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the London
Times
summarizes
the dilemma well. "The state of
prisons is becoming more and
more depressing,- and no end to
the misery seems in sight. The
apparently inexorable decline of
the prison system into near chaos
is matched by the inability of the
authorities involved to provide
any relief. The blunt fact is that
prisons can no Ionger cope."
Where did the idea of keeping
people in prison come from any–
way?
One thing is certain: God is not
its author.
The God-given Penal Code
The Bible contains the civil and
penal· code given by God to a
physical and unconverted na–
tion- the Old Testament nation
of Israel. God gave this nation
the opportunity of being a show–
case, so all the other peoples on
earth could see the national bene–
fits of obedience to God's laws.
Israel's God-given legal and
penal system would, it was prom–
ised, make Israel the envy of all
other nations. Notice how Moses
explained it to the people:
"Here am
1
teaching you,"
Moses declared, "as the Eterna!
my God ordered me, the rules
and regulations for what you are
to do ... keep them, obey them,
for that will prove your wisdom
and intelligence to the [other]
nations; when they hear all these
rules they will say, •This great
nation is indeed a wise, intelligent
race!' ... What great nation has
rule~
and regulation_s as justas all
this code that
1
am putting before
you now?" (Deutéronomy 4:5-6,
8 Moffatt translation).
The civil laws that followed in
the book of Deuteronomy were
for the nation of Israel. They
would in fact, though, work for
any physical nation that would
diligently apply and enforce
them. These laws formed the
most perfect civil code ever de–
vised for a physical, unconverted
people.
There was no provision for
prisons in God's civil code. Im–
prisonment is part of the punish–
ment determined by God for
rebellious spirit beings-Satan
16
Penal institutions have
become schools for
perfecting the "art" of
crzme.
and bis demons. They are the
ones for whom this forro of pun–
ishment was designed (see I Peter
3:19; Jude 6; Revelation 20:2-3).
But Satan, who has deceived this
whole world (Revelation 12:9),
has succeeded in foisting upon
humans the .forro of punishment
reserved for himself and bis
demons!
Before Israel received its civil
code from God, prisons were in
use among the gentile nations.
Joseph, one of the 12 patriarchs
of the nation Israel, had been
thrown into the dungeon where
Egypt's pharaoh kept his prison–
ers (Genesis 39:20). But it was
not to be so in Israel.
Under the system God gave
through Moses, suspects could be
put "in ward" on a tempbrary
basis while they awaited swift
sentencing (Leviticus 24: 12;
Numbers 15:34). But the short
confinement itself was not the
sentence. That is an important
difference.
For those judged guilty of crimi–
nal activity severa! forros of pun–
ishment were prescribed. Sorne
crimes required' restitution to the
victim of double the amount lost.
If
the guilty party didn't have the
means to make restitution, he
became a bond servant until he
worked off his debt. Sometimes a
physical punisbment such as a
lashing was pronounced. For cer–
tain crimes the death penalty was
mandatory.
But Israel was· to be free of
jails, prisons and all their atten–
dant problems and shortcomings.
Emphasis was upon deterring
crime. The principie was simple:
State the law; state the punish–
ment; then swiftly and consist–
ently punish any lawbreakers.
The rest of the people- any who
would be tempted to do wrong...:......
would
"hear
and
feat"
(Deuter–
onomy 13:11; 17:13; 19:20).
Sorne criminologists may claim
that such an approach is too
simple, that it would
~ot
work.
But God says it would indeed
work.
Nothing else men have tried
has worked.
Even the wisdom of this world
is beginning to realize it.
Time
magazine, in an essay on crime
and punishment, concluded: "To
be told the law, to be told the
punishment and to be punished if
one breaks the law, is a sounder
and more reliable system of jus–
tice than the confusing and inef–
fective process now operating. A
society can be subverted by a
system that appears to be not
only inconsistent but almost
whimsical in its workings....
If
the law has meaning, it must
carry predictable consequences"
(September 18, 1978).
Time
magazine's essay was pre–
ceded 3,000 years ago by the sim–
ple words of Solomon: "Because
sentence on a crime is not executed
at once, the mind of man is prone
to evil practices" (Ecclesiastes
8:11, Moffatt translation). This is
why capital punishment as prac–
ticed today is so totally ineffective.
Long agonizing waits on "death
row" ·and endless stays of execu–
tion based on legal technicalities
that obscure the main issuerender
the death sentence a useless deter–
rent.
Crime needs to be nipped in
the bud. Instead of making the
punishment fit the criminal, as is
the prevalent approach today,
under ancient Israel's God-given
civil code, punishment fitted the
crime. The "eye for an eye and
tooth for a tootb" administration
may be criticized by sorne. But it
left no doubt in the minds of
those inclined to do wrong as to
exactly what would happen. ·
Sorne of the punishments pre–
scribed in the bíblica! code may
seem severe. But crime is asevere
problem.
lt
is especially severe to
the victim.
1t
should also be se–
vere to the criminal. Under our
present system we have many
victims and many lawbreakers,
but few punished criminals. Un–
der Israel's civil code there were
few victims and few criminals.
The
PLAIN TRUTH