Punishments
PUNISHMENTS
The penalties inflicted in ancient times for various crimes and offences, varied in different nations, and at different times. Capital punishment for murder is generally agreed to have been permanently instituted at the origin of the human race; and Cain was only saved from it by a special interposition of God, Gen 4:14-15 . It was reenacted, with reasons, after the deluge, Gen 9:5-6, and in the wilderness, Num 35:9-34 ; and was early and widely recognized among mankind.The mode of capital punishment usual among the Hebrew was stoning, Deu 13:9-10 Jos 17:18 Joh 8:7 ; but various other modes became known to them by intercourse with other nations: as decapitation, 2Ki 10:6-8 Mat 14:8-12 ; precipitation from rocks, 2Ch 25:12 Luk 4:29 ; hanging, Jos 8:29 Gen 7:10 ; burning, Dan 3:1-30 ; cutting asunder, Dan 2:5 3:29 Heb 11:27; beating, on a wheel-like frame, Heb 11:35 ; exposure to wild beasts, Dan 6:1-28 1Co 15:32 ; drowning, Mat 18:6 ; bruising in a mortar, Pro 27:22 ; and crucifixion, Joh 19:18 . Minor punishments were scourging, Lev 19:20 2Co 11:24 ; retaliation in kind for an injury done, Exo 21:23-25 Deu 19:19 ; imprisonment, 2Ch 16:10 Mat 4:12 ; the stocks, Mal 16:24 ; banishment, Jer 1:9 ; and personal torture, 2Ch 18:26 Isa 50:6 Mat 18:30 Heb 11:37 .
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Punishments
(See CROSS, etc.) Death was the punishment of striking or even reviling a parent (Exo 21:15; Exo 21:17); blasphemy (Lev 24:14; Lev 24:16; Lev 24:23); Sabbath-breaking (Num 15:32-36); witchcraft (Exo 22:18); adultery (Lev 20:10); rape (Deu 22:25); incestuous and unnatural connection (Lev 20:11; Lev 20:14; Lev 20:16); man stealing (Exo 21:16); idolatry (Lev 20:2). “Cutting off from the people” is ipso facto excommunication or outlawry, forfeiture of the privileges of the covenant people (Lev 18:29). The hand of God executed the sentence in some cases (Gen 17:14; Lev 23:30; Lev 20:3; Lev 20:6; Num 4:15; Num 4:18; Num 4:20). Capital punishments were stoning (Exo 17:4); burning (Lev 20:14); the sword (Exo 32:27); and strangulation, not in Scripture, but in rabbinical writings.
The command (Num 25:4-5) was that the Baal-peor sinners should be slain first, then impaled or nailed to crosses; the Hebrew there (hoqa) means dislocated, and is different from that in Deu 21:22 (thalitha toli), Deu 21:23. The hanged were accounted accursed; so were buried at evening, as the hanging body defiled the land; so Christ (Gal 3:13). The malefactor was to be removed by burial from off the face of the earth speedily, that the curse might be removed off the land (Lev 18:25; Lev 18:28; 2Sa 21:6; 2Sa 21:9). Punishments not ordained by law: sawing asunder, and cutting with iron harrows(Isaiah, Heb 11:37; Ammon, in retaliation for their cruelties, 2Sa 12:31; 1Sa 11:2); pounding in a mortar (Pro 27:22); precipitation (Luk 4:29; 2Ch 25:12); stripes, 40 only allowed (Deu 25:3), the Jews therefore gave only 39; the convict received the stripes from a three-thonged whip, stripped to the waist, in a bent position, tied to a pillar; if the executioner exceeded the number he was punished, a minute accuracy observed in 2Co 11:24.
The Abyssinians use the same number (Wolff, Travels, 2:276). Heaps of stones were flung upon the graves of executed criminals (Jos 15:25-26; 2Sa 18:17); to this day stones are flung on Absalom’s supposed tomb. Outside the city gates (Jer 22:19; Heb 13:12). Punishment in kind (lex talionis) was a common principle (Exo 21:24-25). Also compensation, restitution of the thing or its equivalent (Exo 21:18-36). Slander of a wife’s honour was punished by fine and stripes (Deu 22:18-19).
