“No justice, no peace!” That’s what protestors chant, as they accuse the police of racism, decrying their excessive use of force. Some go so far as to say that police departments need to be defunded. Meanwhile, in Mississippi’s capital city, homicides continue at a record pace. So the mayor and city council, most of whom are of African-American descent, are calling for more funds for the police and for more security cameras in the downtown area. So, who’s right?

Today’s passage helps us get back to basics. If we really want justice to be done in our society and in our courts, it is indeed critical that our judges and policemen avoid corruption. A bribe, Moses reminds us, “blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just” (verse 8). Moreover, Moses says we shouldn’t prefer the testimony of the influential rich to the powerless poor: perverting the justice that the needy deserve (verse 6) is completely inconsistent with God’s call for us to love our neighbors.

But that doesn’t mean that every mob that cries out for justice is correct. After all, verse 2 warns us against going along even with a multitude if they are doing evil or perverting justice. No, the clear principle here is that justice is what matters most, regardless of what rich or poor or even the vast majority of the citizenry might think.

So, how can we find true justice? In verses 1, 2 and 7 Moses tells us: we must speak only the truth. We must not bear false reports, or make false charges, or give false testimony. Simply put, no set of laws and no system of courts can possibly render true justice if the citizens on the witness stand won’t tell the truth, and if the citizens in the jury box won’t give an impartial decision regarding the facts of the case.

That means it doesn’t really matter how many or how few police we employ, or how sensitive or well-trained they are. There will be no justice in any society that, for whatever reason, consistently breaks the ninth commandment: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. And if there’s no justice, there will most certainly be no peace, either for rich or poor, black or white.

Exodus 23:1-3, 6-9 (NASB)

“You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.
2 “You shall not follow a multitude in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice;
3 nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute.

6 “You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute.
7 “Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for I will not acquit the guilty.
8 “And you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just.
9 “And you shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.