6 You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. 7 Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked. 8 And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.

Exodus 23:6-8 (ESV)

In 1894, Charles W. Butzz offered to buy U. S. Senator James Henderson Kyle’s vote. It was an offered bribe, plain and simple, despite Butzz’s protestation to the contrary:

I did not know how you were committed on this bill, and I want to know how you feel about it; do not consider this as a bribe, but I want to know whether you are going to vote against the bill, and we shall see that you are taken care of; we have the money to see that you are taken care of.1

Even though the lobbyist offered Kyle upwards of $100,000, the senator, a former Congregational pastor, refused, thus living out a biblical standard.

This passage falls at the end of a multi-chapter series of regulations for right living and just before several chapters prescribing proper tabernacle worship. The most famous of the many directives in this section of Exodus are the Ten Commandments, found in chapter 20. And in chapters 21 and 22, Moses details God’s rules for such matters as personal injury restitution, property protection, and sexual morality. Throughout these verses, God’s holiness, justice, and compassion are evident. The same goes for this teaching on bribery.

God is a God of truth, whether it concerns the veracity of witnesses, the discernment of judges, the facts of the case, the merits of pleadings, the integrity of plaintiff and defendant, or the moral demands of the proceedings. He hates duplicity, mendacity, and perfidy—all at play in the bribe. And who can hope that justice will emerge from the court or legislature when the commitments of officials are for sale?

Note that this passage applies to all deliberations and not only to those involving the poor. Even the affluent may be innocent and righteous, deserving clear-sighted judgment. Indeed, it is possible that the less wealthy party is corrupt and that it is he who offers money under the table. Despite his relative financial disadvantage, he gains condemnation for the attempt to subvert justice.

Over a hundred years ago, Senator Kyle must have known how ridiculous Butzz sounded when he said, “Do not consider this as a bribe.” Kyle saw through the chicanery, and his integrity won the day. A more recent story does not have such a happy ending. A certain Brent Wilkes sent former U. S. Representative Duke Cunningham over $700,000 worth of “perks” in exchange for several important defense contracts. Wilkes maintained before a jury that he was above reproach, but the jury disagreed and convicted him of bribery on November 5, 2007.2 As sad as such incidents may be, it is a comfort to know that the standard proclaimed in Exodus 23 is still respected in courts today.
Footnotes:
 
1  “Report on Bribery Charges: Senate Finds Butzz Guilty as Alleged,” New York Times, May 26, 1894, http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=990CE4D91630E033A25755C2A9639C94659ED7CF&oref=slogin (accessed December 20, 2007).
 
2  Greg Moran, “Jury Finds Wilkes Guilty: Contractor Convicted of Conspiracy and Bribery in Cunningham Scandal,” SignOnSanDiego.Com, November 6, 2007, http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20071106-9999-1n6wilkes.html (accessed December 20, 2007).
 

article adopted from Kairos Jouranl

First Baptist Church is located in Perryville, at 4800 West Pulaski Hwy., Perryville, MD