Stoning

STONING. To stone, to put to Death by casting Stones. Lapidation was a Punishment very much in Use among the Hebrews, and the Rabbins reckon up a great many Crimes that were subject to this Penalty. These are, in general, all those Criminals that the Law condemns to Death, without expressing the particular kind of Death. For Example, the Incest of a Son with his Mother, or of the Son with his Mother-in-law, or of a Father with his Daughter, or of a Father with his Daughter-in-law; or of a Man that debauches a Woman that is contracted, or of her that is contracted and consents to another; those that are guilty of the Crimes of Sodomy or Bestiality; Idolaters, Blasphemers, Magicians, Conjurers, Breakers of the Sabbath, those that offer their Children to Moloch, those that intice others to Idolatry, a Son rebellious to his Father and condemned by the Judges. The Rabbins tell us, that when a Man was condemned to Death, he was led out of the City, having an Officer before him with a Pike in his Hand, at the Top of which was a Piece of linen Cloth, to make it distinguish’d afar off, and that those that might have any thing to offer in Vindication of the Criminal, might now propose it before they proceeded any farther. If any such presented themselves, they all stood still, and brought back the Offender to Prison, to hear what could be alledg’d in his Favour. If no one offer’d himself, he was conducted to the Place of Execution, and was exhorted to acknowledge and confess his Fault; because those that confess their Sins, have a Part in the Life to come. After this he was stoned. But Lapidation, as the Rabbins say, was perform’d after two Manners¹. The first was when the guilty Person was pelted with Stones till he dy’d, the Witnesses throwing the first Stones at him. The second Manner was, when the Criminal was brought to a steep Place, whose Heighth was at least that of two Men, from whence one of the two Witnesses threw him headlong, and the other roll’d a large Stone upon his Body. If he did not die by the Fall, they dispatch’d him by throwing Stones upon him. We see more than one Instance in Scripture of the first Manner of Stoning; but we have no Example of the second; for that of Jezabel, who was 2 Kings ix. 33.thrown out of a Window, proves nothing at all.

What we have said, that they generally ston’d Criminals out of the City, must only be apply’d to regular Executions. For in other Cases the Jews stoned those they thought deserved it where-ever they found them. For Example, when hurry’d away by a Transport of Zeal, they stoned to Death a Blasphemer, an Adulterer, or an Idolater. Thus, when they brought to Jesus a Woman surprised in Adultery, he said to her Accusers in the Temple, where he then was, Let him that is without Fault cast the first Stone at her. And another Time, the Jews pretending he blasphemed, gather’d up Stones to stone him, even in the Temple. They did the same at John viii. 59.another Time, when he said to them, I and my Father are one. Upon such Occasions they did not stay for the usual Formalities; they follow’d the Instigation of their own Tempers, and the first Transports of their Passion. And this was what they call’d, The Judgment of Zeal.

We are told, that after a Man had been stoned, they fasten’d his Body to a Stake, by tying his Hands together, and left him in this Condition ‘till Sun-set; then they unty’d him, and bury’d him in the Vale of Carcasses, with the Stake to which he had been fasten’d. This was not always done; and they say, it was done only to Blasphemers and Idolaters; and besides, it would be very difficult to prove this Practice by Scripture.

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