Crimes And Punishments
Holman Bible Dictionary [1]
The responsibility for the fulfillment and enforcement of the law lay with the entire community. The transgression of the law by one person or group within Israel involved the whole community in the guilt of the act. This is especially true in cases of homicide, idolatry, and sexual offenses (see, for example, Deuteronomy 19:10; Deuteronomy 21:1-9; 2 Kings 24:1-7 ). When Israel failed to purge the offender and rebellion against God's Law from their midst, God punished Israel ( Leviticus 18:26-28; Leviticus 26:3-45; Deuteronomy 28:1 ).
Israelite Law with respect to crime and punishment was distinct from the laws of other cultures in several ways. First, Israel, in contrast to many of its neighbors, did not consider crimes against property to be capital crimes. Israel observed a system of corporal punishment and/or fines for lesser crimes. Second, Israel restricted the law of retaliation (eye for an eye; lex talionis ) to the person of the offender. Other cultures permitted the family to be punished to the crimes of the offender. Third, Israel did not observe class differences in the enforcement of the Law to the extent that their neighbors did. Nobility and commoner, priest and lay people were treated equally in theory. However, slaves and sojourners (foreigners) did not have an equal standing with free Israelites—though their treatment in Israel was often better than in surrounding nations; and women did not have equal standing with the men in Israelite culture—especially in regard to marriage and divorce laws and laws pertaining to sexual offenses. Finally, Israelites (in contrast to the people of surrounding nations) could not substitute sacrifices for intentional breaches of the law; sin and guilt offerings were allowed only in the cases of unwitting sins ( Leviticus 4-5 ).
Crimes and Capital Punishment in the Old TestamentIsraelite law considered some crimes serious enough to warrant capital punishment. The offenses subject to capital punishment were: intentional homicide ( Exodus 21:12; Leviticus 24:17; Numbers 35:16-21 ,Numbers 35:16-21, 35:29-34 ), giving false testimony in capital cases ( Deuteronomy 19:16-21 ), idolatry ( Exodus 20:3-5; Leviticus 20:1-5; Numbers 25:1-9; Deuteronomy 13:2-19; Deuteronomy 17:2-7; 1 Kings 15:11-13; 2 Kings 10:18-28 ), kidnapping an Israelite ( Exodus 21:16; Deuteronomy 24:7 ), incest, homosexuality, and beastiality ( Exodus 22:19; Leviticus 20:11-17 ), rape (if the victim did not cry for help, she, too, should be executed; Deuteronomy 22:23-27 ), adultery ( Leviticus 20:10-12; Deuteronomy 22:22 ), other sexual relations outside marriage ( Leviticus 21:9; Deuteronomy 22:20-21 ,Deuteronomy 22:20-21, 22:23-24 ), false prophecy ( Deuteronomy 13:1-5; Deuteronomy 18:20-22; 1 Kings 22:19-28; Jeremiah 26:9 ,Jeremiah 26:9, 26:15-16; Jeremiah 28:5-9 ), magic, divination, and witchcraft ( Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 19:26 ,Leviticus 19:26, 19:31; Leviticus 20:6 ,Leviticus 20:6, 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:10; 1Samuel 28:3, 1 Samuel 28:9 ), violation of the Sabbath ( Exodus 20:8-11; Exodus 23:12 Exodus 31:14-17; Exodus 34:21; Exodus 35:1;Exodus 35:1; 2:1; Leviticus 23:3; Numbers 15:32-36; Nehemiah 13:15-22 ), blasphemy ( Leviticus 24:14-16 ,Leviticus 24:14-16, 24:23; 1 Kings 21:13 ), cursing or striking one's parents ( Exodus 21:15 ,Exodus 21:15, 21:17 ), disobeying the ruling of the court of appeals ( Deuteronomy 17:8-13 ), and certain crimes against the king ( 1 Samuel 20:31; 1 Samuel 22:7-19; 2 Samuel 12:5; 2 Samuel 13:30; 2 Samuel 15:12; 2Samuel 16:5-9, 2 Samuel 16:21; 1Kings 1:21, 1 Kings 1:51; 1 Kings 2:22-25; 1 Kings 12:18-19; 1 Kings 21:10 ).
