Don’t Sway Justice with Pity

Deuteronomy 19:1-21
    1 “When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land the LORD your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, 2 you shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess. 3 You shall prepare roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, that any manslayer may flee there. 4 “And this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, not having hated him in time past— 5 as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live; 6 lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past. 7 Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.’
    8 “Now if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers, 9 and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and to walk always in His ways, then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three, 10 lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you.
    11 “But if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 13 Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.  14 “You shall not remove your neighbor's landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
    15 “One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. 16 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. 20 And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. 21 Your eye shall not pity: life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

The Law gave unforgiving principles to justice; pity was not to overtake fair and just punishment with emotional sway or partiality.  There were sanctuary cities for people to take refuge until their case was tried and the truth was determined.  They were not permanent shelter from justice for their crimes, but places to be safe until a verdict was determined.  Nothing like the present time.  When guilt was determined, the offender was immediately turned over for due punishment, and pity was not to paint over the offense with emotion or partiality. Equity in the punishment was to be determined and meted out.  The same held for sin against another, bit with two or three witnesses to the offense; one person’s word would be seen as that emotional sway without the consistency of fair punishment, so a balance had to be found from more than one perspective.  That is still the basis of most of our criminal laws today.  The phrase is repeated for not being swayed with pity, but exacting justice with punishment that fit the crime. What is less certain is if this was a literal limb for limb price, or the monetary equivalent.  Either way, the punishment was to fit the crime, and damages were given to compensate the level of loss, such as the inability to see which would affect a craftsman or the loss of a foot or hand would limit the farmer to provide a living or food on the table.  This is how the Jewish writings had interpreted the eye for an eye commands given here.  The exception of course would be that of capital punishment in the life required for shedding blood to death.  However, we see that Christ’s blood was shed as a sacrificial payment for our sin, and that did not directly demand that those putting Him to death should be likewise punished.  They were already under judgement requiring their blood for their sin, just as everyone else inheriting sin from the first Adam, including you and me.  That sentence was carried out on Jesus for us in our place so we no longer are required to give our blood in death for our sin; He died as us instead.  He showed pity and requires us to go and do likewise, as to turn the other cheek or let another keep our possessions when taken (Luke 6:29).  When tempted to judge others harshly, we do well to remember that He is our eternal refuge and our justification through His atoning death for our justly due punishment of life, eye, tooth, hand, and foot.  We don’t sway justice with pity, but accept the pity and justice paid for us in Christ.