Title: “Thou shalt not bare false witness against thy neighbor.”
Scriptures: Exodus 20:16, Deuteronomy 5:20
“Thou shalt not bear false witness.” The three preceding Commandments (murder, adultery, stealing) concern wrongs inflicted upon our neighbor by actual deeds. This commandment is concerned with wrongs inflicted by word of mouth.
“Thou shalt not bear false witness.” Many misquote that commandant and say, “Thou shalt not lie.” There is a significant difference between false witness and lies. A truth told with vicious intent is a false witness.
I will illustrate with a story told by Ronald Reagan. A man was riding his horse-drawn wagon to town for a load of grain when he had a head-on collision with an automobile. He was seriously injured, in much pain, and going to have permanent disabilities. Later, he followed legal procedures and filed a claim with an insurance company. When he was on the stand, the insurance company lawyer said to him, “After the accident, while you were lying there at the accident’s scene, didn’t someone come up to you and ask you how you were feeling, and didn’t you answer, “I never felt better?” The farmer responded, “Only a few minutes after the accident, a car pulled up. A deputy got out and saw my horse lying there in horrible pain with two broken legs. He put a gun in the horse’s ear, pulled the trigger, and put him out of his misery. He then saw my dog lying there crying with a broken back and did the same to him—shot him. Then he asked me, “How do you feel?”
It sounded like that lawyer was trying to pull a fast one. Truthfulness must be moral. God will not have us use truth to ruin another person or put one to shame. Bearing false witness is far more comprehensive than thou shalt not lie. Words cease to be truthful when used as a tool of trickery, revenge, or malice. Today, we will look at false witness and its consequences.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor: This prohibition embraces all forms of slander, defamation, and misrepresentation, whether against an individual, a group, a people, a race, or a faith. This is not only in court but also in everyday dealings. This commandment prohibits any words that increase misinformation. This commandment includes any words that enable a person to take advantage of another. When one bears false witness to another, that person misleads the other person thus attacking the ability of the person to make an informed decision.
None in America has suffered so much from slander, defamation, and misrepresentation as Black people. None in the world has suffered so much from slander, defamation, and misrepresentation as the Jewish people. Name-calling is a sin for when someone calls another attention to a characteristic of another human being in a disparaging way it is a false witness. It is a sin when someone says something that damages a person’s reputation. It is a sin when someone misrepresents another person's appearance, a person's character, or a person's walk in life.
Many politicians often bear false witness. I sometimes believe that the only time a politician is telling the truth is when he calls another politician a liar. The latest fad among politicians is gaslighting. Gas lighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person sows seeds of doubt in us making us question our memory, our judgment, or sanity. The politician does this by denying facts, events, or feelings. It often includes distortion and fabrication of information to cause confusion and undermine our confidence in facts. Any time a politician says, “I did not say that.” and you know the politician did, you are being gas-lighted. Any time a politician says, “That never happened.” and you know that it did, you are being gas-lighted. One of the favorite ones is, “My opponent will take away your Social Security.” and you know that is not the truth, you are being gas-lighted. Gas lighting is injurious gossip designed to insult a person destroying that person's reputation.
Another trick that politicians enjoy is spin. Spin is the subject matter of hours of television many nights in America. No matter how absurd a statement a politician makes, before the sunset that evening’s talk shows will have several guests lined up who supposedly represent various sides of an issue. The nightly talk shows would have you believe they are discovering the facts. The truth is that unscrupulous politicians know the nightly talk shows will immediately pick up a politician's lie and, by discussing it, give it plausibility. That is spin. Gas lighting and spin are false witnesses.
Character assassination is attacking a person’s integrity. Character assassination endangers us all. In my career as a professional manager, many times I have heard someone convincingly accuse another person of wrong only to find out upon further investigation that the accuser was wrong or had an ulterior motive. I learned to handle such information carefully until I could investigate thoroughly for some people use lies to hurt others in particularly evil ways.
Used to convict innocent people for thousands of years are gaslighting, spin, and character assassination. Matthew 26:59-62, “Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last, two came forward and said, ‘This fellow said, “I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.” The high priest stood up and said, ‘Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?’”
We Americans constantly fall victim to the false witness in the small print in a contract or warranty, the catchy television commercial that shows Lady Luck driving a new car, and the juicy tale of a neighbor’s gossip. False witness has become a part of American life and produced predictable costs. The false information published and broadcast over the Covid-19 epidemic caused us to lose faith in Doctor Anthony Fauci and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Journalists who have political agendas and who have fabricated stories like Russia Gate have made us more suspicious of the media. Environmentalists who have made exaggerated claims have had the same effect on otherwise worthy causes. While Americans are becoming more suspicious of what they read and hear, dangers still lurk particularly in the form of gossip.
Leviticus 19:16, “You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people.” (KJV) This commandment sees a talebearer as equal to a murderer since lies destroy the most precious possession in life, a person’s reputation. Bearing false witness means that we are not even to repeat unverified information that may get someone in trouble. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” means that we are not to say anything against our neighbor; we are also to say positive honest things, optimistic things, or nothing at all.
Paul covers this quite well in Ephesians 4:25-32. “So then, putting away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with your neighbor, for we are members of one another. … Let no evil talk come out of your mouths but only what is good for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”
Lying or deceiving is detrimental to the neighbor’s goods, property, or reputation. These actions require punishment and restitution. Leviticus 6:2-7, “When any of you sin and commit a trespass against the LORD by deceiving a neighbor in a matter of a deposit or a pledge or by robbery or if you have defrauded a neighbor or have found something lost and lied about it—if you swear falsely regarding any of the various things that one may do and sin—when you have sinned and recognize your guilt and would restore what you took by robbery or by fraud or the deposit that was committed to you or the lost thing that you found or anything else about which you have sworn falsely, you shall repay the principal amount and add one-fifth to it. You shall pay it to its owner when you recognize your guilt. And you shall bring to the priest, as your guilt offering to the LORD, a ram without blemish from the flock, or its equivalent, for a guilt offering. The priest shall make atonement on your behalf before the LORD, and you shall be forgiven for any of the things that one may do and incur guilt thereby.”
Punishment and restitution are outward manifestations of an inward desire for repentance. It is restoring stolen items or slandered and making well the victim of a wrong. It is a sign before God and the liar that the heart has changed. “Love the Lord ... and Love your neighbor?” God forgives while the people benefit. In Jewish law, before one could sacrifice to the Lord, restitution must have occurred. Both were offended, and both are reconciled.
This Commandment and the laws that affect honesty would change our world: truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtue. Honesty begins with self. An honest appraisal presents a chance to correct mistakes and even disappoint. The world would be kinder if more people were honest. That is because honest people are themselves sincere, reliable, and responsible. They make promises and keep them. Their actions and words match. Tactful truth profits the world best. Picture a world today where there are more people with such traits.
In summary, the prohibition against bearing false witness is a guard against the capacity of words to endanger a person’s reputation, slander a person, defame, or misrepresent. Safeguarding thy neighbor by protecting truth protects thy neighbor’s marriage, life, and property, for lying against a neighbor undoes reality. This Commandment is a form of love thy neighbor and a significant sponsor of communal relations.
The Bible teaches that all forms of lying are significant. However, to paraphrase Plato, arguments like people are often pretenders. Imposters and fools speak as loudly as saints and scholars. In a democratic society, a well-informed public is necessary for a healthy society. It is up to the public to spot the misinformation and lies.
