Execution

Execution

or capital punishment, among the Jews, when lawful and regular, was of one of the following kinds.

1. Death by the sword ( לְפִי חֶרֶב, or הִכָּה בְחֶרְב, also sinply הִכָּה; 2 Samuel 1:15; 2 Kings 10:25; Jeremiah 26:23), by which, however, we are not to understand beheading (in 2 Kings 10:7, the bodies were probably decapitated after death), as the Rabbins will have it (Mishna, Sanhedr. 7:3), a penalty that early occurs in Egypt ( Genesis 40:1)), and later in the Roman period among the Jews, as the introduction of foreign princes ( Matthew 14:10 sq.), and as is probably meant in Acts 12:2 (comp. Josephus, Ant. 15:1, 2); but the offender was stabbed or cut to death, as the case might be.

2. Stoning (q.v.); since the shooting with a dart, mentioned in Exodus 19:13, was only selected in place of this when an individual was to be put to death at a distance. These punishments were intensified by indignities to the corpse; namely,

(a.) Burning ( שָּׂרִ Š בָּאֶשׁ, Levo 20:14; 21:9; compare Joshua 7:15; Joshua 7:25; Genesis 38:24; 1 Maccabees 3:5; [see Michaelis in loc.]). That we are here not to think of a burning alive, we may gather from Joshua 7:25; and it is the more probable from the procedure detailed in the Mishna (Sanhedr. 7:2), which directs that the delinquent's mouth should be forced open by a cloth drawn around the neck, and melted lead then be poured in!

(b.) Hanging ( תָּלָה ) on a tree or post ( Deuteronomy 21:22; Numbers 25:4; comp. Joshua 10:26; 2 Samuel 4:12; 1 Samuel 31:8; 1 Samuel 31:10), with which mutilation of the dead body was often connected ( 2 Samuel 4:12). The person hung was regarded as execrated ( Deuteronomy 21:23; comp. Galatians 3:13), and was not allowed to remain suspended over night ( Deuteronomy 21:23; comp. Joshua 8:29; Joshua 10:26 sq.), through fear of tainting the atmosphere, since putrescence soon began. The opposite treatment was deemed an extraordinary severity ( 2 Samuel 21:6; 2 Samuel 21:9 sq.). The hanging of a living person ( Ezra 6:11) is a Persian punishment. Under the Herods this custom was likewise introduced among the Jews (Josephus, Ant. 16:11, 6), as in the Roman period in Egypt (Philo, 2:529).

(c.) Finally, a heap of stones ( גִּל אֲבָנַים גָּדול ) was thrown over the body, i.e., the grave ( Joshua 7:25 sq.; Joshua 8:29; 2 Samuel 18:17), This dishonor is still common in the East (Panlus, Neu. Repert. 2:53; Jahn, Archaol II, 2:353). One of these kinds of punishment is constantly referred to by the legislative precept, "That soul shall be cut off from the people" ( יְנִכְרְתָה הִנֶּפֶשׁ הִהיא מִקֶּרבֵ עִמּו, or מֵעִמֶּיהָ ), as especially appears from Exodus 31:14; Leviticus 17:4; Leviticus 20:17 (see Michaelis, Mos. Rech', 5:37 sq.; the cases are specified in the Mishna, Cherithuth, 1:1); but the Rabbins are not altogether agreed; comp. Abarbanel on Numbers 15:30; also in Ugolini Thesaur. 30); not, as most will have it, a mere interdict from political or religious privileges. (See Excommunication). All penal inflictions were usually speedy ( Joshua 7:24 sq.; 1 Samuel 22:16), and originally inflicted directly by the populace, but under the kings by their body-guard, or one of their attendants. (See Cherethite).

Foreign punishments, unknown to the Jewish law, were the following:

