Don’t take bribes. Bribes blind perfectly good eyes and twist the speech of good people. [Exodus 23:8 (MSG)]
Don’t twist the law. Don’t play favorites. Don’t take a bribe—a bribe blinds even a wise person; it undermines the intentions of the best of people. [Deuteronomy 16:19 (MSG)]
A college admissions conspiracy is in the news and we’re learning about parents bribing test takers, proctors to correct answers, and coaches to recommend college acceptances. There have been allegations of false references, fake ethnicity, made-up athletic credentials, Photoshopped pictures, sham charities, and bribes disguised as charitable donations!
I’m reminded of King Ahab and his infamous wife, Jezebel. Wanting a vegetable garden next to the palace, Ahab offered to buy the vineyard of his neighbor Naboth. Because God had commanded that ancestral land was not to be sold permanently, Naboth refused the king’s offer. Unaccustomed to not getting what he wanted, Ahab pouted and even refused to eat. Jezebel, like her husband, was used to having her own way. Plotting to get Ahab what he coveted, she hatched a devious scheme and bribed false witnesses; as a result, the righteous landowner was stoned to death and the king got his property.
Like Ahab and Jezebel, the indicted parents are powerful, wealthy, and accustomed to acquiring whatever they desire. Believing that everything and everyone has a price, they wanted their children accepted by the most prestigious schools. Like Ahab and Jezebel, they resorted to bribery and deception to attain that goal. As I looked at the names of those indicted—including CEOs, entrepreneurs, investors, lawyers, realtors, physicians, and entertainers—I couldn’t help but wonder what other illegal or unethical shortcuts they may have taken through the years.
On the other hand, we have the coaches, proctors, administrators, and others who accepted those bribes and carried out the scam. They’re not much different than the two men Jezebel bribed to falsely accuse Naboth of blasphemy or even Elisha’s money-hungry servant Gehazi. In gratitude for Elisha’s curing him of leprosy, Namaan offered gifts to the prophet. Since it was God’s hand that healed the man, Elisha refused the payment. Like Jezebel’s false witnesses and some of those indicted, Gehazi coveted a piece of that wealth and the servant hatched a plan to defraud Namaan. Gehazi got the gifts for himself and lied about them to Elisha.
Like those who coveted college admission for their children and bribed people to attain it, Ahab, Jezebel, and Gehazi stole what wasn’t theirs to take. Unlike those who accepted bribes and payoffs, however, both Naboth and Elisha refused to disobey God by selling what wasn’t theirs to sell. In the end, God avenged Naboth with the deaths of Ahab, Jezebel and their family; the deceitful Gehazi lost honor, position, and even his health. Right now, things don’t look too promising for those fifty people named in the indictment, either.
Few of us can afford to bribe our children’s way into top universities and few, if any, of us are in a position to facilitate such improprieties. Nevertheless, the enemy is an equal opportunity tempter. He continually offers opportunities to covet, steal, deceive, abuse our position, or sell our honor; it’s just that he does it on a much smaller scale with most of us. Encouraging us to think we’re more deserving than someone else, he tempts us to push our way ahead of others or grab a little of what isn’t ours to take. When God gave the law to Moses, he made it clear that bearing false witness, coveting, and bribery were prohibited and I’m pretty sure He hasn’t changed His mind in the 3,400 years since then. Call it what you want: taking a short cut, using influence, fixing, taking advantage, doing a special favor, greasing the wheels, a sweetheart deal, a gift, or a bribe; whether we offer or accept one, it’s always wrong.
I looked at the greedy squirrel caught in the bird feeder. He’d managed to get himself in but couldn’t get out and wasn’t even able to enjoy the seeds that enticed him there in the first place. Other squirrels, however, were gathered beneath the feeder feasting on the seeds he knocked out of the feeder with his frantic movements. That silly squirrel lives in a bird sanctuary where there is more than enough food in the way of fungi, nuts, seeds, fruit, caterpillars and insects (along with the bird seed that frequently spills from the bird feeders) to keep him plump and happy all year long. Nevertheless, unsatisfied with enough, he hungered for more. We’re not much different.
In 539 BC, thousands of Medes and Persians were digging outside Babylon’s walls. Thinking they were futilely trying to undermine the city’s impregnable walls, Babylon’s King Belshazzar was unconcerned. While carousing with 1,000 of his nobles, he gave orders to bring out the gold and silver cups that Nebuchadnezzar had looted from Jerusalem’s temple 47 years earlier. The revelers were drinking to their false Babylonian gods with vessels dedicated to the one true God when a human hand appeared and started writing on the plaster wall. No longer so arrogant, the frightened Belshazzar called for his astrologers and diviners but, when the pagans were incapable of deciphering God’s message, Daniel was called to interpret the words.
If you ever visited the Mayan ruins near Cancun, Mexico, chances are you saw the remains of a stone ball court with sloping walls. Nowhere near as impressive as the Mayan pyramids, I didn’t even take a picture when I saw one. Two stone rings hang about 20 feet up the walls. A ball game called pok-ta-pok was played there. As in volleyball, players passed a solid rubber ball around by hitting it with various parts of their bodies. Unlike volleyball, however, they could not touch the ball with their hands. The goal was to get the ball through one of the rings.
The eight of us were brainstorming a difficult and heartbreaking situation facing a family we know. We had plenty of ideas about getting them the assistance and guidance they needed but we could only direct them to the resources. They were the ones who needed to take action. Unfortunately, people often want the easy way out of their problems and desire money rather than counsel. Money, however, is usually only a stop gap measure and it frequently enables a bad situation to continue or get worse. The problem we were discussing required change, compromise, work and sacrifice far more than money. These people had to take action and, truth be told, I’m not so sure they wanted to step forward and act.
The following is a holiday pass-along story that has made the rounds on the Internet. Years ago, little Jimmy was shocked when his big sister told him there was no Santa. He tearfully went to his grandmother and asked her. Assuring Jimmy that Santa existed and she’d prove it to him, Grandma took him to the local department store. Instead of seeing the store Santa, as Jimmy expected they would, his grandmother gave him $10 and told him to use it to purchase a present for someone who needed one. Alone in the store, the boy pondered who should get a gift and finally decided on Robby, a boy in his classroom. Robby never went out at recess; although he said it was because he wanted to study, everyone knew it was because he didn’t have a warm coat. Jimmy found a brown wool coat, took it to the clerk and asked the price. After telling her he hoped he could afford it since it was a gift for a boy at school who didn’t have a coat, the clerk questioned how much he had. Proudly showing her his ten dollar bill, she told him that was the exactly what the coat cost and bagged it up for him.
