Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads?
These questions apparently relate to Leviticus 19:19 (cf. Deut 22:9-11), except that the punishments are gratuitously added from elsewhere. It is presumably a case of combining what appear to us the most ridiculous Old Testament statutes with the most abhorrent ancient punishments.
Pelting with stones is the means of execution in Lev 20:2 for devoting one’s children to Molech, in Lev 20:27 for mediums and spiritists, in Lev 24:10-23 for someone who used the divine name in a curse, and in Num 15:35-36 for violation of the Sabbath by manual labour. It is a punishment for sin that goes right to the heart of Israel’s relationship with YHWH, cf. its use in Deut 13:10 (“You must stone him to death because he tried to entice you away from the LORD your God, who delivered you from the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.”) and 17:2-7 as a punishment for false prophecy and idolatry. In Deuteronomy it is also specified as a punishment in cases that were likely seen as jeopardizing the covenant community, namely a son’s persistent rebelliousness in 21:18-21 (threatening the continuation of the household on its land), a daughter’s sexual affair while in the paternal household in 22:21 (explicitly designated “a disgraceful thing in Israel”), and adultery involving a married woman in 22:22-24 (raising paternity issues; the penalty was executed on both if consent could be presumed, on the man only if the woman’s consent could not be assumed, see verse 25).
Fire features as a means of executing the death penalty in the case of a man marrying both a woman and her mother (Lev 20:14) and in the case of the daughter of a priest engaging in prostitution or promiscuity (Lev 21:9). In Deuteronomy burning is associated with items connected to idolatry (7:25; 12:3; 13:17) but not referenced as a form of execution.
The prevalence of the death penalty in biblical law codes warrants a separate discussion. It would need to take into account not only the different forms of sanctions available to ancient and modern societies but also the difference between ancient law codes and modern legislation. Note, e.g., that even the stark and urgent warnings against adultery in Proverbs 6 do not use the threat of the death penalty, assuming rather than the cuckold might ruin you in other ways instead.
More importantly for the question(s) at hand, there is nothing to suggest that the death penalty was ever applied or expected to be applied in the case of someone planting different crops side by side or wearing garments made from two different threads. The question “Does the whole town really…” is therefore bearing false witness. As, for “Can I burn my mother…?,” this is nowhere permitted in the OT. To insinuate that it might be is again a form of bearing false witness.
So what is the significance of YHWH’s instructions for holy living in Leviticus 19? That’s for another post.
