Strange Rulings in the Torah — A Critical Examination of Biblical Civil, Criminal, and Ritual Law
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How to Navigate This Note Property Law — Damage, Deposits, and the Oppression of the Poor — the Torah’s civil rules on livestock damage, uncovered wells, fire spread, betrayal of deposits, and the divine protection of widows, orphans, and strangers Punishments — Execution, Amputation, Flogging, Imprisonment, Compensation, and Slavery — the full range of penalties in the Mosaic code including stoning, sword, burning, limb amputation, flogging limits, and the non-existence of imprisonment as punishment Strange Ruling One — The Shoe Strike and Spitting Punishment — Deuteronomy 25:5–10 on the brother who refuses levirate marriage, contrasted with Deuteronomy 17:8–12 on the death penalty for disobeying the priests Strange Ruling Two — God Descending to Kill Moses for Not Circumcising His Son — Exodus 4:24–26 and what it reveals about divine foreknowledge and the selection of prophets Strange Ruling Three — Destruction of a House Afflicted with Leprosy — Leviticus 14:33–45 and the priestly procedure for demolishing a leprous house stone by stone Strange Ruling Four — Burning Clothes Afflicted with Leprosy — Leviticus 13:50–52 and the requirement to burn garments containing leprous plague Strange Ruling Five — The Leper Who Must Cry Unclean — Leviticus 13:45–46 and the humiliation required of the afflicted person Strange Ruling Six — God’s Punishment of David Through Public Violation of His Wives — 2 Samuel 12:11–12 and the nature of the divine sentence for David’s adultery Strange Ruling Seven — Solomon the Idolater Glorified in Scripture — 1 Kings 11:4–7 on Solomon’s worship of foreign gods, contrasted with Christ’s praise of Solomon in Matthew 12:42 Strange Ruling Eight — The Eunuch Contradiction — Matthew 19:12 encouraging self-castration for the kingdom of heaven, contrasted with Deuteronomy 23:1 forbidding eunuchs from entering the congregation of God Strange Ruling Nine — The Stoning of the Goring Ox — Exodus 21:28–29 on the execution of the bull and its owner, and the questions this raises
The Torah contains a body of law that its adherents call divine revelation. The rulings examined here — drawn directly from its text — raise questions that those who worship this book as holy have not answered.
The following examination draws on the text of the Holy Bible itself, with reference to the Bible Encyclopedia and its own categories of civil and criminal law. The rulings are presented as they appear in the scripture, followed by the observations they generate.
Property Law — Damage, Deposits, and the Oppression of the Poor
Damage to Property
Exodus 22:5–6 — King James Version “If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man’s field; of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution. If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.”
If a person destroys his neighbor’s vineyard or field by letting his livestock graze in it, he must compensate from the best of his field and from the best of his vineyard. Likewise, if a person causes the death of his neighbor’s animal, he must compensate with an animal of the same kind (Leviticus 24:18, 21).
If a person’s animal falls into a hole or a well that is not covered and dies, the owner of the well must compensate — since it was the duty of the owner of the well to cover it to protect animals from harm (Exodus 21:33–34). If the wrongdoer pays money as compensation, he has the right to keep the dead animal.
Deposits
Exodus 22:9–11 — King James Version “For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbour. If a man deliver unto his neighbour an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, to keep; and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it: Then shall an oath of the Lord be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbour’s goods; and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good.”
If a person entrusted a deposit to keep, the one who betrayed the trust was to compensate its owner double. However, if the deposit was stolen or the animal was devoured, the keeper was to compensate in kind only — but after swearing before God that he was completely innocent when the theft or damage occurred without anyone witnessing it.
Oppression of the Poor
There were three classes in the ancient East exposed to unjust treatment and exploitation: the widow, the orphan, and the stranger — who was usually an immigrant from another people who had not obtained citizenship. It was difficult for them to obtain fair treatment in society or before the courts when wronged by a rich or powerful man. The Torah therefore made God their protector:
Exodus 22:21–24 — King James Version “You shall not oppress a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not harm any widow or orphan. If you have wronged him, if he cries to me, I will hear his cry. My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children will become orphans.”
Their kindness and honor to the stranger was based on what they themselves had been as strangers in the land of Egypt (Exodus 23:9).
