[1] Ber. 8a, with reference to Ps. lxviii, 61.
[2] Mishna Sanh. vii, 1.
[3] Gen. Rab. lxv, 22.
[4] This subject has been dealt with at length by A. Buechler,
_Monatsschrift f. Geschichte u. Wissenschaft des Judentums_, 1906, Vol.
L.
[5] Sanh. vii, 4.
[6] Compare Lev. xx, 10 with Deut. xxii, 24; and Num. xv, 35 with Exod.
xxxi, 14f, and xxxv, 2; Matt. xxv, 37; Luke xiii, 34.
[7] Lev. xxiv, 14, 23; Num. xv, 35f; Deut. xvii, 5; xxi, 19ff; xxii,
24; Acts vii, 58.
[8] Lev. xxiv, 16; Num. xiv, 10; Deut. xxi, 21; xxii, 21; I Sam. xxx,
6; I Kings xii, 18; xxi, 10, 13; II Chron. x, 18; xxiv, 21; Exod. xvii,
4; viii, 22; Josephus, _War_ I. xxvii, 6; _Antiq._ XVI, xi, 17; XVI. x,
5.
[9] Deut. xvii, 7.
[10] Overbeck, _Apostelgeschichte_, 114; J. Juster, _Les Juifs dans
l’Empire Romain_, II, 138, note 2; Schuerer, II, 262.
[11] _Antiq._, XX, ix, 1; Schuerer (4th edit.), I, 581.
[12] Sanh. ix, 6.
[13] Compare Tosefta Kelim i, 6; Josephus, _War_, I, xxvii, 6.
[14] J. Chag. II, 14, 78a; Sanh. 46a.
[15] Tos. Sabb. 104b; Chajes in _Hagoren_, IV, 33-37; Zuckermandel,
_Gesam. Aufsaetze_, II, 193.
[16] Sanh. 67a; Tos. Sanh. x, 11; J. Sanh. VII. 2, 25d top.
[17] Kid. 80a; Git. 57a.
[18] Buechler _loc. cit._, p. 691, doubts whether the method of
precipitation was ever legally used.
[19] II Chr. xxv, 12.
[20] II Macc. vi, 10; but Josephus, _Antiq._, XII. v, 4 says that they
were crucified and then strangled by having their children hung round
their neck.
[21] Susanna 62, LXX text.
[22] Luke iv, 29.
[23] Lev. xvi, 22.
[24] Students’ Annual, 1914, pp. 146, 147. I gladly take this
opportunity of acknowledging my indebtedness to Prof. Ginzberg who read
this essay in manuscript and gave me valuable suggestions on many
points.
[25] Sanh. 45a bottom.
[26] Lev. xx, 9, 11, 12, 13, 16, 27.
[27] Sanh. 43a; Mark xv, 23; Matt. xxvii, 34; Prov. xxxi, 6.
[28] Lev. xxi, 9; xx, 14; Cf. Gen. xxxviii, 24 (Tamar) and Josh. vii,
15, 25 (Achan).
[29] Jud. xii, 14, 15; Josh. vii, 15, 24; Josephus, _War_, II. xxi, 3,
7.
[30] Josephus, _Antiq._, IV, viii, 23, to Levit. xxi, 9. Compare Dan.
iii, 6.
[31] Josephus, _Antiq._, XVII, vi, 4; _War_, I, xxxiii, 4.
[32] _War_, II, xxi, 3.
[33] Mishna Sanh. vii, 2; Tos. Sanh. ix, 11; J. Sanh. VII, 24b; B.
Sanh. 52b.
[34] Sanh. 52b.
[35] Jubilees xxx, 7; xx, 4; xli, 25, 26. For the Pharisaic view of the
application of this penalty, see Mishna Sanh. ix, 1.
[36] Mishna Sanh. vii, 2. R. Jehudah while upholding this method
suggests a modification of the procedure.
[37] Tos. Sanh. ix, 11.
[38] Sanh. 52a.
[39] Num. xvi, 35.
[40] Lev. x, 2, 6. Sifra ed. Weiss ibid., 45c, 34; 46a, 41; Tosafoth
Sanh. 52a.
[41] Sanh. 52a; Sifra 45c, 34. But contrast Josephus _Antiq._, III,
viii, 7, who says that their faces and breasts were burnt.
[42] Baruch lxiii, 8; Susanna 62, LXX text, says that fire from heaven
burnt the false witnesses after they had been precipitated.
[43] Lekach Tob to Noach IX, 23; Tanhuma Noach 21, p. 25b.
[44] Sanh. 52b.
