Exodus 23:6-9

"Thou shalt not wrest the justice due to thy poor in his cause. Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked. And thou shalt take no bribe: for a bribe bindeth them that have sight, and perverteth the words of the righteous. And a sojourner shalt thou not oppress: for ye know the heart of a sojourner, seeing ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt."

"The innocent and righteous slay thou not ..." In context, this means "do not support some false matter, because it might result in slaying innocent and righteous people." Also here is the converse of the edict in Exodus 23:3 regarding the cause of the poor. In Exodus 23:3, favoritism toward the poor based solely upon sympathy is forbidden. Here, discrimination against the poor is prohibited. Justice must be impartial, equal, and blind to ALL such distinctions as race, social excellence, wealth, poverty, or anything else. That is why the sculptor has depicted Justice as a seated figure holding the balances, and blind-folded.

"Take no bribe ..." There is no indication whatever that Israel, to any great extent, heeded this law. Eli's sons "turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted justice" (1 Samuel 7:3). In David's time, men's hands "were full of bribes" (Psalms 26:10). King Solomon complained of wicked men "taking gifts out of their bosoms to pervert the ways of judgment" (Proverbs 17:23). Isaiah spoke of the princes of his day, "who love gifts and follow after rewards" (Isaiah 1:23), and he mentioned those who "justify the wicked for reward, and turn away the righteousness of the righteous from him" (Isaiah 5:23). Micah condemned the heads of the house of Jacob, "who abhor judgment and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward (Micah 3:9-11); Zephaniah spoke of Israel's bribe-hungry judges as "evening wolves who leave nothing till the morrow" (Zephaniah 3:3). This was a fatal failure of Israel. It was the gold of the Pharisees that shut mouths of the soldiers who witnessed the resurrection, and brought together the mob that clamored for the crucifixion of the Son of God.

"A sojourner shalt thou not oppress ..." "The rabbis interpreted this to apply to Jewish strangers."[11] Of course, that is totally incorrect. It is exactly like the "Christian" interpretation of the Great Commission to mean "Go preach the gospel to all the English-speaking nations!" This law must be understood as vital to the history of mankind. Concerning this, Esses said:

"The alien is to be protected, not because he is a member of one's family, one's clan, or one's religious community, but because he is a HUMAN BEING. In this law, the concept of humanity was born, the concept of love and grace and mercy."[12]