Happy Labor Day Monday. Can you guess why the chemist read the book on helium so fast? Yep, you guessed it, Because he couldn't put it down. Ha ha. It had heightening value. Ho ho. Oh!!! It was on the top ten list.
This morning our meditation is found in
Prov. 21:28 "A false witness will be cut off, but a credible witness will be allowed to speak."
In Jewish law a witness who was found to be false would be given the same punishment as the person who was accused. (Deut. 19:18,19)
This had a way of renewing justice, when evidence was introduced at anytime in the present or even in the future. There was no sun set clause in this. Not only was Hebrew justice blind but it was also enduring.
Even in todays court in the U. S. perjury is handled very harshly. It can; dependent on the judge result in jail time to the offender.
The next phase of the verse contrasts how the consistent (truthful) witness was seen in God's court. He was given both a great amount of time to speak, but also was given a great level of respect.
When lies are treated in any other way, justice becomes perverted & has no confidence within the community. This disregard for truth has the tendency of causing the public to take matters in their own hands. We see this in what is called vigilantyism.
As a present society we see this where the victim's cause is disregarded and the offender is protected.
I can clearly remember as a child defending my neighborhood friend in his actions, when my sister was actually being more truthful. That weighed heavy on my conscience until I admitted to my mother my lie. She taught me this truth from the Bible and so I agreed to work off the cost of the loss to pay for the loss.
Though that has been probably 60 years I still remember the lesson I learned. I admit I don't remember the offense, but I still remember the consequence.
So Go With God for He deals with consistency & truthfulness in a faithful way. We can rest on His dealing with the need for revenge in a consistent way. Both in our injustice but also in others unjust ways. We can rest in His faithfulness in every way including false witnessing.
When our leaders in the legal, as well as, the politcal realm deal falsely our Father will rule in truth regardless of the power & influence of those who falsely testify.