[45] N. Bruell, _Beth Talmud_, 7ff, quoted by Buechler _l. c._ 558,
note 1.
[46] Notice also the contradiction between Josephus’ account of the
burning of Nadab and Abihu and the Pharisaic tradition referred to
above, note 41.
[47] E. g. II Kings x, 7.
[48] Deut. xiii, 13-16.
[49] Sanh. ix, 1; Mechilta to Exod. xxi, 12.
[50] Scholion to Megillath Taanith 4.
[51] Revel, _Jew. Quart. Rev._, New Series, III, 364, note 86.
[52] Ritter, _Philo und die Halacha_, 18ff.
[53] Matt. v, 38; see also xxvi, 52.
[54] _Antiq._, IV, viii, 35.
[55] Jubilees iv, 32.
[56] Baba Kamma 84a.
[57] Revel, _Jew. Quart. Rev._, New Series, III, 364-366.
[58] Mechilta 83b to Ex. xxi, 20.
[59] Sanh. vii, 3.
[60] Similarly Baba Bathra 8b, Death by the sword is worse than a
natural death because it disfigures.
[61] Lev. xix, 18.
[62] Deut. xxi.
[63] Sanh. 52b; Mechilta 83b to Exod. xxi, 20; J. Sanh. VII, 24b. Also
Genesis Rabba 44 beginning, and the legend of the _neck_ of Moses
becoming hard as marble before the sword of Pharaoh. J. Berachoth, ix,
1 (where the exact phrase used by the Mishna occurs); Exod. Rab. 1 to
Exod. ii, 15.
[64] Matt. xiv, 10; Mark vi, 27; Luke ix, 9. Cf. the interpolation in
Josephus, _Antiq._, XVIII, v, 2.
[65] Acts xii, 2. Cf. Rev. xx, 4 of the Christian martyrs.
[66] II Sam. xvii, 23; Cf. I Kings xx, 31 “ropes upon our heads.” Tobit
ii, 3 (Strangulation).
[67] Sanh. xi, 1.
[68] Sanh. 52b bottom; Sifra 92a, 11.
[69] Mishna Sanh. vii, 3.
[70] Sanh. 52b; Sifra 92a, 11.
[71] Tobit iii, 10.
[72] Pes. 112a bottom; Cf. Semachoth II, 3.
[73] Matt. xxvii, 5. But see the different story in Acts i, 18.
[74] Mishna Sanh. vi, 4.
[75] II Sam. iv, 12.
[76] Gen. xl, 19.
[77] II Sam. xxi, 12.
[78] Josh. x, 26. But in Persia, the victim may have been hanged alive,
as the book of Esther seems to imply.
[79] Mishna Sanh. vi, 4; Sanh. 46b; J. Chag. II, 78a.
[80] Sanh. 46b.
[81] Josephus, _War_, I, iv, 6.
[82] Deut. xix, 16-21. Cf. also Deut. xiii, 12, xvii, 13, xxi, 21 of
the rebellious son, where the deterrent nature of the punishment is
again specifically mentioned.
[83] Num. xxxv, 33; Deut. xix, 13.
[84] Deut. xix, 11-13.
[85] Exod. xxi, 14; Num. xxxv, 11, 12.
[86] Exod. xxi, 13.
[87] Ezek. xviii, 21-23; xxxiii, 14-16, 19.
[88] Prov. xxiv, 11-13.
[89] Matt. xv, 4; xxvi, 52; John xix, 10, 11; Acts xxv, 11; Romans
xiii, 1-14.
[90] _Cont. Apion._, II, 31, “the punishment for most sinners is
death.” _Antiq._, IV, viii, 35.
[91] Mishna Sanh. vi, 5.
[92] Sifre to Deut. xix, 13. Cf. Deut. xiii, 9 of the seducer to
idolatry.
[93] Mishna Sanh. viii, 5.
[94] Prov. xi, 10; Mishna Sanh. iv, 5.
[95] Mishna Sanh. x, 6 end, with reference to Josh. vii, 1 and vii, 26.
[96] Genesis Rabba 44 to Gen. xv, 1.
[97] Mishna Macc. i, 10; Macc. 7a, Tosafoth.
[98] Mishna Sanh. viii, 5; Sanh. 72a; Sifre to Deut. xxi, 18-21. It
must be remembered that this case is purely theoretic. See text to
notes 214 and 215.
[99] Ps. vii, 16f; Eccl. x, 8f; Prov. xxvi, 27; Ben Sira xxvii, 26.
[100] Ps. xxviii, 4; Isa. iii, 10, 11; Job xxxiv, 11; Obad. 15; Lev.
xxiv, 19; Prov. xxiv, 29; Jer. 1, 29.
