Ninth Commandment: You shall not bear
false witness against your neighbor.
Exodus
20:16
Hebrew:
לֹא־תַעֲנֶה בְרֵעֲךָ עֵד שָׁקֶר
Literal translation:
“You shall not bear witness against your neighbor
as a false witness.”
Linguistic and grammatical analysis
·
לֹא תַעֲנֶה (lo ta'aneh):
– You will not answer, you will not testify.
·
בְרֵעֲךָ (ve-re'akha):
– Against your neighbor (ra' = friend, companion, fellow citizen).
·
עֵד שָׁקֶר (ed
shaker):
– False witness, lying testimony.
1. Judicial
context: the importance of testimony in Israel
In the Mosaic Law:
·
Every trial
required two or three faithful witnesses (Deut. 19:15).
·
If someone
testified falsely, he received the punishment that would have fallen on
the accused (Deut. 19:16–21).
·
God is
described as the defender of the innocent and the judge of the lying
witness .
In a
society without cameras or recordings, testimony was the basis of
justice. Lying could kill.
2. Extension
of the commandment: the tongue as an instrument of blessing or destruction
This commandment transcends
formal judgment. Jesus and the prophets show that:
·
To
defame, to
slander, to lie, to pretend, to
manipulate the truth, to knowingly deceive,
all of these violate the spirit of the ninth commandment .
Proverbs
6:16–19
“There are six things that YHVH hates: a lying
tongue, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among
brothers.”
Leviticus
19:16
“You shall not go about as a talebearer among your
people...”
Zechariah
8:16–17
“Speak the truth to your neighbor... do not
imagine evil in your hearts... and do not love false oaths.”
3. Jesus
and the truth of the heart
Jesus Christ takes the
commandment to the spiritual and universal plane:
Matthew
5:33–37
“Let your speech be, Yes, Yes; No, No; for
whatever is more than these comes from evil.”
John 8:44
(speaking to the hypocrites)
“You are of your father the devil... there is no
truth in him... for he is a liar, and the father of lies.”
The true
son of God:
·
Love
the truth ,
·
Speak
with integrity ,
·
He
does not distort or conceal, even if it costs him.
4. Current applications
|
Scope |
Example of transgression |
|
Judicial |
False
accusation, tampering with evidence |
|
Labor |
Lying on a
resume or report |
|
Social |
Defame,
slander, manipulate on networks |
|
Religious |
Teaching
doctrine knowing it is false |
|
Spiritual |
Pretending to
be what you are not; hypocrisy |
✨ 5. Spiritual dimension
of the commandment
Truth is one of the
central qualities of God :
·
“God
is not a man, that he should lie” (Num. 23:19)
·
Jesus
Christ is the Truth (John 14:6)
·
The
Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth (John 16:13)
To lie, therefore, is to
deny the nature of God and align oneself with the father of
lies .
Revelation
21:8
“...the cowards, unbelievers... and all the liars
will have their part in the lake that burns with fire...”
Spiritual
summary of the ninth commandment
|
Level |
Application |
|
Literal |
Do not bear
false witness against anyone |
|
Judicial |
Do not corrupt
judgments, justice or evidence |
|
Ethical |
Do not lie,
slander or cover up |
|
Spiritual |
Be honest in
what you say and represent |
|
Prophetic |
God's people
are faithful witnesses of the truth (Isa. 43:10) |
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