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EXODUS | 23:3 favor — EXOD790 The prophetic pleas for justice, integrit...

EXOD790 The prophetic pleas for justice, integrity, mercy and benevolence were embodied into the legal codes of the Torah. Here they were translated into concrete laws to govern the affairs of men. Animated by faith, the law was so formulated as to serve the ends of morality and was to be so administered as to have justice done to all. To ensure the rights of poor and rich, of home-born and strangers alike represents the duty of the judges, rulers and Kings. God Himself is the guarantor of justice. "Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of any man; for the judgment is God's" [Deut. 1:17]. Most striking are these laws in the Code of the Covenant: [this and previous verses] Geiger calls attention to the uniqueness of the last law. The rich man must receive no advantage because he is rich, nor should the poor man have preferential treatment because he is poor. "Sympathy and pity are emotions that have their proper place in use, but even those noble feelings must be silent before justice." [Judaism and Its History, p. 37] The full significance of this law is brought out by its sequel: "Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of the poor in his cause" (verse six). It is more important that he get justice than that he be favored. Inequity in any form is iniquity. The Code of Holiness state similarly: "Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor favor the person of the mighty; but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor" (Lev. 19:15).

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Source KeyCOHON
Verse23:3
Keyword(s)favor
Source Page(s)197-8
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