Since capital crimes were considered a blot on the community, not only did capital punishment punish the offender, it also purified Israel ( Deuteronomy 13:5; Deuteronomy 17:7 ,Deuteronomy 17:7, 17:12; Deuteronomy 19:19; Deuteronomy 21:21; Deuteronomy 22:21-22 ,Deuteronomy 22:21-22, 22:24; Deuteronomy 24:7; Judges 20:13; 2 Samuel 4:11 ). Israelite law held that public execution served as a deterrent ( Deuteronomy 17:13; Deuteronomy 19:20; Deuteronomy 21:21 ).
Methods of capital punishment included stoning ( Exodus 19:13; Leviticus 20:27; Leviticus 24:14; Deuteronomy 22:24; Joshua 7:25; 1 Kings 21:13 ), burning ( Genesis 38:24; Leviticus 20:14; Leviticus 21:9 ), death by the sword ( Deuteronomy 13:15; 1 Kings 18:40; 2 Kings 23:20 ), beheading ( 2 Kings 6:31-32; compare 2 Samuel 16:9 ), and being shot with an arrow ( Exodus 19:13 ). The bodies (or heads) of executed persons were some times impaled and exposed to public view as a warning ( Deuteronomy 21:22-23 ); at times the bodies of executed persons were mutilated ( 2 Samuel 4:12 ). See Capital Punishment .
Being “Cut Off” from Israel Often in the Old Testament the punishment for a particular crime is termed being “cut off” from Israel. The meaning of the phrase is somewhat ambiguous. Some interpret the phrase to mean excommunication or exile from Israel or the community of faith while others interpret it as the pronouncement of the death penalty. The latter position is accepted in this article. Often the phrase “cut off” is used in parallel with words or phrases or in contexts which clearly indicate death ( Exodus 31:14; Deuteronomy 12:29; Deuteronomy 19:1; 2 Samuel 7:9; 1 Kings 11:16; Jeremiah 7:28; Jeremiah 11:19; Ezekiel 14:13 ,Ezekiel 14:13, 14:17 ,Ezekiel 14:17, 14:19 ,Ezekiel 14:19, 14:21; Ezekiel 17:17; Ezekiel 25:7; Ezekiel 29:8; Amos 1:5 ,Amos 1:5, 1:8; Amos 2:3; Obadiah 1:9-10; Nahum 3:15; Zechariah 13:8 ). See Excommunication .
The offenses that make one liable to being “cut off” are: the men of Israel who are uncircumcised ( Genesis 17:14; compare Exodus 4:24; Joshua 5:2-9 ), eating leavened bread during the feast of unleavened bread ( Exodus 12:15 ,Exodus 12:15, 12:19 ), trying to copy or using the holy anointing oil on outsiders ( Exodus 30:33 ), profaning the Sabbath ( Exodus 31:14 ), partaking of sacrifices in an unclean state ( Leviticus 7:20-21 ,Leviticus 7:20-21, 7:25; Leviticus 19:8; compare 1 Samuel 2:33 ), eating blood ( Leviticus 7:27; Leviticus 17:10 ,Leviticus 17:10, 17:14 ), offering sacrifices in a place other than the tabernacle ( Leviticus 17:3-4 ,Leviticus 17:3-4, 17:8-9 ), certain sexual offenses ( Leviticus 18:29; Leviticus 20:17-18 ), child sacrifices to Molech ( Leviticus 20:1 ,Leviticus 20:1, 3:1 ,Leviticus 3:1, 5:1 ), consulting wizards or mediums ( Leviticus 20:6; Micah 5:12 ), approaching holy things in an unclean state ( Leviticus 22:3; Numbers 19:13 ,Numbers 19:13, 19:20 ), improperly observing the Day of Atonement ( Leviticus 23:29 ), not observing the Passover ( Numbers 9:13 ), committing a high handed sin (sinning intentionally or defiantly; Numbers 15:30-31 ), idolatry ( 1 Kings 9:6-7; 1Kings 14:9-10, 1 Kings 14:14; 1 Kings 21:21; Ezekiel 14:7-8; Micah 5:13; Zephaniah 1:4; Zechariah 13:2 ), and those God curses ( Psalm 37:22 ). The idea of being “cut off” is also mentioned in the New Testament ( Romans 9:3; Romans 11:22; compare 1 Corinthians 16:22; Galatians 1:6 : Galatians 5:12 ).
