Leviticus 19:14-18

 Leviticus 19:14-18 MKJV  You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling-block before the blind, but shall fear your God. I am Jehovah.  15  You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment. You shall not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty; but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness.  16  You shall not go as a slanderer among your people; you shall not stand against the blood of your neighbor. I am Jehovah.  17  You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall always rebuke your neighbor, and not allow sin on him.  18  You shall not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Jehovah.

Proverbs 18:5 ERV  You must be fair in judging others. It is wrong to favor the guilty and rob the innocent of justice.

James 2:5-9 ERV  Listen, my dear brothers and sisters. God chose the poor people in the world to be rich in faith. He chose them to receive the kingdom God promised to those who love him.  6  But you show no respect to those who are poor. And you know that the rich are the ones who always try to control your lives. And they are the ones who take you to court.  7  And the rich are the ones who insult the wonderful name of Christ, the name by which you are known.  8  One law rules over all other laws. This royal law is found in the Scriptures: "Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself." If you obey this law, you are doing right.  9  But if you are treating one person as more important than another, you are sinning. You are guilty of breaking God's law.

Micah 7:2-4 ERV  By this I mean that all the faithful people are gone. There are no good people left. Everyone is planning to kill someone. Everyone is trying to trap their brother.  3  People are good at doing bad things with both hands. Officials ask for bribes. Judges take money to change their decisions in court. "Important leaders" do whatever they want to do.  4  Even the best of them is as crooked as a tangled thornbush. Your prophets said this day would come, and the day of your watchmen has come. Now you will be punished. Now you will be confused!

Amos 5:10-15 ERV  You hate those prophets, who go to public places and speak against evil, even though they teach good, simple truths.  11  You take unfair taxes from the poor. You take loads of wheat from them. You build fancy houses with cut stone, but you will not live in them. You plant beautiful vineyards, but you will not drink the wine from them.  12  This is because I know about your many sins. You have done some very bad things: You hurt people who do right, you accept money to do wrong, and you keep the poor from receiving justice in court.  13  At that time wise teachers will be quiet, because it is a bad time.  14  You say that God is with you, so you should do good things, not evil. Then you will live, and the LORD God All-Powerful will be with you.  15  Hate evil and love goodness. Bring justice back into the courts. Maybe then the LORD God All-Powerful will be kind to the survivors from Joseph's family.

Deuteronomy 1:12-17 ERV  But I cannot take care of you and solve all your arguments by myself.  13  So choose some men from each tribe, and I will make them leaders over you. Choose wise men with experience who understand people.'  14  "And you said, 'That is a good thing to do.'  15  "So I took the wise, experienced men you chose from your tribes, and I made them your leaders. In this way I gave you leaders over 1000 people, over 100 people, over 50 people, and over 10 people. I also gave you officers for each of your tribes.  16  "At that time I told these judges, 'Listen to the arguments between your people. Be fair when you judge each case. It doesn't matter if the problem is between two Israelites or between an Israelite and a foreigner. You must judge each case fairly.  17  You must treat everyone the same when you judge. You must listen carefully to everyone—whether they are important or not. Don't be afraid of anyone, because your decision is from God. But if there is a case too hard for you to judge, bring it to me and I will judge it.'

Exodus 23:3 ERV  "In court, don't treat a person in a special way simply because that person is poor.

Exodus 23:6-8 ERV  "In court, don't let anyone take advantage of a person simply because that person is poor.  7  "Be very careful if you say that someone is guilty of something. Don't make false charges against a person. Never allow innocent people to be killed as punishment for something they did not do. Whoever kills an innocent person is evil, and I will not treat a guilty person as innocent.  8  "If someone tries to pay you to agree with them when they are wrong, don't accept that payment. A payment like that can blind judges so that they cannot see the truth. It can make good people tell lies.

"Justice must never be perverted, either, 1. In pity to the poor: Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, Exodus 23:3. Whatever may be given to a poor man as an alms, yet let nothing be awarded him as his right but what he is legally entitled to, nor let his poverty excuse him from any just punishment for a fault. Or, 2. In veneration or fear of the mighty, in whose favour judges would be most frequently biased. The Jews say, 'Judges were obliged by this law to be so impartial as not to let one of the contending parties sit while the other stood, nor permit one to say what he pleased and bid the other be short'" - Matthew Henry Commentary

This verse instructs us to be very careful about giving justice. We are not to feel sorry for the poor and thus rule in their favor wrongly. Neither are we to  wrongly rule in favor of the rich. Every person and situation must be based on truth and justice, NOT their social or financial status. Judges are NOT to take bribes whether it be of money or goods or fame or social honor. They are to strive to be objective in all cases. They are not to cave into outside pressure of any kind to pervert justice.

