Criminal Punishments in the Bible
(A) - Harming the property of others: If a person destroys his neighbor's vineyard or field, by letting his livestock graze in it, he must compensate from the best of his field and from the best of his vineyard (Exodus 22:5). Likewise, if a person causes the death of his neighbor's animal, he must compensate it with an animal of the same kind (Leviticus 24:18, 21).
If a person's animal falls into a hole or a well that is not covered, and the animal dies, the owner of the well must compensate, since it was the duty of the owner of the well to cover it to protect the animals from harm (Exodus 21:33, 34).
If the wrongdoer pays money as compensation (and the compensation was usually a silver ingot), he has the right to keep the dead animal. In the event of damage resulting from the spread of fire from one person's land to another person's land, "and if the stocks or the crops or the field are burned, he who kindled the fire shall make restitution" of the same kind (Exodus 22:6).
(b) - Deposits: If a person entrusted a deposit to keep, the one who betrayed the trust was to compensate its owner double (Exodus 22:9). However, if the deposit was stolen or the animal was devoured, he was to compensate in kind only, but after swearing before God that he was completely innocent of the matter when the theft or damage occurred without anyone witnessing it (Exodus 22:10, 11).
(c) - Oppression of the poor: There were three classes in the ancient East, exposed to unjust treatment and exploitation: the widow, the orphan, and the stranger (who was usually an immigrant from another people, and did not obtain Jewish citizenship). It was difficult for them to get fair treatment in society or before the courts when they were wronged by a rich or powerful man, so the Lord made Himself their protector, and whoever wronged them would fall under His wrath and curse [21“You shall not oppress a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 22You shall not harm any widow or orphan. 23If you have wronged him, if he cries to me, I will hear his cry. 24My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children will become orphans.] (Exodus 22:21-24) He will kill them with the sword, and their wives will become widows and their children will become orphans. As for their kindness and honor to the stranger, it was based on what they themselves were like as strangers in the land of Egypt (Exodus 23:9).
Third - Punishments: The Torah mentioned three means of implementing the death penalty: stoning, burning, and flaying with the sword. There is at least one reference to hanging, but this is not entirely clear. Perhaps the hanging of the body on a tree was to warn others: “If a man has a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,” then “his body should not remain on the tree all night, but you shall bury him that day” (Exodus 21:22, 23). This is what happened on the day of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, when his body and the bodies of the two thieves were taken down from the crosses on the same day (John 19:31). Even when the Israelites killed the leaders of the enemy army in war, Joshua respected this command, and ordered their bodies to be taken down from the tree on the same day (Joshua 10:27).
(A) Execution:
(1) Execution by stoning: This was the most widely used method, and it usually took place with the participation of representatives from all classes of society, including witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:7). The crimes punishable by stoning were:
[1] Offering children as a sacrifice to Molech (Leviticus 20:2 and 5),
[2] Divination, sorcery, and witchcraft (Leviticus 20:27) [and Exodus 22:18],
[3] Blasphemy against the name of Jehovah (Leviticus 24:15, 16),
[4] desecration of the Sabbath by doing manual labor (Numbers 15:32-36),
[5] worship of false gods (Deuteronomy 17:2-7),
[6] rebellion against parental authority (Deuteronomy 21:18-21),
[7] adultery (Deuteronomy 22:22, 23),
[8] and transgression of a commandment by prohibition, as happened with Achan the son of Carmi (Joshua 7:25). Stephen was stoned for blasphemy (Acts 7:57, 58).
(2) Execution by the sword: This seems to have been the method of executing a murderer, especially when carried out by the “avenger of blood” (Numbers 35:19, 21). The sword was also the means of killing the inhabitants of the city who went and worshipped other gods (Deuteronomy 13:15). It was first used to kill those who worshipped the golden calf (Exodus 32:27).
The sword was used when the number of dead was large.
(3) - Execution by burning: Burning was the means of executing
[1] a man who took a wife and her mother, so he and they were burned with fire (Leviticus 20:14).
[2] The daughter of the priest was also burned if she was defiled by adultery (Leviticus 21:9).
(b) - Amputation of limbs:
The punishment
[1] for a woman who came forward to save her husband from the hand of his assailant, and stretched out her hand and grabbed his private parts, was to have her hand cut off (Deuteronomy 25:12).
[2] The punishment for causing another to lose a limb was to be meted out in kind: “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Exodus 21:24-25).