Punishments — Execution, Amputation, Flogging, Imprisonment, Compensation, and Slavery
Execution
The Torah mentions three means of implementing the death penalty: stoning, burning, and the sword. There is at least one reference to hanging, though this appears to refer to the display of the body after execution as a warning, not hanging as the method of killing:
Deuteronomy 21:22–23 — King James Version “If a man has a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body should not remain on the tree all night, but you shall bury him that day.”
This is what happened on the day of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, when his body and the bodies of the two thieves were taken down from the crosses on the same day (John 19:31). Even when the Israelites killed the leaders of the enemy army in war, Joshua respected this command and ordered their bodies to be taken down from the tree on the same day (Joshua 10:27).
Execution by stoning was the most widely used method, usually taking place with the participation of representatives from all classes of society including witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:7). The crimes punishable by stoning were:
Offering children as a sacrifice to Molech (Leviticus 20:2, 5)
Divination, sorcery, and witchcraft (Leviticus 20:27; Exodus 22:18)
Blasphemy against the name of Jehovah (Leviticus 24:15–16)
Desecration of the Sabbath by doing manual labor (Numbers 15:32–36)
Worship of false gods (Deuteronomy 17:2–7)
Rebellion against parental authority (Deuteronomy 21:18–21)
Adultery (Deuteronomy 22:22–23)
Transgression of a commandment by prohibition, as happened with Achan the son of Carmi (Joshua 7:25)
Stephen was stoned for blasphemy (Acts 7:57–58).
Execution by the sword appears to have been the method of executing a murderer, especially when carried out by the “avenger of blood” (Numbers 35:19, 21). The sword was also the means of killing the inhabitants of a city who went and worshipped other gods (Deuteronomy 13:15), and was first used to kill those who worshipped the golden calf (Exodus 32:27). The sword was used when the number of dead was large.
Execution by burning was the means of executing:
A man who took a wife and her mother — he and they were burned with fire (Leviticus 20:14)
The daughter of a priest who was defiled by adultery (Leviticus 21:9)
Amputation of Limbs
Deuteronomy 25:12 — King James Version The punishment for a woman who came forward to save her husband from the hand of his assailant, and stretched out her hand and grabbed his private parts, was to have her hand cut off.
Exodus 21:24–25 — King James Version “Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”
The punishment for causing another to lose a limb was to be meted out in kind. This was the punishment in the case of intentional injury or gross negligence. It is noteworthy that the punishment did not extend to the family of the accused — as was the case in Babylonian and Assyrian laws (for example, Article 55 of the Middle Assyrian Code states that the wife of a seducer of a girl was to be handed over to the girl’s father to use in prostitution). The Torah explicitly states: “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor shall the children be put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deuteronomy 24:16).
Flogging
The judge himself supervised the execution of flogging. The convict was thrown to the ground and flogged before the judge with the lashes sentenced, but not more than forty lashes:
Deuteronomy 25:1–3 — King James Version “If there is a dispute between men, and they come to court, and the judges decide between them, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty, then it shall be, if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows. Forty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother be humiliated in your sight.”
Public flogging was also a means of punishing a man who falsely accused his wife of not being a virgin when he married her (Deuteronomy 22:18). The Torah does not mention any other specific crime for which the punishment was flogging. However, flogging was a means of discipline within the family — the master could flog his slave on condition that he did not kill him or cause injury to any of his members (Exodus 21:20, 26–27).
Imprisonment
Imprisonment appears to have been limited to the detention of accused persons awaiting trial, and was not considered an independent punishment in the Law. Joseph in Egypt was imprisoned for an indefinite period awaiting the verdict of execution for the shameful charge of which he was unjustly accused. At a later period the prophet Jeremiah was thrown into prison on a charge of treason (37:15–16) without being tried or having his defense heard. There is no instance in the entire Old Testament of imprisonment for a definite period as a means of punishment.
Compensation and Fines
Compensation was done in the case of mistakes not considered major crimes. The compensation was sometimes more than the amount stolen. In the case of recovering a stolen animal alive, the thief had to compensate with two. However, if he had slaughtered the animal or sold it, he had to compensate for a bull with five bulls, and for a sheep with four sheep (Exodus 22:1–4).
If a man falsely accused his bride of not being a virgin, he was not only flogged publicly but had to pay a hundred shekels of silver to the girl’s father and could not divorce her all the days of his life (Deuteronomy 22:18–19).
