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The demand in Psalm 140 that violent people be thrown into fire recalls a form of execution used in Hammurabi's laws. The image calls for judgment with the severity of a death penalty, rather than expressing only a general wish for misfortune.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Code of Hammurabi 1:167
Babylonian Legal Text
Ancient Near East
155 If a man betroths a girl to his son, and his son has intercourse with her, but the father afterward defiles her and is caught, he shall be bound and thrown into the water. 156 If a man betroths a girl to his son, but his son has not known her, and the father defiles her, he shall pay her half a mina of gold and repay her everything she brought from her father's house, and she may marry the man of her heart. 157 If anyone is guilty of incest with his mother after his father's death, both shall be burned. 158 If anyone is caught after his father's death with his father's chief wife, who has borne children, he shall be driven out of his father's house.
Psalms 140:10
Hebrew Bible
7 O Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, you shield my head in the day of battle. 8 O Lord, do not let the wicked have their way. Do not allow their plan to succeed when they attack. (Selah) 9 As for the heads of those who surround me—may the harm done by their lips overwhelm them. 10 May he rain down fiery coals upon them. May he throw them into the fire. From bottomless pits they will not escape. 11 A slanderer will not endure on the earth; calamity will hunt down a violent man and strike him down. 12 I know that the Lord defends the cause of the oppressed and vindicates the poor. 13 Certainly the godly will give thanks to your name; the morally upright will live in your presence.
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Notes and References
“... 140:10. thrown into fire punishment. Burning was used as a form of execution as early as the Hammurabi laws. In fifth-century Persia (during the reign of Darius II, son of Artaxerxes), and in the second century (2 Macc 13:4-8), there are examples of execution by pushing into a bin of ashes. ...”
Walton, John H.
The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
(p. 558) InterVarsity Press, 2000
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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