1Anne Morrison Piehl and John J. DiIulio, “Does Prison Pay? Revisited,” The Brookings Review, Winter 1995, p. 22↩

2The high incidence of violence, homosexual gang rape, and other forms of physical and psychological abuse make America’s penitentiary system cruel and unusual punishment. Both civil agencies and private advocacy groups have documented this. See Confronting Confinement: A Report of the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons, (Washington, D.C.: Vera Institute of Justice, 2006). This government authorized report gives 126 pages of sobering statistics on how evil and twisted the prison system is. Prison is certainly an unbiblical concept.↩

3The Hon. Justice Adams, Supreme Court of New South Wales, documents the history of punishment in England and shows that it was anything but Christian. As late as 1826 in England the mandatory sentence for hundreds of crimes (and for every felony) was death. In 1800 a ten-year-old boy was sentenced to death for stealing notes in the post office. In 1814 a fourteen-year-old boy was hanged in Newport for stealing. In 1833 a nine-year-old boy was given the death penalty for stealing two pence worth of ink.↩

4Surah 5:38 says, “As for the thief, both male and female, cut off their hands. It is the reward of their own deeds, an exemplary punishment from Allah.”↩

5R. J. Rushdoony, Chalcedon Position Paper #15.↩

6On the Biblical information related to taxation, see Dr. Robert E. Fugate, Toward a Theology of Taxation (Omaha, NE: Thy Word is Truth Publishers, 2007)↩

7This was one of the reasons why the prostitutes 1 Kings 3 were not harassed by the state – no victim had brought charges. This was one of the things that made the Pharisees such hypocrites in John 8:1-12 when they brought the adulteress for prosecution. First, Jesus was not a magistrate, so they should not have brought her to Him. Second, there was no victim who was bringing charges. For other points of hypocrisy, see my exposition under Objection 2.↩

8See Appendix A for details. False witnesses were severely dealt with (Deut. 19:18-21; Prov. 19:5; 21:28), so there had to be a pretty solid case before a victim would take someone to court. Though circumstantial evidence could supplement, it could never substitute for the minimum of two personal witnesses (Deut. 19:15).↩

9One notable exception is Gary North, Victim’s Rights: The Biblical View of Justice (Tyler, TX: ICR, 1990).↩

10Keep in mind the caveats in the introduction of a victim pressing charges, a libertarian state, etc., for this and other capital offenses.↩

11Of course, being “worthy of death” is different than being able to be prosecuted successfully in court, which requires the victim to press charges, witnesses, cross examination, etc. Again, keep in mind the caveats in the introduction.↩

12See the author’s book, Natural Law: An Adequate Basis for Liberty and Justice? available at https://www.biblicalblueprints.org↩

13See for example zachon in Ex. 13:3↩

14Gary North, ed., Theonomy: An Informed Response (Tyler, TX: Institute For Christian Economics, 1991), pp. 113-114.↩

15Some people characterize this as a victimless crime since homosexuals cannot get married, but there are plenty of circumstances (homosexual rape, homosexual incest, etc.) where victims might be motivated to bring charges.↩

16See Siphre on Numbers 5:31. For an analysis of this, see D. DAUBE, Appeasement or Resistance (Berkeley 1987), p. 30. If this was the case, Christ may have been writing the words of that rabbi in the dust. However, Christ was certainly upholding the meaning of other Old Testament passages. Hosea 4:14 says, “I will not punish your daughters when they turn to prostitution, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because the men themselves consort with harlots and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes.” It is also possible to translate Deuteronomy 19:15 as requiring this of a witness.↩

17Βαλετω is the third person singular, second aorist, active, imperative form of “to throw.” It is clearly a command that Christ is giving.↩

18See Bill of Rights, Article VI.↩

19Interestingly, while American justice is notoriously slow in applying the death penalty, a number of studies have shown a significant deterrance factor in even our poor application of the death penalty. Though the earlier studies by Isaac Ehrlich (which found a strong deterrant factor in each execution) were criticized, his later studies reconfirmed the earlier findings. In recent years a study by Professors Hashem Dezhbakhsh, Paul R. Rubin, and Joanna M Shepherd of Emory University found each execution resulted in 18 fewer murders. A separate study by Professor Shepherd analyzed the monthly data from 1977 to 1999 and came to similar results, and showed that the shorter the wait on death row, the more deterrant resulted. Since then several other studies have confirmed these results. David Muhlhassen has written a helpful synopsis of these studies called “The Death Penalty Deters Crime and Saves Lives” at the Heritage Foundation: https://www.heritage.org/testimony/the-death-penalty-deters-crime-and-saves-lives ↩

20See Appendix A for Scripture proofs and for more examples.↩

21Notice that in my arguments on commuting some capital crimes, I only use Scriptures where God clearly authorized a lower penalty (or no penalty – as in the case of Hosea’s adulterous wife).↩

22Clark, Essays on Ethics and Politics (Jefferson: Trinity Foundation, 1992), p. 11.↩

23As stated earlier, the high incidence of violence, homosexual gang rape, and other forms of physical and psychological abuse make America’s penitentiary system cruel and unusual punishment. Both civil agencies and private advocacy groups have documented this. See Confronting Confinement: A Report of the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons, (Washington, D.C.: Vera Institute of Justice, 2006). This government authorized report gives 126 pages of sobering statistics on how evil and twisted the prison system is. Prison is certainly an unbiblical concept.↩

24I say after a certain date because ex post facto laws are immoral according to the Bible and there could be no executions for past abortions. This is why many Christians who were revolted by Germany’s atrocities still opposed the ex post facto laws of the Allies. There were enough German laws that could have convicted them. You don’t invent laws to try to convict.↩

25(Ex. 23:1-9; Num 35:20; Deut. 17:4-7). If witnesses cannot prove the charge, then judgment has to be left to God (Numb. 5:12-31). This was so clear a reading of Biblical law that any Jew reading the Gospels would have been shocked at the tyranny.↩

26See Jacob Milgrom, The JPS Commentary: Numbers (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1990), pp. 295,510. Walter Kaiser, Toward Old Testament Ethics (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983), p. 92; Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Exodus (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1967), p. 277.↩

27Some say the New Testament removes this from the list of punishable crimes. For example, Colossians 2:16 says, “let no man judge you in… sabbaths.” (See also Romans 14). However, it is more likely that those passages remove the penalty for Jewish Sabbaths. In any case, if it can be demonstrated that the New Testament changes an Old Testament law, then we submit to God’s wisdom.↩