[101] Aboth ii, 7; Sota i, 8; Num. Rab. xviii, 18; Sota 8a, 11a; Pes.
28a; Baba Kamma 92a.
[102] Sanh. 100a, bottom; Mishna Sota i, 7.
[103] Gen. ix, 6, which is not necessarily meant originally as a legal
principle, but which is used by the Rabbis as such, Sanh. 57b. Cf.
Matt. xxvi, 52; Sanh. 72b.
[104] Mechilta de R. Simon, p. 126, with reference to Exod. xxi, 14.
[105] Sanh. 52a with reference to Deut. xvii, 9; Maimonides Hilch.
Sanh. xiv, 11.
[106] The Jewish courts outside of Palestine were considered as having
jurisdiction in capital cases only so long as the great Sanhedrin
continued to hold its sessions in the special hall of the Temple.
Mishna Macc. i, 10.
[107] Mishna Sanh. xi, 4 in connection with Deut. xvii, 13.
[108] Mishna Sanh. vi, 2; Sifre Zutta to Num. v, 6.
[109] Tos. Sanh. ix, 5.
[110] Mishna Sanh. vi, 2.
[111] Their use of the phrase “worthy of death” applied to such mild
offenders as the scholar with stained clothing (Sabb. 104a), is
naturally to be understood as an emphatic hyperbole.
[112] E. g. Mishna Sanh. iv, 5; Tos. Sanh. ix, 5; Macc. 5b.
[113] Num. xxxv, 31, 32; Exod. xxi, 30, 32.
[114] Josephus _Antiq._, XVI, i, 1. Compare I Sam. xxvi, 19.
[115] Baba Bathra 8b, 10a.
[116] Exod. xxii, 2; II Kings iv, 1; Josephus _Antiq._, XVI, i, 1.
[117] Lev. xix, 20; Deut. xxii, 18; xxv, 3; II Cor. xi, 24; Luke xxiii,
15, 16, 22; Josephus _Antiq._, IV, viii, 21; XIII, x, 6; Macc. iii, 1
seqq., 15. But see Maimonides Sanh. 19, where among the two hundred and
seven cases for which flagellation is the legal punishment, eighteen
cases are enumerated in which flagellation is imposed on the one
deserving death “from the hands of Heaven.”
[118] Lev. xxiv, 12; Num. xv, 34; Acts iv, 3; xii, 4; xxii, 19;
Mechilta Mishpatim VI, p. 83a; Schechter, _Sectaries_, p. 12, ll. 2-6;
Sulzberger, _Jew. Quart. Rev._, 1914-15, V, 598-604.
[119] Ezra vii, 26.
[120] Sanh. ix, 5.
[121] Cf. I Kings xxii, 27.
[122] Either the witnesses were separated and not together, (Rab),
or the witnesses had not warned the murderer, (Samuel), or they had
tripped up in giving evidence, (Abimi).
[123] J. Sanh. ix, 5.
[124] Sanh. 27a bottom.
[125] The blind is one of the four classes (poor, leper, blind,
childless), who are considered as dead. Nedarim 62b. Practically, the
one blinded is rendered harmless for the future.
[126] Rashi ad loc. Kohut’s _Aruch_ בּה. See also Peah viii, 9 of the
unjust judge, “until his eyes grow dim,” with reference to Exod. xxiii,
8, Deut. xvi, 19.
[127] Sifra 92a, 11; J. Sanh. VII, 24b; Sanh. 52b, bottom.
[128] Josephus, _Antiq._, XIV, ix, 3; Mishna Sanh. ii, 2.
[129] Usually translated “cut off from his people.” But the Hebrew term
_amav_ is plural and seems to mean ‘kinsfolk’ rather than ‘people.’
Gen. xvii, 14; Exod. xii, 15, 19; xxx, 33, 38; Lev. vii, 20f, 25, 27;
xvii, 4, 9, 10, 14; xx, 6; xxii, 3; Num. xix, 13, 20, etc., etc.
[130] Josh. vii, 24f.
[131] I Kings xxi, 3; II Kings ix, 26.
[132] Ezek. xxiii, 47; Cf. also II Kings xxv, 7; Num. xvi, 32.
[133] E. g. Exod. xxxi, 14; Lev. xviii, 7, 8, 15, 20, 23, 29.
[134] Yeb. 55a.
[135] Moed Katan 28a; J. Bikk. II, 1, 64c.
