Cheat, Lie and Steal

In our modern age, we take cheating, lying and stealing for granted. Our politicians do it. Our wholesalers and retailers do it. We tolerate it in our families. We eventually are corrupted and begin to do it ourselves. However, that is not the way that YHVH taught us nor the way that Yeshua taught us. At Leviticus 19:11, the Torah says:

You shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.

The word for steal is ginab which literally means to get anything by stealth. Stealing is not just taking something that does not belong to you, it is also tricking someone into giving up something that is theirs through fraud and stealth. Our elections sound like they are being stolen. Certainly, the barrage of advertising that tells less than the whole truth about a product is stealing. When we tell a woman or a man that we love them so that they will sleep with us, that also is stealing.

The word for deal falsely is kachash which literally means deceive, deny, dissemble, and lie. So this word also talks about deceit, but here the deceit is in the way that we deal with someone. When we really do not mean what we say and seek to gain an advantage by our actions, we are dealing falsely. When you say that you make a certain amount of money to get a loan for a house, when in fact you do not make enough to afford the house, that is dealing falsely. The bank that helps you, the realtor that helps you, and the loan officer that turns the blind eye also are guilty of dealing falsely. The politician that tells lies about his opponent is dealing falsely with the people.

The word for lie is shakar which literally means deceit, dissemble, and lie.

The intent of the Divine Author of this mitzvot was to foreclose all forms of lying. Our laws foreclose many of the same forms of lying, but we tolerate lying in our society. We tolerate the lie and even teach the lie. My daughter-in-law tells her child who is neither overly precocious nor slow that he is the brightest child in the world and can do anything he wants. When he discovers that he is not the brightest or the most talented, what will he think. Rather than attack his mother, he will conclude that fudging on the truth is alright.

Lies bite. They eventually come back to haunt. They can cause great harm. What is the value of the testimony of a witness who regularly fudges on the truth. And what is the value of a government that hides behind the word classified to keep its lies from being found out.

The society that existed before the Flood was a society like ours. It did the same crimes that we do. Finally, it was destroyed and if we do not change, we will fall as well.

Perhaps the greatest liars are the evangelical ministers who claim that the teach the bible and yet leave out the Torah. It is no surprise that 1/3, about 100,000,000 of our fellow citizens have refused to be part of churches which do not live up to their own standards.

My advice, stop cheating, lying and stealing.