Capital punishment (having the etymology of "decapitation" as its chief denotation) is often called state sanctioned killing or government homicide. The death penalty has been enforced for different reasons including murder, rape, human trafficking, mutiny, treason, homosexuality, and bestiality. Methods of capital punishment include firing squads, electrocution, poison gas, lethal injection. Biblical sanctions for capital punishment include intentional homicide, false witnesses, idolatry, blasphemy, witchcraft, fornication, incest, homosexuality, striking parents, and refusal to obey the court. In Numbers 21:9, crucifixion was prefigured by the golden serpent ages before the Persians and Romans perfected its hideousness. Nailing a dead person to a tree for one day was sanctioned by God's law, but the necessity of taking the corpse down was also enforced by the same law (Deuteronomy 21:22-23), insisting that to keep the corpse (which was accursed of God) nailed to the tree would defile the land if it were allowed to remain after one day. The quick burial was meant to emphasize Israel's reputation as a clean compassionate people. Hanging on a tree was designated the punishment for the worst kind of sin. Desecrating the body of a deceased criminal was looked upon by God as a major sin. When King David became careless about protecting the bones of Saul and Jonatham, he encountered the wrath of Almighty God. Every unrepented sin carries the death penalty. The wages of sin is death principle goes back to the Garden of Eden and is with us today. Only by faith in the sacrifice of the Son of God can our sins be forgiven. No one can be justified by keeping the whole law. If we had to pay for our sins with our own death, we would have no future life. But Our Lord and Savior took on the whole world's sins- including all of us, Israel's real rebellious offspring.