[136] Sanh. 64b, 90b to Num. xv, 31; Maimonides, Hilchoth Teshuba
8. According to Maimonides, “death by the hands of Heaven” differs
from _Kareth_, in that the former refers only to this life, the death
serving as an expiation, whereas _Kareth_ refers also to the future
life. But see Jebam. 2a, Tosafoth אשח on the meaning of _Kareth_.
[137] Lev. xvii, 10; xx, 3, 5, 6. Cf. “and _I_ will destroy,” parallel
to “and shall be cut off” Lev. xxiii, 29, 30.
[138] Lev. xx, 19.
[139] Lev. xx, 20.
[140] Lev. xx, 21.
[141] _Kareth_, according to Rabbinical law, could be commuted to
scourging under certain conditions. Mishna Macc. iii, 15.
[142] Sanh. 33b. bottom.
[143] Baba Kamma 88a.
[144] Mishna Sanh. iii, 3; Sanh. 24a, 24b, 25b.
[145] Mishna Macc. i, 8; Macc. 6b, 7a; Mishna Sanh. iii, 4.
[146] Baba Bathra 43a.
[147] Mishna Sanh. iv, 5; Sanh. 37a.
[148] Sanh. 29a; Susanna 52 seqq.
[149] Sanh. 32b.
[150] Mishna Sanh. v, 1.
[151] Mishna Sanh. iii, 6; v, 2.
[152] Mishna Sanh. v, 2; Sanh. 40a; Susanna ibid.; Mark xiv, 56, 59.
[153] Mishna Sanh. _passim_; Sanh. 40a-41a; 80a; Mishna Macc. 1, 9;
Macc. 6b; Mechilta to Exod. xxi, 12; Sifra to Num. xv, 33 and to Deut.
xxii, 24.
[154] Sanh. 8b; Macc. 16a.
[155] Sanh. 8b.
[156] Sanh. 40b.
[157] Sanh. 41a; 8b; Macc. 6b; 9b.
[158] E. g. a money penalty was allowed in compensation for
unintentional murder or constructive homicide, Exod. xxi, 29, 30.
[159] Macc. 6b.
[160] E. g. Mishna Sanh. vi, 4.
[161] Sanh. 37b; Mechilta to Exod. xxiii, 7.
[162] Deut. xvii, 6.
[163] Sanh. 37b and Tosafoth; Maimonides, Hilchoth Sanh. xx, 1.
[164] Mishna Sanh. ix, 2.
[165] Sanh. 72a.
[166] Except in pecuniary penalties, Baba Kamma 4b, Tosafoth.
[167] Macc. 5b; Kerit. 3a top; Sanh. 54a bottom; 76a; Sifra to Lev. xx,
17.
[168] Mishna Sanh. i, 4.
[169] Mishna Sanh. iv, 2; Sanh. 36b.
[170] Mishna Sanh. iv, 5.
[171] Tos. Sanh. ix, 1.
[172] Tos. Sanh. vii, 2. The duty of trying to find means of freeing
the accused is deduced from Num. xxxv, 25.
[173] Except for an adulterer and an adulteress receiving the same
punishment for the same sin, J. Sanh. IV, 5. Tos. Sanh. vii, 2.
[174] Mishna Sanh. iv, 1; v, 5.
[175] Mishna Sanh. i, 6; iv, 1; v, 5.
[176] Mishna Sanh. iv, 1; v, 5.
[177] Tos. Sanh. vii, 2, ix, 1; Sanh. 32a, 34a.
[178] Sanh. 17a.
[179] Deut. xxxii, 35.
[180] Instead of the required stoning, the culprit would fall from
a roof or be trampled by an animal. Instead of being burned by the
sentence of a court, he would fall into a fire or be bitten by a snake.
Instead of being executed by the court, he would fall into the power of
the government or of robbers. Instead of suffering the legal punishment
of strangulation, he would die from drowning or suffocation. Sanh. 37b.
[181] Exod. xxiii, 7. Rashi.
[182] Mishna Sanh. iv, 1.
[183] Sanh. 42b, 43a.
[184] Macc. 7a; Mishna Sanh. vi, 1 seqq.; Susanna 45; Moed Katan 14b.
[185] Schuerer, (4th edit.), II, 261, note 79; and pp. 264, 265.
[186] John xviii, 31. The trial of Paul described in Acts xviii,
12-16, reflecting conditions in Corinth, depicts the Jew as exercising
jurisdiction only in religious matters.
[187] Sanh. 41a bottom; Sabb. 15a; Aboda Zara 8b; Rosh Hashana 31a
bottom; Mechilta de R. Simon p. 126; J. Sanh. I, 1, 18a; VII, 2, 24b;
Nachmanides to Numbers xxxv, 29.
[188] Sota 8b; Keth. 30a bottom; Sanh. 37b.
