Question: I heard a radio host say that the punishments mentioned in Leviticus (e.g. stoning someone to death for some horrible act, etc) were only mentioned to show how egregious God thought such acts were, but that the punishments were never meant to be carried out and probably never were. What? Did I prepare out that correctly? Is there any truth to that? whether so, where can I find dependable discourse on that topic?

Answer: Thank you for your excellent question.

Capital punishment certainly was practiced in ancient Torah society until the Romans took by in the days of the Second Temple. The Bible itself records a few accounts of capital punishment, notably Leviticus 24:23, Numbers 15:36, and Joshua 7:25. However, our Rabbis say that these cases are mentioned considering they are, essentially, “newsworthy” (i.e. it was very, very rare for capital punishment to be actually carried out, so the Bible makes a point of mentioning it when it actually happened).

The Bible says, “On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness” (Deuteronomy 17:6). The Rabbis tell us that in order for a person to be executed, the witnesses must be valid (there

are many laws about the validity of witnesses, such as the witness must be male, adult, observant of religious practice, and the two witnesses may not be related to each other). Additionally, they must warn the offender, specifying precisely the sin he is about to commit and the punishment for it. whether the potential offender ceases with the warning, he is exempt from the death penalty. It is only whether he is brazen and continues saying “I don’t care, I will do it anyway”, that he will get the death penalty. (There are some exceptions, though). As you can see, it is very difficult for all of these conditions to be met.

The Talmud in Tractate Makkoth 7a says the following: “A sanhedrin (high court) that executes someone once in seven years is considered destructive. Rabbi Eliezer ben Azaria says once in seventy years [is considered destructive]. Rabbi Tarphon and Rabbi Akiva say, ‘whether we were in a Sanhedrin, we would never execute a person’, Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel says, ‘They are causing murder to increase in Israel’ [by eliminating the deterrent of capital punishment].”

The Talmud records a few cases of capital punishment, particularly in tractates Sanhedrin and Makkoth, where the laws of capital punishment are discussed in depth. (more…)

Original post by ATR