It is assumed that the punishment was carried out by the afflicted person before the judges, although this is not explicitly stated. This was the punishment in the case of intentional injury or gross negligence or recklessness. It is noteworthy that the punishment did not extend to the family of the accused, as was the case in Babylonian and Assyrian laws (for example, Article 55 of the Middle Assyrian Code states that the wife of a seducer of a girl should be handed over to the girl’s father to use her in prostitution), for it is explicitly stated in the law: “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor shall the children be put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deuteronomy 24:16), and there is no doubt that this also applies in the case of causing harm to one of the limbs of another person, as the criminal personally bore the punishment for his crime.
(c) - Scouring:
The judge himself supervised the execution of this punishment, although he did not clearly state the types of crimes for which the punishment was flogging. The convict was thrown to the ground and flogged before the judge with the lashes he was sentenced to, but not more than forty lashes (Deuteronomy 25:1-3). We can conclude from Deuteronomy (22:8) that public flogging was a means of punishing a man who falsely accused his wife of not being a virgin when he married her. The Torah does not mention any other specific crime for which the punishment was flogging. However, we do know that flogging was a means of discipline within the family, and the master could flog his slave on condition that he did not kill him or cause injury to any of his members (see Exodus 21:20, 26, 27).
(d) - Imprisonment:
It seems that imprisonment was limited to the detention of accused persons awaiting trial, and was not considered an independent punishment in the Law. It is clear that Joseph in Egypt was imprisoned for an indefinite period of time awaiting the verdict of execution for the shameful charge of which he was unjustly accused. At a later period the prophet Jeremiah was thrown into prison on a charge of treason (37:15, 16), without being tried or having his defense heard. Thus we do not find in the entire Old Testament that imprisonment for a definite period was a means of punishment.
(e) Compensation and fines:
This was done in the case of mistakes that were not considered major crimes. The compensation was sometimes more than the amount stolen, raped or robbed. In the case of recovering a stolen animal alive, the thief had to compensate with two. However, if he had slaughtered the animal or sold it, he had to compensate for the bull with five bulls, and for the sheep with four sheep (Exodus 22:1-4).
If a man falsely accused his bride of not being a virgin when he had consummated the marriage, he was not only flogged publicly, but he had to pay a hundred shekels of silver to the girl’s father, and he could not divorce her all the days of his life (Deuteronomy 22:18, 19). The guilty person could not offer a guilt offering unless he had fully compensated the one he had wronged, and had added five shekels to it. However, it seems that this was mostly done voluntarily on the part of the repentant guilty person, and not as a criminal procedure. In other cases, compensation was equal to the loss, without any additional penalty.
If an ox gored a person and he died, the owner of the ox was to pay the family of the deceased the ransom they set for him according to the circumstances, unless the owner of the ox did not know beforehand that it had been gored (Exodus 21:28-30).
“If men quarrel and strike a woman with child, so that her child falls, but no harm results,” the guilty party was to pay the fine determined by the woman’s husband in agreement with the judges (Exodus 21:22).
“If a man finds a virgin girl who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her” (a case other than rape, which was punishable by death), he was to pay “the father of the girl fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife…he may not put her away” (Deuteronomy 22:28, 29).
And if a man lie with a woman as a slave betrothed to a man, and she be not redeemed, nor given her freedom, let there be chastisement; they shall not be put to death, because she is not freed.” This included public flogging, and the man was to present a ram as a guilt offering before the Lord (Lev. 19:20-22).
(f) Slavery:
The period of slavery did not exceed six years in the case of a Hebrew slave (Exodus 21:2), and slavery was the punishment for a thief who had nothing to replace him with, so he was sold for his theft (Exodus 22:1-3). In other cases, slavery was a punishment for civil rather than criminal acts, such as failure to pay debts (2 Kings 4:1, Nehemiah 5:5, Amos 2:6). There is another case in which slavery was not a punishment for a crime, but for special circumstances, which is: “If your brother becomes poor by you and is sold to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave. “As a hired servant, as a sojourner, he shall be with you until the Year of Jubilee, serving you” (Leviticus 25:39-43).