"Judges in local, state and federal courts across the country routinely hide their connections to litigants and their lawyers. These links can be social – they may have been law school classmates or share common friends – political, financial or ideological. In some instances the two may have mutual investment interests. They might be in-laws. Occasionally they are literally in bed together. While it’s unavoidable that such relationships will occur, when they do create a perception of bias, a judge is duty-bound to at the very least disclose that information, and if it is creates an actual bias, allow a different judge to take over.

"All too often, however, the conflicted jurist says nothing and proceeds to rule in favor of the connected party, while the loser goes off without realizing an undisclosed bias doomed her case.

“'Everybody should have the right to ensure the judge sitting on their case doesn’t have a conflict,' said Mary McQueen, executive director of the National Council on State Courts. 'It’s absolutely imperative that people have full faith and confidence in the judicial process.'

"But court critics say that one reason judicial violations are common is because they frequently go unpunished. When litigants ask a judge to back away because of a conflict, they risk being told no, then face possible retaliation, so many don’t bother. If a litigant or an attorney files a complaint with an oversight body, there’s only about a 10% chance that state court authorities will properly investigate the allegation" - US justice system, Corrupt justice: what happens when judges' bias taints a case?, By Peter S. Green and John Mazor, 18 Oct 2015, TheGuardian.com

"In Pennsylvania, the state examined the convictions of more than 3,500 teenagers sentenced by two judges. The judges were convicted of taking kickbacks as part of a scheme to fill a private juvenile detention center. In 2009, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court appointed senior judge Arthur Grim to lead a victim review, and the state later expunged criminal records for 2,251 juveniles. Grim told Reuters that every state should adopt a way to compensate victims of judicial misconduct." - Thousands of U.S. judges who broke laws or oaths remained on the bench, By Michael Berens and John Shiffman in Montgomery, Alabama, June 30, 2020, Reuters.com

Leviticus 19:16 Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer.
"talebearer" - ra^ki^yl - H7400
Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionary
From H7402; a scandal monger (as travelling about): - slander, carry tales, talebearer.
H7402 - ra^kal - A primitive root; to travel for trading: - (spice) merchant.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Dictionary
1) to go about (meaning dubious)
1a) (Qal) trafficker, trader (participle) (substantive)
Part of Speech: verb

"The word used signifies a merchant, and particularly one that deals in drugs and spices, and especially a peddler in those things, that goes about from place to place to sell them; and such having an opportunity and making use of it to carry stories of others, and report them to their disadvantage, hence it came to be used for one that carries tales from house to house, in order to curry favour for himself, and to the injury of others; and such a man is a detestable person, and ought not to be encouraged, see 1Timothy 5:13," - John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

1 Timothy 5:13 MKJV  And with it all they also learn to be idle, going around the houses; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things they ought not.

Proverbs 20:19 MKJV  A gossip is a revealer of secrets; so do not mix with him who flatters with his lips.

Proverbs 26:20-28 CEV  Where there is no fuel a fire goes out; where there is no gossip arguments come to an end.  21  Troublemakers start trouble, just as sparks and fuel start a fire.  22  There is nothing so delicious as the taste of gossip! It melts in your mouth.  23  Hiding hateful thoughts behind smooth talk is like coating a clay pot with a cheap glaze.  24  The pleasant talk of an enemy hides more evil plans  25  than can be counted— so don't believe a word!  26  Everyone will see through those evil plans.  27  If you dig a pit, you will fall in; if you start a stone rolling, it will roll back on you.  28  Watch out for anyone who tells lies and flatters— they are out to get you.

James 3:5-10 ERV  It is the same with our tongue. It is a small part of the body, but it can boast about doing great things. A big forest fire can be started with only a little flame.  6  The tongue is like a fire. It is a world of evil among the parts of our body. It spreads its evil through our whole body and starts a fire that influences all of life. It gets this fire from hell.  7  Humans have control over every kind of wild animal, bird, reptile, and fish, and they have controlled all these things.  8  But no one can control the tongue. It is wild and evil, full of deadly poison.  9  We use our tongues to praise our Lord and Father, but then we curse people who were created in God's likeness.  10  These praises and curses come from the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, this should not happen.

