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or capital punishment, among the Jews, when lawful and regular, was of one of the following kinds.
1. Death by the sword ( ìְôִé çֶøֶá , or äִëָּä áְçֶøְá , also sinply äִëָּä ; 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 ( ùָּׂøִ Š áָּàֶùׁ , 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 ( úָּìָä ) 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 ( âִּì àֲáָðַéí âָּãåì ) 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" ( éְðִëְøְúָä äִðֶּôֶùׁ äִäéà îִ÷ֶּøáֵ òִîּå , or îֵòִîֶּéäָ ), 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 ( äé÷ïôïìåῖí or ìåëßæåéí =" quartering") or dismemberment ( ùִׁñֵּ Š, 1Sa_15:33; ìåëéóôὶ äéáéñåῖí , 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 ôὸ äé÷ïôïìåῖí 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 ( ùְׁîִéèָä 2Ch_25:12; comp. Psalm cxli. 6 êáôáêñçìíéóìüò , 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 ( ôõìðáíéóìüò ), 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 ( ôýìðáíïí , 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. îìáï ; 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 ( êáôáðïíôéóìüò , Mat_18:6), and fighting with wild beasts ( èçñéïìá÷ßá , 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 êáôáðïíôéóìῷ , num fuerit supplic. Judaeorums, Lips. 1662.; Welleius, De supplicio submers. Havn. 1701; Scherer, De êáôáðïíô 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.