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Punishments
PUNISHMENTS.See Crimes and Punishments, 811,
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Punishments
There were many kinds of these among the Hebrews, according to the crimes committed-scourging, stoning, imprisonment, hanging, and many others. But it is observable that in all cases, excepting high crimes against God, tenderness was mingled with their punishments. So much of the mercy of the gospel was even then shadowed out in Christ Jesus!
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Punishments
punish-ments (, awon, fault, iniquity, punishment for iniquity, sin (Gen 4:13; Lev 26:41; Job 19:29; Psa 149:7; Lam 4:22; Eze 14:10 margin; Amo 1:3, Amo 1:6, Amo 1:9, Amo 1:11, Amo 1:13; Amo 2:1, Amo 2:4, Amo 2:6), , onesh, tribute, fine, punishment (Lam 3:39), , hata’ah, or ro ,h, hatta’th, sin and its retribution, penalty, expiation (Zec 14:19); , kolasis, punishment, torment (Mat 25:46), , epitima, poll tax, hence, penalty (2Co 2:6), , timora, vindication, hence, penalty (Heb 10:29), , ekdkesis, vindication, retribution (1Pe 2:14 the King James Version)): A court could inflict for a crime against the person, a sentence of (1) death in the form of stoning, burning, beheading, or strangling, etc.; (2) exile to one of the cities of refuge in case of manslaughter (Nu 35); or (3) stripes, not to exceed 40, in practice 39 or less (Deu 25:3; 2Co 11:24). Offences against property (theft, fraudulent conversion of deposit, embezzlement, robbery) were punished by exacting more than the value of the things taken (Luk 19:8), the excess going to the injured party, thus differing from a fine, which goes into the treasury of the community. The housebreaker was liable to be slain with impunity (Exo 22:2). A fine in the modern sense is unknown in the Scriptures, unless Lev 5:6-19 be interpreted as referring to such.
1. History of the Hebrew Law Concerning Punishment:
The earliest theory of punishment seems to have been that of retaliation – blood for blood – and to some extent this principle appears even in the Law of Moses (Lev 21:19, Lev 21:20; Mat 5:38). Early in the history of the race, punishment was administered for sin and crime. Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden, and Cain, the first murderer, though not executed in retaliation for his deed, had a mark set on him. The words of Lamech (Gen 4:24) indicate that death was regarded as the fitting punishment for murder, and the same thought apparently was in the minds of the brethren of Joseph (Gen 42:21). Judah, as head of his family, seems to have had power of life and death (Gen 38:24), and Abimelech threatens his people with the extreme punishment in case they injure or insult Isaac or his wife (Gen 26:11). Similar power is ascribed to Pharaoh (Gen 41:13).
2. The Mosaic Law Concerning Punishment:
Under the Law of Moses, the murderer was to be put to death without mercy. Even if he took refuge at the altar in a sanctuary or in an asylum city, he would not be immune from arrest and execution, and the same principle was applied in the case of an animal (Exo 21:12, Exo 21:14, Exo 21:23, Exo 21:28, Exo 21:36 parallel). But punishment under the Mosaic Law was not to be entailed or transmitted (Deu 24:16), as was the case among the Chaldeans (Dan 6:24) and the kings of Israel (1 Ki 21; 2Ki 9:26).
It has been noted that capital punishment is extensively prescribed by the Mosaic Law, and undoubtedly the Law was carried out. This circumstance has been explained by reference to the fact that the nation consisted of newly emancipated slaves, and therefore required harsh measures to keep them in check.
Under the Mosaic Law, the offenses that made one liable to the punishment of death were: (1) striking or reviling a parent (Exo 21:15, Exo 21:17); (2) blasphemy (Lev 24:14, Lev 24:16, Lev 24:23; 1Ki 21:10; Mat 26:65, Mat 26:66); (3) Sabbath-breaking (Exo 31:14; Exo 35:2; Num 15:32-36); (4) witchcraft and false pretension to prophecy (Exo 22:18; Lev 20:27; Deu 13:5; Deu 18:20; 1Sa 28:9); (5) adultery (Lev 20:10; Deu 22:22); (6) unchastity: (a) before marriage, but detected afterward (Deu 22:21), (b) in case of a woman with someone other than her betrothed (Deu 22:23), (c) in a priest’s daughter (Lev 21:9); (7) rape (Deu 22:25); (8) incestuous and unnatural connections (Exo 22:19; Lev 20:11, Lev 20:14, Lev 20:16); (9) man-stealing (Exo 21:16); (10) idolatry, actual or virtual, in any form (Lev 20:2; Deu 13:6; Deu 17:2-7); (11) false witness in capital cases (Deu 19:16, Deu 19:19).
A large number of offenses come under the law of punishment by cutting off from the people, the meaning of which expression has led to some controversy. It may signify excommunication or death, and occurs in connection with the following offenses: (1) breach of morals, such as willful sin in general (Num 15:30, Num 15:31); incestuous or unclean connections (Lev 18:29; 29:9-21); (2) breach of covenant, brought about through uncircumcision (Gen 17:14; Exo 4:24), neglect of Passover (Num 9:13), Sabbath-breaking (Exo 31:14), neglect of Atonement Day (Lev 23:29), work done on the Atonement Day (Lev 23:30), children offered to Molech (Lev 20:3), witchcraft (Lev 20:6), anointing an alien with holy oil (Exo 30:33); (3) breach of ritual, committed by eating leavened bread during Passover (Exo 12:15, Exo 12:19), eating fat of sacrifices (Lev 7:25), eating blood (Lev 7:27; Lev 17:14), eating sacrifices while unclean (Lev 7:20, Lev 7:21; Lev 22:3, Lev 22:4, Lev 22:9), offering too late (Lev 19:8), making holy ointment for private use (Exo 30:32, Exo 30:33), making perfume for private use (Exo 30:38), general neglect of purification (Num 19:13, Num 19:20), not bringing offering after slaying a beast for food (Lev 17:9), slaying the animal at a place other than the tabernacle door (Lev 17:4), touching holy things illegally (Num 4:15, Num 4:18, Num 4:20).
Of capital punishments that are properly regarded as of Hebrew origin, we note:
(1) Stoning
Stoning, which was the ordinary mode of execution (Exo 19:13; Lev 20:27; Jos 7:25; Luk 20:6; Act 7:58; Act 14:5). The witnesses, of whom there were at least two, were required to cast the first stone (Deu 13:9 f; Joh 8:7). If these failed to cause death, the bystanders proceeded to complete the sentence, whereupon the body was to be suspended until sunset (Deu 21:23).
(2) Hanging
Hanging is mentioned (Num 25:4; Deu 21:22), probably not as a mode of execution, but rather of exposure after death. It may have been a Canaanitish punishment, since it was practiced by the Gibeonites on the sons of Saul (2Sa 21:6, 2Sa 21:9).
(3) Burning
Burning, before the age of Moses, was the punishment of unchastity (Gen 38:24). The Law prescribes it as a punishment in the case of a priest’s daughter (Lev 21:9), and in case of incest (Lev 20:14), but it is also mentioned as following death by other means (Jos 7:25), and some believe it was never used except after death. That it was sometimes used as a punishment on living persons among the heathen is shown by Dan 3.
(4) The Sword or Spear
The sword or spear as an instrument of punishment is named in the Law (Exo 19:13; Exo 32:27; Num 25:7 ff). It occurs frequently in monarchic and post-Bab times (Jdg 9:5; 1Sa 15:33; 2Sa 20:22; 1Ki 19:1; Jer 26:23; Mat 14:8, Mat 14:10), but among these cases, there are some of assassination rather than of punishment.
(5) Strangling
Strangling as a form of punishment has no Scripture authority, but according to tradition was frequently employed, and is said to have been performed by immersing the convict in clay or mud, and then strangling him by a cloth tied around the neck.
