Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. (Exodus 20:16)1
Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour. (Deuteronomy 5:20)
The Ninth Commandment is found two times in the Old Testament and four times in the New Testament: Exodus 20:16, Deuteronomy 5:20, Matthew 19:18, Mark 10:19, Luke 18:20, and Romans 13:9.
Some of the greatest Biblical tragedies, including the crucifixion of Yeshua,2 were in whole or in part the consequence of Ninth Commandment infractions. It should come as no surprise that, in the list enumerating the seven sins Yahweh3 hates most, four out of seven are infractions related to the Ninth Commandment:
These six things doth YHWH4 hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. (Proverbs 6:16-19)
Shaaqer and Shaaw
The English wording of the Ninth Commandment in Exodus 20:16 and Deuteronomy 5:20 are nearly identical, but the Hebrew contains a notable difference. The word “false” in these verses is translated from two unrelated Hebrew words. In Exodus 20, “false” is translated from shaaqer, and in Deuteronomy 5, it is translated from shaaw.
Shaaqer is defined:
…an untruth; by implication, a sham….5
….deception, disappointment, falsehood….6
Shaaw is defined:
…in the sense of desolating; evil (as destructive), lit. (ruin) or mor. (espec. guile); fig. idolatry (as false, subj.), uselessness (as deceptive, obj.; also adv. in vain).7
…emptiness, vanity, falsehood….8
We are not told why Yahweh inspired two different words to express this Commandment, but it stands to reason that together they best communicate His intention. Other passages employing these two words, assist us in better understanding their meaning. The following passages use the word shaaqer:
Keep thee far from a false matter…. (Exodus 23:7)
Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. (Psalm 31:18)
Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. (Proverbs 20:17)
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers…. (Malachi 3:5)
The following passages employ the word shaaw:
Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. (Exodus 23:1)
They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. (Psalm 12:2)
I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in YHWH. (Psalm 31:6)
Remove far from me vanity and lies…. (Proverbs 30:8)
Ninth Commandment Statutes
Although these passages and others provide us with a better understanding of the intent of the Ninth Commandment, they barely touch the surface of its breadth and depth.
At first glance, the Ninth Commandment seems very straightforward. However, like the other nine Commandments, there is much more to it than meets the eye.
False Testimony
Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment. (Exodus 23:1-2)
We are not to bear false witness as individuals, in concert with someone else, or with a multitude. The latter, more often than not, describes democracy or majority rule, which unlawfully governs by sheer numbers.
When we finally repent of our love affair and idolatry with the United States Constitution, we can build upon its ruins a theocracy constructed exclusively upon the perfect laws of Yahweh (Psalm 19:7). Its viability and success will not only depend upon Yahweh’s laws in general but upon a godly, righteous judicial system.
In conjunction with justices who enforce Yahweh’s laws, the Ninth Commandment is essential to a godly judiciary. Justice depends upon both God-fearing, honorable judges and the integrity of the witnesses. Trustworthy testimony is requisite for judges to render just decisions. Because reliable testimony is imperative, it must be compulsory.
This is one of many areas in which the United States’ judicial system fails. Witnesses swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, but the punishment for perjury is minimal or even nonexistent in most instances.
It is impossible to guarantee absolute truth in all cases, but Yahweh has provided us with safeguards that assure us of truthful testimony in nearly all cases brought before His courts. These criteria ensure predominately reliable witnesses because they keep the vast majority of fraudulent cases and false witnesses from coming to litigation in the first place.
Following are the six criteria Yahweh has placed in His Word to curb false testimony in courts of law:
Criterion #1
Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause…. (Proverbs 24:28)
Frivolous cases – not meriting the court’s attention – should be immediately dismissed. This criterion alone would eliminate a large percentage of the cases that clog today’s courts.
Criterion #2
If a man deliver unto his neighbour an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, to keep; and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it: Then shall an oath of YHWH be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbour’s goods; and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good. (Exodus 22:10-11)
The oath of Yahweh is first advocated in Deuteronomy:
Thou shalt fear YHWH thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. (Deuteronomy 6:13)
In Genesis 24:3, Abraham compelled his servant to swear by Yahweh before sending him to look for a wife for Isaac. This oath is also referred to in the New Testament epistle to the Hebrews:
For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. (Hebrews 6:16, NASV)
In order for such an oath to put an end to every dispute, it must be self-maledictory – that is, one that calls down a curse upon the person if he provides false testimony. A self-maledictory oath to Yahweh must be required of all litigants in every court case.
