Thou shall bring forth that man or that woman which
have
committed the wicked thing
Idolatry in any of the above instances: this must be supposed to
be done after he or she have been had before a court of
judicature, and have been tried and found guilty, and sentence
passed on them, then they were to be brought forth to execution:
unto thy gates;
the Targum of Jonathan says, unto the gates of your sanhedrim, or
court of judicature; but Jarchi observes, that this is a mistake
of the paraphrase, for he says, we are taught by tradition that
"thy gate" is the gate in which he has served or committed
idolatry; and so says Maimonides F4, they do not stone a man but
at the gate where he served or worshipped; but if the greatest
part of the city are Heathens, they stone him at the door of the
sanhedrim; and this is received from tradition, that "to thy
gates" is the gate at which he served, and not where his judgment
is finished:
[even] that man or that woman;
this is repeated, and the woman as well as the man is expressed,
to show that no compassion is to be had on her as is usual, nor
to be spared on account of the weakness and tenderness of her
sex, but she as well as the man must be brought forth and
executed according to her sentence, without any mercy shown; and
this is observed to show the resentment of the divine Majesty,
and his indignation at this sin:
and shalt stone them with stones until they
die;
of the manner of stoning men and women, (See Gill on Acts
7:58).