3. Punishments of Foreign Origin:
Besides these, which are to be regarded as the ordinary capital punishments, we read of some that were either of foreign introduction or of an irregular kind, such as: (1) crucifixion (which see); (2) drowning (Mat 18:6 parallel); (3) sawing asunder or crushing (2Sa 12:31; Heb 11:37); (4) torturing (1Ch 20:3; Heb 11:35); (5) precipitation (2Ch 25:12; Luk 4:29); (6) suffocation (2 Macc 13:4-8). The Persians are said to have filled a high tower a great way up with ashes, and then to have thrown the criminal into it, and continually stirred up the ashes by means of a wheel till he was suffocated (Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchy, III, 246). See also HEROD, II, 100.
Secondary forms of punishment not heretofore mentioned are to be noted as follows:
(1) Blinding or Putting out of Eyes.
Blinding or putting out of eyes in the case of captives (Jdg 16:21; 1Sa 11:2; 2Ki 25:7).
(2) Chaining.
Chaining by means of manacles or fetters of copper or iron, similar to our handcuffs fastened on the wrists and ankles and attached to each other by a chain (Jdg 16:21; 2Sa 3:34; 2Ki 25:7); also alluded to in the life of Paul (Act 28:20; Eph 6:20; 2Ti 1:16); and in the case of Peter (Act 12:6).
(3) Confiscation of Property.
Confiscation of property that had fallen under the ban, i.e. had been singled out for destruction by the special decree of Yahweh, as in Num 21:2; Jos 6:17; or had been reserved for the use of the army (Deu 2:35; Deu 20:14; Jos 22:8); or given over to the priesthood (Jos 6:19). The term may be extended to include all things vowed or sanctified and those irrevocably devoted or consecrated to God (Lev 27:21, Lev 27:28). The idea is applied with special emphasis to those things which, because of their uncleanness, must not be used by the Israelites, though, through their warfare with the heathen, they might have come into possession of them (Deu 7:26; 1Sa 15:16-23).
(4) Dashing in Pieces.
See Psa 2:9; Isa 13:18.
(5) Divine Visitation.
See VISITATION.
(6) Exposure to Wild Beasts.
See Lev 26:22; 1Sa 17:46; Daniel 6.
(7) Flaying.
Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchy, I, 478; Nineveh and Babylon; mentioned figuratively in Mic 3:3.
(8) Forfeiture
See Ezr 10:8.
(9) Gallows.
Gallows in the modern sense probably were unknown to the ancients. Where the word occurs in Est 5:14; Est 6:4; Est 7:9, Est 7:10; Est 9:13, Est 9:15, it probably refers to a beam or pole on which the body was impaled and then elevated to a height of 50 cubits as an object of warning to the people (see Hanging).
(10) Imprisonment.
Imprisonment is frequently referred to in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, indicating that this was a common mode of punishment among both the Israelites and other nations (Gen 40:3; Gen 42:17; Lev 24:12; Num 15:34; 1Ki 22:27; Jer 37:15, Jer 37:21; Luk 3:20; Act 4:3, Act 4:10; Act 23:10; and the Epistles of Paul). See PRISON.
(11) Indignities.
In this term may be included all those outbursts of vengeance or other evil dispositions that were practiced in times or under circumstances when liberties with the prisoner were permitted on the part of bystanders or those who had charge beyond the execution of the judicial decree. Instances are found in the life of Christ (Mat 26:59, Mat 26:67; Luk 22:63 ff; Joh 18:22); also in the life of Paul (Act 23:2).
(12) Mutilation
See Jdg 1:6, Jdg 1:7; Eze 23:25; 2 Maccabees 7.
The Law was opposed to thus treating any Israelite, and Samuel, when referring to the arbitrary power of the future king (1Sa 8:10 ff), does not say that he would thus treat their sons. It was a barbarous custom of the East (see EUNUCHS; POLYGAMY), evidently regarded, among the Hebrews, as a heinous practice (Deu 23:1). The only act authorizing mutilation (except in retaliation) is mentioned in Deu 25:11.
(13) Plucking off the Hair
Plucking off the hair is alluded to as a mode of punishment in Neh 13:25; Isa 50:6.
(14) Prison Garments
Prison garments were in vogue to mark the convicts (Jer 52:33).
(15) Restitution
Restitution has been alluded to in the general introduction to this topic.
(16) Retaliation
Retaliation was recognized by Moses as a principle, but the application of it was left to the judge (Lev 24:19-22). A fine example of it is found in the law of Deu 19:19.
