Deuteronomy 19:18-21

Context

Deuteronomy is a book in sermonic form in which Moses, on the plains of Moab just before Israel entered Canaan, expounded the law to the people once again. Chapter 19 addresses three provisions in turn.

• The cities of refuge (vv. 1-13): regulations concerning the cities to which a person who had killed someone unintentionally could flee.
• The boundary marker (v. 14): a prohibition against moving a neighbor's boundary marker.
• Witnesses (vv. 15-21): regulations on how witnesses are to be treated in court.

The provision on witnesses begins with the principle that guilt cannot be established on the testimony of a single witness but requires two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15). It then addresses the case of a witness who falsely accuses another. If the judges "make diligent inquisition," that is, investigate the matter thoroughly, and perjury is exposed, the penalty the false witness intended to bring upon the other party is to be imposed upon him. The witness in view is one who "hath testified falsely against his brother," fabricating a crime that was never committed in order to slander another. The phrase "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" in verse 21 expresses the principle commonly called the lex talionis, or law of retaliation, which requires repayment in the same measure as the harm inflicted.

Interpretation

• As a safeguard of fair judgment: Many commentators locate the purpose of this provision not in personal revenge but in preserving the integrity of the courts. By making the false witness bear the penalty himself, the law deters false testimony (v. 20). The provision is read as a concrete application to the courtroom of the commandment in the Ten Commandments, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."
• As a limit on punishment: A widely accepted interpretation holds that the lex talionis prevented retaliation greater than the injury and kept punishment proportionate to the offense. Interpreters also emphasize that this principle was administered by public courts, not by individuals.
• In the rabbinic tradition: Rabbinic literature is known to have interpreted "eye for eye" not as the infliction of actual bodily injury but as equivalent monetary compensation.
• In the Reformed tradition: Chapter 19 of the Westminster Confession of Faith states that the judicial laws given to Israel as a body politic expired together with that state and now oblige no one further than the general equity thereof may require. Presbyterian churches that hold to this confession seek to apply the principles of justice and equity to the present day rather than the specific penalties.

Questions of Application

• In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus quoted the saying "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" and then taught "that ye resist not evil" (Matthew 5:38-42). Many evangelical interpreters regard this not as an abolition of the law but as a correction of the contemporary practice of using a judicial principle to justify personal retaliation. The Anabaptist tradition, by contrast, embraces these words more fully as a basis for nonviolence and nonresistance.
• "Thine eye shall not pity" is courtroom language instructing the judge not to reduce the penalty for the false witness. Some therefore point out that using this expression to justify withholding forgiveness in personal relationships takes it out of context.
• "Life shall go for life" is sometimes cited in debates over capital punishment as an argument for retaining it. Others counter that the civil law of the Old Testament cannot be transferred directly to the modern state.

Related Passages

• Deuteronomy 19:15
• Exodus 20:16
• Exodus 21:23-25
• Leviticus 24:17-22
• Matthew 5:38-42