This article is my thoughts and analysis on the topics of lying, stealing, deceit, and fraud as depicted in biblical narratives and their implications in contemporary society. The complexities of these themes, both in scripture and in modern human behavior. Many individuals wrestle with the moral and ethical dimensions of actions that may seem contradictory, especially when examining the lives of historical or biblical figures against contemporary practices.
In Leviticus 19:11-13 Moses gave another law to the children of Israel different from the laws he gave in Exodus 20. While addressing the children of Israel in Leviticus, Moses said; “‘Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another. Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. Do not defraud or rob your neighbor. Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight.” But funny enough these are the things King Solomon did that led to his wealth and God never punished him or destroyed him. These are the things all the wealthy people in the world are doing and God still did not kill them or punish them.
Let’s look at Leviticus 19:11-13 one after the others and see those that violated these laws and what happened to them.
DO NOT STEAL
This law sounds legit but Jacob stole his Uncle Laban’s business and wealth and God did nothing to punish him. I know we all read in Genesis 31:10-12 where Jacob claimed that “the Angel of God spoke to me in a dream, saying, ‘Jacob. ‘ And I said, ‘Here I am. ‘ And He said, ‘Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled, and gray-spotted; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.”
But this was a lie and after Jacob had successfully lied to his wives with this story, he built a successful conspiracy team with his wives who had already developed a resentment towards Laban their father. And in Genesis 30:30-40 Jacob approached Laban with boldness and said, “The little you had before I came has grown enormously, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I went. Now it is time for me to look out for my own interests.” What shall I pay you?” Laban asked. Jacob answered, “I don’t want any wages. I will continue to take care of your flocks if you agree to this suggestion: Let me go through all your flocks today and take every black lamb[b] and every spotted or speckled young goat. That is all the wages I want. In the future, you can easily find out if I have been honest. When you come to check up on my wages, if I have any goat that isn’t speckled or spotted or any sheep that isn’t black, you will know that it has been stolen.”
Laban answered, “Agreed. We will do as you suggest.” But that day Laban removed the male goats that had stripes or spots and all the females that were speckled and spotted or which had white on them; he also removed all the black sheep. He put his sons in charge of them and then went away from Jacob with this flock as far as he could travel in three days. Jacob took care of the rest of Laban’s flocks.
Jacob got green branches of poplar, almond, and plane trees and stripped off some of the bark so that the branches had white stripes on them. He placed these branches in front of the flocks at their drinking troughs. He put them there because the animals mated when they came to drink. So when the goats bred in front of the branches, they produced young that were streaked, speckled, and spotted. Jacob kept the sheep separate from the goats and made them face in the direction of the streaked and black animals of Laban’s flock. In this way, he built up his own flock and kept it apart from Laban’s.”
To straighten the record straight that Jacob’s wealth was gotten by stealing, it was recorded in Genesis 31:1-25 that “But Jacob soon learned that Laban’s sons were grumbling about him. “Jacob has robbed our father of everything!” they said. “He has gained all his wealth at our father’s expense.” And Jacob began to notice a change in Laban’s attitude toward him.”
I know that the prosperity preachers had told us that what happened between Jacob and Laban was the transfer of wealth but that is not true. What happened was pure fraud and stealing. God does not have to pull someone down to elevate the other.
DO NOT LIE
I know so many of us have been taught not to lie. A larger percentage of us were badly punished for lying. Friends, don’t let anyone deceive you. Lying is not a sin as long as it doesn’t destroy someone or endanger someone’s life. God told Prophet Samuel to lie that he was coming to make sacrifices in town when he was in town to anoint David as King in 1 Samuel 16:1-4, “The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.” Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”
Jesus Christ lied that He was not going to feast and yet He later went in secret in John 7:1-10 it was said that, “After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” For even his own brothers did not believe in him. Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you, any time will do. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. You go to the festival. I am not[b]going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.” After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee. However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret.”
Not just that, Abraham lied against his Wife Sarah in Genesis 12 and the gift Pharoah gave him to marry Sarah led to his wealth in Genesis 13:1-2 where it was said that “So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.”
Like father like son, Isaac also lied about his Wife, Jacob lied about the angel of the Lord teaching him what to do to rip off his Uncle Laban, and his sons lied about the death of their brother Joseph.
Lying can be wisdom, it can be a means to protect yourself and your loved ones from a potential danger. Some professions and businesses require lots of lies to thrive they just cannot help it. For example, when Lawyers lie to win a case, we tag the person as a good lawyer. When a businessperson lies to zeal a business deal, we tag the person as a good businessperson. Religious leaders and political leaders are not exempt from this and when they lie which they always do, in the heart and mind of the people the person is untruthful and ungodly.
No economy in the world can grow without lies. No government can succeed without lies. But the majority of us will not see it because those lies are covered with policies, laws, and promises. Funny enough, those who lie so easily to achieve their aims and objectives are the very ones who talk, teach, and preach against lies. God will help us all.
If you know what you want for your life, determine your own life and never allow anyone to use you to achieve their aims and objectives and then dump you.
DO NOT DECEIVE ONE ANOTHER
In Jeremiah 9:5–6, it was said “They all deceive their neighbors, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongues to speak lies; they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent. Oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit! They refuse to know me, says the Lord.”
Deceit is one of the tools for great people such as religious leaders, politicians, and businesspersons. The Deceitful Company – Is This Yours?