(17) Scorpions, Chastising With.
Probably the use of thongs armed with pointed pieces of lead or other metal (1Ki 12:11; 2Ch 10:14). See SCORPIONS.
(18) Scourging.
See separate article.
(19) Slavery.
See separate article.
(20) Stocks.
See PRISON.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Punishments
This subject is properly restricted to the penalty imposed on the commission of some crime or offence against law. It is thus distinguished from private retaliation or revenge, cruelty, torture, popular violence, certain customs of war, etc. Human punishments are such as are indicted immediately on the person of the offender, or indirectly upon his goods, etc. For the leading points in the literature of the question concerning future and divine punishment see Soul. Capital punishment is usually supposed to have been instituted at the deluge (Gen 9:5-6). Arnheim, however, thus explains the precept: if one stranger slay another, the kinsmen of the murdered man are the avengers of blood; but if he be slain by one of his own kindred, the other kinsmen must not spare the murderer, for if they do, then divine providence will require the bloodthat is, will avenge it. This interpretation would account for the custom of blood-revenge among all the ancient and Asiatic nations. The extensive prescription of capital punishment by the Mosaic law, which we cannot consider as a dead letter, may be accounted for by the peculiar circumstances of the people. They were a nation of newly-emancipated slaves, and were by nature perhaps more than commonly intractable; and if we may judge by the laws enjoined on them, which Mr. Hume well remarks are a safe index to the manners and disposition of any people, we must infer that they had imbibed all the degenerating influences of slavery among heathens.
The mode of capital punishment, which constitutes a material element in the character of any law, was probably as humane as the circumstances of Moses admitted. It was probably restricted to lapidation or stoning, which, by skillful management, might produce instantaneous death. It was an Egyptian custom (Exo 8:26). The public effusion of blood by decapitation cannot be proved to have been a Mosaic punishment. The appearance of decapitation, ‘slaying by the sword,’ in later times (2Sa 4:8; 2Sa 20:21-22; 2Ki 10:6-8), has no more relation to the Mosaic law than the decapitation of John the Baptist by Herod (Mat 14:8-12); or than the hewing to pieces of Agag before the Lord by Samuel, as a punishment in kind (1Sa 15:33). Execution was ordered by Moses, probably adopting an ancient custom, to be begun first by the witnesses, a regulation which constituted a tremendous appeal to their moral feelings, and afterwards to be completed by the people (Deu 13:10; Deu 17:7; Jos 7:25; Joh 8:7). It was a later innovation that immediate execution should be done by some personal attendant, by whom the office was probably considered as an honor (2Sa 1:15; 2Sa 4:12). Stoning therefore was, probably, the only capital punishment ordered by Moses. It is observable that neither this nor any other punishment was, according to his law, attended with insult or torture (comp. 2 Maccabees 7). Nor did his laws admit of those horrible mutilations practiced by other nations. Mutilation of such a nature amounts to a perpetual condemnation to infamy and crime. It will shortly be seen that the lex talionis, ‘an eye for an eye,’ etc., was adopted by Moses as the principle, but not the mode of punishment. He seems also to have understood the true end of punishment, which is not to gratify the antipathy of society against crime, nor moral vengeance, which belongs to God alone, but prevention. ‘All the people shall hear and fear, and do no more so presumptuously’ (Deu 17:13; Deu 29:20). His laws are equally free from the characteristic of savage legislation, that of involving the family of the offender in his punishment. He did not allow parents to be put to death for their children, nor children for their parents (Deu 24:16), as did the Chaldeans (Dan 6:24), and the kings of Israel (comp. 1 Kings 21; 2Ki 9:26). Various punishments were introduced among the Jews, or became known to them by their intercourse with other nationsviz., precipitation, or throwing, or causing to leap, from the top of a rock: to which ten thousand Idumeans were condemned by Amaziah, king of Judah (2Ch 25:12). The inhabitants of Nazareth intended a similar fate for our Lord (Luk 4:29). This punishment resembles that of the Tarpeian rock among the Romans. Cutting asunder appears to have been a Babylonian custom (Dan 2:5; Dan 3:29; Luk 12:46; Mat 24:51); but the passages in the Gospels admit of the milder interpretation of scourging with severity, discarding from office, etc. Beating to death was a Greek punishment for slaves. It was inflicted on a wooden frame, on which the criminal was bound and beaten to death (2Ma 6:19; 2Ma 6:28; comp. 6:30). Fighting with wild beasts was a Roman punishment, to which criminals and captives in war were sometimes condemned (Adam, Roman Antiq., p. 344; 2Ti 4:17; comp. 1Co 15:32). Drowning with a heavy weight around the neck, was a Syrian, Greek, and Roman punishment. For Crucifixion, see the Article.
