CHAPTER III.

THE PENAL CODE OF THE JEWISH LAW.

The whole scheme and spirit of the Penal Code, and of the judicial system of the Jewish law, being strictly conformable to the religious and moral principles which it inculcated, affords a strong presumption in favour of its Divine original.

THE principles of religion and morality, however excellent, required the support of civil law; and as the whole Jewish constitution is attributed to Divine authority, it is necessary to examine how far the penal code was consistent with them.

At the head of capital crimes was placed IDOLATRY. Against this offence, and even against every attempt to seduce men into it, the strictest rigour was exercised. No consideration of affection, relationship, rank, or circumstance was, in the slightest degree, to

interfere with bringing the offender to punishment. Be the offender a brother, a wife, or dear friend, or mother, "thine eye shall not pity him, neither shalt thou spare nor conceal him, thou shalt surely kill him;" he was to be put to death, and the hand of the accuser was to cast the first stone. Or if a city was infected with the crime, all that was living therein, either of man or beast, was to be smitten with the edge of the sword, and the city itself to be utterly destroyed with fire, and never to be built again. (Deut. xiii. 6-10.)

One abominable practice, which prevailed even in what were called most enlightened and civilized states, was marked with peculiar abhorrence; viz. the custom of human sacrifices; giving their seed unto Moloch, and burning their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. If punishment was not instantly inflicted on the offender, God announced that He himself would execute it, as well upon the offender as also upon those who suffered him to escape.

On the principle of preserving the allegiance due to Jehovah, the resorting to supernatural agency was a violation of His law; and the connection (either real or pretended) with familiar spirits, and witchcraft, was punishable with death. From the same principle, the wilful sabbath-breaker, and the false prophet, suffered the same penalty.

It is worthy of remark, that many transgressions are mentioned in the law, which (because not easily discoverable and cognizable by human tribunals, but originating in a contempt of Divine authority) God threatens that He himself will avenge; e. g. "He would cut off" the man who did not afflict his soul on the great day of atonement; God would interfere and punish him by some supernatural death. Or again, that perpetrators of particular acts of impurity should die childless. (Lev. xx. 20, 21.)

This severity of laws against Idolatry; and the peculiarity just adverted to, that some of the sanctions consisted in penalties which nothing but God's direct interference could inflict; tend strongly to confirm the truth of the Mosaic history. Unless its divine origin be admitted, the submission of the whole nation thereto is totally unaccountable. But the admission of this, renders all easy; for then theirs was a Theocracy; Jehovah was the sovereign, who appointed leaders or judges, as his vicegerents; and hence, every act of idolatry was high treason, and, as such, punishable with death.

Next to idolatry, crimes of impurity, as adultery, incest, &c., were capitally punished; the adulterer and adulteress suffered a public ignominious execution. Not that the Mosaic law was ascetic; for it encouraged marriage in every grade, whether of priesthood or

laity; but in an eastern clime, and among people prone to sensual objects, this care to cut off every licentiousness, and interpose thereon the powerful sanctions of religion, betokens something more than mere human wisdom.

Stubborn disobedience to parents was capitally punished; not, however, that it was done as in Roman or Grecian states, where parents had individual power over their children's lives; but if, on solemn and public trial, the crime was proved, the capital penalty was inflicted; "That all Israel should hear, and fear, and put away the evil from among them;" an evil that, indeed, strikes at the root of almost every virtue.

Murder was capitally punished, and that with the utmost promptness. But whilst not even the sanctity of the altar could afford a refuge for the murderer, the wisdom of the Jewish law is apparent, in that it provided six cities of refuge, three on each side Jordan, for persons that had been guilty of accidental manslaughter, to flee to, and be safe from the immediate anger of relatives till a fair trial had taken place; and in case of their being found innocent, they might also remain there till the death of the high-priest, when such anger might reasonably have subsided.

The attempt to reduce any fellow-citizen to slavery, as also presumptuous disobedience to the chief magis

trate (as being a violation of the national compact, and, therefore, a species of treason) were capitally punished: and, lastly, bearing false witness when a

man's life was at stake.

In its other penal laws, the Mosaic code stands unrivalled by any other system of jurisprudence, ancient or modern, for its spirit of mildness and equity; the penalty being always awarded by a legal tribunal, proportioned to the offence. But there exists this difference between modern penal codes and the Mosaic one, that no injury affecting only property was punished by death. Fine or restitution, or the sale of the offender for a slave, if he were unable to make such restitution, was the regular mode adopted; but his slavery could last no longer than the Sabbatic Year, and, therefore, could not exceed seven years. And herein the Jewish code adjusted its penalties far more suitably to the real degree of moral depravity, than modern codes, which permit some of the grossest instances of immorality to pass with slight punishment, and even none at all, whilst those of a slighter kind, if affecting property, are visited with death.

The mildness and equity of the Jewish code are also observable in the provisions whereby it guarded the lives and persons of slaves; ordering restitution, or recompence, even for the loss of a tooth, if caused by violent treatment: and guarding the chastity of