Exodus 23:8

Now one more verse, turn to Exodus 23. A person receiving bribes does not know what fair is, and so he produces squabbling and division because others rightfully feel cheated and denied.

If you want to make a child blind, then you regulate, you govern his behavior, by bribing him. What do you do with your child? You make him into an extortionist. And in so doing, duty, responsibility, sacrifice, obligation, fairness in his relationships to and with others is destroyed, because the person receiving the bribes does not even discern what fairness or justice is. It destroys loyalty and attachment to a larger group, the family or the community, because the bribed one sees himself as the most important in all relationships. That one is bad news.

Exodus 23:8

There are no ifs, ands, or buts dangling from that command. It is very clear. No bribes, whatever. It is clear as a bell in God's intent, but Solomon says something later in Proverbs that reveals both his cynicism and his sarcasm. By this I do not mean that Solomon was against God in what he said, but rather he reveals what a jaded society does regardless of what God says:

Exodus 23:7-8

The reference is to taking bribes which lead to the death of the innocent, probably in a judicial context. Such bribes are of course “under the counter,” secret. This is of course in reference to the ninth commandment, forbidding bearing false witness. (see Exodus 20:16 and, more specifically, Exodus 23:7-8)

Exodus 23:6-9

Every one of these principles has to do with equity—judging impartially. Even a person who was not even a citizen, a stranger, was supposed to be dealt with in a fair manner—an equitable manner—because Israel had known much oppression in Egypt.

Exodus 23:8

An alternate translation is that the gift makes seeing men blind.