I have to think of not only our own gossiping which is bad enough. But look at all the gossip shows on TV. Gossip about actors and actresses, gossip about sport figures, gossip about Youtubers, gossip about political figures, gossip about musician/singers, gossip about famous people. There are even those who gossip about religious famous people. It's one thing to warn about heresy and false teaching but another thing when it gets to be personal attacks, namecalling, showing them up for more Youtube "likes". It becomes gossip and troublemaking. Keep strictly to the subject and quit the personal attacks.

Then there are the gossip shows like Jerry Springer who bring on regular people to air their dirty laundry in public before an audience. There are those shows like Dr. Phil who virtually do the same thing, just in a more "helpful" manner but the end result is the same... people's problems are televised for public consumption.

The Bible is telling us to avoid tale bearing and the word is particularly directed at those who traffic and make a profit off of talebearing. Back in the ancient days, the only way to spread gossip and slander and even lies was by going house to house. Today we have social media, Youtube, emails, cell phones and we don't even have to leave our house to do it.

We must try to walk the balance of telling the truth without falling into talebearing or gossiping. If it's none of my business, maybe keep my nose out of it. If I can't say something good, don't say anything at all. But there comes a time when truth must be told or else we are a false witness because we are letting others believe a lie.

We must be sure the truth is known about God's Word, His doctrines and His Commands. We must be sure to present the truth to deflect others on the path to destruction. We must tell the truth to protect the innocent or to bring justice when someone is guilty. It must be done gently and with the right attitude but sometimes it must be done. So some of these Youtubers who are attacking heresy may be doing the right thing but they walk a narrow balance so as not to fall into gossip, slander, talebearing, name calling, and hurting a brother or sister in Christ in a way that turns them away from Jesus instead of turning them to Jesus. It's a hard row to hoe so I don't envy them. Our emotions get involved sometimes and we stray over the lines of balance. Especially when we see things falling apart into apostasy, chaos and it seems the world has won another victory (or I should say, satan). But we must hold tight reigns over our mouths and be even more careful when we feel emotions taking hold of us. (Boy, that's easier said than done and I can be the world's worst at letting emotions take control.)

A false witness example, according to Jewish Law, you had to have 3 witnesses to agree on the evidence of the charge:

Matthew 26:59-65 ERV  The leading priests and the high council tried to find something against Jesus so that they could kill him. They tried to find people to lie and say that Jesus had done wrong.  60  Many people came and told lies about him. But the council could find no real reason to kill him. Then two people came  61  and said, "This man said, 'I can destroy the Temple of God and build it again in three days.'"  62  Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, "Don't you have anything to say about these charges against you? Are they telling the truth?"  63  But Jesus said nothing. Again the high priest said to Jesus, "You are now under oath. I command you by the power of the living God to tell us the truth. Tell us, are you the Messiah, the Son of God?"  64  Jesus answered, "Yes, that's right. But I tell you, in the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right side of God. And you will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven."  65  When the high priest heard this, he tore his clothes in anger. He said, "This man has said things that insult God! We don't need any more witnesses. You all heard his insulting words."

Jesus was condemned to death on this basis. He was crucified.

This is a good example to remember that our words do have a dangerous effect. We can use our words to harm someone to the point of resulting in their death. If we tell lies or ugly stories about others, someone could get mad enough to kill them just like the Jews killed Jesus. If we gossip, slander and verbally bully someone it could lead to their suicide or even (as we've seen in the news) murder/suicides. We must take control of our tongues and be careful what we say. How? The Holy Spirit within us can help us. Reading the Word, convicts us and helps us learn. Prayer and dialoguing with God about overwhelming problems and emotions we are feeling can help us gain a better, more even perspective. Not only is He a good listener but He is the only One who can actually do anything about whatever problems we are facing. He is a miracle working God!

Leviticus 19:18 You shall not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Jehovah.

Romans 12:17-21 MKJV  Repay no one evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.  18  If it is possible, as far as is in you, being in peace with all men.  19  not avenging yourselves, beloved, but giving place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord."  20  Therefore if your enemy hungers, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink. For in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head.  21  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Boy, this is pretty clear. If someone does you dirty, you want to do them dirty right back don't you? I know I do. If someone tells stories about me, I want to tell stories about them. If someone talks bad about me, I want to jump right in and talk bad about them. If someone sues me, I want to sue them back for even more. If someone is a false witness against me, I want to make something up about them to get them in trouble too. Tit for tat, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.

