Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 17:23
A wicked [man] taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.
23. out of the bosom ] i.e. the fold of the garment in which it had been concealed; denoting the stealthy action either of the suitor who proffers, or more probably of the judge who receives the bribe. Comp. Pro 21:14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The words out of the bosom, from the fold of the garment, rather than from the bag or girdle in which money was usually carried, possibly point to the stealthiness with which the gift (or, bribe) is offered to the judge.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 23. A gift out of the bosom] Out of his purse; as in their bosoms, above their girdles, the Asiatics carry their purses. I have often observed this.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A wicked man, whether judge or witness.
Out of the bosom; in secret, as this phrase is expounded, Pro 21:14, being privily conveyed from the bosom of the giver into his own bosom.
To pervert the ways of judgment; to give or procure an unjust sentence.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. a gift . . . bosomMoneyand other valuables were borne in a fold of the garment, called thebosom.
to pervertthat is, bybribery.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
A wicked [man] taketh a gift out of the bosom,…. Of another, of a rich man, who takes it out from thence, and offers it to him as a bribe. This he takes in the most secret manner, that it might not be seen by others; though the Arabic version renders it, “he that receives a gift in his own bosom commits iniquity”; it is true of both the giver and the receiver; the one gives out of his bosom, and the other takes if from thence, and puts it into his own, and both are wicked. And the words are by some rendered, though it seems contrary to the accents, “a gift out of the bosom of the wicked he will take” z; the unjust judge, who is bribed with it:
to pervert the ways of judgment; to turn the course of justice, and hinder it from taking place; favouring a bad cause, and pronouncing a wrong sentence, which is wresting judgment.
z “munus de sinu impii accipiet”, Baynus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
23 Bribery from the bosom the godless receiveth,
To pervert the ways of justice.
Regarding , vid., Pro 17:8. The idea of this word, as well as the clause containing the purpose, demand for the a high judicial or administrative post. The bosom, ( ), is, as Pro 16:23, that of the clothing. From the bosom, , where it was kept concealed, the gift is brought forth, and is given into the bosom, , Pro 21:14, of him whose favour is to be obtained – an event taking place under four eyes, which purposely withdraws itself from the observation of any third person. Since this is done to give to the course of justice a direction contrary to rectitude, the giver of the bribe has not right on his side; and, under the circumstances, the favourable decision which he purchases may be at once the unrighteous sentence of a , accusing him, or accused by him, Pro 18:5.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
23 A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.
See here, 1. What an evil thing bribery is: He is a wicked man that will take a gift to engage him to give a false testimony, verdict, or judgment; when he does it he is ashamed of it, for he takes it, with all the secresy imaginable, out of the bosom where he knows it is laid ready for him; it is industriously concealed, and so slyly that, if he could, he would hide it from his own conscience. A gift is taken out of the bosom of a wicked man (so some read it); for he is a bad man that gives bribes, as well as he that takes them. 2. What a powerful thing it is. It is of such force that it perverts the ways of judgment. The course of justice is not only obstructed, but turned into injustice; and the greatest wrongs are done under colour of doing right.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Bribery An Abomination
Verse 23 emphasizes that it is wicked to accept a gift as a bribe to pervert justice. Verse 15 declares such is an abomination to the LORD, Vs 15; Exo 23:8; Mic 3:11-12; Mic 7:3-4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Pro. 17:23. A gift, i.e., a bribe, judgment. i.e., justice.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 17:23
BRIBERY
I. Its nature. An act of bribery may be committed without any monetary transaction taking place. It is not necessary that gold should pass from hand to hand to make a man guilty of bribery. It is not even necessary that there should be a distinct promise of any good either in the present or the future. A man bribes another if he merely implies by word or deed that he can make him suffer for speaking what he knows is the truth, and for acting according to the dictates of his conscience. And a man is guilty of accepting a bribe it he abstains from such speech or action from a fear of loss or from a hope of gain, although no distinct promise or threatening has been made by those whom he wishes to propitiate.
II. Its cause. Want of integrity on the part of both the man who offers the bribe and him who accepts it. There are some men in the world to whom even a man who held their lives in his hand would not think of offering a bribe of any kind. He knows it would be as useless to attempt to make such men swerve from the path of right as to try to alter the course of the earth round the sun. There are many, we know, in this country, notwithstanding its many timeservers and place-hunters who, like Samuel of old can say, Whose ox have I taken, or whose ass have I taken, or whom have I defrauded, whom have I oppressed, or of whose hands have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? (1Sa. 12:3). Only one thing is needed to destroy briberyin its most impalpable and shadowy forms as well as in its more glaring and shameless manifestationsand that is universal honesty of character. When every man loves truth and right more than he loves material gain then bribery will cease, but not before. Men may be restrained by shame from being guilty of it openly, and will call it by some less obnoxious name, but the spirit of bribery will be at work so long as there are men upon the earth who love gain more than godliness.
III. The universal testimony of the human conscience against it. The wicked man taketh a gift out of his bosomit is a transaction of secrecythere is a shame connected with the act which proves that conscience condemns it. The man who offers the bribe does not do it openly, which shows that he is fully conscious that he is transgressing the law of right; and the man who accepts it does not boast openly that he has done so for the same reason. Bribery is a sin which is repeatedly denounced by God (Isa. 1:23-24; Eze. 22:13), but men who have not possessed the light of revelation have denounced bribery as a crime.