1. Sawing in pieces ( 2 Samuel 12:31). (See Saw).

2. Dichotomy, i.e., cutting asunder ( διχοτομεῖν or μελίζειν=" quartering") or dismemberment ( שִׁסֵּ Š, 1 Samuel 15:33; μελιστὶ διαιρεῖν, Josephus, Ant. 15:8, 4; a barbarous instance is given in Josephus, Ant. 13:12, 6; and an inhuman murder in Judges 19:29; but 1 Kings 3:25, does not belong here) of the living being (see Krumbholz, Depznaper τὸ διχοτομεῖν signeiicata, in the Bibl. Brem. 7:234 sq.), which was universal among the Babylonians ( Daniel 2:5; Daniel 3:29 : in 2 Samuel 4:12; 2 Maccabees 1:16, mangling after death is indicated by way of infamy; compare Livy, 8:28; in Ezekiel 16:40; Ezekiel 20:47, dichotomy is not to be understood), as well as Egyptians (Herod. 2:139; 3:13) and Persians (Herod. 7:39; Died. Sic. 17:83; comp. Horace, Sat. 1:1, 99 sq.; 2 Maccabees 7:8; Matthew 24:51; Luke 12:46; Koran, 20:74; 26:49; Assemani, Martyrol. Or. 1:241 sq.). 3. Precipitation ( שְׁמִיטָה 2 Chronicles 25:12; comp. Psalm cxli. 6 κατακρημνισμός, Luke 4:29; comp. 2 Maccabees 6:10) from a rock ("dejicere de saxo Tarpeio" or "ex aggere," Suetonius, Calig. 27) is well known as a Roman mode of execution (for the Athenians, see Wachsmuth, Hellen. Alterth. 2:20). 4. Tympanisn ( τυμπανισμός ), or beating to death ( Hebrews 11:35; A.V. "torture;" comp. Aristot. Rhet. 2:5; Lucian, Jup. Trag. 19, etc.), of which the instrument was a cudgel ( τύμπανον, 2 Maccabees 6:19; 2 Maccabees 6:28, A.V. "torment;" Aristophanes, Plut. 476); but it is uncertain whether we are thereby to understand simply a club with which the unfortunates were dispatched, or a wooden hoop upon which they were stretched in the manner of a rack (comp. Joseph us, De Maccab. 8:5 and 9). (See Tympanum).

Besides the above, the following methods of execution are. named in the Bible as practiced by nations in the neighborhood of Palestine: 1. Burning alive in a furnace ( Daniel 3:6; Daniel 3:11; Daniel 3:15; Daniel 3:19 sq.), which occurs in modern Persia (Chardin, Voyage, 6:218), is of very early date (if we may trust the traditions concerning Abraham [q.v.], Targ. on 2 Chronicles 28:3); likewise roasting or boiling convicts over a slow fire. ( Jeremiah 29:22 [see Hebenstreit, De Achali et Zelekie cupplicio, Lips. 1736]; 2 Maccabees 6:5). (See John (The Apostle).) An example of burning alive does not occur (2 Samuel 21:31, marg. מלבן; see Thenius. in loc.) until the time of Herod (Josephus, War, 1:33, 4); but in Egypt the vindictive Roman magistrates took pleasure in burning Jews (Philo, 2:542, 527). No instances of burying alive (Ctesias, Pers. 41:53; Livy, 8:15, etc.) are found in the Scriptures ( Numbers 16:30 sq., is not in point). 2. Casting into the lions' den (Daniel 6). (See Lion); DEN.

3. Sufocation in hot ashes ( 2 Maccabees 13:5 sq.; comp. Valer. Max. 9:2, 6, "He filled with ashes a place inclosed by high evalls, with a beam projecting within, upon which he placed the doomed, so that, when overcome with drowsiness, they fell into the insidious ash-heap below;" see Ctesias, Pers. 47 and 52). (See Ashes).

4. Dashing in pieces children (sucklings) an the corneas of walls, which occurred on the sack of cities ( Isaiah 13:16; Isaiah 13:18; Hosea 14:1; Nahum 3:10; comp. Psalms 137:9), like the ripping open of pregnant women ( 2 Kings 8:12; 2 Kings 15:16; Hosea 14:1; Amos 1:13), is, with the exception of 2 Kings 14:16, only a heathenish barbarity. On crucifixion, (See Crucify).

5. Finally, drowning ( καταποντισμός, Matthew 18:6), and fighting with wild beasts ( θηριομαχία, 1 Corinthians 15:32), are but casually alluded to in the N.T. Drowning, as a mode of inflicting death, is old (comp. Exodus 1:22). Among the Romans, those guilty of parricide were sewed in sacks (culei) and then drowned (Cicero, Rose. Am. 25; ad Herean. 1, 13; Seneca, Clem. 1:15; Juvenal, 8:214); but this in the time of the emperors came to be deemed an inhuman mode of execution (comp. Josephus, A at. 14:15, 10; War, 1:22, 2; Lactantius, Mort. persec. 15:3); and thus remaining under the water ( Jeremiah 51:63) was thought a peculiarly severe fate (Josephus, Apiosm, 1:04; comp. Matthew 18:6; see Gitz, De pistrinis vett. page 131 sq.; Grdfe, De καταποντισμῷ, num fuerit supplic. Judaeorums, Lips. 1662.; Welleius, De supplicio submers. Havn. 1701; Scherer, De καταποντ ap. antiq. Argent. 17:4). Such cruel punishments sometimes followved the mutilations of martyrdom ( 2 Maccabees 7:4; 2 Maccabees 7:7; 2 Maccabees 7:10). On tlmairomachy, (See Games); and on the passage 3 Maccabees 5, comp. Porphyry, Abstin. 2:57. See generally Carpzov, Appar. page 581 sq.; Alichaelis, De judiciis poenisque capitatibus in S.S. (Hal. 1749; also in Ugolini Thesaur. 26, and Pott's Sylloge, 4:177 sq.); Jahn, Archdol. II, 2:347 sq.; Alichaelis, Mosaisches Racht, 5:11 sq. (See Punishment).