Deuteronomy 19 verse 21

Deuteronomy 19 verse 21

21 Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

This verse gives instructions on dealing with false witnesses in the Old Testament. These individuals wanted to hurt their brothers by making false accusations, so God told Moses to punish the false witnesses to the same degree and in the same way that they wanted to hurt their fellow Israelites.
This verse illustrates the difference between the principle of God and the leading of God. Some of the instructions in the Bible are universal principles of God. For example, the Ten Commandments and other Old Testament laws reveal eternal principles: do not kill, do not murder, do not bear false witness, etc. However, some of God’s words through the prophets are not universal principles. Instead, they are His leading to people in different times, places, and situations. Differentiating between God’s principles and leading will help us understand the Word of God better. On the one hand, we should not stray from the principles of God. On the other hand, we should not become too rigid in adhering to the leading of God that applies to past situations. Unfortunately, we often make both mistakes. Sometimes we abandon the principles of God and fall into sin. Other times we are too rigid in following the leading of God, and we fall into legalism. Even when following a universal principle of God, we still need to discern the leading of God in each unique situation. When the Pharisees legalized God’s laws and lost the essence of his instructions, which is to love God and man, they received a rebuke from Jesus. Also, when they tried to test Jesus’ adherence to the law by asking Him if they should stone the woman caught in adultery, Jesus still used wisdom and nuance to deal with this situation. The religious leaders wanted to follow the law, which said to stone the woman. But they had lost the essence of law, which says that mercy triumphs over judgement (James 2:13).