Note 49:2 — Chapter VI
Reading edition
Exodus iii. 19-22. Here is a command from the Lord to deceive, and lie, and steal, which, according to the narrative, was carried out to the letter (Ex. xii. 35, 36); and yet we are told that this same Lord said: "Thou shalt not steal." (Ex. xx. 15.) Again he says: "That shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob him." (Leviticus xix. 18.) Surely this is inconsistency.