All the people

Deuteronomy 17:7 - The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people.

The situation here is the stoning to death of a person who has broken one of the laws that God decided was worthy of this severe punishment. If there were 2 or more witnesses to the crime, if the case had been thoroughly investigated, and if the accused had been found guilty, then the witnesses were to cast the first stones. I wonder if the phrase "all the people" was to be taken literally. If so, that would mean about 2.5 million stones would be thrown at the condemned person. But there probably wouldn't be anything left of the criminal after the first few hundred stones. I wonder if this was to be taken more philosophically in that all the people should agree that this was the proper sentence to be carried out. I wonder if only those involved in the case or only those in the general vicinity of the scene of the crime actually threw the stones.

Part of the reason for this capital punishment was to make an example of the convict and deter others from following in his steps. Even if only a few dozen or even a hundred people were involved in carrying out the punishment, I'm sure word quickly spread throughout the entire nation about what had been done.

"So, Shekariah, you actually saw the stoning?"

"Saw it! Yeah, I saw it alright. I had to throw the fifth stone, I think it was, myself. Toughest thing I've ever had to do. It wasn't pretty. Pray I never have to again."

"What was it like? Was there...?"

"Don't ask. I can't talk about it. You don't really wanna know. Trust me. Tell everyone. You just don't wanna know."