Renà Leigh
Principle Consultant at HAMO Solutions. Bold…
Published Jul 13, 2023
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First, a disclaimer. This isn’t directed at any one company. In my many years in the workforce and the many organizations I’ve worked in as an employee, consultant, and contractor, I’ve seen these patterns over and over. When challenged, we’re told this is simply the way business works.
Perhaps it is. But should it be?
In my experience, it’s a rare company that isn’t deceitful in its practice because deceit comes in many forms. The main problem with this (aside from the obvious ethical issues) is that deceitful companies encourage deceitful employees and a deceitful society at large.
Here are some common forms of deceit by companies that are simply taken for granted as ‘the way things are’:
Making a fuss about the vision and mission of the company to external parties but never discussing or putting in place practices to support these internally.
Never, ever talk about cultural issues that cause toxic working environments even though they are obvious to everyone.
Promising benefits to employees and then making it difficult or downright impossible to access them…if they exist at all.
Creating damaging policies and then hanging onto them and claiming they are ‘good for the company’ when it’s clear they are counterproductive.
Hiring the ‘best’ people, then micromanaging them and treating them with distrust around things like sick leave and time management.
Supporting toxic managers and management practices while telling everyone that ‘all our people matter to us’ and ‘we’re like a family here’.
Failing to admit when senior management makes mistakes (and all too ready to clobber those below management who make mistakes).
Making people redundant without warning or, even worse, after stating there will be no redundancies. This is particularly bad around the Christmas season.
Telling employees that their feelings matter and their concerns will be heard then making them redundant through an impersonal email.
Encouraging employees to speak out about issues then, at best, ignoring them and at worst, punishing them through blocking career opportunities and making them redundant.
Encouraging unethical behavior if it ‘gets the numbers up’, making profit more important than ethical business practice.
Praising employees in public for being innovative and creative while refusing to back the same innovative and creative ideas behind the scenes.
Telling people to bring their ‘true selves’ to work but not openly supporting them when they do, leaving them vulnerable and exposed.
Hiring people who ‘think outside the box’ only to tell them that change needs to happen slowly and perhaps tweaking the status quo is best.
Spending internal company gatherings talking about growth and revenue while ignoring all the other aspects of business that feed into those numbers, making it appear that all that matters is whatever gets the profit margin up.
Boasting in company announcements about the increase in profits and profit margins, then telling employees that the company can’t afford to give a raise this year.
Putting up job descriptions that talk about how important it is to hire people that ‘fit the business’, then hiring the cheapest options on the market.
Putting up job descriptions talking about how ‘exciting’ and ‘unique’ the job is while in truth it’s stock standard, dry as a bone boring work and they’re not even going to pay anyone well to do it.
Positions advertised with ‘competitive salary’ when they mean what can they talk the candidate down to instead of stating up front what they will pay. After all, the candidate might not know what the market is willing to pay for their skills.
Hiring people knowing they are looking to advance their career, then passing those people up for advancement because they’re too valuable where they are.
All of these things are deceitful by nature and I could add many more. All of them continue to create mediocre business models that encourage employees to be deceitful themselves to survive let alone thrive. The Nigerian banks, religious leaders, and politicians are worse when it comes it comes to deceit. They are devils in human skin and it’s so disheartening to see how these individuals have no concern for the people lead or have a rethink over their business models and the effects they are having on the people, the communities, their clients, and their organizations.
DO NOT SWEAR FALSELY BY MY NAME
This is one aspect of human life that is so shameful. I might not be able to say much about other countries but in Nigeria, all government officials swear by the Bible or Sharia Law into the office, and yet they still steal and commit all kinds of atrocities while in office. The fear of God means nothing to them.
Swearing, often makes us appear ill-educated, rude, and untrustworthy, as our Parents might have tried to drill into us. But it could have some surprising benefits, from making us more persuasive to helping relieve pain.
According to Richard Stephens, a psychologist and an author, swearing is handled by the brain differently than regular language. While most language is located in the cortex and specific language areas in the left hemisphere of the brain, swearing might be associated with a more rudimentary, older area of the brain.
“Aphasics usually have damage to the left hemisphere and often have difficulty with speech. But there are plenty of recorded cases in which aphasics can use stereotypical language more fluently – meaning they can sing songs or swear fluently,” Stephens says. “Research with people who suffer from Tourette’s syndrome, in which some have swearing tics, suggests that swearing is associated with a deeper lying brain structure – the basal ganglia.”
DO NOT DEFRAUD OR ROB YOUR NEIGHBOR
Fraudulent acts are a major destroyer of the economy, people, and nations. High levels of corruption damage long-term growth & development:
Deters foreign investment by increasing the cost and risk of doing business in a country
This leads to allocative inefficiency diverting public resources for private gain, there are numerous examples of extravagant wealth in economically less developed countries
Government decisions are often unduly influenced by lobbying
Contributes to persistent income & wealth inequality and reduced progress in cutting extreme poverty
Causes a loss of trust and a breakdown of social capital
This leads to poorer human development outcomes because governments are not collecting sufficient tax revenues
DO NOT HOLD BACK THE WAGES OF A HIRED WORKER OVERNIGHT
The worst part is holding back worker’s salary. This part is very heartbreaking and the African government is very guilty of this. I don’t want to say much about this because it’s very annoying. Just don’t understand why people will work and not get paid. A thing like this is a catalyst to destroy any nation or government.
Thank you for reading. If you would like to invite Sam Adeoye to speak at any of your events, you can reach him directly at +2348037723500.
Sam Adeoye