Hanging, according to Biblical custom, was meted out to the _dead_ body of one who had been otherwise killed. The order of the words in Deut. xxi, 22, 23 implies, that first the malefactor has been put to death, and then as an added indignity his corpse is suspended. The same treatment of hanging the corpse was meted out to the murderers of Ishbosheth.[75] Similarly, Joseph tells the chief baker that in three days Pharaoh will take off his head and then hang his dead body.[76] The dead bodies of Saul and Jonathan were hung up by the Philistines.[77] The five kings were first killed by Joshua and then hanged.[78] A momentary hanging of the corpse was recognised by the Rabbis in the case of the male idolator or blasphemer.[79] From these examples of Jewish custom and from the context in the Mishna and Talmuds, it becomes clear, that the witchcraft victims of Simon ben Shetach’s zeal, were hanged in ignominy _after_ the death penalty had been otherwise inflicted. In any case, the discussion in the Mishna and the Talmud[80] shows that the action of Simon ben Shetach was an exceptional action, from which no conclusion as to the regular course of law could be drawn. There is consequently no evidence of hanging alive ever having been carried out by a judicial sentence of the Rabbis. It need scarcely be added that the Roman punishment of crucifixion was a penalty unknown to Jewish law and abhorrent to Jewish feeling. The inhuman savageness shown by Alexander Jannaeus in crucifying his prisoners of war was no more a legally recognised form of capital punishment than was his cutting the throats of the wives and children before the eyes of the crucified victims.[81] Jewish Attitude Towards Capital Punishment Having summarized the history of the four methods of legal capital punishment recognised by the Jews, we are now in a position to review more broadly the question of the Jewish attitude towards capital punishment. The Hebrew Bible undoubtedly stands for the principle of capital punishment, as has clearly emerged from the detailed consideration of the particular methods of inflicting the death penalty set forth above. In Biblical times, when the organization of Jewish society was comparatively simple, retributive justice brooked few of the law’s delays. In the simplest and most rapid manner, the avenger of blood exacted the penalty of life for life. Society protected itself by a swiftly effective punishment.