Crimes and Corporal Punishment in the Old Testament Crimes of a lesser nature (usually those involving premeditated bodily injury) were punished with some sort of corporal punishment. The law of retaliation (eye for an eye; lex talionis) was the operative principle in most cases involving corporal punishment ( Exodus 21:23-25; Leviticus 24:19-22; Deuteronomy 19:21 ).
The law of retaliation may seem to some to be rather harsh and even crude. In our own modern world, we would sue a person responsible for putting out an eye before we would put that person's eye out. In the ancient world, however, the law of retaliation served to restrict the vengeance taken on one who inflicted bodily injury. For example, it prevented the killing of a person who had put out the eye of another. The law of retaliation helped make the punishment fit the crime.
Besides the law of retaliation, corporal punishments also included scourging ( Deuteronomy 25:1-3 ), blinding ( Genesis 19:11; 2 Kings 6:18; compare Judges 16:21; 2 Kings 25:7 ), plucking out hair ( Nehemiah 13:25; Isaiah 50:6 ), and the sale of a thief into slavery who could not pay the monetary penalties ( Exodus 22:1-3; compare Leviticus 25:39; 2 Kings 4:1; Nehemiah 5:5 ). In one instance, mutilation is prescribed ( Deuteronomy 25:11-12 ).
Crimes and Fines in the Old Testament Fines were always paid to the injured party. Fines were prescribed for causing a miscarriage ( Exodus 21:22 ), deflowering a virgin ( Exodus 22:16-17; compare Deuteronomy 22:29 ), sexually violating a slave woman promised to another man in marriage ( Leviticus 19:20 ), and in some cases where an ox gored a person causing death ( Exodus 21:28-32 ). A thief (one who steals by stealth) may be fined double, four-fold, or five-fold the value of the stolen goods, depending on what was stolen ( Exodus 22:1-4 ,Exodus 22:1-4, 22:9 ). A robber (one who steals by force or intimidation) must return the stolen property plus one-fifth of its value plus make a guilt offering ( Leviticus 6:1-7 ). The difference between the penalties for thievery and robbery is difficult to explain. Should a man falsely accuse his bride of being unchaste, the man is fined double the marriage present (100 shekels of silver; Deuteronomy 22:19 ). One who inflicted unpremeditated bodily injury must compensate the victim for the loss of income plus pay the costs of recovery ( Exodus 21:18-19 ). If a person should cause the loss of eye or tooth of his slave, the slave was freed ( Exodus 21:26-27 ).
Crimes and Punishments in the New Testament There is no body of legal material in the New Testament comparable to that found in the Old Testament. Jesus did comment in the Sermon on the Mount on some of the matters discussed above. He expanded the prohibition of killing to include anger ( Matthew 5:21-26 ) and the prohibition against adultery to include lust ( Matthew 5:27-30 ). In contrast to the Old Testament, Jesus forbade divorce except on the grounds of unchastity ( Matthew 5:31-32 ). With regard to the law of retaliation, Jesus desired that his disciples waive their rights to reparations ( Matthew 5:38-42 ).
During the period of the New Testament, the Jews seem to have had relative autonomy in the matters of their religious law and customs. Even Jewish communities outside Palestine were under the authority of the high priest ( Acts 9:1-2 ) and were allowed some measure of autonomy in religious matters ( Acts 18:12-17 ).
Whether or not the Jews had the authority under the Roman government to impose the death penalty is a debated question. When Jesus was brought to trial, the Jews' reason for bringing him to Pilate was that they did not have the power to execute criminals ( John 18:31 ). One ancient rabbinic tradition in the Babylonian Talmud (Abodah Zarah 8b) holds that the Jews lost the power to execute criminals for about 40 years. However, incidents in the New Testament seem to indicate otherwise: statements made at Peter's trial ( Acts 5:27-42 ), the stoning of Stephen ( Acts 7:57-60 ), attempted lynchings ( Acts 9:23-24; Acts 14:19; Acts 23:12-15 ), the authority to kill foreigners caught trespassing in certain areas of the temple ( Acts 21:28-31 , a practice reported by Josephus, an ancient Jewish historian), and a statement made by Paul ( Acts 26:10 ). Other ancient Jewish records of stonings and burnings indicates that the Jews may have had the authority to impose the death penalty.