[And I add to the words of the Encyclopedia of the Bible some strange rulings in the Bible:
(1) Hitting with a shoe and spitting in the face: This is in the case where a brother marries his brother’s widow but does not consummate the marriage with her: (“If brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not go outside to a foreign man. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duties of a husband’s brother. 6And the firstborn whom she bears shall take up the name of his brother who is dead, so that his name is not blotted out. 7 “But if the man is not willing to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall come up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up for his brother a name in Israel. He will not fulfill for me the duty of a husband’s brother.’ 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and talk with him. But if he persists and says, ‘I do not want to take her,’ 9 then she shall come forward. His brother's wife shall come to him in the sight of the elders, and shall rip off his sandal from off his foot, and shall spit in his face, and shall say, Thus shall it be done to the man who will not rebuild his brother's house. 10And his name shall be called in Israel, The House of Him Who Has Lost His Sandal. (Deuteronomy 25:5-10)
Is this not a mockery of the law by the man? Why was he not put to death? Is this not a rejection of the teachings of the elders and priests? Why was he not put to death? Didn’t your book say: 8“If a matter is difficult for you in judgment, between blood and blood, or between claim and claim, or between stroke and stroke, in matters of contention within your gates, then arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God will choose. 9And go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who will be in those days, and inquire, and they will declare to you the matter of judgment. 10You shall do according to the commandment that they tell you from that place which the Lord chooses, and you shall be careful to do according to all that they teach you. 11According to the law which they teach you, and to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside to the right or to the left from the commandment which they tell you. 12And the man who acts presumptuously, and does not obey the priest who stands there to minister to the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall be put to death, and you shall put away evil from Israel.] (Deuteronomy 17:8-12) Didn’t the Bible Encyclopedia say: “For disregarding the decision of the supreme authority in the nation was equivalent to the charge of treason, and must be met with all severity.”?]
(2) The Lord Himself descending to kill His prophet who disregarded His law and did not implement it: Which proves that God’s knowledge was not eternal before choosing His prophet
Why was Moses not killed when he disregarded the word of the Lord and His commands and did not circumcise his son? (21And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go to return to Egypt, see all the wonders that I have put in your hand and do before Pharaoh. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 22And you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: Israel is my firstborn son. 23But I said to you, ‘Let my son go, that he may serve me,’ but you refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’ 24And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him and sought to kill him. 25And Zipporah took a flint, and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched his feet, and said, ‘You are a bridegroom of blood to me.’ 26And he let go of him. Then she said, ‘A bridegroom of blood because of circumcision.’” (Exodus 4:24-26)]
[(3) Destruction of the house afflicted with leprosy: (33And the LORD said, To Moses and Aaron: 34“When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and I put a plague of leprosy in a house in the land of your possession, 35then the owner of the house shall come and say to the priest, ‘It seems to me that there is a plague in the house.’ 36And the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes in to see the plague, so that all that is in the house will not be defiled. 37And when he sees the plague, and if the plague is in the walls of the house with greenish or reddish spots, and it appears to be deeper than the wall, 38then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house and shut up the house seven days. 39And the priest shall come again on the seventh day, and look, and, behold, the plague hath spread throughout the walls of the house, 40Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and cast them into an unclean place outside the city. 41And he shall scrape the house inside round about, and they shall cast the dust which they scrape outside the city into an unclean place. 42And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of the stones, and he shall take other dust, and plaster the house. 43And if the plague cometh again, and breaketh out in the house, after they have taken away the stones, and after they have scraped the house, and after they have plastered it, 44and the priest shall come and look, and, behold, the plague hath spread in the house, it is a destructive leprosy in the house; it is unclean. 45Then he shall break down the house, its stones, its timbers, and all the dust of the house, and carry them out outside the city to an unclean place.) Leviticus 14:33-45]
[(4) Burning the clothes affected by leprosy: (50Then the priest shall look at the plague and isolate the one who has the plague for seven days. 51And when he looks at the plague on the seventh day, if the plague has spread in the garment, in the warp or the woof, or in the skin of any work made of skin, the plague is a destructive leprosy; it is unclean. 52Then he shall burn the garment, or the warp or the
(45) The leper in whom the plague is shall have his clothes torn, and his head uncovered, and he shall cover his mustache, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.
(46) The Lord of lords takes revenge on his prophet David, peace be upon him, for his adultery. And he will deliver his household to fornication: [11Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12For you have done it in secret, and I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.”] 2 Samuel 12: 11-12!!!]
[(7) The Lord of Lords calls for idolatry: After describing Solomon as an idolater, and that he disbelieved in his last days, he glorified him many times: by preserving the books attributed to him within the Holy Bible, including the Song of Songs, and glorified him in his New Testament and described him as great. Is this an example that calls us to follow? Is it not unjust that the idolater should be killed in this case?
[(4And it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5So Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. 6And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord Just like his father David. 7Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. (1 Kings 11:4-7)]
[(42The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, a greater than Solomon is here!) When 12:42]
[(8) The Lord calls you to leave His community: He did not specify the reason for this punishment, which aims to get rid of all of humanity:
(12For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever is able to accept, let him accept.”) Matthew 19:12, despite the divine command: (“A eunuch or one who has been castrated shall not enter the congregation of the Lord.”) Deuteronomy 23:1, so how then can one who leaves the congregation of the Lord be killed after that?]
.png)
Comments
Post a Comment