Leviticus: Burning people alive?

[Douglas]

Alright mates, It been way to long since ive posted, sorry about that. But im preparing for a teaching on the book of Leviticus and i ran across a couple of passages where the burning of people, apparently alive people, is given and the prescribed solution to the sin. Lev 21:9, 20:14.

Any are your thoughts?

Douglas

[Josh]

Well, a few cents worth of observations:

Severe punishment accompanied intentional violation of the weightiest aspects of the Law: worship and family relationships.

Lev. 21:9

“‘If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire.

This kind of prostitution would be different than just regular prostitution, and would not be motivated by poverty but by a desire to emulate pagan worship practices.  The prostitution here is most likely akin to Greek "temple/ religious prostitution", that is, a cult sex act of worship.

Lev. 20:14

“‘If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is wicked. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that no wickedness will be among you.

I have a feeling that this particular sin had more significance in the ancient world than we understand.  Let me know if you find anything in your study.  But it's interesting that this is akin to the sin of the man in the Corinthian church in 1 Cor. 5.  Paul there also took this sin very seriously- as seriously as one could in the new covenant, where instead of capital punishment, the sin brought explusion from the community.  However, it is most likely that this very same man did indeed repent and was forgiven and re-embraced by the community (2 Cor. 2).  

The severity of punishment of these crimes in the OT indicates the severity of the sin in God's economy, which only underscores the amazing forgiveness bestowed on these very same kinds of sins in the NT.

[Josh]

BTW, ancient Jewish commentators point out that these death penalties were "maximum penalties" that could be commuted by ransom: i.e., by payment of some kind or by some demonstration of repentence. Murder seems to be the only death-penalty sin that could not be commuted (Numbers 35:31).   This is why we see so few accounts of the death penalty actually being carried out in the OT and why we see some occasions (as in after David's sins) where it is specifically not carried out.

[Douglas]

Interesting about the ransom idea. Is it explained more in Numbers or could you give me some jewish commentary suggestions. I know that with most of these issues there a lot that is below the surface, historical and religious context, etc. Many seem to be linked to a pagan practice that we may or may not understand fully. I would love to get the jewish commentators thoughts too because if one is only looking at Leviticus it seems very one sided and inflexible.

I fully enjoyed teaching the book. I think I have taught it three times now and it is alway a challenge and very rewarding. Most people seem to think i am crazy or something to enjoy teaching it. But i like crazy. It fits me well.

D.

[Josh]

I'll try to dig up the sources as soon as I can.  For the moment, one secondary source is "Hard Saying of the Bible" by Walter Kaiser Jr.   Lemme see what I can find regarding primary sources.

[Josh]

I seem to find a fair amount of secondary sources that make the claim that most death penalty cases could have been commuted, but no direct sources.  However, there are many Talmudic quotes that highlight that in practice, Jewish law required eyewitnesses and clear warnings to have been ignored in order for a death penalty to have been carried out, thus making capital punishment very rare indeed (Sanhedrin 1:4, 7:1, Mishnah Maccot 1:10, though I have not checked these cited sources)

You might find this helpful, although it doesn't say much about the application of the death penalty in Mosaic-Exilic times:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_and_corporal_punishment_in_Judaism