Leviticus 6:3

3 Or has taken a false oath about the loss of something which he has come across by chance; if a man has done any of these evil things,

Leviticus 6:3 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 6:3

Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it,
&c.] Who having found anything lost, at once concludes it his own, and converts it to his own use, never inquiring after the proprietor of it, or taking any method to get knowledge of him, and restore it to him; but so far from that, being suspected of finding it, and charged with it denies it: Maimonides ^F11 gives a reason why a lost thing should be restored, not only because so to do is a virtue in itself praiseworthy, but because it has a reciprocal utility; for if you do not restore another's lost things, neither will your own be restored to you:

and sweareth falsely;
which is to be understood, not of the last case only, but of all the rest, or of anyone of them, as it follows:

in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein;
by unfaithfulness in a trust, cheating, defrauding, lying, and false swearing.

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 40.

Leviticus 6:3 In-Context

1 And the Lord said to Moses,

2 If anyone does wrong, and is untrue to the Lord, acting falsely to his neighbour in connection with something put in his care, or something given for a debt, or has taken away anything by force, or has been cruel to his neighbour,

3 Or has taken a false oath about the loss of something which he has come across by chance; if a man has done any of these evil things,

4 Causing sin to come on him, then he will have to give back the thing he took by force or got by cruel acts, or the goods which were put in his care or the thing he came on by chance,

5 Or anything about which he took a false oath; he will have to give it all back, with the addition of a fifth of its value, to him whose property it is, when he has been judged to be in the wrong.