Deuteronomy 25:2

Deuteronomy 25:2

And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number.

a. NLT: If the person in the wrong is sentenced to be flogged, the judge must command him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of lashes appropriate to the crime. [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

b. ASV: And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number. [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. YLT: then it hath come to pass, if the wrong-doer is to be smitten, that the judge hath caused him to fall down, and one hath smitten him in his presence, according to the sufficiency of his wrong-doing, by number; [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

d. Classic Amplified: Then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a certain number of stripes according to his offense. Then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a certain number of stripes according to his offense. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

e. Septuagint: Then it shall come to pass, if the unrighteous should be worthy of stripes, thou shalt lay him down before the judges, and they shall scourge him before them according to his iniquity.

f. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/ Writings: It will be that if the wicked one is liable to lashes, the judge shall cast him down and strike him, before him, according to his wickedness, by a count. [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE TANACH--STUDENT SIZE EDITION Copyright 1996, 1998 by Mesorah Publications, Ldt.]

1. “And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face…”

a. [And its shall] be [Strong: 1961 hayah haw-yaw a primitive root (Compare 1933); to exist, i.e. be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary):--beacon, X altogether, be(-come), accomplished, committed, like), break, cause, come (to pass), do, faint, fall, + follow, happen, X have, last, pertain, quit (one-)self, require, X use.]

b. if [Strong: 518 'im eem a primitive particle; used very widely as demonstrative, lo!; interrog., whether?; or conditional, if, although; also Oh that!, when; hence, as a negative, not:--(and, can-, doubtless, if, that) (not), + but, either, + except, + more(-over if, than), neither, nevertheless, nor, oh that, or, + save (only, -ing), seeing, since, sith, + surely (no more, none, not), though, + of a truth, + unless, + verily, when, whereas, whether, while, + yet.]

c. [the] wicked [man] [Strong: 7563 rasha` raw-shaw' from 7561; morally wrong; concretely, an (actively) bad person:--+ condemned, guilty, ungodly, wicked (man), that did wrong.]

d. [be] worthy [Strong: 1121 ben bane from 1129; a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like 1, 251, etc.)):--+ afflicted, age, (Ahoh-) (Ammon-) (Hachmon-) (Lev-)ite, (anoint-)ed one, appointed to, (+) arrow, (Assyr-) (Babylon-) (Egypt-) (Grec-)ian, one born, bough, branch, breed, + (young) bullock, + (young) calf, X came up in, child, colt, X common, X corn, daughter, X of first, + firstborn, foal, + very fruitful, + postage, X in, + kid, + lamb, (+) man, meet, + mighty, + nephew, old, (+) people, + rebel, + robber, X servant born, X soldier, son, + spark, + steward, + stranger, X surely, them of, + tumultuous one, + valiant(-est), whelp, worthy, young (one), youth.]

e. [to be] beaten [Strong: 5221 nakah naw-kaw' a primitive root; to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively):--beat, cast forth, clap, give (wounds), X go forward, X indeed, kill, make (slaughter), murderer, punish, slaughter, slay(-er, -ing), smite(-r, -ing), strike, be stricken, (give) stripes, X surely, wound.]

f. [that the] judge [Strong: 8199 shaphat shaw-fat' a primitive root; to judge, i.e. pronounce sentence (for or against); by implication, to vindicate or punish; by extenssion, to govern; passively, to litigate (literally or figuratively):--+ avenge, X that condemn, contend, defend, execute (judgment), (be a) judge(-ment), X needs, plead, reason, rule.]

g. [will cause him to] lie down [Strong: 5307 naphal naw-fal' a primitive root; to fall, in a great variety of applications (intransitive or causative, literal or figurative):--be accepted, cast (down, self, (lots), out), cease, die, divide (by lot), (let) fail, (cause to, let, make, ready to) fall (away, down, -en, -ing), fell(-ing), fugitive, have (inheritance), inferior, be judged (by mistake for 6419), lay (along), (cause to) lie down, light (down), be (X hast) lost, lying, overthrow, overwhelm, perish, present(-ed, -ing), (make to) rot, slay, smite out, X surely, throw down.