The Jews during the period of the New Testament had the power to impose corporal punishment. This consisted primarily of scourgings ( Matthew 10:17; Acts 5:40; Acts 22:19; 2 Corinthians 11:24 ) and excommunication ( Luke 6:22; John 9:22; John 12:42; John 16:2 ).
The procurator was Rome's legal representative in the provinces of the Roman empire. He intervened in local affairs when the public peace and order were threatened—especially by sedition, riot, or brigandage (compare Acts 5:36-37 ). The charge against Jesus was a claim to be “King of the Jews” ( Matthew 27:37 ). Roman punishments included crucifixion (usually reserved only for slaves and the lower classes), beheading (see Matthew 14:10; Revelation 20:4 ), lifetime sentences to work in the mines (that is, kept in bonds; Acts 23:29; Acts 26:31 ), scourging ( Acts 16:22; Acts 22:24 ), and imprisonment ( Acts 16:23-24 ). See Appeal To Caesar .
Phil Logan
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [2]
CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS . The term ‘crimes’ is here used loosely in the sense of punishable offences, including not merely crimes ( crimina ) in the sense of breaches of the criminal law in the modern sense, and torts ( delicta ) or breaches of the civil law, but also those offences in the sphere of religion and worship to which definite penalties were attached. Within the limits of this article it is possible to present only a summary of the more important and typical punishable offences recognized in the various Hebrew law-codes. The latter, indicated by the usual symbols, are: (1) BC, the oldest code, known as the Book of the Covenant, Exodus 20:22 to Exodus 23:33 , with which for convenience sake is joined the Decalogue of Exodus 20:2-17; (2) D [Note: Deuteronomist.] , the Deuteronomic Code, Deuteronomy 12:1-32; Deuteronomy 13:1-18; Deuteronomy 14:1-29; Deuteronomy 15:1-23; Deuteronomy 16:1-22; Deuteronomy 17:1-20; Deuteronomy 18:1-22; Deuteronomy 19:1-21; Deuteronomy 20:1-20; Deuteronomy 21:1-23; Deuteronomy 22:1-30; Deuteronomy 23:1-25; Deuteronomy 24:1-22; Deuteronomy 25:1-19; Deuteronomy 26:1-19; Deuteronomy 27:1-26; Deuteronomy 28:1-68; (3) H [Note: Law of Holiness.] , the Holiness Code, Leviticus 17:1-16; Leviticus 18:1-30; Leviticus 19:1-37; Leviticus 20:1-27; Leviticus 21:1-24; Leviticus 22:1-33; Leviticus 23:1-44; Leviticus 24:1-23; Leviticus 25:1-55; Leviticus 26:1-46; and (4) P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] , the great collection of laws known as the Priests’ Code, and comprising the rest of the legislative material of the Pentateuch. In the case of P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] alone will it be necessary to name the books (Ex., Lv., or Nu.) to which reference is made.
The penal offences of the Pentateuch may be conveniently grouped under the three heads of crimes against J″ [Note: Jahweh.] , against society (including property), and against the individual.
1. A. Crimes against J″ [Note: Jahweh.] , or offences in the sphere of religion and worship. Although it is true that misdemeanours of every kind were in the last resort offences against J″ [Note: Jahweh.] , who was regarded as the only fountain of law and justice, it will be convenient to group under this head those belonging to the special sphere of religious belief and its outward expression in worship. Among these the first place must be given to the worship of heathen deities condemned in the strongest terms in BC (from 20:3 onwards) and D [Note: Deuteronomist.] and of the heavenly bodies , D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 17:3 (cf. Deuteronomy 4:19 ). The penalty is death under the ban (BC Deuteronomy 22:20 , D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 13:12 ff. [see Ban]), or by stoning (D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 17:5 ). Inseparable from this form of apostasy is the crime of idolatry , entailing the curse of God (D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 27:15 ). Blasphemy , or profanation of the Divine name, is forbidden in all the codes; the penalty is death by stoning (H [Note: Law of Holiness.] Deuteronomy 24:13 ff.). The practice of magic , wizardry, and similar black arts, exposes their adepts and those who resort to them to the same penalty (H [Note: Law of Holiness.] DEU 20:27).
