Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 6:3
Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:
3. that which was lost ] See Exo 22:8-9.
The two characteristics of the Guilt-Offering are (1) the sacrifice is the same for all classes, (2) restitution is required in full, together with a fifth part more.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 3. Have found that which was lost] The Roman lawyers laid it down as a sound maxim of jurisprudence, “that he who found any property and applied it to his own use, should be considered as a thief whether he knew the owner or not; for in their view the crime was not lessened, supposing the finder was totally ignorant of the right owner.” Qui alienum quid jacens lucri faciendi causa sustulit, furti obstringitur, sive scit, cujus sit, sive ignoravit; nihil enim ad furtum minuendum, facit, quod, cujus sit, ignoret. – DIGESTOR, lib. xlvii., TIT. ii., de furtis, Leg. xliii., sec. 4. On this subject every honest man must say, that the man who finds any lost property, and does not make all due inquiry to find out the owner, should, in sound policy, be treated as a thief. It is said of the Dyrbaeans, a people who inhabited the tract between Bactria and India, that if they met with any lost property, even on the public road, they never even touched it. This was actually the case in this kingdom in the time of Alfred the Great, about A. D. 888; so that golden bracelets hung up on the public roads were untouched by the finger of rapine. One of Solon’s laws was, Take not up what you laid not down. How easy to act by this principle in case of finding lost property: “This is not mine, and it would be criminal to convert it to my use unless the owner be dead and his family extinct.” When all due inquiry is made, if no owner can be found, the lost property may be legally considered to be the property of the finder.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Sweareth falsely; his oath being required, seeing there was no other way of discovery left.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it,…. 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 k 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.
k Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 40.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(3) Or have found.The fifth instance adduced is of property which was neither entrusted nor exacted but accidentally found. For the law on lost property, see Exo. 23:4; Deu. 22:1-3.
And sweareth falsely.This refers to all the five instances specifiedthat is, if he denies with an oath that property had been entrusted to him, that he had robbed, or exacted, or found anything.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Found lost The Roman code was evidently the voice of the same Divine Legislator speaking the same words through nature as he spake to Moses in the tabernacle. By that code he who found and appropriated any property was punished as a thief, whether he knew the owner or not. A brief statute of Solon was, “Take not up what you laid not down.”
Property as a natural right, without which civilization would be annihilated and the human race become extinct, finds ample safeguards in the Holy Scriptures.
Sweareth falsely Avarice is the mother of lying and perjury.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 6:3. In any of all these that a man doeth Houbigant renders this, in any one of these things wherein men are used to offend: in which he follows the Vulgate, and other versions, as well as the interpretation of Grotius. It was not peculiar to the Hebrew law, to account that man a thief, who detained any thing from the true owner that he had found. We are told of the Dyrbaans, who inhabited that tract which extends from Bactria to India, and were celebrated for justice among their neighbours, that in case they found any gold or silver, clothes, or any thing else, upon the road, they would by no means touch it. The inhabitants of Biblos, in the neighbourhood of Judea, had the same law. To the same purpose was that law of Solon, take not up what ye have not laid down; with which the decision of the Roman lawyers also agreed: and the case was the same with our Saxon ancestors in the days of Alfred. However, it is unquestionably lawful to use as our own what we have found, after all due inquiry has been made to discover the owner.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
It is much to be wished, that this was properly considered in common life. Deu 22:1-4 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 6:3 Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:
Ver. 3. And lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely. ] Through inordinate love of money, that “root of all evil”; a but such money shall perish with them. Zec 5:3
a Quid non mortalia pectora cogit auri sacra fames? .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
man. Heb ‘adam. App-14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
have found: Exo 23:4, Deu 22:1-3
sweareth: Lev 19:12, Exo 22:9-11, Pro 30:9, Jer 5:2, Jer 7:9, Zec 5:4, Mal 3:5
Reciprocal: Exo 22:11 – an oath of the Lord Num 5:6 – When
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 6:3. Sweareth falsely His oath being required, seeing there was no other way of discovery left. And is guilty Makes his guilt manifest by his voluntary confession upon remorse; whereby he reapeth this benefit, that he only restores the principal with the addition of a fifth part; whereas, if he were convicted of his fault, he was to pay in some cases five-fold, in some four-fold, in others double.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
6:3 Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, {c} sinning therein:
(c) In which he cannot but sin: or, in which a man accustoms to sin by perjury or such like thing.