Bearing False Witness

Not all lies bear false witness, but not all lies need to bear false witness to harm others.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Have you ever heard that the ninth commandment covered all lies no matter how small? However, when I looked into the concept of “bearing false witness” in more depth, it would not make sense to say that this concept deals with all lies. The Hebrew word ed (עֵד) refers to a witness, usually in a court of law, while shaker (שָֽׁקֶר) refers to a deliberate lie spread with the intention to cause harm to someone else. From these two words, it can be inferred that the author likely intended to write “You shall not slander” rather than “You shall not lie at all”.

Bearing false witness in the sense of the ninth commandment requires someone who knows about a person, place, or thing and harmful motivations. This concept would apply to forms of defamation such as libel or slander as well as something as simple as circulating a rumor. However, the concept of lying extends well beyond these boundaries. For example, Rahab lied to protect the spies she hid on her roof. Although she knew where the spies were, she did not have intentions of harm. This beneficial lie, therefore, would not meet the criteria for bearing false witness.

With this in mind, bearing false witness also needs the lie to be about something that…