2. The punishment for doing ‘any work on the Sabbath day ’ is death, but only in the later legislation ( Exodus 31:15 [probably H [Note: Law of Holiness.] ] Exodus 35:2 [P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ]; cf. the very late Haggadic section, Numbers 15:32 ff.). For neglect of ordinances, to use a familiar phrase, such as failing to observe the fast of the Day of Atonement (H [Note: Law of Holiness.] Numbers 23:29 ), or to keep the Passover ( Numbers 9:13 [P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ], an offender was liable to be ‘cut off from his people’; see below). This was also the punishment prescribed for a number of offences that may be grouped under the head of sacrilege , such as partaking of blood ( Leviticus 7:27 [P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ]), and the unauthorized manufacture and use of the holy anointing oil ( Exodus 30:32 f. [P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ]).
3. B. Crimes against Society. As the family, according to Hebrew ideas, was the unit of society, the crimes that mar the sanctities of family life may be taken first. Such pre-eminently was adultery , severely condemned in all the codes, the punishment for both parties being death (D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 22:22 , H [Note: Law of Holiness.] Deuteronomy 20:10 ). In a case of seduction the man was required to marry her whom he had wronged, if her father gave consent (BC Deuteronomy 22:16 f.), paying the latter a ‘dowry,’ i.e. the usual purchase price (see Marriage), estimated in D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 22:29 at 50 shekels of silver. On the other hand, the penalty for rape , if the victim was betrothed, was death (D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 22:25 ff.), as it was for unnatural crimes like sodomy (H [Note: Law of Holiness.] Deuteronomy 18:22 , Deuteronomy 20:13 ‘thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind’) and bestiality (BC Deuteronomy 22:19 , H [Note: Law of Holiness.] Deuteronomy 20:15 f.). The marriage of near kin is forbidden in H [Note: Law of Holiness.] Deuteronomy 18:6-18 under seventeen heads (see Marriage). Incest with a step-mother or a daughter-in-law was punishable by the death of both parties (H [Note: Law of Holiness.] Deuteronomy 20:11 f.), while for a man to marry ‘a wife and her mother’ was a crime that could be expiated only by the death of all three, and that, as many hold (see below), by being burnt alive ( ib. Deuteronomy 20:14 ). Ordinary prostitution is condemned by H [Note: Law of Holiness.] 19:29 (cf. D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 22:21 ) for a priest’s daughter the punishment was even death by burning ( Deuteronomy 21:9 ) while the wide-spread heathen practice of establishing religious prostitutes, male and female, at the local sanctuaries is specially reprobated in D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 23:17 f., where the male prostitute is to be recognized under the inexact term ‘sodomite,’ and the contemptuous ‘dog.’
4. To carry disrespect for one’s parents to the extent of smiting (BC 21:15), or cursing them (BC 21:17, H [Note: Law of Holiness.] 20:9), or even of showing persistent contumacy (D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 21:18 ff.), entailed the extreme penalty of death at the hands of the local authorities.
5. Everything that would tend to impair the impartial and effective administration of justice is emphatically condemned in the Hebrew codes, the giving and receiving of bribes , in particular, being forbidden even in the oldest legislation (BC 23:8 ‘for a gift blindeth them that have sight’). Against those who would defeat the ends of justice by perjury and false witness , the law is rightly severe (D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 19:15 ff.). Tale-bearing (H [Note: Law of Holiness.] 19:16), and the spreading of a report known to be false (BC 23:1), are condemned, while in the more heinous case of a man slandering his newly-wedded wife, the elders of the city are to amerce him in an hundred shekels (D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 22:18-21 ).
6. Property had also to be protected against theft (BC 20:15) and burglary (22:2), with which may be classed the crime of removing the boundary-stones of a neighbour’s property to increase one’s own (D [Note: Deuteronomist.] 19:14), and the use of false weights and measures (D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 25:15 ff., H [Note: Law of Holiness.] 19:35ff.). The earliest code likewise deals with trespass (BC 22:5), and arson , or wilful fire-raising ( ib. v. 6), for which the penalty in either case was restitution.
