It seems from the Bible that stoning was common punishment at one time, although I use punishment in the loosest sense of the word.
If within the city a man comes upon a maiden who is betrothed, and has relations with her, you shall bring them both out of the gate of the city and there stone them to death: the girl because she did not cry out for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbors wife. Deuteronomy 22:23-24 NAB)
In this case, which is supposedly talking about rape, the victim due to her not screaming, possibly due to sheer terror or being at knife point, suffers with her attacker the penalty of being stoned to death.
Stoning no doubt was performed with some enthusiasm by a largish cross section of Jehovah loving citizens, keen to dispense holy justice. Are there records of public stonings and those who died? Is there detail somewhere of the “rules” of stoning? Were people pelted until an officiator pronounced them dead or did someone go in and finish them off with a weapon? Did victims live to tell the tale, and when did the practice fade out?
(Clam, who today is seriously interested in stoning but anticipates posters saying they have been stoned many times )
