judicial procedures for cases involving the death penalty. The standard of proof required to convict someone in such cases went beyond our standard of "beyond reasonable doubt" and required what amounted to absolute certainty. A conviction required at least two eye witnesses, and witnesses who lied subjected themselves to the same penalty as the accused (e.g. Deuteronomy 17 and 19). Hebrew law thus actually became more restrictive than our own, and fewer people could be convicted. More restrictions were added later so that by the second century the sanction was rarely carried out. 4) A frequent theme in the Old Testament is mercy for the offender. The first recorded murder was followed by an act of God that granted protection to the murderer (Genesis 4). Cities of refuge were to be provided as sanctuaries where the guilty could escape the revenge of the victim's family (Numbers 35, Deuteronomy 4 and 19, Joshua 20). These sanctuaries allowed time for tempers to cool and a solution to be worked out. The themes of Deuteronomy 32:35 -- "To me belong vengeance and recompense" -- and of Leviticus 19:18 -- "You shall not take vengeance . . . but shall love your neighbor as yourself" -- recur frequently in the Old Testament. 5) The concept of taking a life for a life was a sacrificial and ceremonial action more than a legal one. A killing was a religious evil that demanded compensation through a religious ceremony (Genesis 9, Exodus 21, Deuteronomy 19). Executions were not so much a device for maintaining social order and protecting society but rather a way of righting a moral imbalance. The death penalty had a sacrificial and ceremonial more than a legal function; to draw parallels to modern use of capital punishment is fallacious. The Old Testament allowed capital punishment, but as a concession. Retribution was possible, but as a limitation, not as a command. Mercy was preferred. The death penalty served a primarily ceremonial function and w...
