One criticism levelled against the Book of Mormon is that Nephi’s knowledge of crucifixion is an anachronism. However, this is a misguided criticism as crucifixion was known in the time and area of Nephi and his family, so texts such as 1 Nephi 11:33 and 19:10 are not anachronistic.
In their
masterful book which I highly recommend, The Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus: Texts
and Commentary (Peabody, Mass. Hendrickson, 2019), David W. Chapman and
Eckhard J. Schnabel provide translations and a corresponding commentary on many
pre-exilic texts from the ANE (e.g., Assyrian; Egyptian) affirming knowledge of
people (sometimes posthumously) being suspended as a form of punishment/execution
(see 3.2 Bodily Suspension in the Ancient Near East, p. 322f). Here are some quick
examples of the texts that are of interest:
Code of
Hammurabi §21 [col.
9a, lines 14-21]
14 šum-ma a-wi-lum 15 bi-tam 16 ip-lu-u š 17
i-nna-pa-ni 18 pí-il- ši-im 19 šu-a-ti 20 i-du-uk-ku- šu-ma 21 i-ha-al-la-lu-
šu
Translation If a man has broken into a house
they shall put him to death and hang him before the breach which he has made.
(p. 324)
Code of
Hammurabi §153 [col.
9b, lines 61-66]
61 šum-ma aš- ša-at a-wi-lim 62 a š- šsum
zi-ka-ri-im 63 ša-ni-im 64 mu-sà-uš-di-ik 65 SAL šu-a-ti-i-na-ga-ši-ši-im 66 i-ša-ak-ka-nu-ši
Translation. If a woman has procured the death
of her husband on account of another man they shall impale that woman.
Commentary. . . .here, the woman has been
impaled aloft. (pp. 325-26)
Papyrus B.M. 10053 3.3-5
Translation. 3 Now after some days we went
to the door of the gateway of stone of Elephantine and brought away the 40 ½ .
. . and we put them in our . . .s 4 the attendant Nekhtamenwēse took 7 deben of copper, the foreigner Ptahkhau
took 3 deben of copper and the young
priest Paherer ½ a deben of copper.
There remained to us 30 deben of
copper. 5 He took an oath by the Ruler, if all that I say is not true may I be
placed on the stake.
Commentary. The trial represented on this
text is dated to “Year 9” (in line 2.1) which Peet argues refers to the 9th
year of whm mswt from the era of
Ramesses XI (beginning of the eleventh century B.C.). PEET also reasons that it
concerns trials for those caught stripping precious decorations from the
Ramesseum of Ramesses II. Unfortunately, the fragmentary text preceding the
lines quoted above does not provide the name of the individual being examined.
The lines above also contain some fragmentation (represented in the ellipses).
Note how, at the conclusion of his testimony, this man vouched for the
trustworthiness of his account by taking “an oath by the Ruler,” that invokes
the punishment of being “placed on the stake” (i.e., impaled) should his
statement be proven false. (p. 338)
Papyrus B.M. 10052 13.10-14
Translation. 10 Examination. There was
brought the servant Pekeneny son of Wennefer of the temple of Amün. He was
given 11 the oath by the Ruler not to speak falsehood. They said to him, What
have you to say concerning the affair of the Tombs? He said, As Amün lives and
as the Ruler lives if it be found that I had to do with the men 13 or hat they
gave me a kite of silver of a kite of gold let me be mutilated and
placed on the stake. He was examined with the stick. Said (end, sic).
Commentary. We return to the examinations
of individuals associated with Bukhaaf and his fellow thieves. Ukhaaf had
listed Pekeneny among those who had received a portion of “Bukhaaf’s share of
precious metal” in the form of two deben of silver (2.17-18), though Bukhaaf did not name him as one of his fellow
thieves who entered the tomb. A kite
is a tenth of a deben receive a
twentieth of the portion Bukhaaf alleges. In this text, the form of the “oath
by the Ruler” that is recorded as administered initially is simply “not to
speak falsehood” (13.11). Pekeneny is represented as voluntarily invoking an
oath later in the examination in the same of Amün and of the Ruler to the
effect that he is willing to be “mutilated and placed on the stake” should his
testimony be proven false. (13.13) (pp. 342-43)
In Lam 5:12, authored by Jeremiah, a contemporary of Lehi et al., we read the following: