Accepting the Person of the Wicked examines the Bible’s condemnation of people in government who accept the person of the wicked, helping them, and giving bribes to them.

Psalms 82:2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.

To be clear, the action of “accepting the wicked” is to give support, entertain, exchange “favors” for money, etc. with the wicked. This means that the wicked person’s character and actions (which hurt other innocence people) is not checked as evil, is not opposed, is not stopped by the individual that God is condemning here. Instead of opposing that person and conduct, the individual God condemns is fully supportive of the wicked and his work.

The idea behind this condemnation is because a person is “supportive” of evil, although supposedly not personally entering into the evil that is done. You are evil nonetheless in the eyes of God if you support and tolerate evil. Inherent in the thought is that you (not supposedly actually doing the evil, but supporting and tolerating it) are receiving some kind of benefit or advantage from your overlooking and ignoring evil.

Proverbs 18:5 It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment.

When somebody does something wrong (in the eyes of God), the civil government should step in and defend the innocent in such a case, and persecute the person doing wrong. When any person covers the evil of a wicked person in the case, the “accept the person of the wicked.” The presumption of God is that everybody should oppose acts of aggression against innocent people, because what you oppose today in somebody else’s life, tomorrow they will do the same to you, and you will want others to support you against the wicked.

God wants to condemn and prosecute wickedness

Proverbs 17:23 A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.

We are agents or representatives for God in doing God’s will on earth. As such, when honest God-fearing people see injustice, they will do what should be done (righteousness, justice). When a wicked person gives a bribe to the civil authorities overseeing the case, that “perverts justice” so that what should be done, is not done.

Proverbs 18:5 It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment.

The action of “accepting the person of the wicked” is to not do justice, but rather to make the person of the wicked always who you side with, because presumably he will give you some advantage or not take vengeance against you if you accept him and his wicked deeds.

Proverbs 24:23 These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.

God Likes it when we have Mercy, but Mercy is different here

Mercy is when a person is pleading for leniency in a judgment, and it is always accompanied by the person confessing his wrongdoing and repenting (abandoning) that wrong doing.

Matthew 12:7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.

One of the points that Jesus made in his teaching was that God desires that we show mercy to people, specifically to the innocent and repentant. There is no reason to show mercy to wicked men who never are repentant, do not change their ways, and they are always in their evil work trying to hurt others and benefit themselves.

Matthew 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

So mercy should be constantly shown to others, especially the innocent, the downtrodden, the suffering. But the idea here is that these people who, whether they were guilty or not, these people are repentant of whatever situation or actions they have done in error, and they are viewing their actions as things that they repent of, that they do not want to do again. When they are of this attitude, a civil authority can and should probably show mercy. But if the person just says that “he will not do it again“, and this is his fifth time getting caught in the same offense and each time he pleads repentance and mercy, he should not receive mercy. I think of the man in New York, where they have done away with bail. He steals a car, the police catch him, and the same day he is released without bail, and steals another car. He boasts after car number 12 that he has stolen as he walks away from the police station free, “Here I go to steal another one!” Where is there is any repentance in that man’s heart. No mercy should be shown, and they should put him in jail and “throw away the key.”

So our conclusion is that mercy is what God wants to see in us, but mercy is not unconditional. Especially, we are not to show mercy where the guilty has no remorse and where the wicked are only “gaming the justice system.”

Judgment has a distinct character and process that should not be obstructed

Proverbs 17:23 A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment. 24 Wisdom is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth. 25 A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him. 26 Also to punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity. 27 He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. 28 Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.

The topic of verse 23 is bribes. When advantage is given in order that what SHOULD BE DONE (justice, righteousness) is not done, normally the innocent suffers hurt, damage, or loss, the judgment is “perverted”. It takes a detour, a side path, justice is not executed as it should be. The takes the form of the wicked doing something that hurts another person, and the civil authorities do not punish the wicked person for his actions, and equally, the innocent that has done nothing wrong suffers and the authorities do not restore what damage has been done to him in a corresponding way or amount.

The Trump New York Case

What is interesting to observe in this case is that the “wrong-doing” that Trump supposedly did, did not produce any affected persons. The banks that loaned him money made their money off of Trumps loans. They testified that they were satisfied with Trump as to his part, they made money off of the loans, and they have no complaints against him. So since nobody was hurt, nobody suffered any damage in the thing, the prosecutor makes the public the one who suffered. I would like to know if the money they collect will go back to that public, or to the coffers of New York City government? We know the answer here.

Bribery is Prohibited

Exodus 23:8 And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.

When we consider life in the eyes of God, God wants men to enter into judgment, to execute the moral principles that God demands of man, and God has installed civil government in order to do the justice of God on earth. The point in all of these verses is that judgment (as God sees and demands it) is not done as is pleasing to God. Judgment takes on another tone. Judgment is just the judges and government individuals making money off of wicked people getting away with wickedness. They “turn a blind eye” to what they should be prosecuting and doing in the name of God.

Bring all this to an Eternal Level

Psalms 10:3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth. 6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.

The arrogance of the wicked is a moral sin, a moral fault, and this is most important because he fights against God. He defies God that God cannot and will not ever take his actions, his person, into judgment and condemn and punish him. This is not true. God will judge us, every one of us. Only those who confess of their sins, repent, and receive Jesus as the covering or putting away of their sins will escape their due punishment. The wicked doesn’t do this, so they will end up in hell in the end. But God wants everyone to notice that even in this earth, God’s hand of judgment reaches them. That is why God is very heavy-handed in condemning those who cover the wicked’s wickedness here on earth.

Even the “Good” that the Wicked do is an Abomination to God

Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

In our day, we see a lot of “social justice” going on, where the moral principle that God commands, that a person should work, and they should keep and enjoy the fruit of their labors, and it is wrong for one to illicitly take that fruit of their labor from them, this principle is not respected. The wicked harm, hurt, defraud, or steal from the innocent. Civil courts are ordained by God to settle these kinds of matters. When Satan enters into the heart of a judge or government official to support the evil work of the wicked, and to defraud the innocent, then God condemns that judge or civil officer.

The “prayer of the upright” is understood here that they are suffering for something, and they plead with God for help. God answers their petition with civil authorities that “do their job“. They deal justice in that case.

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