Punishment in Biblical History

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Schaff's Bible Dictionary

Definitions in Biblical History
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What is Punishment?
PUN'ISHMENT
The principle of punishment prevalent in all modern criminal codes is simply to protect society against crime. In the penal enactments of the Mosaic Law this principle is present, but only as a modification or qualification of the supreme principle of the Law - to do justice. Both capital and secondary punishments were inflicted chiefly from a regard to what justice demanded, but in cases which lay absolutely outside the pale of human justice, and had no connection with society beyond the bad example set, the offender was "cutoff" from the people and left to the direct handling of God. 1. Capital punishment was executed in various ways - by stoning, Ex 17:4; Luke 20:6; John 10:31; Acts 14:5; hanging. Num 25:4; 2 Sam 21:6, 2 Sam 21:9; burning, Gen 38:24; Lev 21:9; shooting, Ex 19:13; sword, 1 Kgs 2:25; 1 Kgs 19:1; 2 Chr 21:4; strangling (though mentioned only by the rabbins); drowning, comp. Matt 18:6; Mark 9:42; sawing asunder, 2 Sam 12:31; pounding in a mortar (though hardly a legal punishment), Prov 27:22; 2 Mace. 6:28; precipitation, 2 Mace. 6:10; Luke 4:29; and Crucifixion, which see. Of these, stoning was the most common form of execution. It was inflicted not only for murder, but also for striking or reviling a parent, Ex 21:15; for blasphemy, Lev 24:14, 2 Chr 24:16, 1 Chr 24:23; adultery. Lev 20:10; Deut 22:22; rape, Deut 22:25; idolatry. Lev 20:2; Deut 13:6, 1 Kgs 16:10, 2 Sam 20:15, 2 Sam 21:17; false witness in capital cases, Deut 19:16, Acts 1:19; but a verdict of stoning could only be given on the testimony of two witnesses, and these were required to cast the first stones, directly on the chest of the offender. Deut 13:9; Josh 17:7. Several of the other forms of execution, such as hanging and burning, were seldom used except after death by stoning had taken place. 2. Secondary punishments were regulated chiefly after the idea of retaliation - "breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth." Ex 21:23-25; Deut 19:18-21. But there was on this point a remarkable difference between the Mosaic Law and the old Frankish or AngloSaxon or Scandinavian laws. According to the Mosaic Law, the retaliation was never given into the hands of the offended, but took effect only after judicial procedure. In some cases retaliation was simple restitution with a fine added; thus, he who stole a sheep was to restore four sheep, and he who stole an ox five oxen. Ex 22:1. In other cases it meant compensation for loss of time or power, Ex 21:18-36; Lev 24:18-21; Deut 19:21, or even for loss caused by accident. Ex 22:6. When restitution or compensation could not take place - as, for instance, in the case of slander - whipping, and even scourging, were employed. But the Law forbade to give more than forty stripes, Deut 25:3, and the Jews took great care not to give more than thirty-nine, the punishment being inflicted by means of a whip with three thongs, and thirteen strokes being dealt. Imprisonment was not prescribed by the Law, but was known in the times of the kings. 2 Chr 16:10; Jer 37:15. 1. Finally, the Pentateuch mentions some thirty-five cases in which the penalty incurred is that of being "cut off from the people," but the exact meaning of this expression is disputed. Some commentators hold that it means death, while others, and among them the rabbinical writers, explain it as a kind of excommunication. It probably stood in some connection with the punishment of banishment, which consisted in confinement to a certain locality or exclusion from the presence of the king. 2 Sam 14:24; 1 Kgs 2:26, 1 Kgs 2:36-37.

Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'punishment' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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