Greasing the Wheels or Sleazing the Deals?

Proverbs explicitly speaks of bribes no fewer than five times (15:27; 17:8, 23; 21:14; 29:4). The potentially disturbing thing for believers is that three times the book takes a decidedly negative perspective on bribes:

Greed brings grief to the whole family,but those who hate bribes will live. Prov. 15:27

The wicked take secret bribes to pervert the course of justice. Prov. 17:23

A just king gives stability to his nation,but one who demands bribes destroys it. Prov. 29:4

while the remaining two passages seem to encourage their use:

A bribe is like a lucky charm;whoever gives one will prosper! Prov. 17:8

A secret gift calms anger;a bribe under the table pacifies fury. Prov. 21:14

This is an instance where we do well to remember two things: (1) the "general" nature of Proverbs, and (2) the importance of context. Regarding the first point, regular readers should be familiar with the metaphor of Proverbs as "a floodlight, not a spotlight." In other words, the book offers us advice that is usually right...but not always. The proverbs are meant to be understood as if they are right most of the time--but not as immutable truths to be applied always and equally in all situations. Proverbs teaches contextual ethics.

This leads us directly into consideration of the different contexts in these five proverbs. The first three (i.e., those condemning bribery) seem to be focused on condemning those in positions of authority who accept bribes. The latter two proverbs (i.e., those that seem more accepting of bribery) are focused upon the wisdom of offering bribes.

It seems to me that there's a significant difference between acknowledging that something is effective, and affirming that it ought to be effective. I think Proverbs is just giving us straightforward advice: it's a bad idea to start accepting bribes because you're putting someone else in control of you when you do so...on the other hand, it may not be such a bad idea to offer bribes in order to get what you want. Sometimes, the bribe may even be a way of encouraging bad rulers to do good things. It reminds me of a discourse the late Milton Friedman had on the issue of how to clean up Congress.