Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 19:21
And thine eye shall not pity; [but] life [shall go] for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
21. thine eye shall not pity ] See on Deu 19:13, Deu 7:16.
life for life, etc.] The jus talionis, more fully in E, Exo 21:24 f.; cp. H, Lev 24:18; Lev 24:20. Very frequently in the Code of ammurabi. See further Driver’s note on Exo 21:25.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
What punishment he intended or the law allotted to the accused, if he had been convicted, the same shall the false accuser bear. Of this law see on Exo 21:23; Lev 24:20
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
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 Ex 21:23.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The lex talionis was to be applied without reserve (see at Exo 21:23; Lev 24:20). According to Diod. Sic. (i. 77), the same law existed in Egypt with reference to false accusers.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
21. Thine eye shall not pity It has been said that this is a harsh and cruel requirement. But it must be borne in mind that the usages which prevailed and the condition of society demanded stringent laws. The wise legislator adapts law to the circumstances of the people. Moses found the law of retaliation deeply seated. It has its foundations in the conception of impartial justice. With all his influence over the people he could not eradicate long-established usages. At the present day in the East there is a most cruel feature of the lex talionis. When the murderer cannot be reached the avengers have the right to kill any member of his family. See THOMSON’S Land and Book, vol. i, p. 448. If we turn to the words of Him who spake as never man spake, we see how the Gospel modifies the stern exactions of this law of retaliation. “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil.” Mat 5:38-39.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Was not the suretyship of JESUS pointed out in this law? Did not JESUS when redeeming his people, give an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth? Was not this literally indeed the case, when he who knew no sin became sin for us, and was made a curse for us that we might be made the righteousness of GOD in him?
REFLECTIONS
HERE let me gaze on thee again and again, thou dearest JESUS, who art indeed the only City of refuge for all thy people, and who art placed in every avenue and way by which a poor slayer of himself and of his own soul by sin, may find shelter from the avenger. And while I look on thee as my sure hiding place from all the anger of my FATHER’s broken law, and from all the accusations of my own guilty conscience, and from all the malice of Satan; Oh! may the HOLY GHOST give speed to my flight and earnestness to my desires, that before the avenger of blood can reach me, I may have taken shelter in thy person and righteousness. Oh! thou blessed Refuge of poor sinners, how fitly art thou prepared, how completely suited to all the wants of thy people! My soul even now, seems to feel an holy triumph in the security it finds by faith in thee! No plague shall come nigh my dwelling. In thee I feel a growing confidence of my everlasting security. Cease then your pursuits, ye ministers of evil, for my LORD hath shut me in like Noah in the ark, and housed me from your malice; and I am persuaded through his grace keeping me, that neither life nor death, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature, shall separate me from the love of GOD, which is in CHRIST JESUS our LORD.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Deu 19:21 And thine eye shall not pity; [but] life [shall go] for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Ver. 21. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth. ] See Trapp on “ Mat 5:38 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
eye. Figure of speech Prosopopoeia (App-6).
life = soul. Hebrew. nephesh. App-13. Compare Exo 21:23-25.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
thine eye: Deu 19:13
life shall: Exo 21:23-25, Lev 24:17-21, Mat 5:38, Mat 5:39
Reciprocal: Gen 45:20 – regard not Exo 21:20 – smite Exo 21:24 – General Lev 24:19 – General Lev 24:20 – General Deu 7:16 – thine eye Deu 25:12 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 19:21. An eye for an eye What punishment the law allotted to the accused, if he had been convicted, the same was the false accuser to bear.