Exodus 20:16

Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Neither publicly in a court of judicature, by laying things to his charge that are false, and swearing to them, to his hurt and damage; nor

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour , [ `eed (H5707) shaaqer (H8267)] - false, lying evidence, not only in a court of

Heb. not answer, viz. when thou art asked in judgment, 19:16; or, not speak a false testimony, or as a false witness; which doth not only forbid perjury in judgment, but also all unjust censure, slander, backbiting, scorning, false accusation, and the like; and also requires a just and candid judgment of him, and of his words and actions, speaking well of him, as far as truth and justice will permit, and defending his good name against the calumnies and detractions of others. Against thy neighbour; no, nor for thy neighbours; but he saith against, both because such perjuries, slanders, &c. are most commonly designed against them, and because this is a great aggravation of the sin, when a man not only speaks evil and falsehood, but doth this from malice and ill-will. But under this kind are contained other sins of a like, though less sinful, nature, as in the other commands. A man’ s neighbour here is not only the Israelite, as some would have it, but any man; as plainly appears, 1. Because that word is frequently used in that sense, not only in the New, as all agree, but also in the Old Testament, as . 2. Because it is so explained, ,36 Romans 13:9, compared with . 3. From the reason of the thing, which is common to all; unless a man will be so hardy to say that he may bear false witness against a stranger, though not against an Israelite; and, in like manner, that when God forbids a man to commit adultery with his neighbour’ s wife, , he may do it with a stranger’ s wife; and that though a man be commanded to speak the truth to his neighbour, , he may tell lies to a stranger. 4. Because the great law of love and charity, which is the life and soul of this and all the commands, and binds us to all; binds us, and bound the Israelites, to strangers, as appears from ,34.

Exodus 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.Ver. 16. Thou shalt not bear false witness.] Neither bear it, nor hear it; raise, nor receive wrong reports of another; make a lie, nor love it when it is made. The truth must be spoken, and that in love. Doeg had a false tongue, though he spoke nothing but truth against David.

(16) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.—Our fourth duty to our neighbour is not to injure his character. Our great poet has said— “Who steals my purse, steals trash, But he who filches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him, Yet leaves me poor indeed,”— Thus indicating the fact that calumny may injure a man more than robbery. False witness is, of course, worst when given in a court of justice; and this offence has generally been made punishable by law. It was peculiar to the Hebrew legislation that it not only forbade and punished (Deuteronomy 19:16-20) false testimony of this extreme kind, but denounced also the far commoner, yet scarcely less injurious, practice of spreading untrue reports about others, thus injuring them in men’s esteem. The ninth commandment is broad enough in its terms to cover both forms of the sin, though pointing especially to the form which is of the more heinous character. Lest its wider bearing should be overlooked, the Divine legislator added later a distinct prohibition of calumny in the words. “Thou shalt not raise a false report” (Exodus 23:1).

THE NINTH COMMANDMENT Against false testimony, perjury, c. Verse 16. Thou shalt not bear false witness, &c.] Not only false oaths, to deprive a man of his life or of his right, are here prohibited, but all whispering, tale-bearing, slander, and calumny in a word, whatever is deposed as a truth, which is false in fact, and tends to injure another in his goods, person, or character, is against the spirit and letter of this law. Suppressing the truth when known, by which a person may be defrauded of his property or his good name, or lie under injuries or disabilities which a discovery of the truth would have prevented, is also a crime against this law. He who bears a false testimony against or belies even the devil himself, comes under the curse of this law, because his testimony is false. By the term neighbour any human being is intended, whether he rank among our enemies or friends.

16. The ninth commandment. Against bearing false witness, primarily in a court of law,—a specially common crime in the East,—but also more generally by taking away the character of a neighbour by false imputations (cf. Exodus 23:1). bear false witness] lit. answer (in a forensic sense, in a court of law, Deuteronomy 19:16; Deuteronomy 19:18, Numbers 35:30 [EVV. testify], but also more generally, 1 Samuel 12:3 [‘witness’], Deuteronomy 31:21 al. [‘testify’]) as a false witness: Deuteronomy 5:20 has ‘as an empty, insincere, witness’ (the word explained on v. 7). For the penalty for false witness, see Deuteronomy 19:16-21. Cf. Proverbs 14:5; Proverbs 19:5; Proverbs 25:18 (same Heb. as here).

THE NINTH , Exodus 20:16. 16. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour — The law which guards the property of a man is appropriately followed by one which guards his good name.