Malachi Chapter Three, Perjury And Oppression

 

Perjury is lying, but it is more than just lying. To perjure oneself is to prove to be a false witness in a judicial court. In short, you testify against another, willingly and knowingly lying about them in an effort to malign them. This type of lie can come with radical penal consequences. It might mean the difference between a man walking free or going to the electric chair for murder. False testimony is the basest slander, and something the serpent practiced when he misled Eve in the Garden. God’s command not to eat of the fruit was on trial, and the serpent questioned its veracity.

 

When Eve responded in the affirmative (with a little addendum of her own) the serpent countered, enforcing his question with an authoritative declaration. God was a liar, was withholding what was really good for mankind, and the serpent had come to set the record straight. His crooked testimony overcame Eve’s caution, and she listened to him rather than God. Jesus said of this perjurer, “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he a liar and the father of it,” John 8:44. Satan murdered God’s angels when he led them into rebellion in Heaven. And he murdered Adam and Eve when he led them into disobedience in Eden. He is the father of lies, having been the world’s first liar. A lie is not something created; rather like adultery it is a perversion of the transmission of truth. Satan can create nothing; he copies and warps the good things God creates in his campaign against his Creator. Good and evil are not yin and yang; Good can exist without evil’s presence because good is its own reference point. Evil, being a corruption of good, needs good to exist to demonstrate its own quality. When evil is abolished from the new heavens and earth good will remain, pure and endless, but evil will be gone like a shadow when the sun rises.

 

The perjurer then is something of an expert liar; they have taken the act of lying out of the realm of the everyday into the courts of truth, and sullied a fair trial with their deceitful bias. Mind you, there is no such thing as an innocent lie. White lies are lies. Evading truth is lying; the omission of truth is every bit the lie that twisting the truth is, James 4:17. God, the judicial witness that will draw near once Israel is purified again, will speedily judge those who endeavor to turn the courts that should honor truth’s pursuit into a farce. Perjury is listed as the ninth commandment in the Ten Commandments. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor,” Exodus 20:16. Some translations make this verse to say “You shall not lie,” but the context implies an accusation that can lead to legal ramifications. You are accusing your neighbor of doing something illegal that they did not do.

 

The final grouping in Malachi’s list includes exploitation of the helpless or downtrodden. Those in power, those with wealth or influence, ought not to oppress wage earners, widows, orphans (orphaned children, that is), and resident aliens (those not natively from the commonwealth of Israel). God explained numerous times in the Torah that the Jews, having dwelt in Egypt were once the downtrodden class. Because they knew what it meant to be oppressed, they were not to become the oppressors. They were to judge with equity, lead with justice, and give with liberality to those who needed it, because they understood need. The Law clearly stated, “You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child,” Exodus 22:21, 22. If the Jews ignored this clear command, God warned that He would bereave their families, so the wives would become widows, and the children fatherless. To those who do not show mercy, no mercy will be shown. The Law dealt with equity. Even foreigners (Gentiles) could be taken into the tribes of Israel to partake of the covenant blessings, Numbers 9:14, 15:14-16.

 

James, always interested in the visible demonstration of our faith, speaks out against the exploitation of the worker class. “Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth (the Lord of hosts),” James 5:4. Fraud, of course, is the practice of deception. The land owners were scamming, or exploiting hard working laborers and pocketing wages that belonged to the worker. God desires Israel to be governed with equity, a chief principle that runs through the whole of the Mosaic Law. Though not explicitly listed on the Ten Commandments, it easily and naturally falls into the command, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself,” Leviticus 19:18. This singular command that in part summarizes the totality of the Law and Prophets, is relational at its heart. It bears in it the interest of others as equally paramount to our own interests. Others, our neighbors, stand on the same level of interest and care as our self-interests. The command can only be obeyed from the heart, however, when the love of the invisible God empowers it, and us, in its employment.

 

And this, it seems, is the reason such atrocities occur. There is no fear of God before their eyes. They do not fear Me, the Lord tells us. The reverential awe and love we should have for God is dulled. In its place a worldly character has been built. When God is left out of our considerations, our thoughts and motivations, we substitute His wisdom with our own contrary and transient opinions. When no king reigns in Israel every man does what is right in his own eyes. Central authority is lacking, or in this instance simply rebelled against and lawlessness fills the void. When man becomes the barometer of what is right, subjectively speaking, a million, million little gods offer input, and then the bloody contest of which will dominates ensues. Many cults are formed because one person’s individual magnetism for a time provides a cheap substitution for the God-given conscience in our souls.

 

Government can restrain such lawlessness with varying degrees of success, but obedience bereft of respect or love is not true obedience. Its motivation is fear, or at best expedience to avoid disagreeable entanglements with the law. A right view of God will prevent the list of sins described above. His presence, not just in the written word, but also in our every day lives, is the barometer by which we determine right and wrong. His truth purges our dross, and by simply devoting ourselves to Him in faithful obedience we may have confidence. Our lives, rightly aligned with His, removes the fear of committing crime, which elicits the wrath of whatever government we presently live under. Equity becomes our interest because we want others to be benefited, helped, and loved like we are. The Jews so purged, will now have a ready Judge to witness against the wrongdoings they know ought not to be done. Paul writes similarly toward Christian conduct when he says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled,” 2 Corinthians 10:4-6.