Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 23:8
And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
8. gift (twice)] bribe, as the same word is rendered in EVV. of 1Sa 8:3, Isa 33:15, and in RV. of Eze 22:12. It is true, ‘gift’ had this sense in Old English; but the Heb. word means distinctively a ‘bribe,’ and there are places in which the sense of ‘gift’ is not clear. The same word ( shad) is also sometimes rendered ‘reward.’ See for allusions to the practice of taking bribes, Isa 1:23; Isa 5:23, Mic 3:11, Eze 22:12, Psa 26:10, Pro 17:8; Pro 17:23; it is what the righteous man never does, Psa 15:5, Isa 33:15, nor Jehovah, Deu 10:17; it is forbidden, as here, in Deu 16:19, and cursed, if its object be to ‘slay an innocent person,’ in Deu 27:25. The prevalence of bribery in the East is notorious; see a singular case, in which the chief ai of Cairo was implicated, in Lane, Mod. Egyptians, i. 145 ff.
for a bribe blindeth the open-eyed, and subverteth the cause (RVm.) of the righteous ] The whole verse is repeated verbatim in Deu 16:19, except that ‘eyes of the wise’ is substituted for ‘open-eyed.’ For ‘words,’ i.e. statements, arguments, pleas, which in a forensic connexion are tantamount in the aggregate to a ‘case’ or ‘cause,’ see Exo 24:14, with the note, Jos 20:4 (lit. ‘his words ’), 2Sa 15:3 (lit. ‘thy words ’). For ‘subverteth,’ cf. Pro 19:3; Pro 22:12 (‘overthroweth’).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 8. Thou shalt take no gift] A strong ordinance against selling justice, which has been the disgrace and ruin of every state where it has been practised. In the excellent charter of British liberties called Magna Charta, there is one article expressly on this head: Nulli vendemus, nulli negabimus aut differemus, rectum aut justitiam. – Art. xxxiii. “To none will we sell, to none will we deny or defer, right or justice.” This was the more necessary in those early and corrupt times, as he who had most money, and gave the largest presents (called then oblata) to the king or queen, was sure to gain his cause in the king’s court; whether he had right and justice on his side or not.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thou shalt take no gift, namely, from such whose causes are depending before thee; because if thou dost not sell justice for it, yet thou wilt both seem to do so, and be tempted to do so. Compare Deu 16:19; 1Sa 8:3; Pro 17:8,23; 19:6.
The wise, or, the open-eyed, and quick-sighted, who in this case cannot see, partly because they will not see, and partly because interest and affection do exceedingly corrupt the judgment, and render it very partial.
The words of the righteous, i.e. the judgment of the righteous judges, i.e. of them who before were such, and are inclined to be so, and probably would be so, were they not tempted with bribes; or of them who by their place should be righteous. So they are called righteous, to admonish them of their duty to be so, and to aggravate their sin when they are unrighteous, and consequently to aggravate the mischief of gifts, which make those unrighteous whose office obligeth them to be righteous. Or thus,
the matters or causes of the righteous, which may be understood not of the judges, but of the parties pleading, whose righteous cause is by this means perverted by the judge, and a wrong sentence given.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And thou shalt take no gift,…. Of the persons whose cause is to be tried in a court of judicature before judges; neither of those on the one side nor on the other, neither before the trial nor after, neither by words, by a promise, nor by facts, by actually receiving money; and not even to judge truly, as Jarchi observes, neither to clear the innocent nor to condemn the guilty: a gift was not to be taken on any consideration whatever:
for the gift blindeth the wise; or the “seeing” a; the open ones, who used to have both their eyes and their ears open, and attentive to the cause before them; and yet a gift so blinds them, by casting such a mist before them, that they are inattentive to the true merits of the cause, and their affections and judgments are to be carried away in favour of those that have bribed them, as to pass a wrong sentence:
and perverteth the words of the righteous; either the sentences of righteous judges, as they ought to be, but a gift perverts their judgment, and they give a wrong decree; or the causes of the righteous that are brought before those are perverted by giving the cause to their adversaries, who are wicked men.
