Deuteronomy

16:19-20  You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

This is the instruction God gave for the behavior of appointed judges. At first glance this appears to be harsh. That is, harsh that the people who do nothing but dwell in the towns these judges are appointed over will suffer if the judges don’t follow what are certainly the excellent instructions of the Lord. And so they did and so we do to this day for which 95 out of a hundred men in positions of judgment do not show partiality nor take a bribe? The reason it is not harsh, however, is because the people are responsible to see that those “elected” to such positions do not show partiality and do not accept bribes and if they do to remove them and replace them with others. Unfortunately, the reality speaks to the total depravity of man for it is not only the 95 out of 100 in positions of power that are corrupt but 95 out of 100 who are supposed to be watching them. And so, the perversion of justice has been with us from the beginning and will always be with us. And the reason is simple, it is the same reason that explains the never changing condition of the world, it is to bring you to saving faith in the Lord, to force you to turn to God as the only true source of truth and justice and the only One you can have FAITH in. All human existence is a faith test and reasons to not place your faith in man are everywhere to be found.