Classic KJV - Proverbs 29:4

Bribery is a very common practice worldwide, but it is never called bribery by those who practice it. Taking a bribe—violating public trust—is worse than offering a bribe.

The Hebrew word, translated as “bribes” here, is very unusual. It appears only once in Proverbs and contains an important but subtle warning. To see that, we need a better understanding of the first part of this text.

Translation: Justice

The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament makes the following comment on the Hebrew word for “justice,” משפט (miš•pāt, pronounced “mish-pat”), used here:

This word represents what is doubtless the most important idea for correct understanding of government—whether of man by man or of the whole creation by God.... It includes the legislative, executive and judicial functions of government. An analysis of all the uses in the bible turns up at least 13 related, but distinct, aspects of the central idea, which is to be rendered by a single English word...‘justice.’

So justice is a broad concept. This text warns us that the misuse of money perverts justice. The fallout affects everyone in the society.

Classic Comment—Pre-Medieval Practices

Adam Clarke made this excellent observation on the use of bribes to influence national leaders, especially before the English established the Magna Carta, with this important, related clause:

Article [29] Nulli vendemus justitiam; “We will not sell justice to any.” I [Adam Clarke] have met with cases in our ancient records where, in order to get his right, a man was obliged almost to ruin himself in presents to the king, queen, and their favourites, to get the case decided in his favour.

Justice is clear, unbiased administration of the law; but justice is a delicate achievement and can easily be perverted.

Translation: who takes bribes

The expression “who takes bribes” is translated from the Hebrew word, תּרומה (terû•māh, pronounced “tĕ-roo-mah”), which can also be rendered as gift or even sacred gift. According to the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT) it denotes:

…materials contributed for the building of the tabernacle (Exodus 25:2-3), the half shekel atonement money (Exodus 30:13), contributions of the Persian kings and others to rebuild the temple (Ezra 8:25), the tithe of the tithe designated for the priests (Numbers 18:25-32) and the sacred precincts of Ezekiel’s temple vision (Ezekiel 45:1). Gifts to idols (Isaiah 40:20) and the offering of war booty (Numbers 31:29) may also be thus designated.... It occurs only once in a non-cultic usage referring to either to those who bribe with gifts or those who selfishly extort gifts (Proverbs 29:4), men of gifts.

Classic Comments: Excess Taxation

Surprisingly, some translators (like Keil & Delitzsch) emphasize the uniqueness of this use of the Hebrew word as “bribe,” to the point that they render it in a radically different way: “A king by righteousness bringeth the land to a good condition, but a man of taxes [emphasis mine] bringeth it down.”

K&D explain the reason for this rendering:

This Hebrew word for bribes means tax (lifting, raising = dedicating), free-will offerings, as well as gifts that are obligatory and required by the laws of nature. Since the word, in the only other place where it occurs, Ezekiel 45:13-16, is used of the relation of the people to the prince, and denotes a legally-imposed tax, so it appears also here, in passing over from the religious sphere to the secular, to be meant of taxes, and that according to its fundamental conception of gifts, i.e., such taxes as are given on account of anything, such as the produce of the soil, manufactures, heritages (emphasis mine)... on the contrary, a king helps the land to a good position, and an enduring prosperity, by the exercise of right, and that in appointing a well-proportioned and fit measure of taxation.

In other words, the problem is a ruler’s misuse of revenue, intended for sacred or righteous purposes, as personal income. A wise king keeps taxes low and promotes justice in commerce.

More Classic Comments on Taxation

Gill makes a similar observation:

In the original text, “a man of oblations”; the word is generally used of the sacred oblations or offerings under the law; hence some understand it of a sacrilegious prince who of his own arbitrary power converts sacred things to civil uses whether as a perverter of justice through bribes, or as a sacrilegious man; though it may be rendered, “a man of exactions,” for it is used of the oblation of a prince which he receives from his people; Ezekiel 45:9 as Aben Ezra observes; and so it may be interpreted of a king that lays heavy taxes upon his people, and thereby brings them to distress and poverty, and the state to ruin.

What does this mean? Excessive taxation is inevitably exacted for the personal enjoyment of the rulers. “Justice” means taxation only for the service of our Common Good. What we already know: excessive taxation will ruin any city, county, province, state, or country, simply for the comfort of its rulers.

When Did Taxation Start?

History teaches that taxes are welcomed by a nation, when they make the “G” in God small, and make the “G” in government big. Big “G” government feeds on big “T” taxation. Here’s how it all starts, as recorded in 1 Samuel 8:7-20 (emphasis added). Note especially the word “take.”

The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them. Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day—in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. Now then, listen to their voice; however, you shall solemnly warn them and tell them of the procedure of the king who will reign over them.”

So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who had asked of him a king. He said, “This will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen, and they will run before his chariots. He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants. He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and use them for his work. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants. Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may (1) judge us and (2) go out before us and (3) fight our battles.”

Taxes pay for public services. Those services are: (1) “judge us,” enforcing law and order, (2) “go out before us,” meaning be a public representative or figurehead, and (3) “fight our battles,” and so providing defense against foreigner powers. These basic government services cost the inhabitants of Israel a ten percent flat tax on their incomes. Any other “services,” like (4) education, (5) infrastructure, (6) old age security, (7) welfare, and especially (8) health care, must cost much, much more. When the demand for “services” increases, the taxes must balloon, and likewise the opportunities for our rulers to skim their pleasures off the top.

Crossing the Line in Excess Taxation

When the state takes money earmarked for God—typically the first 10 percent—it crosses the line. The state thinks itself God. Bad move! A wise tax system keep taxes low and grants tax relief for charitable donations, recognizing that the state itself is responsible to a Higher Power. When revenue collected from taxpayers exceed the benefits provided, the tax rates are too high, and the “benefits” themselves are inevitably corrupted: education becomes ideology, welfare becomes public dependency, and health care becomes herd management.

Our Maker, Saviour, and Friend

Jesus had many enemies.

Yet even His enemies said that Jesus “told the way of God in truth and deferred to no one” (Mark 12:14). Jesus could not be bought by anyone—for any amount—not even for all the money in the world (Matthew 4:8-11). And there is no record of Jesus ever asking for money.

The kingdom of Jesus is not dependent on money in any way whatsoever. It is indestructible (Isaiah 9:6-7).