For the source text click/tap here: Shavuot 42
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The Gemara answers:Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya’akov and the Rabbis disagree with regard to the statement of Rabba, as Rabba says: For what reason did the Torah say that one who admits to a part of the claim must take an oath? It is because there is a presumptionthat a person does not exhibit insolence by lying in the presence of his creditor, who did him a favor by lending money to him. And this person who denies part of the claim actually wants to deny all of the debt, so as to be exempt, and this fact, i.e., that he does not denyall of it, is because a person does not exhibit insolence in the presence of his creditor.
We explore the notion of self interest and the frailty of virtue.