Think as a Noahite About:
LYING
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Rabbi Zvi Aviner
Noahidesevencommandments.com
Everyone knows that cheating is a bad behavior.
Once you are caught with a lie, your character is tainted forever.
A West Point officer would never lie,
a British gentleman caught lying
would be thrown out of the club.
The question is how should we, BN, relate to lying?
What does the Torah say about it?
Lying in the Court
In the Ten Commandments, number 9 says:
“You shall not bear false witness against your fellow” (20: 13)
Here the Torah addresses a witness in the human court,
warning him against lying.
Then in exodus the Torah says:
“ Do not pervert the judgment of your destitute in his grievance
Distance yourself from a false word” (23: 7)
Here again the Torah relates to the court,
this time warning the judge.
Then, in Leviticus the Torah says:
“You shall not steal. You shall not deny falsely,
And you shall not lie to one another
You shall not swear falsely by my name” (19: 11)
Here , clearly, the Torah continues to relate to the court,
This time warning the litigants, to speak the truth.
“You shall not bear false witness
against your fellow” (Ex. 20: 13)
“Distance yourself from a false word” (Ex. 23: 7)
“And you shall not lie to one another (Lev. 19:11.)
Hence from the Torah perspective,
lying is forbidding – in the Court.
She warns the witnesses, the judge and the litigants.
The Talmud takes those prohibition very seriously.
It describes 12 ways the judges should
keep themselves away from hearing a lie.
And also how extensively the witnesses should be investigated
As well as how the litigants themselves should be scrutinized.
Law experts say that there is no other system of justice in the world
That come even close to the level of scrutiny done in the Torah Courts.
Lying outside the court
The Torah does not speak of lying outside the court.
The RMBM explains that the Torah is concerned
about the integrity of society, civil order,
and the implementation of Justice.
Those two components: CIVIL ORDER and JUSTICE.
are the basic of Noahite Comm five.
It is a positive Comm, telling us to be proactive
To erect courts, appoint judges and a police force.
Unlike all other Noah’s Comm. Which are “negative”.
Lying therefore is not forbidden for its own sake,
but rather for the damage it causes to society and justice.
What about lying outside the court,
in daily relationship between Man and his Fellowman?
But the rabbis, over centuries ,
expanded the prohibition vastly
Into all the corners of our lives.
It is forbidden to cheat within our families,
In the markets while trading,
Even falsely presenting your product
For instance, it is forbidden to cut out with scissor
a key word from a book and replace it with another word
to mispresent the author.
Similarly, it is forbidden to cut a word from the prophet,
Replace it by another world – to sell your theology.
When the Rabbis expanded the prohibition of lying
To life outside the court, they followed another Commandment
“To walk in Hashem’s ways,” to emulate Hashem.
Tas the prophet Samuel says: “The Eternal of Israel never lies.”
Since Hashem is truthful, so should we be truthful.
So far, we’ve seen the Torah’s words to Israel.
The Books of Exodus and Leviticus address Israel.
What does the Torah say to Noahites about lying?
Noahites
For that we need to go to the Book of Genesis
That takes us through Adam’s Si Commandments.
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Let’s see what we can learn about Lying
From the Book of Genesis.
Genesis Ch 1: Truth from Earth
We begin with the story of Creation in Genesis Ch 1.
Here the Torah presents IDOLATRY, Adm’s First Comm.
It does not mention lying.
Yet, there is a Midrash that describes the creation of Adam,
Where lying is addressed as a major fault of Mankind.
When ELKM was planning Adam, He consulted various entities
saying to each one : “Let Us”, me and you,
“Make an Adam in our Form and Image.”
Thus, when He came to consult the Truth,
Truth objected and said : Don’t make Adam,
For he would be full of lies.
ELKM did not listen, and He threw Truth to the ground,
Saying to the angles: “Truth will grow from the Earth.”
Thus,He made Adam to bring out the Truth from Earth.
For instance,
Adam would overcome IDOLATRY
And believe in Hashem and His Oneness.
2 Eden: Lying, the work of the Serpent
Now what can we learn about cheating and lying
From the next story in Genesis – the Garden of Eden?
Here the Torah presents Adam’s Comm 2: ADULTERY.
When it says “Therefore a man leaves his father and mother,
Cleaves to his wife so that they become one flesh.”
Thus the Torah moves from the prohibition of IDOLATRY in chp1,
To the prohibition of ADULTERY in Eden.
But here we find the cunning Serpent,
The master of cheating.
The Serpent was both – naked and smart.
Naked, as a beast of the field which cannot ever perceive YHVH
Smart, as an animal can ever be.
It cleverly lied to the woman saying in wonder,
Had G-d really told your husband not to touch the Tree,
for when you touch it, you die?
DON’T BE FOOL! Nothing bad would happen!
The Serpent lied – misquoted God’s warning,
So when the woman did touch the Tree,
nothing happened, and she went on to eat the fruit.
Lying is depicted here as the work of the Serpent.
Hence, It might be forbidden on its own sake,
And act of rebellion against God.