Exodus 21:28–30 — King James Version “If an ox gores a man or a woman so that they die, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be blameless. But if the ox has been a goring ox before, and its owner has been testified against, and he has not restrained it, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.”
Exodus 21:22 — King James Version “If men quarrel and strike a woman with child, so that her child falls, but no harm results, the guilty party was to pay the fine determined by the woman’s husband in agreement with the judges.”
Deuteronomy 22:28–29 — King James Version “If a man finds a virgin girl who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her” — a case other than rape, which was punishable by death — “he was to pay the father of the girl fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife… he may not put her away.”
Leviticus 19:20–22 — King James Version “If a man lie with a woman who is a slave betrothed to a man, and she be not redeemed, nor given her freedom, let there be chastisement; they shall not be put to death, because she is not freed.” This included public flogging, and the man was to present a ram as a guilt offering before the Lord.
Slavery
The period of slavery did not exceed six years in the case of a Hebrew slave (Exodus 21:2). Slavery was the punishment for a thief who had nothing to replace what he had stolen, so he was sold for his theft (Exodus 22:1–3). In other cases slavery was a punishment for civil rather than criminal acts such as failure to pay debts (2 Kings 4:1; Nehemiah 5:5; Amos 2:6).
Leviticus 25:39–43 — King James Version “If your brother becomes poor by you and is sold to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave. As a hired servant, as a sojourner, he shall be with you until the Year of Jubilee, serving you.”
Strange Ruling One — The Shoe Strike and Spitting Punishment
The Torah prescribes the following procedure for the brother who refuses levirate marriage — the obligation to marry his deceased brother’s widow and continue his brother’s lineage:
Deuteronomy 25:5–10 — King James Version “If brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not go outside to a foreign man. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duties of a husband’s brother. And the firstborn whom she bears shall take up the name of his brother who is dead, so that his name is not blotted out. But if the man is not willing to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall come up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up for his brother a name in Israel. He will not fulfill for me the duty of a husband’s brother.’ Then the elders of his city shall call him and talk with him. But if he persists and says, ‘I do not want to take her,’ then she shall come forward. His brother’s wife shall come to him in the sight of the elders, and shall rip off his sandal from off his foot, and shall spit in his face, and shall say, ‘Thus shall it be done to the man who will not rebuild his brother’s house.’ And his name shall be called in Israel: The House of Him Who Has Lost His Sandal.”
Is this not a mockery of the law by the man who refuses? Why was he not put to death?
The same Torah that prescribes the shoe-strike and spitting as the punishment for disobeying this social obligation also commands death for disobeying the priests and judges in matters of law:
Deuteronomy 17:8–12 — King James Version “If a matter is difficult for you in judgment, between blood and blood, or between claim and claim, or between stroke and stroke, in matters of contention within your gates, then arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God will choose. And go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who will be in those days, and inquire, and they will declare to you the matter of judgment. You shall do according to the commandment that they tell you from that place which the Lord chooses, and you shall be careful to do according to all that they teach you. According to the law which they teach you, and to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside to the right or to the left from the commandment which they tell you. And the man who acts presumptuously, and does not obey the priest who stands there to minister to the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall be put to death, and you shall put away evil from Israel.”
The Bible Encyclopedia itself states: “For disregarding the decision of the supreme authority in the nation was equivalent to the charge of treason, and must be met with all severity.”
The man who refused levirate marriage was disobeying a commandment of the law delivered through the Levitical priests — yet his punishment was a sandal removed and spit in his face, while another man who disobeyed any judgment of the priests was put to death. Is this consistency in the application of the law?
Strange Ruling Two — God Descending to Kill Moses for Not Circumcising His Son
Exodus 4:21–26 — King James Version “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘When you go to return to Egypt, see all the wonders that I have put in your hand and do before Pharaoh. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. And you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord: Israel is my firstborn son. But I said to you, Let my son go, that he may serve me, but you refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’ And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. And Zipporah took a flint, and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched his feet, and said, You are a bridegroom of blood to me. And he let go of him. Then she said, A bridegroom of blood because of circumcision.”
Why was Moses not killed when he disregarded the word of the Lord and His commands and did not circumcise his son? And what does it mean that God “sought to kill” the very prophet He had just chosen and sent to Pharaoh?