Posthumous insults offered to the dead bodies of criminals, though common in other nations, were very sparingly allowed by Moses. He permitted only hanging on a tree or gibbet; but the exposure was limited to a day, and burial of the body at night was commanded (Deu 21:22). Such persons were esteemed ‘cursed of God’ (comp. Jos 8:29; Jos 10:26; 2Sa 4:12)a law which the later Jews extended to crucifixion (Joh 19:31, etc.; Gal 3:13). Hanging alive may have been a Canaanitish punishment, since it was practiced by the Gibeonites on the sons of Saul (2Sa 21:9). Another posthumous insult in later times consisted in heaping stones on the body or grave of the executed criminal (Jos 7:25-26). To ‘make heaps’ of houses or cities is a phrase denoting complete and ignominious destruction (Isa 25:2; Jer 9:11). Burning the dead body seems to have been a very ancient posthumous insult: it was denounced by Judah against his daughter-in-law, Tamar, when informed that she was with child (Gen 38:24). Selden thinks that this means merely branding on the forehead. Moses retained this ancient ignominy for two offences only, which from the nature of things must have been comparatively rare, viz., for bigamy with a mother and her daughter (Lev 20:4), and for the case of a priest’s daughter who committed whoredom (Lev 21:9). Though ‘burning’ only be specified in these cases, it may be safely inferred that the previous death of the criminals, probably by lapidation, is to be understood (comp. Jos 7:25). Among the heathens this merciful preliminary was not always observed, as for instance in the case of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3).
Among the minor corporal punishments ordered by Moses, was scourging; or the infliction of blows on the back of an offender with a rod. It was limited by him to forty stripes, a number which the Jews in later times were so careful not to exceed, that they inflicted but thirty-nine (2Co 11:24). It was to be inflicted on the offender lying on the ground, in the presence of a judge (Lev 19:20; Deu 22:18; Deu 25:2-3). We have abundant evidence that it was an ancient Egyptian punishment. Corporal punishment of this kind was allowed by Moses, by masters to servants or slaves of both sexes (Exo 21:20). Scourging was common in after times among the Jews, who associated with it no disgrace or inconvenience beyond the physical pain it occasioned, and from which no station was exempt (Pro 17:26; comp. 10:13; Jer 37:15-20). Hence it became the symbol for correction in general (Psa 89:32). Solomon is a zealous advocate for its use in education (Pro 13:24; Pro 23:13-14; comp. Ecc 11:10). It was inflicted for ecclesiastical offences in the synagogue (Mat 10:17; Act 26:11). The Mosaic law, however, respecting it, affords a pleasing contrast to the extreme and unlimited scourging known among the Romans, but which, according to the Porcian law, could not be inflicted upon a Roman citizen (Act 16:22-37; Act 22:25). Reference to the scourge with scorpions, i.e. a whip or scourge armed with knots or thorns, occurs in 1Ki 12:11.
