Proclamation
“And
thou shalt take no gift; for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the
words of the righteous.” Exodus 23:8
(KJV)
Explanation
These
are the words of God which were revealed to and written by Moses under the
influence of The Holy Spirit of God. After the Israelites had crossed the
wilderness and come to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God, they
camped near it. (Exodus 18:5 and 19:1) Moses went up into
the mountain of God and came back down with messages for
the people several times (Exodus 19:3-7, 19:8, 19:14, and 19:20-22) before
coming down with the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 20:1-18) The Lord God
also gave to Moses instructions and laws for the Israelites regarding justice
and mercy (Exodus 23:1-9)
Application
The
Holy Bible provides us with a set of instructions regarding how we ought to
treat one another. We are not to spread
false reports or help a guilty person by giving false testimony. If we are called upon to be a witness, we are
not to let our testimony show favoritism to one side or the other. (Exodus
23:1-3) We are to speak the truth, and
nothing but the truth. We should have
nothing to do with false charges against the innocent, and we should not accept
bribes to provide misleading testimony or false judgements. (Exodus
23:6-8) “Thou shalt not bear false
witness against thy neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16 and Matthew 19:18) Our actions and our words and our witness
should be above reproach. If our words
cannot be trusted then we are not trustworthy.
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