This passage raises a question that extends beyond the law of circumcision. If God chose Moses as His prophet and entrusted him with the mission of liberating Israel from Egypt — and if God’s knowledge is eternal and encompasses all things — how could He have chosen a prophet who was in violation of His own covenant, and then “sought to kill” him on the road He Himself had sent him on? The incident proves either that God’s knowledge was not eternal before choosing His prophet, or that the text contains a serious difficulty for those who claim divine authorship of every word.
The situation was resolved not by God refraining from killing Moses out of mercy, but by Moses’s wife Zipporah seizing a flint stone and circumcising their son herself — touching Moses’s feet with the foreskin and calling him “a bridegroom of blood.” God released Moses only after Zipporah performed the circumcision that Moses had omitted.
Strange Ruling Three — Destruction of a House Afflicted with Leprosy
Leviticus 14:33–45 — King James Version “And the Lord said, To Moses and Aaron: When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and I put a plague of leprosy in a house in the land of your possession, then the owner of the house shall come and say to the priest, ‘It seems to me that there is a plague in the house.’ And the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes in to see the plague, so that all that is in the house will not be defiled. And when he sees the plague, and if the plague is in the walls of the house with greenish or reddish spots, and it appears to be deeper than the wall, then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house and shut up the house seven days. And the priest shall come again on the seventh day, and look, and, behold, the plague hath spread throughout the walls of the house. Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and cast them into an unclean place outside the city. And he shall scrape the house inside round about, and they shall cast the dust which they scrape outside the city into an unclean place. And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of the stones, and he shall take other dust, and plaster the house. And if the plague cometh again, and breaketh out in the house, after they have taken away the stones, and after they have scraped the house, and after they have plastered it, and the priest shall come and look, and, behold, the plague hath spread in the house, it is a destructive leprosy in the house; it is unclean. Then he shall break down the house, its stones, its timbers, and all the dust of the house, and carry them out outside the city to an unclean place.”
The priestly procedure for a house showing signs of leprosy involves: emptying the house, inspecting by the priest, shutting it for seven days, returning to inspect, removing the afflicted stones and casting them to an unclean place outside the city, scraping the walls, replacing the stones and plastering, reinspecting, and if the plague has spread — demolishing the entire house stone by stone and carrying every component, including the dust, outside the city.
Strange Ruling Four — Burning Clothes Afflicted with Leprosy
Leviticus 13:50–52 — King James Version “Then the priest shall look at the plague and isolate the one who has the plague for seven days. And when he looks at the plague on the seventh day, if the plague has spread in the garment, in the warp or the woof, or in the skin of any work made of skin, the plague is a destructive leprosy; it is unclean. Then he shall burn the garment, or the warp or the woof, whether it is wool or linen, or any leather article in which the plague is; for it is an active leprosy; it shall be burned in the fire.”
A garment, whether of wool, linen, or leather, that shows signs of leprous plague after a seven-day priestly inspection is to be burned in its entirety.
Strange Ruling Five — The Leper Who Must Cry Unclean
Leviticus 13:45–46 — King James Version “The leper in whom the plague is shall have his clothes torn, and his head uncovered, and he shall cover his mustache, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.”
The person afflicted with leprosy was required to tear his own clothes, leave his head uncovered, cover his upper lip, and cry out “Unclean! Unclean!” as a warning to all who approached. He was to dwell alone, outside the camp, for all the days of his affliction.
Strange Ruling Six — God’s Punishment of David Through Public Violation of His Wives
God’s punishment of David for his adultery with Bathsheba and the arranged killing of her husband Uriah was announced by the prophet Nathan:
2 Samuel 12:11–12 — King James Version “Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you have done it in secret, and I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.”
God’s punishment for David’s adultery — committed in secret — was to arrange for David’s own wives to be violated publicly, in the sight of all Israel and in the sight of the sun.
This punishment was carried out by David’s own son Absalom, who “went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel” (2 Samuel 16:22), fulfilling the divine sentence. The punishment inflicted harm not on David alone but on David’s wives — women who had committed no crime — who were subjected to public violation as the instrument of their husband’s chastisement.
Strange Ruling Seven — Solomon the Idolater Glorified in Scripture
1 Kings 11:4–7 — King James Version “And it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. So Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord just like his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.”
