Jesus & the Law – on crimes & punishment … (11/07/18)
Penultimately, the ancient Law was also concerned with maintaining its own semblance of justice – by strictly proscribing a collection of “appropriate punishments” for various criminal infractions; essentially doing so under the primitive but then-still-moral rubric of “an eye for an eye.” (see Exodus 21:23-25, Leviticus 24:19-20, & Deuteronomy 19:21) And while the representatives of this judicial apparatus claimed it to be fair, merciful, and just1, in reality it was anything but – mandating brutal forms of execution (most often stoning, but also decapitation or conflagration2) for any number of offenses, including murder (see Exodus 21:12-14 & Numbers 35:16-21), kidnapping (see Exodus 21:16 & Deuteronomy 24:7), physically striking or verbally insulting one’s mother or father (see Exodus 21:15-17 & Leviticus 20:9), being an otherwise “rebellious son” (see Deuteronomy 21:18-21), infanticide (see Leviticus 20:2), working on the Sabbath (see Exodus 35:2 & Numbers 15:32-36), committing adultery (see Leviticus 20:10 & Deuteronomy 22:22), engaging in incest (see Leviticus 18:6-18 & Leviticus 20:1-14), engaging in sexual acts with a non-human animal (see Leviticus 20:15-16), engaging in consensual premarital intercourse (with any man if you are a woman – see Deuteronomy 22:20-21, or with a betrothed woman if you are man – see Deuteronomy 22:23-24), giving false testimony during a capital trial (see Deuteronomy 19:16-19), engaging in male homosexual intercourse3 (see Leviticus 18:22 & Leviticus 20:13), raping a betrothed woman4 (see Deuteronomy 22:25), committing acts of blasphemy or prophesying falsely (see Leviticus 24:16, Deuteronomy 22:6, & Deuteronomy 28:20), engaging in witchcraft or acts of augury (see Exodus 22:17 & Leviticus 20:27), in any way worshiping idols or false gods (see Leviticus 20:2 & Deuteronomy 13:7-19), or being in any way insubordinate to a priest (see Deuteronomy 17:12).
Almost needless to say, Jesus was not at all supportive of the Law’s harsh views on justice, much less its barbaric attempts to effectuate the same. Aside from his aforementioned adoration of abject & unconditional forgiveness5 (see Matthew 5:7, Matthew 5:38-39, Matthew 5:44-48, Matthew 18:21-22, Matthew 26:28, Mark 11:25, Luke 6:27-37, Luke 7:47-50, Luke 10:29-37, Luke 15:11-20, & John 5:24 + John 14:12 et al) and his open affirmation of seeking humble reconciliation instead of judicial reprieve (see Matthew 5:23-25, Matthew 5:38-40, & Luke 12:57-58), Jesus loudly denounced the blatant overarching hypocrisies of the criminal judgments made by the Law’s prosecuting magistrates (see Matthew 23:2-4, Matthew 23:13-14, Matthew 23:23-28, Luke 11:39-46, & Luke 11:52) and made specifically moot a number of the more fundamental tents of the Jewish judicial code as well – noting that we are all essentially guilty of murder (see Matthew 5:21-226), that we are all essentially guilty of adultery (see Matthew 5:27-28), and that we are all essentially guilty of oath-breaking (see Matthew 5:33-37); fundamentally declaring thereby that we would all do far better looking into the mirror to seek, find, and then correct our own flaws than in looking outward and attempting to identify, criticize, and correct others’ theirs (see Matthew 5:29-30, Matthew 7:1-2, Matthew 18:8-9, Matthew 23:12, Mark 9:43-48, Mark 9:49-50, Luke 6:37-42, & John 8:7-117 et al).