Retaliation is doubtless the most natural of all kinds of punishment, and would be the most just of all, if it could be instantaneously and universally inflicted. But when delayed it is apt to degenerate into revenge. Hence the desirableness that it should be regulated and modified by law. Moses accordingly adopted the principle, but lodged the application of it in the judge. ‘If a man blemish his neighbor, as he hath done, so shall it be done to him. Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, wound for wound, stripe for stripe, breach for breach’ (Exo 21:23-25; Lev 24:19-22). His system of compensations, etc., occurs in Exodus 21. He, however, makes willful murder, even of a slave, always capital, as did the Egyptians. The Egyptians doomed the false accuser to the same punishment which he endeavored to bring on his victim, as did Moses (Deu 19:19). Imprisonment, not as a punishment, but custody, till the royal pleasure was known, appears among the Egyptians (Gen 39:20-21). Moses adopted it for like purposes (Lev 26:12). In later times, it appears as a punishment inflicted by the kings of Judah and Israel (2Ch 16:10; 1Ki 22:27; Jer 37:21); and during the Christian era, as in the instance of John (Mat 4:12), and Peter (Act 12:4). Murderers and debtors were also committed to prison; and the latter ‘tormented’ till they paid (Mat 18:30; Luk 23:19). A common prison is mentioned (Act 5:18); and also an inner prison or dungeon, which was sometimes a pit (Jer 38:6), in which were ‘stocks’ (Jer 20:2; Jer 29:26; Act 16:24). Prisoners are alluded to (Job 3:18), and stocks (Job 13:27). Banishment was impracticable among the Jews. It was inflicted by the Romans on John (Rev 1:9). Cutting or plucking off the hair is alluded to (Isa 50:6; Neh 13:25). Excision, or ‘cutting off from his people,’ is denounced against the uncircumcised as early as the covenant with Abraham (Gen 17:14). This punishment is expressed in the Mosaic law by the formula’that soul shall be destroyed from its people’ (Lev 7:20-21); ‘from Israel’ (Exo 12:15); ‘from the midst of the congregation’ (Num 19:20); ‘it shall be destroyed’ (Lev 17:14; Lev 20:17); which terms sometimes denote capital punishment (Exo 31:14; comp. 35:2; Num 15:32, etc.) [ANATHEMA].
Ecclesiastical punishments are prescribed, as might be expected under a theocracy, but these were moderate. Involuntary transgressions of the Levitical law, whether of omission or commission, were atoned for by a sin-offering (Lev 4:2, etc.; Lev 5:1; Lev 5:4-7). This head embraced a rash or neglected oath, keeping back evidence in court (Lev 4:2, etc.; Lev 5:1; Lev 4:7), breach of trust, concealment of property when found, or theft, even when the offender had already cleared himself by oath, but was now moved by conscience to make restitution. By these means, and by the payment of twenty percent beyond the amount of his trespass, the offender might cancel the crime as far as the church was concerned (Lev 6:1-7; Num 5:6-10). Adultery with a slave was commuted from death to stripes and a trespass-offering (Lev 19:20-22). All these cases involved public confession, and the expenses of the offering.
Future punishment.Though the doctrine of a future state was known to the ancient Hebrews, yet temporal punishment and reward were the immediate motives held out to obedience. Hence the references in the Old Testament to punishment in a future state are obscure and scanty. See Hades; Heaven; Hell.
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Punishments
Punishments. The earliest theory of punishment current among mankind is doubtless the one of simple retaliation, “blood for blood.” Viewed historically, the first case of punishment for crime mentioned in Scripture, next to the Fall itself, is that of Cain, the first murderer. That death was regarded as the fitting punishment for murder appears plain from the remark of Lamech. Gen 4:24. In the post-diluvian code, if we may so call it, retribution by the hand of man, even in the case of an offending animal, for blood shed, is clearly laid dawn. Gen 9:5-6.
Passing onward to Mosaic times, we find the sentence of capital punishment, in the case of murder, plainly laid down in the law. The murderer was to be put to death, even if he should have taken refuge at God’s altar or in a refuge city, and the same principle was to be carried out even in the case of an animal.
Offences punished with death. — I. The following offences also are mentioned in the law as liable to the punishment of death:
Striking, or even reviling, a parent. Exo 21:15; Exo 21:17.
Blasphemy. Lev 24:14; Lev 24:16; Lev 24:23.
Sabbath-breaking. Exo 31:14; Exo 35:2; Num 15:32-36.
Witchcraft, and false pretension to prophecy. Exo 22:18; Lev 20:27; Deu 13:5; Deu 18:20.
Adultery. Lev 20:10; Deu 22:22.
Unchastity. Lev 21:9; Deu 22:21; Deu 22:23.
