Maintaining Justice

Application of the ninth commandment—“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Ex. 20:16)—is the focus of the laws in today’s passage. The Book of the Covenant indicates that false witness involves not only saying something untrue ourselves but also supporting other false witnesses in repeating the reports that they themselves originate (Ex. 23:1).

Exodus 23:2 emphasizes our need to tell the truth even when doing so is unpopular. We often tend to believe that when push comes to shove, we will do what is right and speak only the truth when the majority of people do otherwise. In reality, however, human beings are social creatures, and we have an inclination not to stand out from the crowd and to go along with others in order to get along with them. This can be a good impulse, but it also means that we are not as resistant to peer pressure as we think we are. Throughout history, we can find many examples of people who joined with the majority to say something false or to deny the truth of a known fact. Verse 2 reminds us that we do not escape sin simply because we join with the many in bearing false witness. “They made me do it” is never an excuse for sin.

Verses 2–3 and 6–9 have a special focus on legal testimony. God’s people must “keep far from a false charge” and “take no bribe” (vv. 7–8). These actions undermine justice. The point is that judgments should be impartial, based only on the facts of the case at hand. Whenever this is not done, a great travesty has occurred. Only the wicked man accepts a bribe and allows justice to be bought and sold for a price rather than being established on the truth (see Prov. 17:23). Because God’s law is grounded in the truth, it recognizes the corruption of human nature and takes steps to curb its effects. Just as human beings have a tendency to go with the crowd, they are also prone to forgo justice for the sake of material gain. Thus, they are apt to look more favorably on those who can afford the best legal defense than on the poor who have fewer resources. Thus, Exodus 23:6 includes a special exhortation not to pervert justice due to the poor. At the same time, it recognizes that some people may defer to the poor without question, perhaps from a mistaken understanding of compassion. Thus, one may not be partial to the poor either. Again, judgments must be made based on the facts of the case, and rich and poor alike are to receive equal justice under the law.