| Chapter 6. Procedure in Executions | ||||
[Rules and regulations concerning the execution by stoning and the manner of heralding. How the criminal was urged to confess before death. The stripping off before death of the dress of a male and of a female. The hanging after stoning, and how it was performed] | ||||
MISHNAS I. TO IV. If the conclusion was to condemn, the guilty one was taken out immediately to be stoned. A herald goes before him, heralding: So and so, etc. | ||||
One stands with a flag. I doubt who had to bear the cost of the flag and horse mentioned in the Mishna, etc. If one of the disciples said, "I have something to say in behalf of the defendant," and thereafter he became dumb? He who is modest, the verse considers him as if he should sacrifice all the sacrifices mentioned in the Scripture. When he (the guilty) was far from the place of execution�a distance of ten ells�he was told to confess. Why are the words "unto us and to our children," and the Ayin of the "ad" pointed? The Lord said to Joshua: You yourself have caused all the evils, because you didst excommunicate the goods of Jericho. One should always proceed with prayer before trouble comes. It happened with one who was going to be executed, that he said: If I am guilty of this crime, my death shall not atone for all my sins. See footnote, 1, concerning the legend of Simeon b. S. of the eighty witches hung by him. A male was stoned while naked, but not a female. The stoning place was two heights of a man, etc. If before the execution the hands of the witnesses were cut off, he becomes free from death. "The avenger of the blood himself shall slay." Infer from this that it is a meritorious act for the avenger to do so himself, MISHNAS V. AND VI. All who are stoned are also hanged. A male, but not a female. | ||||
Two must not be judged on the same day, provided there are two kinds of death. | ||||
How was one hanged? The beam was put in the earth, etc. King Sabur questioned R. Hama: Whence do you deduce from the Torah that one must be buried? etc. Is the burying because the corpse shall become disgraced if not buried, or is it because of atonement? Is the lamentation an honor for the living or for the deceased? And what is the difference? etc. A wicked person must not be buried with an upright one. All the curses with which David cursed Joab fell on the descendants of David. They were [II Sam. iii. 29], etc. If not for Joab, David would not have been able to occupy himself with the law, etc., | ||||