a “videntes”, Pagninus, Vatablus, Cartwright; “apertos”, Montanus, Drusius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Verse 8:
“Gift” is literally “bribe.” This law prohibits the acceptance of a bribe, and rendering judgment accordingly. This practice defeats the purpose of justice. Among many ancient societies, it was a capital crime. It was one of the charges against the wicked sons of Eli, 1Sa 8:3.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Exo 23:8
And thou shalt take no gift. This kind of theft is the worst of all, when judges are corrupted either by bribes, or by affection, and thus ruin the fortunes which they ought to protect: for, since their tribunal is as it were sacred asylum, to which those who are unjustly oppressed may fly, nothing can be more unseemly than that they should there fall amongst robbers. (129) Judges are appointed to repress all wrongs and offenses; if therefore they show favor to the wicked, they are harborers of thieves; than which there is no more deadly pest. And besides, since their authority excludes every other remedy, they are themselves like rob-hers with arms in their hands. The greater, therefore, their power of injury is, and the greater the damage committed by their unjust sentences, the more diligently are they to be warned to beware of iniquity; and thus it was necessary to keep them in the path of duty by special instructions, lest they should conceal and encourage thievery by their patronage. Now, as avarice is the root of all evils, when it thus lays hold of the minds of judges, no integrity can continue to exist. But, since all utterly condemn this vice, even though they may be entirely under its influence, God speaks of it the more plainly and popularly, enjoining that judges should withhold their hands from every gift: for there is no more fatal poison for the extinction of all uprightness, than when a judge suffers himself to be cajoled by gifts. Let those who accept gifts allege as much as they please that they still maintain their integrity, the fact itself clearly shows that they are venal, and seek their own pecuniary advantage when they are thus attracted by gain. Formerly it was enough to render judges infamous that they were called nummarii, (moneyers.) (130) But it is superfluous to treat any further of this matter, since God cuts off all handles for subterfuge in a single sentence: “for gifts (He says) blind the eyes of him that seeth, and pervert the judgment of the righteous.” If, then, we acquiesce in His decision, there is no light of intelligence so bright but that gifts extinguish it, nor any probity so great but that they undermine it; in fact, gifts infect a sound mind before they soil the hand; I mean those which a person receives in reference to the judgment of a cause; for there is no question here as to those gifts of mutual kindness which men reciprocate with each other. Thus, in the passage from Deu 16:0, before God speaks of gifts, He forbids that justice should be wrested., or men’s persons respected: whence we gather, that only those snares are condemned which are set to curry favor. It must be observed on the passage from Leviticus, that to judge in righteousness is contrasted with respecting the person: and consequently, as soon as the judge turns away his eyes ever so little from the cause itself, he forgets equity. Moreover, to wrest judgment is equivalent to doing iniquity in judgment; but since injustice is not always openly manifested, but rather disguised by various artifices, after God in Leviticus has condemned corrupt and unjust judgments, He uses this word to wrest ( inclinandi), in Deuteronomy, in order to dissipate all vain pretexts.
(129) “Il n’y a rien plus enorme, que d’en faire une caverne de brigans;” there is nothing more enormous than to make a den of robbers of it. — Fr.
