What Does Exodus 20:16 Mean?

(16) **Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.**—Our fourth duty to our neighbour is not to injure his character. Our great poet has said— “Who steals my purse, steals trash, But he who filches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him, Yet leaves me poor indeed,”— Thus indicating the fact that calumny may injure a man more than robbery. False witness is, of course, worst when given in a court of justice; and this offence has generally been made punishable by law. It was peculiar to the Hebrew legislation that it not only forbade and punished (Deuteronomy 19:16-20) false testimony of this extreme kind, but denounced also the far commoner, yet scarcely less injurious, practice of spreading untrue reports about others, thus injuring them in men’s esteem. The ninth commandment is broad enough in its terms to cover both forms of the sin, though pointing especially to the form which is of the more heinous character. Lest its wider bearing should be overlooked, the Divine legislator added later a distinct prohibition of calumny in the words. “Thou shalt not raise a false report” (Exodus 23:1).