When the titular Don Quixote stumbles upon a group of soldiers escorting several criminals to the galleys in chapter 22 of the book that bears his title, he inquires about the crimes and punishments of each. Near the end of his investigation he learns that one of the men will face 10 years in the galleys. Now, I find this highly ironic considering the Christian leanings of many characters in the novels, for the very Bible they would seek moral education from condemns such a punishment. “When you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything” (Exodus 21:2), says Exodus. The Bible does allow temporary servanthood as a judicial penalty for certain offenses (Exodus 22:3), but it is not permitted to extend beyond six years, unlike how the unseen king in Don Quixote allows sentences of 10 years of slavery. Another way the punishments Don Quixote encounters were unjust by Biblical standards is the number of lashes some of the criminals received. One explains how “. . . they kissed my back a hundred times, gave me three in the gurapas” (164), and another person says of a separate malefactor that “. . . he was sentenced to six years in the galleys, plus two hundred lashes” (165). Deuteronomy 25:3 universally prohibits the infliction of more than 40 lashes in corporal punishment, yet the two criminals I referenced had 100 and 200 lashes imposed on them—in addition to years of time in the galleys, a double punishment unheard of in Mosaic Law! And all of this came after some of the criminals were tortured to confess their crimes, violating a core principle of justice found in Deuteronomy 17:6 and 19:15--the testimony of two or three witnesses is to establish someone's guilt, not cruel torture.
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| Humans, both Christians and non-Christians, regularly complain about the alleged harshness of Mosaic Law, often while willing to tolerate true barbarism and things that Mosaic Law vehemently condemns. Those who seek freedom from justice inevitably become enchained by injustice of some form. |
Four evils and injustices appear here--1) periods of slavery lasting longer than six years, 2) lashes exceeding a number of 40, 3) double punishments that combine separate penalties, and 4) torture before conviction to force information, whether truthful or dishonest. The Bible does not hide the fact that it opposes all four of these wrongs. No matter what people may say to demonize Mosaic Law, humankind has often exchanged the laws of Exodus and Deuteronomy for vile, despicable punishments and immoral and unjust laws of their own creation. When people abandon laws based on divine revelation, they replace them with abominations like the American prison system, the cruelties of Rome that strike many as unconscionable, or the excessive penalties mentioned in Don Quixote.
I write this to demonstrate that, although many in and outside of the church would panic at the idea of Old Testament penalties being implemented in a modern setting, humans have devised far harsher punishments and labeled them just. In fact, I am greatly irritated by people who describe the morality of the Old Testament as oppressive, cruel, sadistic, or brutal—especially with regards to punishments—and then remain silent about historical and current legal systems and penalties that are far more severe. As someone who loves justice, Biblical morality, and the law God revealed, I notice things like this when I read books or listen to others. Those who categorize Biblical penalties as cruel and then replace them with draconian laws are stooping to multiple errors and inconsistencies, and even the book Don Quixote proves that humans often invent cruelties in the name of justice that the Bible so many view as barbaric actually blatantly and staunchly condemns.
Don Quixote. Cervantes, Miguel De. Trans Grossman, Edith. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. Print.
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