Chapter Ten – The Eighth Commandment — “You Shall Not Steal”

Next Part Tithes and Offerings Belong to God

Next, God thundered the EIGHTH COMMANDMENT, recorded in Exodus 20:15: “YOU SHALL NOT STEAL.”

To obey this command is to respect the property and possessions of others. It also entails the way people are to conduct business. God’s Way is honesty, fairness, and justice in all dealings, including every facet of finances and accounting.

Stealing Brings Consequences

God views stealing as an act of deception, which is lying. In Leviticus 19:11, 13, stealing is classified: “You shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another…You shall not defraud your neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with you all night until the morning.” God’s laws protect those who, through hard work, seek to make an honest living. The violators of His law were to be punished with swift justice, thus instilling fear in many potential thieves and scam artists.

As part of the punishment, God required that the thief pay more than the original value of what was taken. The amount was to be determined by judges, but in some cases, was set in law. Exodus 22:1 explains how this was usually applied: “If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.”

The thief was at greater risk in Israel because he forfeited any protection of his life under the law. “If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him” (Ex 22:2). God’s laws protected and benefited the victim. On the other hand, modern laws tend to favor the perpetrators, who are often the ones portrayed as the victims. Today, we are far removed from God’s way of justice. People of the liberal establishment, well entrenched in the judiciary systems of this world, make themselves out to be more righteous than God.

In ancient Israel, the penalty for kidnapping was death. Notice: “If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and makes merchandise of him, or sells him [slavery]; then that thief shall die; and you shall put evil away from among you” (Deut. 24:7). God allowed no loopholes for liberal judges or lawyers, who thrive in our day. The penalty for kidnapping or any other transgression was fixed and non-negotiable. Everyone knew exactly what was at stake when they considered committing a crime. Although capital punishment is viewed as harsh by many today, this is meant to act as a deterrent against crime. God reveals that this is how a nation removes evil from being a problem.

Certain classes of people are generally vulnerable to theft and deception. The elderly are usually preyed upon by scam artists. The poor are usually sought out by petty thieves. In Isaiah 10:1-2, God chastised Israel for not defending the poor and needy whom God put in their care: “Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; to turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of My people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!”

When God condemned ancient Israel or Judah for wickedness, stealing was usually listed first among their sins. Take Jeremiah 7:8-10, for example: “Behold, you trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom you know not; and come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?”

It is remarkable how this rebuke against Judah, shortly before the Babylonian captivity, fits the mentality of self-professing Christians today. Most of those who attend the major denominations consider themselves “delivered” to do as they please—to break the laws of God with impunity. They believe that righteousness is imputed to them, through grace, regardless of their conduct. Paul directly states that grace is not a license to sin and claim immunity (Rom. 6:1-2). (We will look at this in much more detail in Chapter Fifteen.)

Withholding the wages of a hired worker is also stealing. Many employers practice this deceit. James 5:4-6 states, “Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; you have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and killed the just; and he does not resist you.”

This powerful rebuke is a slap in the face to any who conclude that, as long as one just has “love,” there is no obligation to their fellow man.

New Testament Teachings

Here is Paul’s clear admonition to the Church: “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needs” (Eph. 4:28). Paul understood that before learning the truth and coming into the Church, many had violated the Eighth Commandment. He admonished them never to steal again, but to provide for themselves and others through honest hard work. Paul stressed the necessity of honest hard labour in providing for one’s dependents.

A thief’s motives and actions are completely opposed to the way of Christ. Notice: “The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Realize that a thief comes to get for himself and to take as he sees fit. Christ, on the other hand, came to give. And He gave the principles by which His followers can have abundant life.

Romans 2:21 makes a serious charge: “You therefore which teaches another, teach you not yourself? You that preach a man should not steal, do you steal?” Paul was addressing the Jews as teachers, since they had been schooled in the law. Yet the message applies to any who have the opportunity to teach. They are held accountable by Christ to “practice what they preach.”