Exodus 23:2

Thou shalt not follow a multitude, either their counsel or example. But the Hebrew rabbin both here and in the following clause is by some rendered great men, men in power and authority, whom we are commanded not to follow. And as the word is thus used Job 32:9 Jeremiah 41:1, so this sense may seem most probable,

1. Because in the last clause he speaks of causes or controversies, as the Hebrew rib signifies; and matters of judgment, which were not determined by the multitude, but by great men.

2. Because these are opposed to the poor in the next verse.

3. Because the examples of such men are most prevalent. To do evil, either in general or particular, to work mischief, to oppress or crush another. Neither shalt thou speak, Heb. answer, when thou art summoned as a witness in any cause. To wrest judgment, or to turn aside right, or to pervert thyself the verb being taken reciprocally, as hiphil is oft put for hithpahel; or, which is all one, to do perverserly, i.e. unrighteously.