“If he’s guilty of even half of what he’s been accused of, people should run for their lives from him.” Ever heard that said of someone? Ever said it yourself? Here’s a much more biblical version, “If he’s guilty of only half of what he’s been accused of, people should run for their lives from his accusers.” In Deuteronomy 19 God establishes a legal principle that ought to resonate with us all. There He says,
“If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, 17 then both men in the controversy shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. 18 And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, 19 then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you” (16-19).
If that’s not sufficiently clear, let me rephrase. If a man commits perjury the penalty isn’t a generic penalty for perjury, but the penalty that the accused is facing. Falsely accuse a man for jaywalking, and you’ll get a ticket. Falsely accuse a man of murder and you’ll get the chair. What God’s law does here is teach us how destructive it is for us to testify about that which we know not of. It teaches us in turn just how easy it is to falsely accuse someone when there is no threat of reprisal for lying, or for jumping to a conclusion.
We, of course, think we know better than God. The thought of giving Tawana Brawley, who made headlines thirty years ago falsely accusing six men of rape, 10 to 15 seems barbaric to us. Putting Jussie Smollett behind bars seems like overkill. That, however, is because we refuse to see the destruction wrought by false allegations. God, however, sees all. His justice is just, while the “mercy” of our own culture is cruel.
What though do we do with those who are careful enough not to falsely testify against someone, but reckless enough to believe false testimony? What do we do with those who would utter that first sentence above, “If he’s guilty of even half of what he’s accused of…”? We try to slow them down. We warn them, and we refuse to lend our ears to them. Because the principle in Deuteronomy 19 comes from God, it stands even in a culture that won’t see it. That is, God will see that justice comes to those who testify falsely. No one is anonymous to Him. When we remind our friends, as they seek to share with us of some piece of juicy gossip, that God hears every tale we bear, we are not only seeking to encourage them not to rush to judgment against those they accuse, but we seek to encourage them not to rush headlong into their own judgment at the hands of God. We warn them.