Amud (a) centres on an argument about which of the four methods of execution: stoning, burning, strangling or decapitation, is the most severe. To determine the order of severity, the rabbis compare what they know with what they infer. For example, a woman who is married and has intercourse with another man is punished by burning. A betrothed woman who has intercourse with another man is punished by stoning. The rabbis wonder if this would be proof that stoning is more severe than burning. But the daughter of a priest who has intercourse with another man is no exempted from this punishment. Because stoning is the punishment used for idolaters, it is considered to be more serious than burning or strangling.
The rabbis continue to question which type of execution is the most severe based on other comparisons among transgressions and their punishments. Further, the rabbis think about what might be a sin against G-d and the community and what might be a sin against one's parents.
It is noted numerous times that the daughter who is betrothed and then has intercourse with another man is transgressing halchot against her husband's rights and her father's rights. For all of the discussion about how to execute a woman who has done these things, it is unclear how often this was actually done. When we read about the executions for stealing or assault, we learned that there were many opportunities to object to the execution. Was this process similar when considering women specifically?
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