John Calvin Commentary Exodus 23
John Calvin Commentary
Exodus 23
John Calvin Commentary
Exodus 23
"Thou shalt not take up a false report: put not thy hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness." — Exodus 23:1 (ASV)
You shall not receive (margin) a false report. It might also be translated, You shall not raise, or stir up. And, if this is preferred, God forbids us to invent calumnies. But, if we read, You shall not receive, He will go further: that is, that no one should cherish or confirm another's lie by supporting it.
For it has been stated that such sin may be committed in two ways: either when the wicked invent false accusations, or when other overly credulous persons eagerly associate themselves with them. Thus, either meaning would be very applicable: that the original authors who raise a false report are condemned, or those who further their wickedness and, as it were, give it their endorsement.
But, since it immediately follows, do not put your hand with them, I willingly embrace the version, You shall not receive, so that the two clauses may combine better.
Indeed, Moses uses this word with great propriety, for a lie would soon come to nothing from its own emptiness and fall to the ground if it were not taken up and supported by the unrighteous consent of others.
God, therefore, recalls His people from this wicked conspiracy,167 lest by their assistance they should spread false accusations abroad. He calls those false witnesses who slander their neighbors by lending their hand to the ungodly, because there is little difference between raising a calumny and perpetuating it.
If it is thought preferable to restrict the second verse to judges, it would be a supplement to the Sixth Commandment as well as the Eighth; namely, that no one should willingly give way to the unjust opinions of others, which might affect either the livelihood or the life of an innocent person. But, since the error of those who are too credulous is reproved by it, from which it arises that falsehood prevails and calumniators obscure what is clear, it finds a fit place here.168
167 “De s’accoupler avecques les malins et les menteurs pour diffamer le prochain;” of associating themselves with the malicious and with liars to defame their neighbor. — Fr..
168 “Ceste sentence doit estre comprinse aussi bien sous les faux tesmoignages;” this declaration ought to be comprised under the head of false testimony. — Fr..
"If thou meet thine enemy`s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again." — Exodus 23:4 (ASV)
If you meet your enemy’s ox. From these two passages, it is very clear that he who abstains from doing evil is not therefore guiltless before God, unless he also strives to do good.
For our brothers’ advantage should be so much our concern that we should be inclined to aid one another as much as our means and opportunities allow. This instruction is greatly needed because, while everybody is more attentive to his own advantage than he should be, he is willing to withhold assistance from others.
But God holds him guilty of theft who has injured his neighbors by his negligence; and justly, because it depended only on him that the thing, which he knowingly and willfully allowed to perish, should be safe. This duty, too, is extended even to enemies; therefore, our inhumanity is all the more inexcusable if we have not helped our friends.
The sum, therefore, is that believers should be kind,127 so that they may imitate their heavenly Father. They should not only devote their labor to the good who are worthy of it, but should also treat the unworthy with kindness. And since many might devise excuses, God anticipates them, and commands that an animal belonging to an unknown person should be kept until its owner reclaims it; and lays down the same rule for all things that may be lost.
127 “Soyent pitoyables, et humains pour faire plaisir a chacun;” should be pitiful and humane, to show kindness to all. — Fr..
"Thou shalt not wrest the justice [due] to thy poor in his cause." — Exodus 23:6 (ASV)
By this law also, God exhorts His people to exercise the duties of humanity toward animals, so that they may be more disposed to assist one another. For we must remember what Paul teaches: where God commands oxen to be kindly treated, it is, namely, that He does not care so much for them in this, as for humankind (1 Corinthians 9:9).
God prescribes elsewhere that if anyone should see the ox or ass of his brother, or even of his enemy, going astray, he should catch it and restore it to its owner (Deuteronomy 22:1–3 and Exodus 23:4). But here He had another intention, that is, that believers should testify to their forgiveness of their enemies by being merciful to their very animals.
If it had been simply said that our enemies were to be helped, and that we must contend with them by acts of kindness to overcome their ill-will, all cruelty would have been sufficiently condemned. But when God commands us not only to help our enemies, to show the way to those who are straying, and to lift up those who have fallen, but would also have us exercise these kindnesses to their very animals, He more emphatically and strongly expresses how very far removed from hatred and the desire for vengeance He desires His children to be.
Therefore, we see that what Christ afterwards taught His disciples is also taught in the Law: that we should love our enemies (Matthew 5:44). Nor is it merely the desire for vengeance that is restrained here, but something more is required, namely, that believers should conquer the ill-will of their enemies by kindnesses, since to bring back a straying ox or ass is a proof of sincere affection.