Solomon is described in 1 Kings 11 as an idolater who built places of worship for the gods of Moab and Ammon, who followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and whose heart was not perfect with the Lord. The Torah commands death for anyone who worships other gods (Deuteronomy 13:15; Deuteronomy 17:2–7). Yet Solomon was not put to death for his idolatry.
More strikingly, his books — including the Song of Songs — were preserved within the Holy Bible and considered sacred. And in the New Testament, Christ himself praised Solomon:
Matthew 12:42 — King James Version “The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, a greater than Solomon is here!”
Is an idolater who built altars to Molech and Chemosh — the abominations of Ammon and Moab — an appropriate example whose wisdom is praised and whose books are preserved as holy scripture? Is it not unjust that ordinary idolaters should be killed while the royal idolater is praised in both Testaments?
Strange Ruling Eight — The Eunuch Contradiction
Matthew 19:12 — King James Version “For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever is able to accept, let him accept.”
Christ encourages those capable of it to make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Yet the same scripture states:
Deuteronomy 23:1 — King James Version “A eunuch or one who has been castrated shall not enter the congregation of the Lord.”
If a man follows Christ’s encouragement and makes himself a eunuch for the kingdom of heaven, he becomes permanently excluded from the congregation of the Lord by Deuteronomy 23:1. And if the congregation of the Lord is then forbidden to him, what happens if he later disobeys the law — would he be put to death for an offense while already excluded from the congregation?
The contradiction is direct and unresolved within the text of the scripture itself.
Strange Ruling Nine — The Stoning of the Goring Ox
Exodus 21:28–29 — King James Version “If an ox gores a man or a woman so that they die, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be blameless. But if the ox has been a goring ox before, and its owner has been testified against, and he has not restrained it, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.”
How is the goring bull advised and warned according to the provisions of the penal code, such that it is exposed to stoning as a criminal punishment? An animal cannot receive a legal warning, cannot be testified against in any meaningful sense, and cannot be held morally responsible for its actions.
The stoning of the ox in the first scenario — when its owner did not know of its previous behavior — results in the death of the animal and the owner bears no punishment. The flesh of the stoned animal may not be eaten, which suggests the stoning is a form of ritual removal rather than criminal punishment. But in the second scenario — where the owner knew the ox was a goring ox, was testified against by witnesses, and still did not restrain it — both the ox and the owner are put to death. The owner’s death is a proportionate response to his negligence. But the ox’s stoning in both cases raises the question of what legal or moral principle is served by executing an animal that cannot receive warning, cannot form intent, and cannot be held morally responsible for its behavior under any legal framework known to human jurisprudence.
And what is the fault of the owner of the goring bull if it escapes without his knowledge and kills a person — so that both the bull is stoned and its owner is put to death? The text says the owner is blameless in the first case, but both are killed in the second. The line between negligence warranting death and ignorance warranting no punishment rests entirely on whether the owner had prior testimony against the ox — a standard that places the fate of an owner’s life on whether his neighbors had formally complained about his animal’s past behavior.
Conclusion — Questions Without Answers The laws of the Torah examined here include civil rules that reflect genuine legal reasoning — proportional compensation, protection of the vulnerable, limits on collective punishment. But alongside these, the same text contains rulings that those who worship this book as holy have not satisfactorily answered: a punishment of shoe-striking and spitting for disobeying a social obligation, in a code that prescribes death for disobeying the priests; God descending to kill the very prophet He had just commissioned, saved only by his wife’s improvised circumcision of their son; the stoning of an animal that cannot receive legal warning or bear moral responsibility; the demolition of a leprous house stone by stone; the humiliation of the afflicted person who must cry Unclean; the public violation of David’s wives as the punishment for David’s adultery; the glorification of Solomon the idolater in both Testaments while ordinary idolaters are put to death; and the contradiction between Christ’s encouragement of self-castration for the kingdom of heaven and Deuteronomy’s permanent exclusion of eunuchs from the congregation of the Lord. We ask those who worship this book called holy: what are the answers?
...oliness — The Christian Tradition of Rejecting Cleanliness and Its Contrast with Islamic Purity]] - [[[strange-rulings-in-the-torah-a-critical-examination-of-biblical-civil-criminal-and-ritual-law|Strange Rulings in the Torah — A Critical Examination of Biblical Civil,]]