Deuteronomy 19:21

_IF A FALSE WITNESS RISE UP AGAINST ANY MAN TO TESTIFY AGAINST HIM THAT WHICH IS WRONG;_ But if convicted of perjury, it will be sufficient for his own condemnation, and his punishment shall be exactly the same as would have overtaken the object of his malignant prosecution (see the notes at Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20). No mawkish sentimentalism or misplaced pity was to be indulged toward a false accuser, whose heartless enmity could stimulate him so far as to swear away the property or the life of a neighbour. The law was to be inflexibly executed on a convicted slanderer, who should be doomed to suffer the penalty of the crime with which he maliciously charged another; and nothing was so likely to put an effectual arrest on such infamous attempts as the infliction of this retribut

15-21 Sentence should never be passed upon the testimony of one witness alone. A false witness should suffer the same punishment which he sought to have inflicted upon the person he accused. Nor could any law be more just. Let all Christians not only be cautious in bearing witness in public, but be careful not to join in private slanders; and let all whose consciences accuse them of crime, without delay flee for refuge to the hope set before them in Jesus Christ....

Verse Deuteronomy 19:21. _LIFE - FOR LIFE, EYE FOR EYE, C._] The operation of such a law as this must have been very salutary: if a man prized his own members, he would naturally avoid injuring those of others. It is a pity that this law were not still in force: it would certainly prevent many of those savage acts which now both disgrace and injure society. I speak this in reference to _law_ generally, and the provision that should be made to prevent and punish ferocious and malevolent offences. A Christian may always act on the plan of _forgiving_ injuries and where the public peace and safety may not be affected, he should do so; but if _law_ did not make a provision for the safety of the community by enactment against the profligate, civil society would soon be destroyed....

See the marginal references....

EXPOSITION LAWS CONCERNING CITIES OF REFUGE. LANDMARKS NOT TO BE REMOVED. LAWS CONCERNING WITNESSES. DEUTERONOMY 19:1 Moses had before this enunciated the law concerning cities of refuge for manslayers, and had already pointed out the cities on the east of the Jordan that were to be set apart for this (Numbers 35:11, etc.; Deuteronomy 4:41, etc.), he here repeats the law with special reference to the appointment of such cities "in the midst of the

AND THINE EYE SHALL NOT PITY,.... The false witness when convicted; this is directed to the judges, who should not spare such an one through favour or affection, but pronounce a righteous sentence on him, and see it executed, in proportion to the crime, and that according to the law of retaliation: BUT LIFE SHALL GO FOR LIFE; in such a case where the life of a person must have gone, if the falsehood of the testimony had not been discovered, the false witness must suffer death; in other cases, where a member would have been lost, or the price of it paid for, the same penalty was to be inflicted: EYE FOR EYE, TOOTH FOR TOOTH, HAND FOR HAND, FOOT FOR FOOT; that is, the price of an eye an eye, c. see Exodus 21:23....

DEUTERONOMY 19:14 TO DEUTERONOMY 25:19. Consists of miscellaneous laws having no apparent connexion with D's great law of the centralisation of worship. They deal with crime, war, marriage, family relations, and other matters. This part of Dt. is perhaps made up of additions appended from time to time to the original code, and for that reason has double versions of the same laws (_cf. Deuteronomy 20:7_ and Deuteronomy 24:5) and double references to the same thing (_cf_. Deuteronomy 20:1 and...

EYE. Figure of speech _Prosopopoeia_ (App-6). LIFE. soul. Hebrew. _nephesh._ App-13. Compare Exodus 21:23....

Of Witnesses Two or three witnesses are necessary for a conviction (Deuteronomy 19:15). If a witness, forcing his evidence, accuse a man of defection from the law, the two shall stand before God in the supreme court (Deuteronomy 19:16 f.), the judges shall investigate, and if the witness be found false, he shall have done to him what he devised for his brother; so shall evil be removed from Israel (Deuteronomy 19:18 f.) and others take warning (Deuteronomy 19:20); ruthlessly shall like for like be exacted (Deutero

(3) CONCERNING WITNESSES AND JUDGMENT (Deuteronomy 19:15-21) 15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established. 16 If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to testify against him of wrong-doing, 17 then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before Jehovah, before the priests and the judges that shall be in those days; 18 and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and have testified falsely against his brother; 19 then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to do unto his brother; so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee. 20 And those that remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil in the mi