“For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the gentle glories of Jesus’ Beatitudes. And yet, often with tears welling up in their eyes, these same supposed champions of Christ often openly demand that the Bible’s 10 Commandments be read aloud or raised up in public spaces. Of course, we need not be reminded that this is an allegiance with Moses, not Jesus. Indeed, how odd that I haven’t yet heard a single one of these religious representatives demand that a single verse from the Sermon on the Mount be posted anywhere. Where is Jesus’ ‘Blessed are the merciful’ hung in any courtroom? Where can his ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ be found in the Pentagon or read on Capitol Hill?” ~ via Kurt Vonnegut
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1 While true that the ancient Jewish Law did not allow more than 40 lashes to be inflicted upon perpetrators in non-capital cases (see Deuteronomy 25:1-3) and while it was also true that several other crimes were punished by mere banishment from the Jewish community (“cut off from the people” for manslaughter via Numbers 35:22-28, for openly breaking the Law without remorse via Numbers 15:30-31, for incest via Leviticus 18:29, for uncircumcision via Genesis 17:14, for neglecting the Passover via Numbers 9:13, for witchcraft via Leviticus 20:6, for eating blood via Leviticus 7:27, for making holy ointment for private use via Exodus 30:32-33, for general neglect of personal purity via Numbers 19:11-20, & for killing a sacrificial animal anywhere other than at the Tabernacle/Temple via Leviticus 17:4), neither of these judicial alternatives can be even remotely labeled as “merciful” and their application can in no way diminish the abject barbarity that will ever be execution – of either those guilty or those innocent – via stoning, conflagration, or decapitation … In addition, it is worth noting that even though the vile practice of bodily mutilation is only mentioned once in the biblical texts as an acceptable means of punishment (where the hand of any woman who grabs a man’s penis during an altercation must be amputated via Deuteronomy 25:12; an edict expressly countermanded by Jesus in Matthew 5:30, Matthew 18:8-9, & Mark 9:43-48), it is demanded in that particular instance nonetheless.
2 Only in relatively few instances did the ancient Law specifically proscribe the particular method of execution to be inflicted upon capital offenders (stoning for acts of blasphemy, idolatry, Sabbath-breaking, female premarital sex, or being a rebellious son – conflagration for the commission of bigamy with one’s wife’s mother or the prostitution of a priest’s daughter – and decapitation “by the sword” for heretical apostasy), with all others simply calling for a violent death, often in conjunction with the phrase “that their blood shall be upon them.” Most scholars agree that this latter expression intimated death by stoning (see also Exodus 19:13 & Leviticus 20:27). The ancient manuscripts do mention “hanging” (see Numbers 25:4 & Deuteronomy 21:22) and yet rabbinical sources more often than not feel that this is a reference to post-execution exposure of the corpse to the elements (see Mishnah Sanhedrin 6:4 &/or Midrash Sanhedrin 75b) – not death via strangulation.
3 Interestingly, nowhere in the Law is lesbianism (homosexual intercourse between two women) prohibited in any way.
4 In another highly revealing tell as to the less-then-moral fundaments of the ancient Law of Israel, while it was indeed a capital offense to rape a betrothed women, it was not to rape one who was unbetrothed – with the penalty for the latter being a mere payment of 50 shekels and a lifelong forced marriage to the victim thereof (see Deuteronomy 22:28-29).
5While it is true that Jesus did indeed state that “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven” (see Matthew 12:32, Mark 3:29, & Luke 12.10), this truth in no way detracts from either Jesus’ open disdain for judicial punishment or his affirmation of unconditional forgiveness. Indeed, Jesus made it quite clear that his heavenly Father was a champion of unconditional Love (Matthew 5:48) and limitless mercy (Luke 6:27-36), and that this Divine Essence – which included the “Spirit of Truth” (otherwise known as the Holy Spirit) – resided within each & every human being (see Luke 17:20-21 & John 14:12-26). As such, when Jesus claims that “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven”, he is not claiming that certain sinning individuals should be or will be damned for their blasphemous transgressions, but is rather relaying the simple psychological fact that anyone acting against the selflessly loving inclinations of his or her Highest Self will suffer from powerful subconscious undercurrents of guilt & shame as a result.
6All humans are inescapably programmed to respond instinctively to any threat or fear with some form of anger. As such, Jesus boldly proclaims here that no one is able to throw the first stone at another sinner – even one who has committed the highly loathed act of murder. NOTE as well that Matthew 5:22 thereby radically expands the Law’s prohibition against slander (see Leviticus 25:17) … As an intriguing sidebar, NOTE as well that Jesus seems to hypocritically expose himself later in Matthew 23:7 by calling the Pharisees “blind fools”, though the case can readily be made that Jesus’ latter statement was merely a factual one about the Pharisees, while his former proclamation condemned all negative utterances that were emotionally charged (i.e. anger-inspired).
7NOTE that accusing witnesses in all capital trials were required by Law to throw the first stone during any subsequently convicted criminal’s execution (see Deuteronomy 13:9).
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