Text: “You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness” (Exodus 23:1).

Context, Context, Context: Moses had just received the Decalogue from the Lord on Sinai. Moses, the shepherd/priest/intercessor, taught the people and loved them. One of the ways in which he did that was by teaching. Part of that teaching concerned justice–how Israel, a people who were supposed to be salt and light in the world, was to embody the character of God. And one part of that character concerned truthfulness, i.e., not bearing false witness. God is truth; therefore, his people are to be people of truth.

Question: Remember how the New Testament writer characterized the tongue? “And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell” (James 3:6).

Teaching: God taught the people through his servant Moses. And what was Moses teaching the people? He was teaching them about the crucial nature of human speech. How and what we speak reveals our nature. “What’s down in the well comes up in the bucket,” if you will. (My grandmother’s folksy wisdom!)

Encouragement: Israel as a whole professed a lot, didn’t they? They promised to keep the commandments. But they, like we, fail to keep them. But that does not abrogate God’s command for us to be holy. We are not to spread false reports, dear ones. We are not to join hands with the wicked. We are not to be people of malice. We’re to fear the Lord and emulate his character and thereby manifest that we have been wrought of God.