STONING
Among the Hebrews, the condemned was generally stoned. It was used in those crimes that were punishable by the death penalty. Among those who deserved this cruel punishment were: idolatry (Lev. 20:2; Deut. 17:2-5), blasphemy (Lev. 24:10-16), breaking the Sabbath (Num. 15:32- 36), witchcraft (Lev. 20:27), the false exercise of the prophetic mission and inducing the people to idolatry (Deut. 13:1-11), the appropriation of a sacred object (Jb. 6:17 -19; 7:1; Lev. 27:28), stubborn disobedience (Deut. 21:18-21) and various kinds of impurity.
The place of stoning or stoning was outside the camp or city (Lev. 24:14; 1 Kings 21:9-13).
The criminal was invited to confess his sin (Josh. 7:19), and then one of the witnesses threw a large stone on the chest of the guilty, and if this blow was not enough to kill him, the other witnesses intervened, and if This was still not enough, so all the spectators attacked (Deut. 17:7).
The executioners took off their clothes to have greater freedom of movement (Acts 7:58). Sometimes the executed person was thrown from a considerable height.
Stoning was often a resource that the populace of different times resorted to when they could not bear the message or the actions of some character (Ex. 8:26; 2 Chron. 24:31; Luke 20:6; Jn. 8:59; Acts 5:26; 14:5; 19:2; 2 Cor. 11:25). The first Christian martyr, Stephen, was stoned to death.