25. Judicial Institutions

Judicial Institutions

1. The arrangement which had been made in the wilderness for the administration of justice, by judges of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, ceased when the nation was settled in Canaan; and, as Moses directed, judges and scribes were appointed for every city, with jurisdiction over the surrounding villages. Cases of great importance and appeals were carried to the chief civil ruler, or to the high priest (Deu 16:18; Deu 17:8-9). This arrangement seems to have continued till the time of the Maccabees, when a supreme tribunal of justice was established at Jerusalem, composed of seventy members, and denominated the Sanhedrim. This was the great “council” of justice so often mentioned in the New Testament. It was composed of chief priests; of elders, or beads of large family associations; and of scribes, or men of learning, who were mostly Levites. The Jewish writers speak much of this institution. They state that its members sat in a semicircle, of which the president and vice-president occupied the center, and that it was attended by secretaries and apparitors. This court tried appeals and other cases of importance. It was by a hasty and irregular assembly of its members, at the house of the high priest, that our Lord was tried (Mat 26:3; Mat 26:57; John 18:24); but they could not themselves put him to death, as the power of capital punishment had been taken from them by the Romans. In later times, the district judicatures were so distributed, that, as Josephus states, there were seven judges, with two Levites as apparitors, in every city. This is that which is called “the Judgment” in the New Testament.

2. The courts of justice held their sittings in the morning (Psa 101:8; Jer 21:12). As the gates of towns were the places of the greatest public resort, justice was administered, and civil business transacted there. This continued even after the Captivity (Gen 23:10, etc.; Deu 21:19; Ruth 4:1, etc.; Psa 127:5; Pro 22:22; Zec 8:16).

3 The form of trial appears to have been very simple. The court consisted of a judge or judges, and, at least in later times, of a scribe, who wrote down the sentence, and the particulars of the trial or cause. Before them stood the accused, the accuser, and the witnesses. Two witnesses were necessary to establish any charge, and they were examined separately, in the presence of the accused (Num 35:30; Deu 17:6; Mat 26:60). The sentence was pronounced soon after the examination, and, even when it decreed the punishment of death, was executed without delay (Jos 7:16-25; 1Sa 22:18; 1Ki 2:23-25). In the earlier periods of Jewish history imprisonment was not used as a punishment. When it was necessary to keep a person in custody, he was put under a guard (Lev 24:12), or confined in an empty cistern (Gen 40:15; Jer 37:15-20), or in the house of the judge. In later times, however, prisons were better known, and imprisonment was more usual (Mat 5:25; Mat 18:30; Acts 12:4-10). Prisoners often wore chains or fetters of iron or brass (Jdg 16:21; Psa 105:18; Psa 107:10; Jer 40:4; Jer 52:11). In the time of Christ, the Jews had borrowed from other nations the practice of imprisoning for debt; and the creditor seems to have had the power of demanding the application of stripes and torture (Mat 5:26; Mat 18:28-34). The vigilance and severity of the gaolers were sometimes enforced by their being subject to the punishment intended for their prisoners, if they allowed them to escape. Among the instruments of punishment, stocks for the feet are mentioned at a very early period (Job 13:27; Job 33:11).

4. With regard to punishments generally, the theory of the law was that life should be given for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, etc. (Exo 21:23-25). But this was only done literally in the matter of life for life; in all other cases, indemnification equivalent to the damage sustained might be made by the offender to the sufferer (Exo 21:30). Restitution, to twice the value of the property stolen, was the general punishment for theft; but, in some cases, the restitution was fourfold, or even fivefold (Exo 22:1-6). If the thief was unable to make restitution, he was sold as a slave, and the price applied to that purpose; and if the full amount was not thus made up, his wife and children were also sold (Exo 22:3; 2Ki 4:1).

5. There was only one kind of secondary corporal punishment—scourging. This was usually inflicted with a rod upon the back of the prostrate culprit. The blows could, in no case, exceed forty; and to prevent an inadvertent excess, the number was practically restricted to thirty-nine (Deu 25:2-3; Mat 10:17; 2Co 11:24). A kind of scourge, called a scorpion—composed of thongs set with sharp iron points appears to have been used for torture (1Ki 12:11). The punishment of scourging was chiefly applied to offences against the ceremonial law; and, in later times, it was usually inflicted in the synagogues. To such offences, also, was applicable the punishment of excommunication, which, in a theocratical state like that of the Hebrews, was as much a civil as an ecclesiastical punishment, and involved many afflictive privations (Num 15:30-31). But if an offence liable to this punishment was committed inadvertently, the party might exonerate himself of the penalties, by confessing his error, and presenting a “trespass-offering” for sacrifice (Num 15:28-29).

6. The crimes punished with death were murder, adultery, unnatural crimes, and gross misconduct to parents, also idolatry and Sabbath-breaking, which were acts of treason against the Supreme Head of the theocratical government. The common and national mode of inflicting the punishment of death was by casting stones at the culprit; but when the punishment was ordered by a king or military commander, it was usually inflicted by stabbing with a sword (Jdg 8:21; 1Sa 22:18; 2Sa 1:5; 1Ki 2:25; 1Ki 2:29; 1Ki 2:31; 1Ki 2:34). Latterly decapitation came into use (Mat 14:8-12; Acts 12:2). The other modes of punishing with death, mentioned in Scripture, were inflicted by foreigners, not by Hebrews—such as crucifixion, which was a Roman punishment, introduced into Palestine after the power over life had been taken from the Jews by their conquerors.

7. There were also posthumous punishments, by which the memory of the deceased was rendered infamous. Of this kind was the hanging of the dead body on a tree or gallows; but the law required that it should be taken down and buried the same day (Num 25:4-5; Deu 21:22-23). Another to burn to ashes the body of a person who had been stoned (Lev 20:14; Lev 21:9; Jos 7:15; Jos 7:25); and a third was, to raise a large heap of stones over the corpse (Jos 7:26; 2Sa 18:17).

8. Another institution remains to be mentioned, which engages much attention in the law and early history of the Israelites. In early pastoral life it had been the custom, when a person was slain, for his next of kin to take upon him the office of avenger (in Hebrew, Goel), who rested not until he had taken the life of the homicide. A practice so liable to gross abuse, and calculated to entail endless blood-feuds, could not be endured in an organized community. The law, therefore, provided for the mitigation of its evils. Six cities, in different parts of the country, were appointed as “cities of refuge,” to any one of which the unintentional man-slayer might hasten; and when be reached it, and while he remained in it, he was safe from the avenger. This protection he continued to enjoy till the death of the high priest, when he was at liberty to return home. But the shelter of these asylums was refused to actual murderers; for although they might be received on their first arrival, yet, on their guilt being proved, they were delivered up to punishment (Num 35:9-34). The most laudable anxiety was manifested to secure to the homicide the just effect of this institution; and, among other things, it was directed that the roads to the cities of refuge should be kept free from all obstruction (Deu 19:3).