Bird's-eye view
Proverbs 17:23 is a sharp, surgical incision into the heart of societal corruption. It exposes the mechanics of injustice, showing how wickedness operates not with bullhorns and banners, but in the quiet, hidden places. The verse describes a transaction that is both secret and subversive. A wicked man accepts a bribe, not openly, but "from the bosom," a place of concealment. The purpose of this clandestine exchange is stark: to pervert the very paths of justice. This proverb, then, is not merely about the sin of bribery; it is about the fundamental opposition of wickedness to God's created order. God is a God of justice, clarity, and righteousness. The wicked man, by his very nature, loves darkness, crookedness, and self-interest. This verse reveals that the foundation of a just society is not merely a good legal code, but righteous men who refuse to allow their judgment to be bought.
In the broader context of Proverbs, this stands as a warning against the kind of pragmatism that values personal gain over public righteousness. It shows that small, secret sins have massive public consequences. A single bribe can derail the entire course of justice, harming the innocent and acquitting the guilty. It is a reminder that a society rots from the inside out, beginning with the compromised hearts of individual men. The ultimate standard of justice is God Himself, and any deviation from His standard, motivated by greed, is an act of high rebellion against Him.
Outline
- 1. The Anatomy of a Corrupt Transaction (Prov 17:23)
- a. The Character of the Man: "A wicked man"
- b. The Nature of the Act: "Receives a bribe"
- c. The Method of Concealment: "From the bosom"
- d. The Intended Result: "To thrust aside the paths of justice"
Context In Proverbs
This proverb does not stand in isolation. The book of Proverbs is deeply concerned with the establishment and maintenance of a just social order, which is seen as a direct reflection of God's character. Bribery is a recurring theme, and it is always condemned. For example, Proverbs 15:27 says, "Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household, but he who hates bribes will live." Proverbs 29:4 states, "By justice a king builds up the land, but he who exacts gifts tears it down." This verse, 17:23, fits squarely within this tradition, but it adds a particular emphasis on the secrecy and the deliberate intent of the act. It is placed in a chapter that discusses various aspects of righteousness and folly, such as the value of a joyful heart (v. 22), the grief caused by a foolish son (v. 25), and the wisdom of restraining one's words (v. 27-28). The wicked man who takes a bribe is thus contrasted with the discerning man, the righteous man, and the man of understanding. He is a fool, not because he is unintelligent, but because he has made a catastrophic moral and spiritual miscalculation, trading eternal justice for temporary gain.
Key Issues
- The Secrecy of Sin
- The Connection Between Wickedness and Injustice
- The Social Consequences of Private Greed
- God as the Ultimate Standard of Justice
The Crooked Path
The Bible presents the life of righteousness as a straight path. "He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake" (Ps 23:3). The law of the Lord is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Ps 119:105). Wisdom, in Proverbs, calls to men in the public square, on the straight ways. Wickedness, by contrast, always seeks the crooked, winding, and shadowy path. It cannot operate in the full light of day because it is fundamentally parasitic and subversive. It does not build; it perverts what has already been built.
This proverb gives us a snapshot of this principle in action. Justice is supposed to be a straight path, a clear road from evidence to verdict. The bribe is a tool designed to make that path swerve. The wicked man who takes the bribe is a saboteur. He is paid to introduce a bend in the road, to divert the course of justice so that it arrives at a predetermined, unjust destination. The transaction is done "from the bosom," or from the fold of the garment, a place of intimacy and secrecy. This is crucial. Injustice cannot announce itself as injustice and hope to succeed. It must disguise itself. It must be a secret gift, a quiet understanding, a nod and a wink in a dark corner. This is how evil works. It corrupts the good by stealth.
Verse by Verse Commentary
23 A wicked man receives a bribe from the bosom To thrust aside the paths of justice.
We begin with the subject: "A wicked man." The proverb does not say a desperate man, or a foolish man, or a pragmatic man. It says a wicked man. The issue is not one of intellect or circumstance, but of character. The willingness to accept a bribe is a fruit that grows from a particular kind of root, and that root is wickedness. This is a man whose heart is not aligned with God's law. He does not fear God, and therefore he does not regard man. His fundamental orientation is toward himself and his own advantage, not toward God and His standards of righteousness.
What does this wicked man do? He "receives a bribe." A bribe is a gift given to pervert judgment. It is not a wage for work done, nor is it charity. It is a payment for unrighteousness. It is money given to purchase a lie. The Law of Moses was crystal clear on this: "You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the righteous" (Exodus 23:8). The act of receiving a bribe is therefore a direct act of disobedience to the revealed will of God.
The bribe is received "from the bosom." This detail paints a vivid picture. In ancient clothing, the fold of the garment over the chest served as a pocket. This is a clandestine transaction. It is money passed under the table, a secret handshake. Why the secrecy? Because the wicked man knows that what he is doing is shameful and wrong. If justice were being done, it could be done in the open, at the city gates. But injustice needs shadows. It needs concealment. The secrecy is an admission of guilt before the fact. It proves that the man's conscience, seared though it may be, still recognizes that his actions are a perversion.
And what is the goal of this secret, wicked transaction? It is "To thrust aside the paths of justice." The Hebrew word for "thrust aside" or "pervert" has the sense of bending or making something crooked. Justice is a straight path. The bribe is intended to make it swerve. The goal is to ensure that the outcome of a legal matter is determined not by the facts, not by the law, not by righteousness, but by who paid the most. This is the very definition of corruption. It undermines the entire foundation of a stable society, because if justice can be bought, then there is no protection for the poor, the innocent, or the weak. There is only the law of the jungle, where the wealthiest predator wins.
Application
We may not be judges taking bribes in a literal sense, but the principle of this proverb applies to all of us. The temptation to pervert justice for personal gain comes in a thousand different forms. The employee who covers up a friend's mistake at work has taken a bribe of friendship to pervert the path of workplace justice. The parent who refuses to see the fault in their own child while condemning the same fault in another has taken a bribe of sentimentality to pervert the path of household justice. The pastor who softens his message on a particular sin because a wealthy donor is guilty of it has taken a bribe to pervert the path of divine justice.
The core sin here is allowing something other than God's righteous standard to determine our judgment. We are all tempted to put our thumb on the scales in favor of ourselves, our friends, our tribe, or our financial interests. This proverb calls us to radical integrity. It calls us to hate bribes, to love the straight paths of righteousness, even when it costs us.
The ultimate solution to the perversion of justice is the gospel. We have all perverted the paths of justice. We have all taken bribes from our own sinful desires. The result is that we all stand guilty before the only truly righteous Judge. But the good news is that this Judge cannot be bribed. However, in an astonishing act of grace, He stepped down from the bench, took our guilt upon Himself, and paid the penalty for our injustice on the cross. Jesus Christ lived the perfectly straight life we could not live, and He died the crooked death we deserved. Because of Him, we who are guilty can be declared righteous. And having been shown such mercy, we are now called and empowered by His Spirit to be people who do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God, refusing all bribes that would tempt us to swerve from His path.