[189] _Antiq._, XIII, x, 6.
[190] _Ibid._, XVIII, i, 4.
[191] _War_, II, viii, 9.
[192] _War_, VI, ii, 4.
[193] Schuerer, II, 262. See J. Juster, _Les Juifs dans l’Empire
Romain_, II, 142, note 5.
[194] Agrippa’s Letter to Caligula; Philo _Leg._, 39, quoted in Juster
_loc. cit._, p. 139, note 1.
[195] Acts vi, 7 et seqq.
[196] Acts xxi, 28f; (xxiv, 6; xxi, 29); xxvi, 21; (xxiii, 6, 29; xxiv,
5, 12ff; xxv, 7f. 27; xxii, 24, 30); xxiv, 6 (8); xxiii, 3, 9.
[197] _Antiq._, XX, ix, 1. Jos. Lehmann, _Révue d. Etudes juives_,
XXXVII, 1898, pp. 13, 14.
[198] See note 33.
[199] Juster, _l. c._ 122-149, from a thorough examination of the
sources comes to the conclusion that the Sanhedrin preserved the right
of both pronouncing and of carrying out a capital sentence until the
year 70 C. E.
[200] In Rom. 1, 6, c. 7, quoted by Juster, _ibid._, p. 150.
[201] Didascalia Ch. xxvi, 6; xix, 2. Juster, _ibid._
[202] See note 33.
[203] Sanh. 52b.
[204] J. Meg. III, 2. 74a. Graetz (3rd edit.), IV, 284f. Bacher, _Agad.
d. pal. Amoraer_, II, 94f. For a different interpretation, see Perles,
_Monatsschrift_, XXXVII, 359-361.
[205] Ber. 58a.
[206] Baba Kamma 117a, 117b.
[207] Sanh. viii, 7. According to tradition, the offender may be killed
_flagrante delicto_ in the three cases there mentioned, only if he has
received legal warning (see to notes 153-158), and if a lesser physical
injury would be insufficient to prevent the crime. Mishna Sanh. ix, 6
mentions three other cases, in at least one of which the zeal of the
one who would strike down the offender is restrained by a number of
conditions.
[208] Sabb. 156a.
[209] Ep. ad. African. Par. 14. Juster _l. c._, p. 151, note 2.
[210] Sanh. 51b.
[211] Mishna Sanh. xi, 1.
[212] Sanh. 86a.
[213] Tos. Sanh. xiv, 1; Sanh. 71a.
[214] See note 98.
[215] Deut. xxi, 18-21; Mishna Sanh. viii, 1-5; Tos. Sanh. xi, 6; Sanh.
71a.
[216] Note 120.
[217] Sanh. 81b.
[218] Sanh. 51b.
[219] E. g. Judah ben Tabbai and Simon ben Shetach, Mishna Macc. i, 6;
Macc. 5b; Sanh. 37b.
[220] J. Pes. VI, 1 beginning, 33a.
[221] Sanh. 53a, top, makes the claim that the decisions concerning the
four methods of capital punishment are traditional.
[222] Mishna Macc. i, 10.
[223] It is not unlikely that both statements represent historical
theory rather than historical fact, a suggestion that seems to find
support from the words that follow, in which Rabbi Akiba and Rabbi
Tarfon claim that had they been members of a Sanhedrin, the death
sentence would never have been imposed.
[224] See notes 104 and 105.
[225] Tur, Hoshen Mishpat, I. 3.
[226] Responsa XVII, 8. Cf. Teshuboth Ha-Rashba, II, 290.
[227] Lindo, _The Jews of Spain_, p. 150f.
[228] Responsa XVI, 1.
[229] Ber. 62b, 72a.
[230] Yad, Hilchoth Hobel u-Mazzik, viii, 2.
[231] Judah ben Asher, Responsa Zichron Jehuda f. 55b, No. 75, quoted
by David Kaufman, _Jew. Quart. Rev._ 1896, VIII, pp. 219f.
[232] Ibid.
[233] Responsa of Rashba V, 290.
[234] Kaufmann, _Ibid_, pp. 221-238 gives all the details of this
interesting leading case.
[235] Lindo, _Jews of Spain_, 160-162. Graetz, _Geschichte_, VIII, 44.
[236] Jacobs, _Jews of Angevin England_, pp. 331, 43, 49.
[237] Responsa, 138, _Jew. Encycl._, Art. Lithuania.
[238] Tur and Shulchan Aruch, Hoshen Mishpat ii. Cf. the exemplary
punishments referred to above, notes 14 and 80.
Transcriber note:
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Punctuation errors have been corrected.
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