| Word | American Tract Society - Definition |
| STONING | Was a punishment much in use among the Hebrews, and the rabbins reckon all crimes as being subject to it, which the law condemns to death without expressing the particular mode. They say that when a man was condemned to death, he was led out of the city to the place of execution, and there exhorted to acknowledge and confess his fault. He was then stoned in one of two ways; either stones were thrown upon him till he died, or he was thrown headlong down a steep place, and a large stone rolled upon his body. The former was the usual mode; and the witnesses were required to cast the first stones, De 17:5-7; for which purpose they sometimes threw off their outer garments, Ac 7:58. To the latter mode it is supposed there is a reference in Mt 21:44. So also in Lu 4:29, where compare NAZARETH. |