7. C. Crimes against the Individual. BC 21:15 26 deals with various forms of assault , a crime to which the pre-Mosaic jus talionis (see below) was specially applicable. Kidnapping a freeman was a criminal offence involving the death penalty (BC 21:16, D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 24:17 ). Murder naturally has a place in the penal legislation of all the codes from BC 20:13 onwards. The legislators, as is well known, were careful to distinguish between murder deliberately planned and executed (BC 21:14, D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 19:11 ff.) and unpremeditated homicide or manslaughter (BC 21:13, D [Note: Deuteronomist.] 19:4ff., and esp. P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] , Numbers 35:9 ff.). The former, with certain exceptions (BC 21:20, 22:2), entailed capital punishment in accordance with the fundamental principle laid down in Genesis 9:6; in the case of ‘the manslayer’ special provision was made for the mitigation of the ancient right of blood revenge (see Refuge [Cities of]).
8. Punishments. From the earliest period of which we have any record two forms of punishment prevailed among the Hebrews and their Semitic kinsfolk, viz. retaliation and restitution . Retaliation , the jus talionis of Roman law, received its classical expression in the oldest Hebrew code: ‘thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe’ (BC 21:23f.). The talio , as has already been mentioned, was specially applicable in cases of injury from assault. When life had been taken, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the right of enforcing the jus talionis lay with the dead man’s next of kin (see Kin [Next of]).
In BC restitution varies from fivefold for an ox, and fourfold for a sheep that has been stolen and thereafter killed or sold, to twofold if the animal is still in the thief’s possession (BC 22:1 4), and finally to a simple equivalent in the case of wilful damage to a neighbour’s property ( ib. v. 5f.). Compensation by a money payment was admitted for loss of time through bodily injury (BC 21:19), for loss of property (vv. 33 35), but not, in Hebrew law, for loss of life, except in the cases mentioned BC 21:30. The payments of 100 shekels and 50 shekels respectively ordained in D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 22:19; Deuteronomy 22:29 appear to the modern eye as fines , but fall in reality under the head of compensation paid to the father of the women in question.
9. In the penal code of the Hebrews there is a comparative lack of what may be termed intermediate penalties. Imprisonment , for example, has no place in the Pentateuch codes as an authorized form of punishment, although frequent cases occur in later times and apparently with legal sanction (see Ezra 7:26 ). The use of the stocks also was known to the Jewish ( Jeremiah 20:2 f.) as well as to the Roman authorities ( Acts 16:24 ). Beating with rods and scourging with the lash were also practised. The former seems intended in D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 25:1 ff., but later Jewish practice substituted a lash of three thongs, thirteen strokes of which were administered (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:24 ). Many, however, would identify the punishment of this passage of D [Note: Deuteronomist.] with the favourite Egyptian punishment of the bastinado. Mutilation , apart from the talio , appears only as the penalty for indecent assault (D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 25:11 f.).
10. The regular form of capital punishment was death by stoning , which is prescribed in the Pentateuch as the penalty for eighteen different crimes, including Sabbath-breaking. ‘For only one crime murder is it the penalty in all the codes.’ The execution of the criminal took place outside the city (H [Note: Law of Holiness.] 24:14), and according to D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 17:7 the witnesses in the case cast the first stone (cf. John 8:7 ). In certain cases the dead body of the malefactor was impaled upon a stake; this, it can hardly be doubted, is the true rendering of D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 21:22 f. (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘hang him on a tree’), and of the same expression elsewhere. Hanging or strangulation is mentioned only as a manner of suicide ( 2 Samuel 17:23 , Matthew 27:5 ). Crucifixion , it need hardly be said, was a Roman, not a Jewish, institution. Beheading appears in Matthew 14:10 ||, Acts 12:2 , Revelation 20:4 .
11. The meaning of the expression frequently found in P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] , ‘to be cut off from his people, from Israel,’ etc., is uncertain; most probably it denotes a form of excommunication , with the implication that the offender is handed over to the judgment of God, which also seems to be intended by the banishment of Ezra 7:26 (note margin). A similar division of opinion exists as to the penalty of burning , which is reserved for aggravated cases of prostitution (H [Note: Law of Holiness.] 21:9) and incest (20:19). Here the probability seems in favour of the guilty parties being burned alive (cf. Genesis 38:24 ), although many scholars hold that they were first stoned to death. The most extreme form of punishment known to the codes, in that a whole community was involved, is that of total destruction under the ban of the first degree (see Ban) prescribed for the crime of apostasy (BC 22:20, more fully D [Note: Deuteronomist.] Deuteronomy 13:15-17 ).
A. R. S. Kennedy.