h. [and to be] beaten [Strong: 5221 nakah naw-kaw' a primitive root; to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively):--beat, cast forth, clap, give (wounds), X go forward, X indeed, kill, make (slaughter), murderer, punish, slaughter, slay(-er, -ing), smite(-r, -ing), strike, be stricken, (give) stripes, X surely, wound.]

i. before [his face [Strong: 6440 paniym paw-neem' plural (but always as singular) of an unused noun (paneh {paw-neh'}; from 6437); the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.):--+ accept, a-(be- )fore(-time), against, anger, X as (long as), at, + battle, + because (of), + beseech, countenance, edge, + employ, endure, + enquire, face, favour, fear of, for, forefront(-part), form(-er time, -ward), from, front, heaviness, X him(-self), + honourable, + impudent, + in, it, look(-eth) (- s), X me, + meet, X more than, mouth, of, off, (of) old (time), X on, open, + out of, over against, the partial, person, + please, presence, propect, was purposed, by reason of, + regard, right forth, + serve, X shewbread, sight, state, straight, + street, X thee, X them(-selves), through (+ - out), till, time(-s) past, (un-)to(-ward), + upon, upside (+ down), with(- in, + -stand), X ye, X you.]

2. “...according to his fault, by a certain number.”

a. according [Strong: 1767 day dahee of uncertain derivation; enough (as noun or adverb), used chiefly with preposition in phrases:--able, according to, after (ability), among, as (oft as), (more than) enough, from, in, since, (much as is) sufficient(-ly), too much, very, when.]

b. [to his] fault [Strong: 7564 rish`ah rish-aw' feminine of 7562; wrong (especially moral):--fault, wickedly(-ness).]

c. [by a certain] number [Strong: 4557 micpar mis-pawr' from 5608; a number, definite (arithmetical) or indefinite (large, innumerable; small, a few); also (abstractly) narration:--+ abundance, account, X all, X few, (in-)finite, (certain) number(-ed), tale, telling, + time.]

1). Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible: According to his fault, by a certain number; as his crime and wickedness was more or less heinous, more or fewer stripes were to be laid on him; as ten or twenty, fewer or more, according to the nature of his offence, as Aben Ezra observes, only he might not add above forty; though he says there are some who say that according to his fault the stripes are larger or lesser, but all of them in number forty.

2). In the case of the Apostle Paul he was given the full punishment of 39 stripes 5 times. They viewed his preaching of Christ Jesus worthy of the full punishment.

3). The Apostle Paul cited this punishment in his list of things he experienced because of his following Christ.

a). 2 Corinthians 11:24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

4). These incidents of getting beaten by the Jewish authorities is not in the record of Acts. What we can take from this record is that during Paul’s journeys, probably the early ones, Paul ministered to Jewish synagogues and constantly ran into persecution. I personally believe between the time he fled from Jerusalem and sent to Tarsus in Acts 9:30, and the time Barnabas came to Tarsus to bring him to Antioch in Acts 11:25, 26, that Saul experienced many of these incidents.

5). William M. Ramsay who wrote Saint Paul the Traveler and the Roman Citizen, theorizes that Saul spent at least 8 years in Tarsus. Given the zeal that he had before he was sent to Tarsus to protect his life, I don’t believe that Saul remained idle and silent. While in Arabia, probably on Mt. Sinai Paul received either a large portion of the New Covenant or all of it, (Galatians 1:15-17; Galatians 4:25). He received it directly from Jesus, Galatians 1:11, 12. The revelation he received fueled his zeal to the point during the first three years of his Christian experience Saul had to flee for his life at least twice. But I don’t believe trying to kill Saul was the first reaction to Saul’s message, which from their Jewish perspective, was heresy. The Jewish community tries to follow the law and in light of that I believe their first reaction to Saul’s message was that he needs to be disciplined according to the law first. I think that all of the “five times” getting 39 stripes from the Jews is referring to this. Where and when exactly all this happened I don’t know, but my reasoning I believe is sound.