Proverbs 24

Proverbs 24:28 Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips.
29 Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work.

The Bible forbids us to give false testimony against our neighbor. This law is laid out as part of the ten commandments.

Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steal.
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

Matthew 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
9 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Mark 10:19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.

Romans 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Exodus 23:1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

Exodus 23:7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.

Deuteronomy 19:14 Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.
15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
16 If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong;
17 Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days;
18 And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother;
19 Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.
20 And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you.
21 And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

This means that we can not make up stories (lie) to get our neighbors into trouble: Not initially upon first complain, and not in a court room later either. You may wonder why someone would do something that (bringing a false accusation), but there are plenty of reasons wicked people do such things. The surrounding verses give us some ideas as to possible motivation: Jealousy, adultery, anger, pettiness, and covetous (which is desiring something that belongs to your neighbor) are all possible motivations.

The ten commandments which still appear in and on many of our court houses and government buildings specifically tell us that false testimony is a sin. The removal of those commandments from schools and public buildings including court houses is largely responsible for frivolous law suits (which Republican politicians falsely claim they care about), false rape accusations (which male rights activists falsely claim they care about), and overzealous prosecutors who trump up or falsify charges against citizens (which libertarians falsely claim they care about). We know that all these groups are falsely claiming to care about these issues or else they would advocate not only the return of the ten commandments to our court houses, our schools, and promote the teaching of them, their exposition, and their memorization in school, but the also do same for the Bible as a whole and advocate basing all of our laws upon God’s word, which they do not. They do everything they can in fact to run from the ten commandments and God’s word, especially when it affects their pocket book or their own personal pet sin.

However since we are speaking about motivations we should continue our study noting that in the proverbs we have one motivation of false testimony against a neighbor dealt with specifically. The motivation is revenge.

Disputes, personal dislikes, adultery, theft, money lending and debts owed, work unpaid for, history, children’s arguments and bullying, etc. can all be possible initiators, but in the end revenge is the most common motivation for false accusations.

In another proverb study (on Proverbs 19 with emphasis on that eleventh verse of that chapter) I wrote how letting things go when we are able to is the best and how that is the most righteous path and that revenge and anger are best deferred rather than acted upon.

As you may note the Bible uses a legal term “cause” which is necessary under our law for a police officer to obtain a warrant to enter a person’s property or to conduct a search. Without probable cause (such as a witness’s testimony) an investigation can’t even begin for there is nothing to investigate. So then neighbors who want to do each other harm, but don’t want to get their own hands dirty, as the saying goes, will often make false claims to stir up trouble instead using the police as tools of revenge. The police then are obliged to investigate and are distracted from serious issues being drawn into something quite domestic which they are only allowed to enter into if a crime has taken place or else only simple civil cases which they are not allowed to interfere with at all.

Because the police are charged with a responsibility to save lives and arrest criminals that are endangering the public each false accusation puts lives at risk through distraction and misdirection of state resources including the officer himself. Furthermore a police officer who over-reacts or an over-reacting citizen unwelcoming of police interference, or else a trespass, or else a perceived trespass, on private property by a police officer, can turn a nuisance complaint into a deadly situation.

For those reasons our legal system, being formed in a time when people actually cared about God’s law partly follows the example set by the ten commandments and makes a false accusation a crime in itself. This is generally called “filing a false report” (or called something similar) and our system sets penalties for the crime which vary. The penalty, which can include jail time, discourages false reports trying to keep these sorts of situations to a minimum.

Exodus 23:1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

The Bible however gives an even more stringent penalty for a false accusation: For if a person gives false testimony and it is discovered then the person who made the accusation is punished with the same punishment that could have befallen the accused if he were convicted.

Exodus 23:7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.
8 And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.

Deuteronomy 5:20 Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Deuteronomy 19:15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
16 If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong;
17 Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days;
18 And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother;
19 Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.
20 And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you.
21 And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

You may wonder why the punishment for such a crime which may appear on its face to be merely civil is so harsh in the Bible.

Besides the reasons already mentioned if we look at the book of Mark we see that it expounds on the idea that bearing false witness is actually a form of fraud. The act of fraud is called “defrauding” and it is a crime against another person. That turns a civil matter into a criminal one in any case.

There is not just a loss of money, there is damage to the reputation of the individual (called defamation, slander, and libel depending on the form) as it put him in jeopardy of his money and life during the arrest and trial, and because it drew the state into the matter there is a loss to the state so they now also have an interest in pursuing criminal charges.

Surely the Biblical law is more just than our secular law in handling these sorts of cases, but at least we have not abandoned the idea that criminal prosecution is warranted altogether as it has been suggested by some feminists regarding false accusations of rape where they say a prosecution of the false accuser might discourage reporting of actual crimes.

We know that false accusations of rape are commonplace (Genesis chapter 39) and need remedy for that and the falsely accused need avenues of redress and so they do including civil suit for defamation and slander and libel per se. But we seldom prosecute for false allegations and that needs to change.

So then our study helps to understand that the Bible is a tome of not only wisdom for individuals, but also a standard for jurisprudence in good civil and criminal law, giving guidance to the secular world as to how their laws should be formed, which all nations follow to some degree, and which regarding individuals, instructs Christians on good behaviour towards their fellow man and their neighbors, whom they are instructed to treat as themselves (loving your neighbor as yourself – essentially doing unto others as you would have them do unto you – or as Jesus said it in Luke 6:31 “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.”), so that the Christian can be the model of a good and upright free man who wishes only the guilty to be in bonds and the righteous to remain free.

So the Bible is and should be rightly called “the cornerstone of civilization and the rule of law”, and the charity displayed in a society which is typified by self-government which sets limits to the power and scope of civil government so as not to infringe upon the rights of the innocent as it instructs us to never use the strength of government to bludgeon people for personal gain and self interest. That is your lesson today.

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Proverbs Chapter 24 Full Text

Proverbs 24:1 Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them.
2 For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief.
3 Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established:
4 And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
5 A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.
6 For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.
7 Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate.
8 He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person.
9 The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men.
10 If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
11 If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain;
12 If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?
13 My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:
14 So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.
15 Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place:
16 For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
17 Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:
18 Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.
19 Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked;
20 For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out.
21 My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change:
22 For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both?
23 These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.
24 He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him:
25 But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.
26 Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer.
27 Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.
28 Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips.
29 Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work.
30 I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
31 And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
32 Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.
33 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
34 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.