Stoning

Biblical Texts

The Old Testament law prescribes stoning for a number of offenses. These include giving one's children to Molech (Leviticus 20:2), having a familiar spirit or being a wizard (Leviticus 20:27), and blaspheming the name of the LORD (Leviticus 24:14-16). Stoning is also the penalty for breaking the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32-36), for serving other gods or enticing others to serve them (Deuteronomy 13:6-10; 17:2-7), for a rebellious son (Deuteronomy 21:18-21), and for adultery involving a betrothed virgin (Deuteronomy 22:23-24). An ox that gores a person to death is likewise to be stoned (Exodus 21:28).

Scripture also records instances in which the law was carried out. In Leviticus 24 a blasphemer is stoned, and in Numbers 15 a man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath is stoned. In Joshua 7:25 Achan is stoned. In 1 Kings 21 Jezebel sets up false witnesses so that Naboth is stoned to death, an incident often cited as an example of the abuse of stoning.

Background

Executions took place outside the camp or the city (Leviticus 24:14; Numbers 15:36). Deuteronomy stipulates that a person may be put to death only on the testimony of two or three witnesses, and that the hands of the witnesses are to be upon the offender first, followed by those of the people (Deuteronomy 17:6-7; Deuteronomy 19:15). The participation of the whole community in the execution reflects Deuteronomy's refrain, "So thou shalt put the evil away from among you." The Hebrew Bible uses two verbs meaning "to stone" (saqal and ragam). More detailed regulations governing the procedure are reportedly preserved separately in later Jewish literature (the Mishnah).

In the New Testament

In John 8:5 the scribes and Pharisees bring a woman taken in the act of adultery and say, "Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned." Jesus answers, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her" (John 8:7), and says to the woman, "Neither do I condemn thee" (John 8:11). The Gospel of John also records several occasions on which the Jews take up stones against Jesus, regarding him as a blasphemer (John 8:59; 10:31-33). John 18:31, moreover, records the statement "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death," indicating that the authority to carry out executions was restricted under Roman rule at the time.

In Acts 7, Stephen is stoned outside the city and dies praying for his enemies (Acts 7:60). The witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of Saul (Acts 7:58). That same Saul, later known as Paul, was himself stoned at Lystra and left for dead (Acts 14:19). He recalls in 2 Corinthians 11:25, "once was I stoned." Jesus addresses Jerusalem as "thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee" (Matthew 23:37), and Hebrews 11:37 mentions the faithful of old who were stoned.

Interpretation and Issues

• Application of Old Testament judicial laws: The Presbyterian and Reformed tradition, following the Westminster Confession of Faith (chapter 19), divides the law into moral, ceremonial, and civil (judicial) law. In this tradition, civil laws such as the penalty of stoning expired together with the state of Israel, and only the general equity they contain remains binding. Lutherans address the question within the distinction between Law and Gospel. Dispensationalism explains it within a framework that distinguishes the dispensation of the Mosaic law from the church age. Although their formulations differ, the major Korean denominations share the position that the church today is not to carry out this penalty.
• Manuscript question concerning the woman taken in adultery: John 7:53-8:11 is absent from many of the oldest manuscripts, and many modern translations note this. Some hold that the passage records an actual event, while others regard it as a later addition.
• Traditions not found in the text: The text does not say what Jesus wrote on the ground; the explanation that "he wrote the sins of the accusers" is conjecture. The tradition identifying this woman with Mary Magdalene likewise has no basis in Scripture.

In the Korean Church

The saying "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone" is frequently cited in sermons urging self-examination rather than the condemnation of others. The phrase is also used idiomatically outside the church. The stoning of Stephen is a common subject of sermons on martyrdom and forgiveness.