Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

CRIME, CRIMES

This English term denotes, in legal contexts, a serious, intentional violation of the order of society, subject to retaliatory sanctions. A society declares through its organs of sovereignty that certain acts are so injurious to it that the perpetrator should suffer proportionately to the damage. Minor infractions are designated “misdemeanors.” Disputes between members of the legal community which are not considered violations of the order of society except to the extent that they endanger the peace among members belong to civil law (“torts”).

Biblical law differs in several significant respects from modern law. According to the OT, the society does not legislate for itself, but God as creator and sovereign over Israel sets standards of justice, righteousness, and holiness for his people. Israel’s neighbors shared this belief that social norms have a divine origin. Israel was distinctive in ascribing law directly to the Lord, who had formed the people as his sphere of sovereignty and made obedience to his will a component of their constitution.

Biblical Hebrew lacks terms corresponding to the English “crimes,” “misdemeanors,” and “torts,” indicating that ancient law-givers did not operate with these categories. Hebrew has a set of terms for rules of law and another for wrong-doing, each with its own nuance, but none matches the categories of crime and tort.

It is possible for the interpreter to categorize biblical laws as criminal or civil by the kind of sanctions imposed. Offenses punished by retaliation — death, corporal punishment, banishment — clearly fall within “crime,” while actions resolved by restitution are civil. When restitution involves compensation for distress and deterrence, retaliation and restitution are both involved. Israelite law had no provision for incarceration.

There is no evidence in OT legal texts of jurisdictional distinctions or differences in rules for proof for criminal and civil law.

Capital crimes are formulated differently from cases of lesser magnitude. In Exod. 21:1–23:19 formulations begin with a participle describing the offense, and the verb of the main clause is in the causative passive augmented by an intensifying infinitive. This is usually translated “whoever does X shall be put to death” (Exod. 21:12, 15, 16, 17; 22:19[MT 18]; cf. 22:18, 20[17, 19]).

While it is common to regard this as requiring the death penalty, it is possible that it grants permission to impose it. In the case of murder, all indications are that it was required to purge the land of “blood guilt” (Num. 35:31-34; Deut. 19:11-13; 21:1-9). On the other hand, it is doubtful that cursing or striking one’s parents (Exod. 21:15, 17) required parents to kill their children to avert God’s wrath against the community. Perhaps this formulation is the Creator’s authorization of the killing of a creature made in the image of God who is otherwise under divine protection (cf. Gen. 9:1-6).

Biblical law contains many capital offenses which the modern interpreter would classify as “crimes without victims.” These fall primarily under two categories, religious and sexual offenses. Worshipping gods other than the Lord (Exod. 22:20[19]; Deut. 13; 17:2-7), profaning the divine name (Lev. 24:10-16), devoting children to Molech (Lev. 20:1-5), and practicing witchcraft (Exod. 22:18[17]; cf. Lev. 20:6) are singled out as ultimate violations of the religious order. Cultic duties and rules for sacrifice, etc., are not subject to criminal or civil sanction but are under the jurisdiction of sanctuary personnel with cultic sanctions. A variety of sexual unions are condemned as “abominations” (cf. esp. Lev. 20:11-21). Since ancient Israel had neither police nor public prosecutor, charges of criminal wrong-doing would originate with witnesses (e.g., Deut. 17:2-7; 1 Kgs. 21:9-13).

Actions to remedy crimes with victims would normally originate with victims or their families. Murder, kidnapping into slavery, abuse of parents (e.g., Exod. 21:12, 15-17), and adultery (e.g., Lev. 20:10) are put under the death penalty. There is a large measure of “self-help” in the apprehension, prosecution, and punishment of a homicide, reflecting probably an earlier practice of private (kinship group) revenge; the community exercises judicial authority in granting or withholding sanctuary. Although adultery is defined in Israelite law as a crime against the husband, biblical legal texts (Deut. 22:13-27) grant legal authority to the judges to render decisions and punish; the interest of society in marital fidelity supersedes the husband’s personal interests.

Criminal law extends beyond capital cases, but very little is said about lesser crimes. In Exod. 21:22-25 a case of spontaneous abortion due to physical injury is ruled upon: if the woman is not injured, it is a civil case; if the woman is injured, liability is to be assessed by the talion formula. Mutilation may not be meant literally in this formula, however, for there is only one case prescribing mutilation in all the Bible’s casuistic law (Deut. 25:11-12). Whipping is mentioned in one passage (Deut. 25:1-3), but it is vague about when this penalty might be applied. The expression “be cut off from their people” (e.g., Lev. 20:6, 18) may mean banishment, though some scholars interpret it as a divine sanction.

Law governing theft, loss, and damage of property (Exod. 22:1-15[21:37–22:14]) fits the category of civil law in most respects. The victim initiates the case and has property restored with compensation for distress if he prevails. Accusations of theft or misappropriation which can only be resolved by recourse to oath (Exod. 22:7-13[6-12]) may require one of accuser as well as accused. Nevertheless, the rather steep compensation for theft doubled as a “retaliatory” sanction with a deterrent effect.

Divine sanctions are threatened for the failure of the judicial system to maintain justice in society (e.g., Exod. 22:21-27[20-26]) or render justice in the courts (e.g., 23:7). These extralegal sanctions have the same logic as in criminal law, where God authorizes capital punishment and imposes it through the agency of judges.

Bibliography. M. J. Buss, “The Distinction between Civil and Criminal Law in Ancient Israel,” Proceedings of the Sixth World Congress of Jewish Studies, 1 (Jerusalem, 1977), 51-62; F. Crüsemann, The Torah: Theology and Social History of Old Testament Law (Minneapolis, 1996); M. Greenberg, “Some Postulates of Biblical Criminal Law,” in Yehezkel Kaufmann Jubilee Volume, ed. M. Haran (Jerusalem, 1960), 5-28; D. Patrick, Old Testament Law (Atlanta, 1985); R. Westbrook, Studies in Biblical and Cuneiform Law. Cahiers de la RB 26 (Paris, 1988).

Dale Patrick

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

CRIME, CRIMES

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)