An example of a self-maledictory oath is found in Nehemiah 10:
…their nobles … entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law … and to observe and do all the commandments of YHWH our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes; and that we would not give our daughters unto the people of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons. (Nehemiah 10:29-30)
Unlike the vast majority of oaths taken in our modern courts or by presidents and other politicians who break their oath of office whenever it is to their advantage, the oaths taken in Nehemiah’s day actually meant something. In The Institutes of Biblical Law, R. J. Rushdoony addressed the gravity of Biblical oaths:
By taking the oath, a man promised to abide by his word and his obligations even as God is faithful to His word. If he failed, by oath of office, the public official invoked divine judgment and the curse of the law upon himself.9
Bouvier’s Law Dictionary corroborates the significance of self-maledictory oaths:
An outward pledge given by the person taking it that his attestation or promise is made under an immediate sense of his responsibility to God…. The term has been variously defined: as, “a solemn invocation of the vengeance of the Deity upon the witness if he do [sic] not declare the whole truth, so far as he knows it;” … or “religious asseveration by which a person renounces the mercy and imprecates the vengeance of Heaven if he do [sic] not speak the truth” … or “a religious act by which the party invokes God not only to witness the truth and sincerity of his promise, but also to avenge his imposture or violated faith, or … to punish his perjury if he shall be guilty of it;”…. The essential idea of an oath would seem to be, however, that of a recognition of God’s authority by the party taking it, and an undertaking to accomplish the transaction to which it refers as required by his laws.10
Adam Clarke commented on the “oath of Yahweh”:
So solemn and awful were all appeals to God considered in those ancient times, that it was taken for granted that the man was innocent who could by an oath appeal to the omniscient God that he had not put his hand to his neighbour’s goods. Since oaths have become multiplied, and since they have been administered on the most trifling occasions, their solemnity is gone, and their importance little regarded. Should the oath ever re-acquire its weight and importance, it must be when administered only in cases of peculiar delicacy and difficulty, and as sparingly as in the days of Moses.11
The solemnity and consequence of the oath has indeed been lost, not because of its multiplied use, but because its judgment is no longer enforced. As a transgression of the Third Commandment, lying or breaking an oath made in the name of Yahweh is punishable by death.12
And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am YHWH. (Leviticus 19:12)
And he that blasphemeth the name of YHWH, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land…. (Leviticus 24:16)
Consequently, if a judge deemed it a serious enough offense, he could order the perjurer put to death on a Third Commandment violation alone.
Criterion #3
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 the matter be established. (Deuteronomy 19:15)
Every matter must be determined by the testimony of two or more witnesses. Under Yahweh’s judicial system, if someone is a false witness, he cannot even hope to get his case to court without coercing or bribing someone else to be a false witness along with him. This would mean the principal false witness must prevail upon his accomplice to take the same risk if caught lying.
Criterion #4
If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong; then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before YHWH, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days; and the judges shall make diligent inquisition…. (Deuteronomy 19:16-18)
Every man is given his day in court to defend himself against false accusations. This provides the judge the opportunity to administer self-maledictory oaths and determine which of the two is speaking the truth.
Criterion #5
Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die. At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you. (Deuteronomy 17:5-7)
In capital cases, witnesses must be so certain of their testimony that they, along with the blood avengers (Deuteronomy 19:11-12), are prepared to initiate judgment upon the one against whom they testified.
Criterion #6
If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong; then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before YHWH, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days; and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you. And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. (Deuteronomy 19:16-21)
Before going to trial, a false witness must take a calculated risk, knowing that if he is caught perjuring himself, he will himself suffer whatever malice he intends upon his adversary. This judgment, known as lex talionis or the law of retribution, protects the integrity of the court. This criterion all but guarantees truthful testimony.13
If we would return to Yahweh’s perfect laws, and particularly the Ninth Commandment statutes, hardly anyone would dare bear false testimony. These checks would also all but do away with slander and defamation in society.
End Notes
1. All Scripture is quoted from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. Portions of Scripture have been omitted for brevity’s sake. If you have any questions regarding a passage, please open your Bible and study the text to ensure that it has been properly used.
2. Yeshua is the English transliteration of our Savior’s Hebrew name. For a more thorough explanation concerning the use of the sacred names of God, “The Third Commandment” may be read at www.missiontoisrael.org/3rdcom-pt1.php, or the book Thou shalt not take the name of Yahweh thy God in vain may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for a suggested $4 donation.*
3. YHWH (most often pronounced Yahweh) is the English transliteration of the Tetragrammaton, the principal Hebrew name of the God of the Bible. For a more thorough explanation concerning the use of the names of God, “The Third Commandment” may be read at www.missiontoisrael.org/3rdcom-pt1.php, or the book Thou shalt not take the name of Yahweh thy God in vain may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska, 69363, for a suggested $4 donation.*
4. Where the Tetragrammaton – the four Hebrew characters transliterated YHWH and representing the personal name of God – has been incorrectly rendered the LORD or GOD in Scripture, I have taken the liberty to correct this error by inserting YHWH where appropriate. For a more thorough explanation concerning the use of the sacred names of God, “The Third Commandment” may be read at www.missiontoisrael.org/3rdcom-pt1.php, or the book Thou shalt not take the name of Yahweh thy God in vain may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for a suggested $4 donation.*
5. James Strong, “Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary,” The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, s.v. “shaaqer” (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990) p. 121.
6. Francis Brown, et al., The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon, s.v. “shaaqer” (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1979) p. 1055.
7. Strong, “Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary,” The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, s.v. “shaaw,” p. 113.
8. Brown, et al., The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew-English Lexicon, s.v. “shaaw,” p. 996.
9. Rousas John Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law (The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1973) p. 111.
10. John Bouvier, Bouvier’s Law Dictionary: A Concise Encyclopedia of the Law, 3 vols., s.v. “Oath” (Kansas City, MO: Vernon Law Book Company, 1914) vol. 3, p. 2388.
11. Adam Clarke, Clarke’s Commentary, 6 vols. (New York, NY: Carlton & Phillips, 1853) vol. 1, p. 413.
12. “The Third Commandment” may be read at www.missiontoisrael.org/3rdcom-pt1.php, or the book Thou shalt not take the name of Yahweh thy God in vain may be ordered from Mission to Israel Ministries, PO Box 248, Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69363, for a suggested $4 donation.*
13. Mahatma Gandhi is reputed as saying, “An eye for eye makes the whole world blind,” when in fact, lex talionis ensures far fewer maimed or murdered people in society and more scrupulous witnesses in our courts.
*We are admonished in Matthew 10:8 “freely ye have received, freely give.” Although there is a suggested price for our books, we do not sell them. In keeping with 2 Corinthians 9:7, this ministry is supported by freewill offerings. If you cannot afford the suggested price, inform us of your situation, and we will be pleased to provide you with whatever you need for whatever you can send.
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