Pro 24:29 | KingComments | STEP | is a warning not to be tempted to testify against a neighbor without a clear reason. We may find ourselves in circumstances where colleagues or people close to us ask our opinion about the behavior of someone with whom we work or who lives in our neighborhood, with the intention of denouncing such a person. If we personally have not had a particular experience with the person in question, we should not let ourselves be misled and not be a witness in that matter. The message is that there must be very solid reasons before anyone should ever go against a neighbor as a witness. Nor should feelings of revenge play any role in a lawsuit ( ). Still less should anyone take the law into his own hands. If someone has wronged us, we might use either option, but they are both wrong. We must not repay someone for the evil he has done to us. We may not even say it, out loud or in our hearts. To have this mind requires that we trust God. It does not escape Him that evil has been done to us. Nor does our reaction to it escape Him. He knows how we may react. If we want to repay someone, we take the place of God as Judge ( ). Injustice done to us, we may, as the Lord Jesus did, surrender “to Him who judges righteously” ( ). This was also the attitude David took toward Saul. He did not want to be his own judge, but surrendered Saul to God and waited to see what He would do with Saul. In doing so, he did not come out of that ashamed.

‏ Proverbs 24:29

A False Witness and Revenge

Pro 24:28 is a warning not to be tempted to testify against a neighbor without a clear reason. We may find ourselves in circumstances where colleagues or people close to us ask our opinion about the behavior of someone with whom we work or who lives in our neighborhood, with the intention of denouncing such a person. If we personally have not had a particular experience with the person in question, we should not let ourselves be misled and not be a witness in that matter. The message is that there must be very solid reasons before anyone should ever go against a neighbor as a witness.

Nor should feelings of revenge play any role in a lawsuit (Pro 24:29). Still less should anyone take the law into his own hands. If someone has wronged us, we might use either option, but they are both wrong. We must not repay someone for the evil he has done to us. We may not even say it, out loud or in our hearts.

To have this mind requires that we trust God. It does not escape Him that evil has been done to us. Nor does our reaction to it escape Him. He knows how we may react. If we want to repay someone, we take the place of God as Judge (Rom 12:19). Injustice done to us, we may, as the Lord Jesus did, surrender “to Him who judges righteously” (1Pet 2:23). This was also the attitude David took toward Saul. He did not want to be his own judge, but surrendered Saul to God and waited to see what He would do with Saul. In doing so, he did not come out of that ashamed.