Except here is God saying we should let it go and let God work it out. I know God doesn't mean we should keep quiet when we know something that is truthful and would bring about real justice. That would be a false witness. We should be truthful and willing to tell the truth even in a courtroom so someone is not wrongfully convicted or wrongfully acquitted. Again, there is balance. There comes a time when we can't do anything about a situation that helps so we have to pray and let God handle it. If we know John Doe killed someone but we don't tell the truth, we are being a false witness. We should be willing to tell the truth and hope it brings about justice and helps the innocent. On the other hand, sometimes everything is done and it still seems like there is no justice. Someone lets you down whether it's the judicial system, the judge, the lawyers, the law, whatever... But God isn't saying this gives you the right to take the law into your own hands and mete out justice your way. It's tempting, but God says, not to repay evil for evil and don't avenge yourself but trust God to do it. There comes a time when you have to release any wrongs and give it to God and trust He will do the right thing. Forgive (for your own mental and spiritual health) and let go and let God.

There is a television called Fear They Neighbor which is about how neighbors come to murderous arguments over things and someone dies! That's how bad it can get. You live in the same neighborhood with people who can be real nut jobs. They are not Christians. They may be experiencing mental illness. They may have been raised to handle conflict very differently from you. They may experience PTSD and lose control over little things. Maybe the marigolds you plant bring back memories of their Mama locking them in the closet because they picked her marigolds. They may be in the gradual decline of dementia and one stage of dementia is paranoia, unreasonable paranoia. I know Parkinson's Disease has a paranoid stage where you hallucinate things that didn't happen. I've seen both in my family and, believe me, you wouldn't wish that on your worst enemy. You just never know what is going on in someone's head, or life, that could come out in outrageous behavior. 

I have not lived next door to people that far out, thank God! We did have a neighbor that had a hissy fit on his front lawn because we had a yard sale. Jumping up and down like a toddler throwing a tantrum and yelling and calling my husband to come over and fight! Now, my husband was raised to physically fight back when challenged and, although he was much shorter than this neighbor, he didn't back down. It was like watching two rams come bouncing off each other's chests! Fortunately, they both backed down. We didn't have another yard sale until we sold our house and my husband and the neighbor made peace eventually. I know there are times when all you do to make peace with a neighbor is wasted because they will not be appeased. Nothing you do is right. Walk carefully and pray often for that neighbor.
 
This scripture tells us not to hate, not to avenge and not to bear a grudge. We should treat our neighbor as ourself (the Golden Rule). So, as much as it lies with you, be peaceable in your neighborhood. Don't be a hard head, a hot head, or butt head. If the rules are no fireworks, don't sneak and do fireworks. If the Homeowner's Assoc has rules follow them as much as you reasonably can. If someone else doesn't follow the rules, don't rush over and accuse, or jump all over them, to make them comply. Work within the system which is supposed to be there to keep everyone's property values high. And learn to let go.

Of course, there will be times when it's ridiculous and you are dealing with people who are, as I said above, off. There is insecurity due to mental illness, PTSD, family troubles, financial troubles, whatever. But, as much as it is within your control, be peaceable and don't carry bitterness, unforgiveness, hatred, anger and malice in your own heart. Try to overlook some things. Try praying for the wacky neighbors. Try being generous and helpful. If the good things aren't working, try ignoring them and overlooking their deliberate attempts to bait you. Don't give them the satisfaction to know it got on your last nerve. Don't engage.

If there is something illegal going on (such as selling drugs or drive by shootings, etc), it's the right thing to do to call the police. If things get out of hand, it may take the police to help mediate the situation. But don't become part of the police's problem by butting in, yelling, getting aggressive while they are trying to help you out. Keep calm, be reasonable, let the police know it isn't you they have to worry about. Answer their questions truthfully and step back and let them try to handle the wacky neighbor.

I know this sounds reasonable in a world that has a lot of unreasonable people. Your best bet is to pray and pray and pray some more. Pray that you can keep the right attitude and not fall into sin and pray for your neighbors. There is a reason for their actions whether it's hallucinatory, drug related, or just plain meanness. And only God can get through to people that far gone. If there is no way for you to get away from them, rely on God to do what you cannot do. You are responsible for your thoughts, actions, words. So take them to Jesus. Then take your neighbors and leave them in the hands of God who is perfectly able to take care of the problems. You might even practice prayer walking or prayer driving. I.e. pray for each neighbor as you come to their house while you are walking or driving. I've done this before.