A bribe is any payment, favor, or other type of payment made in return for a person’s influence over what is reasonable, truthful, or right. Giving or accepting a bribe is clearly wrong, according to the Bible.
Given to Moses on behalf of the Israelites, God’s Law prohibited accepting bribes, reasoning that “a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous.” Exercised again in Deuteronomy 16:19, the prohibition against perverting justice, showing partiality, or accepting bribes is that a bribe “blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.” These two chapters provide a strong case for the detrimental consequences of accepting a bribe. Bribery distorts the law. It has a blinding effect on judgment and knowledge. It distorts or perverts the words of people who, in God’s eyes, would be righteous, clouding the truth.
The Law went even further in the case of a bribe involving the killing of an innocent person. A judge who takes a bribe to condemn to death an innocent person was as guilty as a paid assassin – he was to be “cursed”. There were incidents where this law against bribery was broken, to disastrous effect. The two men who testified against Naboth and those who testified against Stephen were probably bribed; in both instances, an innocent man was killed. When high officials give and receive bribes, it causes evil in a society. “The king establishes the land by justice, but he who receives bribes overthrows it”. Bribery is one characteristic of a corrupt society.
Once Israel strayed away from the only real God and His commandments, Isaiah foresaw the tragedy that would befall them. Isaiah compared Jerusalem to an unfaithful harlot, saying that although it was formerly a haven of justice, it had devolved into a violent, murderous, and thieving town. Her leaders were bribers themselves, always after the money that bribery offered. The LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and majestic, who shows no favoritism nor takes a bribe. The people of Israel were to mimic God in their relationships with one another, not to follow the ways of evil.
The thirty pieces of silver that Judas got in exchange for betraying the Lord Jesus are the most horrific illustration of a bribe seen in the Bible. Judas’s betrayal directly led to Jesus’s imprisonment and execution on the cross. Even Judas eventually came to see that taking a bribe was wrong. However, the top priests and elders rejected him when he attempted to return the money, referring to it as “blood money.”
To catch Samson, Delilah was bought off. Samuel’s sons accepted bribes, demeaning their position. King Ahasuerus was bought off by the evil Haman, who wanted to exterminate the Jews in Persia. Felix left Paul behind in jail with the intention of buying a bribe from Paul. Furthermore, the top priests and elders bought off the soldiers tasked with protecting Jesus’ tomb so they would propagate a false narrative of Jesus’ absence. Truth and justice meant nothing to the people who accepted the payments in any of the cases.
📌FOR FURTHER STUDY
📖 Seed Faith- Can a Man Bribe God?: How False Teachers Manipulate and Hypnotize you for Offerings