But, in these two passages, what relates to the Sixth Commandment is represented in a more striking manner, namely, that assistance should be given to an ox or an ass weighed down by its burden. Interpreters50 do not agree on the meaning of the words, and Jerome has departed most widely from them.
But others, who desire to translate them more accurately, read them interrogatively: “If you see an animal fall under its burden, etc., will you hesitate to help?” The other meaning seems more appropriate: “If you have seen and have hesitated to help, still you must help.” For in this way God anticipates a person if, perhaps, driven at first by hatred, he might be reluctant to help his enemy, and then commands him to correct his guilty thought.
The meaning, therefore, will be: if the sight of your enemy should delay you from helping his animal, lay aside your ill-will and join with him, so that together you may be humane and merciful to the wretched animal. Thus an opportunity was given to enemies for their mutual reconciliation.
There is another difficulty with the word גזב,51 gnazab, which, although it means to leave, still, in my judgment, is used to mean to assist, or to give help. Although it is not wrongly translated as to let go, or to loose, or, if preferred, to strengthen, in which sense it is sometimes found.
50 Margin A V., Exodus 23:5, “Wilt thou cease to help him? or, and wouldest thou cease to leave thy business for him; thou shalt surely leave it to join with him.” The Vulg. translation is, “Si videris asinum odientis te jacere sub onere, non pertransibis, sed sublevabis cum eo:” and this precisely accords with LXX., οὐ παρελέυσὟ αὐτὸ
51Exodus 23:5עזב, in its primary and most usual sense, signifies to leave; but a thing may be left from dislike or weariness; hence it signifies (2) to forsake. On the other hand, it may be left, because it has been brought into that state, in which it needs no further help or security; and hence (3) it sometimes signifies to complete a defense, as Nehem. 3:8; 4:2; to relieve from a difficulty, as in this place — W. The whole of this criticism is omitted, not only in the French translation, but also in the Latin edition of 1563, pp. 390, 391.
"Thou shalt not wrest the justice [due] to thy poor in his cause." — Exodus 23:6 (ASV)
You shall not wrest the judgment of your poor. Since laws are enacted to repress vices that occur frequently, it is no wonder that God highlights the case of the poor. It often happens that they lose their cases even when they are in the right, both because they lack influence and are exposed to injury through the contempt shown towards them, and also because they cannot compete with the rich in bearing legal costs. Therefore, provision is justly made for their vulnerability, so that the injustice of judges does not rob them of the little they have.
However, the other point mentioned here might seem unnecessary—namely, that judges should not favor the poor, an act which rarely happens. It would also be inconsistent for something God prescribes and praises elsewhere to be condemned here.
I reply that righteousness is so pleasing to God that a judge would in no way be excusable, under whatever pretext he might deviate from it even slightly. This is the intention of this command.
For although the poor are usually tyrannically oppressed, ambition will sometimes drive a judge to misplaced compassion, making him generous at another's expense. This temptation is all the more dangerous because injustice is committed under the guise of virtue.
For if a judge focuses only on the litigant's poverty, a foolish fear will simultaneously creep in that his sentence might ruin the person he wishes to save. Thus, he will award to one person what belongs to another.
Sometimes the recklessness, audacity, and stubbornness of the poor in starting and pursuing lawsuits are greater than that of the rich. When they lose hope in their case, they are certain to resort to tears and lamentations, by which they deceive unwary judges. These judges, forgetting the case itself, only consider how the poor person's misery and need are to be relieved.
Moreover, while they think little of the rich man's loss because he can supposedly bear it easily, they do not hesitate to deviate from fairness in favor of the poor. But from this, it becomes clearer how greatly God is offended by the oppression of the poor, seeing that He does not want even them to be favored to the detriment of the rich.
"Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked." — Exodus 23:7 (ASV)
Keep thee far from a false matter. Since he seems to speak of perjury, which brings about the death of the innocent, some might perhaps prefer that this passage should be connected to the Sixth Commandment. But this is easily resolved, for Moses is expressly condemning false witness.
At the same time, he provides an example of it, through which it may become clear how detestable a crime it is: namely, the killing of a brother by false accusation, because the false witness kills him with his tongue rather than the executioner with his sword.
Although, therefore, it is a gross act of inhumanity to lie in general against one’s brother, yet its atrocity is increased if he is put to death by perjury, because murder is thus combined with perfidy.
A threat follows, by which God summons false witnesses before His tribunal, where those who have brought the good into danger by their falsehoods shall not escape with impunity.
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