EXECUTION
Execution
or capital punishment, among the Jews, when lawful and regular, was of one of the following kinds.
1. Death by the sword ( , or , also sinply ; 2Sa 1:15; 2Ki 10:25; Jer 26:23), by which, however, we are not to understand beheading (in 2Ki 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 (Gen 40:1)), and later in the Roman period among the Jews, as the introduction of foreign princes (Mat 14:10 sq.), and as is probably meant in Act 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 Exo 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 ( , Levo 20:14; 21:9; compare Jos 7:15; Jos 7:25; Gen 38:24; 1Ma 3:5; [see Michaelis in loc.]). That we are here not to think of a burning alive, we may gather from Jos 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 () on a tree or post (Deu 21:22; Num 25:4; comp. Jos 10:26; 2Sa 4:12; 1Sa 31:8; 1Sa 31:10), with which mutilation of the dead body was often connected (2Sa 4:12). The person hung was regarded as execrated (Deu 21:23; comp. Gal 3:13), and was not allowed to remain suspended over night (Deu 21:23; comp. Jos 8:29; Jos 10:26 sq.), through fear of tainting the atmosphere, since putrescence soon began. The opposite treatment was deemed an extraordinary severity (2Sa 21:6; 2Sa 21:9 sq.). The hanging of a living person (Ezr 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 ( ) was thrown over the body, i.e., the grave (Jos 7:25 sq.; Jos 8:29; 2Sa 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” ( , or ), as especially appears from Exo 31:14; Lev 17:4; Lev 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 Num 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 (Jos 7:24 sq.; 1Sa 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 (2Sa 12:31). SEE SAW.
2. Dichotomy, i.e., cutting asunder ( or =” quartering”) or dismemberment (, 1Sa 15:33; , Josephus, Ant. 15:8, 4; a barbarous instance is given in Josephus, Ant. 13:12, 6; and an inhuman murder in Jdg 19:29; but 1Ki 3:25, does not belong here) of the living being (see Krumbholz, Depznaper signeiicata, in the Bibl. Brem. 7:234 sq.), which was universal among the Babylonians (Dan 2:5; Dan 3:29 : in 2Sa 4:12; 2Ma 1:16, mangling after death is indicated by way of infamy; compare Livy, 8:28; in Eze 16:40; Eze 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.; 2Ma 7:8; Mat 24:51; Luk 12:46; Koran, 20:74; 26:49; Assemani, Martyrol. Or. 1:241 sq.). 3. Precipitation ( 2Ch 25:12; comp. Psalm cxli. 6 , Luk 4:29; comp. 2Ma 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 (), or beating to death (Heb 11:35; A.V. “torture;” comp. Aristot. Rhet. 2:5; Lucian, Jup. Trag. 19, etc.), of which the instrument was a cudgel (, 2Ma 6:19; 2Ma 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 (Dan 3:6; Dan 3:11; Dan 3:15; Dan 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 2Ch 28:3); likewise roasting or boiling convicts over a slow fire. (Jer 29:22 [see Hebenstreit, De Achali et Zelekie cupplicio, Lips. 1736]; 2Ma 6:5). SEE JOHN (THE APOSTLE). An example of burning alive does not occur (2 Samuel 21:31, marg. ; 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 (Num 16:30 sq., is not in point). 2. Casting into the lions’ den (Daniel 6). SEE LION; DEN.
3. Sufocation in hot ashes (2Ma 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 (Isa 13:16; Isa 13:18; Hos 14:1; Nah 3:10; comp. Psa 137:9), like the ripping open of pregnant women (2Ki 8:12; 2Ki 15:16; Hos 14:1; Amo 1:13), is, with the exception of 2Ki 14:16, only a heathenish barbarity. On crucifixion, SEE CRUCIFY.
5. Finally, drowning (, Mat 18:6), and fighting with wild beasts (, 1Co 15:32), are but casually alluded to in the N.T. Drowning, as a mode of inflicting death, is old (comp. Exo 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 (Jer 51:63) was thought a peculiarly severe fate (Josephus, Apiosm, 1:04; comp. Mat 18:6; see Gitz, De pistrinis vett. page 131 sq.; Grdfe, De , num fuerit supplic. Judaeorums, Lips. 1662.; Welleius, De supplicio submers. Havn. 1701; Scherer, De ap. antiq. Argent. 17:4). Such cruel punishments sometimes followved the mutilations of martyrdom (2Ma 7:4; 2Ma 7:7; 2Ma 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.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
EXECUTION
Israelite law laid down the death penalty for certain offences, some of them religious, others civil (Lev 20:2; Lev 20:10; Lev 20:27; Lev 24:16-17; Num 15:32-36; Deu 13:6-10; Deu 22:20-24; Deu 24:7). Even under the Roman system of law that operated in New Testament times, Paul accepted that the government had the right to carry out the death sentence in certain cases (Act 25:11; cf. Rom 13:3-4).
Many of Israels laws were specifically related to the particular relationship that existed between God and Israel under the covenant (e.g. Deu 13:6-10; cf. Deu 5:2; cf. Deu 5:6-7). However, the law that laid down the death penalty for murderers was based on a command that God gave long before the nation Israel existed. Gods command was related to the fundamental sacredness of human life, for human beings exist in Gods image. God therefore laid down that if any person wilfully killed another without divine permission, that person was no longer fit to enjoy Gods gift of life (Gen 9:3-6; cf. Exo 21:23; Num 35:30-34).
The normal Israelite method of execution was stoning. There had to be at least two witnesses to the crime, and these had to participate publicly in the execution by throwing the first stones. This no doubt impressed upon people that they had to be absolutely certain in making an accusation against anyone (Lev 24:14; Deu 17:6-7; Joh 8:7; Act 7:58). The dead body was then hung on a tree till evening as a sign that the executed person was under the curse of God (Deu 21:23).
Under the Roman administration of the New Testament era, prisoners were executed by either crucifixion or beheading (Mat 27:22; Mar 6:24-28; Act 12:2; see CRUCIFIXION). Jews could pass the death sentence upon their own people for offences relating to Jewish law, but they could not carry it out. They had to hand over the prisoner to the Roman authorities, who alone had the power of execution (Mat 27:1-2). Yet when the Jews illegally stoned Stephen to death, the Roman authorities took no action against them. They probably thought it wise not to interfere when the Jews were so stirred up (Act 7:58; cf. Mat 27:24; Act 12:2-3).