<\/p>\n
\nExodus 23:4<\/b>\u00a0<\/a><\/span>\u00a0\u201cIf you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. \u00a0If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him. \u201cYou shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. \u00a0Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Proverbs 4:14-15<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil.\u00a0\u00a0Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Isaiah 33:15<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>1 Thessalonians 5:22<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Abstain from every form of evil.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Proverbs 17:15<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Romans 1:18<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Romans 2:5-6<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.\u00a0\u00a0He will render to each one according to his works:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Exodus 34:6<\/b><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/a>\u00a0The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, \u201cThe LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,\u00a0keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
How you\u00a0feel<\/span>\u00a0about someone does not determine right and wrong behavior towards them.\u00a0There are principles of justice that must be observed above our feelings. This command to do good for\u00a0your enemy\u00a0was important. It showed that goodness and kindness in Israel was not only required for those one liked and loved, but to all. One might not need a command to do this for a friend, but it was necessary for the\u00a0enemy\u00a0and\u00a0one who hates you. God knew that it was always easy for the\u00a0poor<\/b>\u00a0to be neglected in the administration of justice. Being poor did not make one right in a legal dispute, but it should never keep them from getting a fair hearing and justice. God knew how much evil and injustice is justified among men by lies, so He emphasized truth telling in Israel\u2019s daily life and legal practices. \u00a0In the promotion of justice, God also commanded against bribery. Specifically, He commanded against the\u00a0taking\u00a0of a bribe; bribe makers can\u2019t exist without bribe takers. (Guzik)<\/p>\n
Here we have a sort of anticipation of Christianity\u2014active kindness to an enemy being required, even when it costs us some trouble. The principle of friendliness is involved\u2014the germ which in Christianity blossoms out into the precept, \u201cLove your enemies.\u201d (Ellicott)<\/p>\n
\u00a0Every thing in it is suited to the desired and avowed object, the worship of one only God, and the separation of Israel from the pagan world. Neither parties, friends, witnesses, nor common opinions, must move us to lessen great faults, to aggravate small ones, excuse offenders, accuse the innocent, or misrepresent any thing. (Henry)<\/p>\n
Keep thee far from a false matter, from receiving a false testimony, or taking the false or wrong side of a cause, or engaging in a bad one; keep aloof off from it, as much at a distance from it as possible. God will not justify those wicked men cleared by them, but will, in his own time and way, sooner or later, inflict the deserved punishment on them. (Gill)<\/p>\n
To be bribed by gifts, because “the gift makes seeing men blind, and perverts the causes of the just.” (Kiel)<\/p>\n
It is very easy to be swayed by what we hear and what we read, but how are we to know the truth from lies, good from bad, and right from wrong? Someone with clear intent on causing harmful reactions in their hearers or readers can speak convincingly and so craftily that a person is moved to think badly or even take some sort of shameless action. Wisdom has two faces. Wisdom from and of the world will confuse, make anxious, cause fear and hate, division without remedy, needless pain, suffering, and death, and guide the weak and blind down paths that neither honor nor glorify God. The other face of wisdom is of God. It comes to us in and through the presence of the Holy Spirit and manifests itself by peace, truth, faith, hope, without fear, unity, grace, gentleness, kindness, patience, and generosity, all of which honor and glorifies Jesus Christ. It is sad that in many, more time is spent with worldly wisdom than seeking and desiring Godly wisdom. No one is immune to the temptations and offers of worldly wisdom. We are bombarded with it constantly. If time in God\u2019s Word is second in our lives to what the world is spewing out that person is in trouble of being dragged away into unholy thoughts and actions. Be cautious about your time, what you take interest in hearing and reading, and what you allow to influence your thoughts and actions. Seek and desire the Holy Spirit to guide you and allow you to recognize the worldly from the Godly in what you hear and read.\u00a0 <\/span>Allow the filter to your heart, mind, and soul to be the Word of God and the Holy Spirit indwelling there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Exodus 23:4\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIf you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. \u00a0If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him. \u201cYou shall not pervert the justice … Continue reading “43.v. “Wilderness” – 8.b. “Abstain from every form of evil””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3551,16734,6573,16743,16738,7520,3731,14480,16736,164,612,16742,76,16733,922,4243,38,587,512,14805,16741,796,16732,7132,16737,12133,137,4091,16740,3740,120,638,16735,511,11148,3739,8651,1527,16739,1603,1604,270],"class_list":["post-166020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers","tag-abomination","tag-abstain-from-every-form-of-evil","tag-according-to-his-works","tag-acquit-the-wicked","tag-avoidit","tag-bloodshed","tag-bribe","tag-condemns","tag-despises-gain-of-oppression","tag-evil","tag-faithfulness","tag-false-charge","tag-god","tag-gods-righteous-judgment","tag-guilty","tag-hard-and-impenitent-heart","tag-heaven","tag-iniquity","tag-innocent","tag-justifies","tag-lawsuit","tag-lord","tag-merciful-and-gracious","tag-pass-on","tag-path-of-th-ewicked","tag-pervert-justice","tag-poor","tag-proclaimed","tag-recue-it","tag-revealed","tag-sin","tag-slow-to-anger","tag-speaks-uprightly","tag-steadfast-love","tag-stops-his-ears","tag-storing-up-wrath","tag-suppress-the-truth","tag-transgression","tag-turn-away-from-it","tag-ungodliness","tag-unrighteousness","tag-wicked"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166020"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166087,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166020\/revisions\/166087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}