50 Walter Jacob

and its ritual as well as the“King’s Law” were debated.” A series of hermeneutical rules, interpreting and expanding the original biblical material were carefully developed.” These rules tied the “oral law” to the earlier“written law” and provided a justifica­tion for the expansion. The judiciary was fleshed out and various levels of courts which may also have existed earlier, but were not described in the Bible , were mentioned.

Punishments for crimes were also changed, and in some instances, expanded or reinterpreted. Whipping, for example, was seen as a merciful act, as any trespass against a divine com­mandment actually deserved the death penalty.’ An entire mishnaic tractate bore the name“Lashes,” although it also con­tained discussions of other material. The number of lashes was diminished to thirty-nine to avoid a possible mistake and then could be further reduced for medical reasons or to spare the honor of the person to be punished.’ On the other hand, if the individual died during the administration of the whip, no one was blamed. Its administration was also described in detail; three judges had to be present during its administration. The specific crimes for which whipping was the penalty were detailed; they included all offenses for which karet was the bibli­cal penalty as well as all violations of a negative commandment which entailed some action, so tale-bearing, prohibited in Leviti­cus 19:14, would not lead to whipping. On the other hand taking the name of God in vain was so punished.® This form of pun­ishment was also extended to provide communal discipline, so those who made impossible vows were flogged as were individ­uals who had intercourse in public, or a man and a woman who secluded themselves? The limit of thirty-nine lashes only existed for offenses against negative commandments, there was no limit for positive commandments. Therefore, if the command to build a sukkah was met by refusal, the individual could be whipped, as could a debtor. We shall see this form of punish­ment vastly expanded as a disciplinary measure in later times.

Confiscation, hardly mentioned in the Bible , was extended and meant that the courts could punish far beyond the fines pro­vided by the Scripture this was used particularly to punish repeating offenders, as a means of restoring law and order,* or to provide what common sense demanded, but for which no other precedent existed, such as the sale of an infant's property for the seller’s own benefit or invalidating a marriage which had been