“Even After All This They Shall Consider Him a Man”

Alan C. Miner

According to John Welch and Stephen Ricks, crucifixion was not only a Roman form of punishment but is attested as well as a Hebrew mode of execution. Deuteronomy 21:22 provides for execution in capital cases: "And if a man hath committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree . . ." Although this passage is ambiguous, whether hanging on a tree was a mode of execution or simply displaying the body after stoning, passages from the Dead Sea Scrolls make it clear that crucifixion was used by Jews as a mode of execution before Roman times. (Tvedtnes, Insights, April 1997, 2.) [John W. Welch and Stephen D. Ricks, "Appendix--Complete Text of Benjamin's Speech with Notes and Comment" in King Benjamin's Speech: "That Ye May Learn Wisdom," pp. 550-551] [See the commentary on 3 Nephi 4:28]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

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