When
I was growing up, there was a TV show, hosted by Johnny Carson called,
"Who Do You Trust?" Back then, it appeared that there were many
people to trust, the policeman, the fireman, the government, your doctor, your
bank and banker, your religious authority, your neighbor, those companies and
corporations whose products and services you bought with great loyalty. Today,
we find we can trust none of these! How can we trust any of these entities when
they all commit such terrible acts against us all?
The witnesses, laying their coats at the feet of Saul, were the men that would cast the first stones at Stephen in Acts 7. Why did they all lay their coats at Saul’s feet? The Talmud contains a very interesting account of the act of stoning that may provide the answer. “When the trial was over, they take him [the condemned person] out to be stoned. The place of stoning was at a distance from the court, as it is said, ‘Take out the one who has cursed.’ [i] A man stands at the entrance of the court; in his hand is a signaling flag [Hebrew sudarin = sudar , ‘scarf, sweater’]. A horseman was stationed far away but within sight of him. If one [of the judges] says, ‘I have something [more] to say in his favor,’ he [the signaler] waves the sudarin , and the horseman runs and stops them [from stoning him]. Even if [the condemned person] himself says, ‘I have something to say in my favor,’ they bring him back, even four of five times, only provided that there is some substance to...
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