And when I rose in the morning to nurse my son, there he was dead. But when I had examined him in the morning, indeed, he was not my son whom I had borne.” Then the other woman said, “No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” And the first woman said, “No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The ninth commandment (Exodus 20:16), tells us not to bear false witnessing against our neighbor. Both women were standing before the king and both women were claiming that the living son was theirs. Of course both of these women could not have given birth to the same son, therefore one of them was bearing false witness against the other. The woman in the wrong had a wrongful desire (covet) to have the living child and she was willing to falsely accuse the first woman who is the real mother. Some folks will go to the extreme to have what others have . . . even if they have to bear false witnessing against them.
2 comments:
I believe that an important question is what lies at the root of the various degrees of lying; exaggeration, half truth, etc... Sometimes pride, low self esteem, desire to covet what someone else has, as you said, etc... If we don't watch it, some untruth may flow out of our mouths as we try to make something into what we want it to be; but why do we do this? I believe in trying to identify root causes and laying them before God.
As always, thanks for the daily scripture. Some people will "lie" just to protect themselves at any cost. However, we know that the truth will eventually prevail.
Post a Comment