(130) Fr. “Et de faict, ce titre la suffit entre les payens pour diffamer les juges, de les appeler argentiers; ” and, in fact, this title sufficed among the heathen to bring their judges into disrepute, to call them argentiers. See Cic. Ep. in Att. 1:16, “Insectandis vero, exagitandisque nummariis judicibus.” Item, Verr. 5:57, et pro Cluent., 36.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) Thou shalt take no gifti.e., no bribe. Corruption has been always rife in the East, and the pure administration of justice is almost unknown there. Signal punishments by wise rulers have sometimes checked the inveterate evil (Herod. v. 25). But it recurs again and againNaturam expellas furca, tarnen usque recurret. According to Josephus (contr. Ap. ii. 27), the Jewish law punished with death the judge who took a bribe. But Hebrew judges seem practically to have been no better than Oriental judges generally. (See 1Sa. 8:3; Psa. 26:10; Pro. 17:23; Isa. 1:23; Isa. 5:23; Mic. 3:9-11, &c.) The corrupt Administration of justice was one of the crying evils which provoked Gods judgments against His people, and led, in the first instance, to the Babylonian captivity, and afterwards to the Roman conquest.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Take no gift That is, as a bribe . The marginal references show how repeatedly this sin is condemned in the Scriptures .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Exo 23:8. A gift blindeth the wise See Ecc 7:7. The margin of our Bibles renders, very properly, the Hebrew word, translated the wise in the text, the seeing. Houbigant, from the Samaritan and others, adds the word eyes; a gift blindeth the open, or seeing eyes. The law of the twelve tables made the transgressors in this instance guilty of death; “the judge, who shall be convicted of receiving money in any cause, shall be punished with death.”
REFLECTIONS.Observe here, 1. False accusation is forbidden: not only by perjury, but, in the secondary sense, by every scandal propagated in common conversation. Note; To speak evil of any man behind his back, or to hear it without vindicating the injured and the absent, is to be guilty of a great act of injustice, as well as uncharitableness. 2. Every judge must act from conscience, and not be influenced by any consideration of the might or multitude of those who may be against him. It is generally bad following the multitude: they who go with the crowd infallibly perish. 3. No pity for a poor man must prevent the due execution of justice against him. 4. Kindness must be shewn to enemies, in helping their beast when fallen, or bringing it back, if gone astray. Note; To love, and be kind to those who hate us, is no new commandment. 5. The poor must have justice done them. It is bad enough to be poor, they ought not to be oppressed too. 6. All approach to injustice must be guarded against. They who would keep from evil must abstain from the appearance of it. 7. No bribe must be taken; justice must be administered freely as well as impartially. 8. The stranger must not be oppressed: this is enforced upon them, from having experienced themselves in Egypt the disadvantages which strangers labour under. Similarity of distresses should teach us compassion.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Exo 23:8 And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
Ver. 8. And thou shalt take no gift. ] Rain is good, and ground is good; yet Ex eorum coniunctione fit lutum, saith Stapleton. So giving is kind, and taking is courteous, yet the mixing of them makes the smooth paths of justice foul and uneven.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
blindeth . . . perverteth: i.e. causeth these acts, or sins. Figure of speech Metonymy (of Effect), App-6.
wise. Hebrew seeing the most clear-sighted.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
thou shalt take: Deu 16:19, 1Sa 8:3, 1Sa 12:3, Psa 26:10, Pro 15:27, Pro 17:8, Pro 17:23, Pro 19:4, Ecc 7:7, Isa 1:13, Isa 5:23, Eze 22:12, Hos 4:18, Amo 5:12, Mic 7:3
the wise: Heb. the seeing
Reciprocal: Exo 18:21 – hating Lev 19:15 – General Deu 1:16 – Hear Deu 27:19 – General Deu 27:25 – General 2Sa 16:4 – Behold 2Ch 19:7 – taking of gifts Psa 15:5 – nor taketh Pro 28:21 – respect Isa 1:23 – every Act 24:26 – hoped 1Ti 6:10 – the love
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 23:8. Thou shalt take no gift From those whose causes are depending before thee; because, if thou dost not sell justice for it, thou wilt both seem and be tempted to do so. The gift blindeth the wise Bribes and interest cast a mist before the eyes, and bias the judgment and affections even of those who are otherwise wise and discerning. Besides, a habit of taking bribes will, in time, quite extinguish the light of reason, and destroy the sense of right and wrong. See Ecc 7:7. And perverteth the words of the righteous The words or sentence of those who would otherwise be righteous: or perverteth the cause of the righteous, and all he can say in his own defence, and and procures a wrong sentence to be given against him.