benefit is only to the body — such as lighting a candle, making fire, or washing one’s whole body in hot water — should be allowed, for these are part of the delight of the Sabbath. Therefore it says, You shall kindle no fire — to prohibit all [mentioned activities even if done for these purposes].
Our Rabbis in the Talmud have yet another Midrash on this verse, because it does not say: “Whoever does any manner of work therein shall be put to death,” or “Whoever kindles fire throughout your habitations shall be put to death.” Therefore they said that the kindling of fire was singled out in order to make it punishable in a less stringent manner, [namely by lashes], since it is a mere negative command, [whereas violation of the Sabbath by doing any of the other kinds of work is punishable by death]. But another Sage holds that it was singled out in order to separate it, since it was included in the prohibition, you shalt not do any manner of work.

You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwelling places on the Sabbath. Fire is separated from the others in order to permit fire in the Temple and to say specifically "in all of your dwelling places you shall not kindle fire." But in the Temple one is allowed to kindle fire (Shabbat 20). Or in order for it not to be said that just as we are forbidden from all the the melacha of the home, we should also be from the melacha of the Tabernacle, and what is permitted in the Tabernacle should also be in the home. Scripture teaches us otherwise (Ex. 35:3) "You shall not kindle a fire" is a general principle for every form of work from the Tabernacle; even though they were allowed there, nevertheless they are forbidden in all of your dwelling places.

(1) לא תבערו אש, even though generally speaking, lighting a fire is not a productive but a destructive activity, seeing that it is an almost indispensable ingredient in most activities the Torah prohibited it as unsuitable for the Sabbath.