IV. Its effect. It perverts the ways of justice. Its effect is to bring about that abomination mentioned in Pro. 17:15the justification of the wicked and the condemnation of the just. (See Homiletics on that verse.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
An honest man would rather lose his cause, however just, than gain it by such a base thing as a bribe. It must have been a great bondage for Paul to have been confined in a prison, when he loved the pulpit so well, had not his will been sunk in the will of God; yet he would not offer the least bribe to his covetous judge, who detained him in prison, expecting that money would be offered for his freedom (Act. 24:6).Lawson.
Is not the child of God often pressed with this temptation? Does the influence of a gift, the sense of obligation, never repress the bold consistency of godliness? Does no bias of friendship, no plausible advantage, entice into a crooked path.Bridges.
There is a gift of thankfulness, there is a gift of reconciliation, there is a gift of goodwill, all these are lawful. Besides these there is a gift of corruption; this is unlawful.Muffet.
Bribery is an officious fellow, and a special bidder to the fatal banquet. (Pro. 9:17-18.) He invites both forward and froward: the forward and yielding by promises of good cheer, secunda dies, that they shall have a fair day of it; the backward, honest man, by terrors and menaces that his cause shall else go westward (indeed, it goes to Westminster!). Yea, with pretence of commiseration and pity, as if the conscience of their right did animate him to their cause. Thus with a show of sanctimony they get a saints money; but indeed, argentum fcundum, argumentum facundum,there is no persuasion more pathetical than the purses. Bribery stands at the stairfoot in the robes of an officer, and helps up injury to the place of audience; thus Judass bag is drawn with two strings, made of silk and silver, favour and reward. All officers belong not to one court; their conditions alter with their places. There are some that seem so good that they lament the vices, whereupon they yet inflict but pecuniary punishments. Some of them are like the Israelites, with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other, with the motto of that old emblem, In utrumque paratus; as the one daubs up justice, so the other cuts breaches of division. They mourn for truth and equity, as the sons of Jacob for Joseph, when themselves sold it; they exclaim against penal transgressions. If the party be innocent, let his cause be sentenced for his innocences sake; if guilty, let not gold buy out his punishment. If the cause be doubtful, the judge shall see it worse when he hath blinded his eyes with bribes. But the will of the giver doth transfer right of the gift to the receiver. No; for it is not a voluntary will. But as a man is willing to give his purse to the thief rather than venture life or limb, so the poor man gives his bribes rather than hazard his cause. Thou sayest the thief has no right to the purse so given; God saith, Nor thou to the bribe Far be from our souls this wickedness, that the ear which should be open to complaints is thus stopped with the ear-wax of partiality. Alas! poor Truth, that she must now be put to the charges of a golden ear-pick, or she cannot be heard.T. Adams.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(23) A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom.Or rather, receives it. From the bosom signifies the folds of the dress in which the bribe was concealed, ready to be slipped into the judges hand whose favour was to be bought.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. A gift A bribe.
Out of the bosom The Asiatics carry their purse in their bosom above their girdle.
To pervert the ways of judgment To deflect, turn aside, or influence, the course of a judicial decision. The language implies that this is done secretly. Compare Pro 21:14; Pro 18:15.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 23. A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 17:23 A wicked [man] taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.
Ver. 23. A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom, ] i.e., Closely and covertly, as if neither God nor man should see him. The words may be also read thus: ‘He,’ – that is, the corrupt judge – ‘taketh a gift out of the wicked man’s bosom’; there being never a better of them, as Solomon intimateth by this ambiguous expression. Rain is good, and ground is good, yet ex eorum coniunctione fit lutum. a So giving is kind, and taking is courteous; yet the mixing of them makes the smooth paths of justice foul and uneven.
a Stapleton.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
gift = bribe. Compare Pro 17:8. This is the act of the briber, not the bribed.
bosom = lap. See note on Pro 16:33.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 17:23
Pro 17:23
“A wicked man receiveth a bribe out of the bosom, To pervert the ways of justice.”
Here again we have an identification of bribery with wickedness and the perversion of justice. The bribery being “out of the bosom” is a reference to its being offered and received secretly.
Pro 17:23. Clarke: Above their girdles the Asiatics carry their purses. A wicked (not a righteous) man receives a bribe and perverts justice as a result. This was forbidden in Exo 23:8. If officials are not to receive them, we should not give them in our desire to get some kind of preferential treatment.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Pro 17:8, Pro 18:16, Pro 21:14, Exo 23:8, Deu 16:19, 1Sa 8:3, 1Sa 12:3, Isa 1:23, Eze 22:12, Mic 7:3, Mar 14:10, Mar 14:11
Reciprocal: Deu 27:19 – General Ecc 7:7 – a gift Isa 5:23 – for reward Act 24:26 – hoped
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 17:23. A wicked man Whether judge or witness; taketh a gift out of the bosom In secret, as this phrase is expounded Pro 21:14, being privily conveyed from the bosom of the giver into his own bosom; to pervert the ways of judgment To give or procure an unjust sentence. Bishop Patricks paraphrase of the verse is, No man would willingly be known to be so wicked as to be bribed to do injustice, but there are too many that will suffer themselves to be secretly corrupted by presents, to give counsel or judgment contrary to the course of law and equity.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
17:23 A wicked [man] taketh a bribe out of the {l} bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.
(l) That is, secretly and out of the bosom of the rich.