This is indeed the teaching of the Church,
which forbids lying as a tool of Satan.
But we one can say that since the Serpent’s cheated
for a purpose, to inflict damage upon the humans,
it is not the lying for itself which is at focus here
but rather lying to inflict damage.
Indeed, this is the approach of the RMBM as we have seen
That lying is forbidden because it destroys society and justice.
After the expulsion from Eden,
Adam and Eve came on Earth equipped
with Six Commandments that Hashem
had given them in Eden
To assure their success in the new world.
The cunning Serpent too came down to Earth,
Entering our souls as our Yetzer Hara,
our innermost drive to sin.
And like In Eden, it keeps driving us to sin by lying,
Whispering to our ears – DON’T LISTEN TO GOD,
DON’T BE FOOL! Nothing bad would happen to you!
Enjoy the fruit, you live only Once!
As in Eden, the Serpent in our heart does not know YHVH.
It does refer to ELKM and the Laws,
Twisting ELKM’s words.
It has become the drive to commit
IDOLATRY, ADULTERY, THEFT, INJUSTICE and BLASPHEMY
Assuring us that nothing bad could happen
And that we should feel free to do whatever we wish.
3: Bloodshed, from Cain to the Flood
The Serpent inside us can be so strong
That it would bring us to believe that Hashem
doesn’t even look at us.
You can see in Genesis’ next story,
involving BLOODSHED, Adam’s Third.
Here Hashem asks Cain: Where is your brother?
And Cain answers like an innocent person –
I do not know! Am I my brother kipper?
Cain was lying, surrendering to the Serpent in his heart.
4: Abraham’s Charity
We move on to the stories about Abraham,
That revolve around THEFT to its kinds -Adam’s 4th Comm.
What can we learn about lying?
Abraham opposed Sodom and Gomorra,
Whose culture was based on lying.
All the stories about them revolve around
Cheating their victims with lot of fun.
For instance,
When the three angels are hosted by Lot,
the Sodomite mob surrounds the hose calling Lot
To let the guest out so that they, the Sodomites, would know them.
What they meant was to perform on the guests Sodomite act,
Sexual torture.
But there is story about Abraham himself that involves lying.
When Abraham wonders into the Philistine land
He tells them that s Sarah his wife was his sister
which was half the truth.
Abraham concealed the fact that Sarah was his wife,
Fearing that the Philistines would kill him and take her.
She was taken nevertheless, but from that story
The Rabbis derived that, generally speaking, one should not
mislead people by telling only half of the truth,
unless forced, like Abraham.
We can deduct that although revealing only half of the truth
Is generally forbidden, yet one may do this to save life.
Such a presentation of only half of the truth
is a form of lying called Stealing the Mind.
It is forbidden , yet like with Abraham it may be overridden
for a good cause.
What about lying to make people happy?
Can you lie to a bride telling her she is exceptionally pretty?
The Talmud describes a debate about that.
The House of Shamai school held that one can’t lie to the bride,
The opposing other school of the House of Hillel,
held that one may praise the beauty of bride, even she is clearly not
.
The debate is possible because lying from the Torah perspective
pertains only to situation in the court, not in the wedding hall.
One may argue about Lying outside the court because
The issue is Rabbinical, not scriptural.
Now, if you may lie for a good goal, to make one happy,
Could you lie for a greater goal, like bringing the truth out?
And here come the series of stories about Jacob
Whose life revolved around lies.
Jacob is forced to lie time and again.
Disguising himself as Esau, by the advice of Rebecca,
For she thought that bringing justice to the word
Is more important than not lying.
Jacob struggled against lies later in Laban house,
Where Laban cheated him with his two daughters
And also as an employer, not paying Jacob the right compensation.
Jacob responds by lying back, to implement his JUSTICE.
So here we see that one may use lying for getting the truth.
And when Jacob’s daughter Dinah was abducted and raped
By the son of the Mayor of the city of Shechem,
Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi cheat the perpetrators
And kill him and his people.
Though Jacob is angered, fearing the repercussions,
Yet what they did was the right thing,
Implementing justice even through lying.
Thus again, lying is not something that is absolutely forbidden
Asd the work of the Serpent or Satan,
But something that can be overlooked for a good purpose,
Like for saving life, or even for making people a bit happier,
Or for a more serious purpose like implementing JUSTICE and CIVIL ORDER.
A clear breach of Civil Order , Adam’s 5th Command.
Thus the prohibition of lying is framed both in
Genesis and in the Ten Commandments
within the topic of Civil Order and Justice,
which is Noahide Comm 5th.
Hence since it was told to both Noahites and Israelites,
It applies to both, Noahites and Israelites.
Unlike other Comm of Moses
That were given to Israel only.
They apply to Israel only.
Can both Israel and Noahites bring forth
the Truth from the Earth?
On that, let’s recall the words of Jeremiah who says
Hashem my rock and my shelter,
To you, nations will come and say:
It is only a lie that our fathers inherited us,
A Vanity, that have no merit.