the Fourth Week of Advent
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Encyclopedias
Perjury
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or is the willful taking of an oath in order to tell or to confirm anything known to be false. This is evidently a very heinous crime, as it is treating the Almighty with irreverence; denying, or at least disregarding his omniscience; profaning his name, and violating truth. By the Mosaic law, perjury was strictly prohibited as a most heinous sin against God; to whom the punishment of it is left, and who in Exodus 20:7 expressly promises that he will inflict it, without ordaining the infliction of any punishment by the temporal magistrate; except only in the case of a man falsely charging another with a crime, in which case the false witness was liable to the same punishment which would have been inflicted on the accused party if he had been found guilty; but this not, indeed, as the punishment of perjury against God, but of false testimony. Perjury, therefore (שְׁבֻעִת שֶׁקֶר, "false swearing"), was prohibited by the Hebrews in a religious point of view (Exodus 20:7; Leviticus 19:12; comp. Matthew 7:33; Zechariah 8:17), but in the law only two sorts of perjury are noticed: 1, false testimony in judicial proceedings; 2, a false assurance, confirmed by an oath, that one has not received or found a piece of property in question (Leviticus 5:1; Leviticus 6:2 sq.; Proverbs 29:24). A sin-offering is provided for both (comp. Plaut. Rud. 5:3, 21), and in the latter case satisfaction for the injury, with increase (comp. Hebenstreit, De sacrifcio a perjuro ojn- endo, Lips. 1739). Among the ancient Romans, also, the punishment of perjury was left with the gods (Cic. Leg. 2:9), and no official public notice was taken of the perjured man, save by the censor (Genesis 7:18; comp. Cic. Off. 3:31; Rein, Rom. Criminalrecht, p. 795 sq.). On the contrary, the Talmud not only notices the subject at greater length, but ordains more severe penalties for perjury: scourging and full reparation when any serious injury has been done (Mishna, Maccoth, 2:3 sq.; Shebuoth, 8:3). It also determines in special cases the value of the sin-offering to be presented (Shebuoth, 4:2; v. 1; comp. further Zenge and Stemler, De jurejur. sec. discipl. Hebr. p. 57 sq.). (See OATH).
These files are public domain.
McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Perjury'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/p/perjury.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
