Deuteronomy 21:21
And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die,.... The populace; that is, after his trial is finished, and he is condemned to die; and he was not stoned until the three first judges were there (by whom he was admonished, and ordered to be beaten), as it it said, "this is our son", this is he that was beaten before you {f}; and according to the Targum of Jonathan,
"if he feared (God, and showed any token of repentance) and received instruction, and they (his parents) desired to preserve him alive, they preserved him; but if he refused and was rebellious, then they stoned him;''
but the Jews say this law, and that of retaliation, were never put into execution:
so shalt thou put away evil from among you; put a stop to, and prevent such an evil for the future, and remove the guilt of it; or, as the Targum of Jonathan, him that doeth that evil:
and all Israel shall hear, and fear; it being to be publicly notified throughout the land, that such an one suffered death for such a crime, which would be a means of deterring others from the same; so Jarchi remarks,
"here (says he) a proclamation was necessary to be made by the sanhedrim, as that such an one was stoned because he was stubborn and rebellious;''
for the mystical sense of this see Ephesians 2:2.
{f} Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 3. sect. 4.