Rape. Deu 22:25.
Incestuous and unnatural connections. Exo 22:19; Lev 20:11; Lev 20:14; Lev 20:16.
Manstealing. Exo 21:16; Deu 24:7.
Idolatry, actual or virtual, in any shape. Lev 20:2; Deu 13:8; Deu 13:10; Deu 13:15; Deu 17:2-7. See Jos 7:1; Jos 22:20; Num 25:8.
False witness in certain cases. Deu 19:16; Deu 19:19.
II. But there is a large number of offences, some of them included in this list, which are named in the law as involving the penalty of “cutting off from the people.” On the meaning of this expression, some controversy has arisen. There are altogether thirty six or thirty seven cases in the Pentateuch, in which this formula is used. We may perhaps conclude that the primary meaning of “cutting off” is a sentence of death to be executed in some cases without remission, but in others voidable —
(1) by immediate atonement on the offender’s part;
(2) by direct interposition of the Almighty, that is, a sentence of death always “regarded,” but not always executed.
Kinds of punishments. — Punishments are twofold, Capital and Secondary.
i. Capital.
(A) The following only are prescribed by the law: Stoning, which was the ordinary mode of execution. Exo 17:4; Luk 20:6; Joh 10:31; Act 14:5. In the case of idolatry, and it may be presumed, in other cases, also, the witnesses, of whom, there were to be at least two, were required to cast the first stone. Deu 13:9; Act 7:58.
Hanging is mentioned as a distinct punishment. Num 25:4; 2Sa 21:6; 2Sa 21:9.
Burning, in pre-Mosaic times, was the punishment for unchastity. Gen 38:24. Under the law, it was ordered in the case of a priest’s daughter Lev 21:9.
Death by the sword or spear is named in the law, Exo 19:13; Exo 32:27; Num 25:7, and it occurs frequently, in regal and post-Babylonian times. 1Ki 2:25; 1Ki 2:34; 1Ki 19:1; 2Ch 21:4; etc.
Strangling is said by the rabbis to have been regarded as the most common, but least severe of the capital punishments, and to have been performed by immersing the convict in clay or mud, and then strangling him by a cloth twisted round the neck.
(B) Besides these ordinary capital punishments, we read of others, either of foreign introduction, or of an irregular kind. Among the former,
Crucifixion is treated elsewhere.
Drowning, though not ordered under the law, was practiced at Rome, and is said, by St. Jerome, to have been in use among the Jews.
Sawing asunder or crushing beneath iron instruments. 2Sa 12:31, and perhaps Pro 20:26; Heb 11:37.
Pounding in a mortar, or beating to death, is alluded to in Pro 27:22 but not as a legal punishment, and cases are described. 1Ma 6:28; 1Ma 6:30.
Precipitation, attempted in the case of our Lord at Nazareth, and carried out in that of captives from the Edomites, and of St. James, who is said to have been cast from “the pinnacle” of the Temple. Criminals executed by law were burned outside the city gates, and heaps of stones were flung upon their graves. Jos 7:25-26; 2Sa 18:17; Jer 22:19.
ii. Of secondary punishments among the Jews, the original Principles were,
Retaliation, “eye for eye,” etc. Exo 21:24-25.
Compensation, Identical (restitution) or analogous payment for loss of time or of power. Exo 21:18-36; Lev 24:18-21; Deu 19:21. Slander against a wife’s honor was to be compensated to her parents by a fine of one hundred shekels, and the traducer himself to be punished with stripes . Deu 22:18-19.
Stripes, whose number was not to exceed forty, Deu 25:3 whence, the Jews took care not to exceed thirty-nine. 2Co 11:24.
Scourging with thorns is mentioned Jdg 8:16.
The stocks are mentioned in Jer 20:2,
passing through fire is mentioned in 2Sa 12:31,
mutilation is mentioned in Jdg 1:6; 2Ma 7:4; 2Sa 4:12,
plucking out hair is mentioned in Isa 50:6, and
in later times, imprisonment, and confiscation or exile. Ezr 7:26; Jer 37:15; Jer 38:6; Act 4:3; Act 5:18; Act 12:4.