Numerous laws in the Pentateuch (the first five books of the OT), specifically state that anyone who breaks certain laws will be put to death. For example: In Leviticus 24:10–16 we read of a man who in the midst of a fight "blasphemed the Name in a curse." Yahweh's command was to "Take the blasphemer outside the camp...and let the whole congregation stone him." The law then was stated as, "One who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall be put to death, the whole congregations shall stone the blasphemer. Aliens as well as citizens, when they blaspheme the Name, shall be put to death." See also Deuteronomy 13:10; 17:5; 21:21; 22:21, 24. Note especially Deut 21:18:–21, where the parents of a disobedient (stubborn, rebellious, glutton, drunkard) son are to bring him to the elders of the town who then shall stone him! As with other law codes (e.g., Hammurabi's Law Code) scholars question whether these laws were actually binding and/or practiced. Whether the Israelites followed through on these (and other) capital offences with actual executions is not the point here. The point is that this is what Yahweh commanded according to the Pentateuch, and faithfulness to Yahweh was to be demonstrated by obedience.
As Joshua is about to lead the Israelites in to conquer the Promised Land, Yahweh speaks to him saying (Joshua 1:7), "Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go." And then Yahweh says (Joshua 1:18), "Whoever rebels against your orders and disobeys your words, whatever you command, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous." Did Joshua actually follow through on this? According to chapter 7, he did! Achan had taken some of plunder for himself and hid it in his tent. All the plunder was to be devoted to Yahweh. Yahweh's anger "burned against the Israelites" (v. 1), and thus in attacking Ai, the Israelites were defeated (because Yahweh was angry with them) and thirty-six of them were killed (v. 5). Yahweh then helped Joshua identify the culprit, prior to which he said (v. 15), "And the one who is taken as having the devoted things shall be burned with fire, together with all that he has, for having transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and for having done an outrageous thing in Israel." Then Joshua carried out Yahweh's command (vv. 25–26): "Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord is bringing trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him to death; they burned them with fire, cast stones on them, and raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his burning anger. Therefore that place to this day is called the Valley of Achor." But it wasn't just Achan who was executed, so were "his sons and daughters, his oxen, donkeys, and sheep" (v. 24).
As Jesus hung on a cross, having been wrongly arrested, falsely judged, beaten and sentenced to execution, he prayed, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing."
Later, when Peter confronted thousand of Jews in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, he is reputed to have said this:
"Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
And the author of Acts reports: "So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers" (Acts 2:36–42, emphasis mine).
If Achan and his family were the only example, maybe I could rationalize or ignore it. But the picture in the Hebrew Bible of the threat and practice of capital punishment is abundant and gruesome. How can we rationalize this when we read of Jesus' prayer on the cross and see Peter's grace-filled promise to those who actually did and/or supported Jesus' execution? In my next blog post, I will review some of the main rationalizations that I have read (and at times used) for Yahweh's commands to execute people for certain crimes and why I now have trouble accepting those explanations.
One last thing comes to mind. The NT gives us the example of one who received the death punishment, yet was redeemed by Jesus while they both hung on crosses. It is conceivable that, upon being pronounced the death sentence, an early Israelite could still find repentance and reconciliation with God before the sentence was carried out. We are all very familiar with the spirituality that is often found by those in prison or on death row. A whole lot of bible reading takes place amongst those enduring punishment(or waiting for it) for the way they've lived. It is possible that the accused member of the Israelite community had a "better shot" at salvation when confronted by their death sentence, than if they were given an easy sentence that would not have brought about a repentant heart. Although I believe these death sentences were prescribed to bring about repentance and a fear of God from the community at large, there is biblical(and current) evidence that harsh sentences bring souls to REALLY think about where they are at with God, and bring about a desire for mercy and repentance in the individual sense. Some(or most, we don't know) of those who were killed for cursing their parents may have found mercy in the salvation sense of being reconciled with G0d, before their earthly sentences were carried out. IF so, they are now praising God for the death sentences given them!
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