1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
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| Exodus 21:12 | *He that striketh a man with a will to kill him, shall be put to death. Leviticus 24:17. | With a will. The Hebrew and Septuagint do not express this, but the context shews it to be necessary. --- Death, by the sword, as people soliciting idolatry to others were also. Eighteen crimes were punished with lapidation, ten with fire, or melting lead poured down their throats, and six with strangling. The royal tribunals always commanded the criminal's head to be struck off. (Calmet) --- When the punishment is not defined, stoning must be understood; (Rabbins and Selden, Syned 2:13.) at least when it is said, his blood be upon him. But when it is only determined that he shall die, Grotius understands he must be strangled, with towels put round the malefactor's neck, while he stands up to the knees in a dunghill; (Drusius) as he does also when he is to be killed with melted lead. Murder was punished by the ancient Greeks with exile. (Plato, etc.) "At that time it was deemed unlawful to inflict a capital punishment upon any, who, however criminal, were still men." (Lartant 2.) But as these crimes became more frequent, God enacts this law of retaliation, blood for blood, Genesis 9:6. Ten paces from the place of execution, the criminal Hebrew had to confess his sin. (Maimonides) (Calmet) |