Exodus 23:1-9 R. Justice. Form and substance also separate this group from the Judgments and ally it with the Words of Yahweh in the Covenant Book. Circulating groundless reports (Exodus 23:1 a), conspiring with him that is in the wrong (cf. Exodus 2:13) to be a malicious witness (Exodus 23:1 b), siding with the strongest in action or witness-bearing (Exodus 23:2), and partiality in judgment (Exodus 23:3) are condemned. Read in Exodus 23:3, for poor, great: partiality for the poor needed no prohibition. The injunctions about a straying or fallen beast of an enemy (Exodus 23:4 f., render Exodus 23:5 as mg.) breathe a generous spirit: they are here out of place, and were perhaps a marginal illustration to Exodus 23:9. Justice must be administered fairly and strictly, and bribes must be rejected, and not Buffered to pervert the cause of the righteous (Exodus 23:8). In Exodus 23:7 b it is better to read with LXX and thou shalt not acquit the guilty. The alien, like the poor, is to have justice (Exodus 23:9 a, Exodus 23:9 b being a gloss). We see the true democratic ideal of law and justice emerging in this paragraph, and also the obstacles before it: the man with money, or a large family (cf. Psalms 127:3-5), or many friends had a tremendous advantage; he has not lost it all yet.
Exodus 23:1-9
1 Thou shalt not raisea a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speakb in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
3 Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.
4 If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again
5 If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.
6 Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
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,c and perverteth the words of the righteous.
9 Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heartd of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.