Eighth Commandment: People of the Lie

Lucas Cranach the elder.

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”

In the World English Bible translation:

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”

The Catholic Church understands this as a prohibition against lying. Strictly speaking, it seems to refer only to perjury, to lying in a legal case. However, given that it was originally presented to a people wandering in the desert, court proceedings were probably different from, and far less formal than, we would be familiar with. There was probably little difference between a court case and any other dispute among parties.

A couple of chapters later, the Book of Exodus seems to elaborate:

Exodus 23

“Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.

“Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit.”

These seem to cover instances in which people might otherwise suppose they are telling a “white lie,” a justifiable lie, not covered by the commandment.

The prohibition extends to malicious gossip. It extends to helping people by lying as well as harming them with one. It includes favouring the supposedly disadvantaged, as many modern governments and current judges seem inclined to do. See, for example, Canada’s “Gladue reports.”

It seems best, therefore, to take the commandment to indeed be referring to lies in general, so long as they involve material consequences. “Polite lies” would be exempt, just as would be jokes, fiction writing, dramatic performances, showmanship, and Donald Trump’s tweets.

Most interesting is the inclusion of the warning not to side with or follow the crowd. We might not automatically see that as lying. Many if not most people seem to hold the opinion that whatever “everybody says” or “everybody knows” is truth.

The prohibition here suggests that, to the contrary, anything “everybody says” should be presumed to be a lie.

And the warning is repeated: “do not follow the crowd”; “do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.”

And you are as morally responsible if you do not assume this as if you had made up the lie yourself.