In Judaism
In the Old Testament of the Bible, stoning is specifically prescribed as the method of execution for crimes such as murder, blasphemy and apostasy, and some cases of adultery. However, the Talmud seriously limits the use of the death penalty to those criminals who were warned not to commit the crime in the presence of two witnesses, and persisted in committing the crime also in front of two witnesses. It was said about the death penalty that if a court killed one person in seventy years, it was a barbarous court and should be condemned as such.
Extracts from Deuteronomy 13:6 to 13:10:
If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; (13:6)
But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. (13:9)
And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. (13:10)
Furthermore, the Talmud describes the stoning punishment (called Skila סקילה in Hebrew) in different terms than the stereotypical notion of hurling rocks at an immobile defendant/victim. Rather, the defendant is brought to the top of a large scaffold, and thrown off. After that (if the defendant was not already dead) very large rocks were dropped on top of the defendant. The punishment, the harshest one in Talmudic law, was intended to be as quick and painless as possible given the nature of the punishment. (That is, there are quicker and more painless punishments, but the Talmud specifically condemns long, drawn out, and torturous punishments).
Mishna, Sanhedrin 6.4 on modalities of stoning:
The place of stoning was the height of two men. One of the witnesses knocked (the convict) down on his back [lit.: "loins"]. If he turned over on his chest [lit: "heart"], the witness turned him on his back. If he died right away, that was enough; but if not, the second (witness) took a stone and dropped it on his chest. If he died right away, that was enough; but if not he was stoned by all Israelites (present)...
Mishna, Sanhedrin 7.4 on offenders sentenced to stoning:
[1] one who has intercourse with his mother or his father's wife, his daughter-in-law, a male or a beast. [2] a woman who copulates with a beast. [3] the blasphemer and the idol-worshipper. [4] one who curses his father or his mother. [5] one who has intercourse with a girl who is betrothed. [6] the instigator (to apostasy) [mesith] and the imposter [maddich; cf. Deut 13]. [7] the sorcerer, and [8] the disobedient or rebellious son.
In the Old Testament of the Bible, stoning is specifically prescribed as the method of execution for crimes such as murder, blasphemy and apostasy, and some cases of adultery. However, the Talmud seriously limits the use of the death penalty to those criminals who were warned not to commit the crime in the presence of two witnesses, and persisted in committing the crime also in front of two witnesses. It was said about the death penalty that if a court killed one person in seventy years, it was a barbarous court and should be condemned as such.
Extracts from Deuteronomy 13:6 to 13:10:
If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; (13:6)
But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. (13:9)
And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. (13:10)
Furthermore, the Talmud describes the stoning punishment (called Skila סקילה in Hebrew) in different terms than the stereotypical notion of hurling rocks at an immobile defendant/victim. Rather, the defendant is brought to the top of a large scaffold, and thrown off. After that (if the defendant was not already dead) very large rocks were dropped on top of the defendant. The punishment, the harshest one in Talmudic law, was intended to be as quick and painless as possible given the nature of the punishment. (That is, there are quicker and more painless punishments, but the Talmud specifically condemns long, drawn out, and torturous punishments).
Mishna, Sanhedrin 6.4 on modalities of stoning:
The place of stoning was the height of two men. One of the witnesses knocked (the convict) down on his back [lit.: "loins"]. If he turned over on his chest [lit: "heart"], the witness turned him on his back. If he died right away, that was enough; but if not, the second (witness) took a stone and dropped it on his chest. If he died right away, that was enough; but if not he was stoned by all Israelites (present)...
Mishna, Sanhedrin 7.4 on offenders sentenced to stoning:
[1] one who has intercourse with his mother or his father's wife, his daughter-in-law, a male or a beast. [2] a woman who copulates with a beast. [3] the blasphemer and the idol-worshipper. [4] one who curses his father or his mother. [5] one who has intercourse with a girl who is betrothed. [6] the instigator (to apostasy) [mesith] and the imposter [maddich; cf. Deut 13]. [7] the sorcerer, and [8] the disobedient or rebellious son.
