Do Not Steal Part One The eighth commandment is You shall not steal. Exodus 20:15 This commandment is one of the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses and wrote on clay tablets. He meant it to be practiced but exactly how? In this study various names for stealing will be explained and the results of each wrong practice will be commented. If a correction is given in the scripture verse, it will also be noted. NAMES: FALSE BALANCE UNRIGHTEOUS DEALINGS A false balance and unrighteous dealings are extremely offensive and shamefully sinful to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight. Proverbs 11:1 EXPLANATION: Trade is a sense of an equal exchange. A false balance is an unequal exchange. Unrighteous dealings are deals that are not right. There is a sense of unfairness. This deal is unjust. RESULT: Both an unequal exchange and deals that are not right are sinful. The Lord now has a needy person who had the unfair part of the trade. The Lord wants people to help the needy not make needy people. The false balance and unrighteous dealings are extremely offensive to him. The Lord shames the offender. CORRECTION: Delight the Lord with a just balance. The trade will be complete and happy for both parties. The exchange will produce correct ownership of each item received or money exchanged. NAME: GREAT REVENUES WITH INJUSTICE Better is little with righteousness (uprightness in every area and relation and right standing with God) than great revenues with injustice. Proverbs 16:8 EXPLANATION: Injustice is defined in the dictionary as a violation of the rights of others. If a person obtains a lot of money while violating another s rights, he or she is better off having only a little money. Money comes from God and God cannot give a person a lot of money is he is displeased with him or her. God does not like unfairness towards another person He wants people to help people in the working for money not cause other people to need help because of unjust money dealings. God is a just God especially with the poor and the needy. RESULT: God says it is better to have only a little money and be in right relationship to people for that is in right standing with Him. NAME: SECURING TREASURES BY A LYING TONGUE Page 1 of 11
Securing treasures by lying tongue is a vapor driven to and fro: those who seek them seek death. Proverbs 21:6 EXPLANATION: If a person is not genuine when seeking to obtain something he will not be able to get it. The trying to get it will be like chasing a vapor back and forth. It cannot be caught. RESULT: The end result in this seeking by lying about the exchange reasoning will be death to this subject. It will not be discussed any more. NAMES: OPPRESSING THE POOR TO GET GAIN GIVING TO THE RICH He who oppresses the poor to get gain for himself and he who gives to the rich both will surely come to want. Proverbs 22:16 EXPLANATION: Oppress is defined as crushing or burdening because of abuse of power. Someone who is poor cannot defend himself against the powerful. Another idea of stealing is giving to the rich rather than the poor. The poor are in need of a gift, the rich are not. God who provides for people does not provide for those who abuse the poor. RESULT: Not to have enough is to be in a state of want. God will put into a state of want those that mistreat the poor by abuse of power or avoiding the needs of the poor. NAME: GETTING RICHES BY UNJUST MEANS AND NOT BY RIGHT Like the partridge that gathers a brood which she did not hatch and sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches by unjust means and not by right He will leave them, or they will leave him, in the midst of his days, and at his end he will be a fool. Jeremiah 17:11 EXPLANATION: Gathering riches unfairly is like the bird which tries to hatch another bird s eggs. They just do not belong to the bird. When a person acts justly, not in violation of anyone else s rights, then riches can be gathered that really belong to the person. RESULT: If riches really belonging to another person are gathered they do not stay with a person. In the midst of a person s life, the riches are gone leaving the person looking like a fool. NAMES: ROB DEFRAUD Will a man rob or defraud God? Yet you rob and defraud Me. But you say, In what way do we rob or defraud You? [You have withheld your] titles and offerings. You are cursed with the curse, for you are robbing Me, even this whole nation. Malachi 3:8,9 EXPLANATION: To rob is to take from a person by force what is theirs, to loot. To defraud is to deprive of something by deceit, to cheat. Robbing and defrauding God is done by not giving to the church and to Page 2 of 11
the poor or needy people. Offering are due God and to make excuses for not giving to Him is to defraud Him. RESULT: Curses are given to those who rob and defraud whether God or man to stop them from robbing and defrauding. NAME: DEAL FALSELY You shall not steal, or deal falsely, or lie one to another. Leviticus 19:11 EXPLANATION: Stealing is held on the same plane as dealing falsely and lying. Business deals need to be true and not with lies. False dealing misrepresents a person s trade. The exchange is not equal give and take. Taking unequally to what a person gives steals from the other person. RESULT: The commandment not to steal is broken. This is sin in God s eyes and separation from Him. A person is not right with God until he repents and makes amends. NAME: STEALING TO SATISFY HUNGER Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry; But if he is found out, he must restore seven times [what he stole]; he must give the whole substance of his house [if necessary to meet his fine]. Proverbs 6:30,31 EXPLANATION: A hungry person taking food without paying for it is not despised. People sympathize with the thief. RESULT: However, if the thief is caught, he will be required to restore the food to the size of seven times what he took. And if the thief cannot do it, he must give all the substance of his household to pay the fine if necessary. NAMES: STOLEN WATER BREAD EATEN IN SECRET Stolen water (pleasures) are sweet [because they are forbidden]; and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knows not that the shades of the dead are there [specters haunting the scene of past transgressions], and that her invited guests are [already sunk] in the depths of Sheol (the lower world, Hades, the place of the dead). Proverbs 9:17,18 EXPLANATION: In this verse stolen waters means pleasures. Pleasures are sweet because they are forbidden. It is forbidden to steal especially pleasures because that involves sinning with another person. Bead is to be shared with others not eaten in secret. In the sharing there is give and take and it simply more pleasant to just consume the bread alone. RESULTS: Bread and water are to be consumed openly with other people. If stolen and consumed alone, a person eats with past transgressions. It is not very healthy to eat with dead spirits. Page 3 of 11
NAMES: STEALING WORDS IMITATING PHRASES OF THE TRUE PROPHETS Therefore behold, I am against the [false] prophets, says the Lord, [I am even now descending upon them with punishment, these prophets] who steal My words from one another [imitating the phrases of the true prophets]. Jeremiah 23:30 EXPLANATION: False prophets use the words of the true prophets as their own. God is against this and calls it stealing. This is what is called copyright now and has the same result. RESULT: The Lord descends on the false prophets with punishment. Copyright infringement ends up in court with punishment. CORRECTION: The word is very important to God. The word of God is in the beginning and starts all creation and thinking. When words are stolen the author cannot be used as the authority where the word originates. Realization that the word controls when it is in the beginning is the start of correction. NAME: TREASURES ON EARTH Do not gather and heap up and store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust and worm consume and destroy, and where thieves break through and steal. But gather and heap up and store for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust nor worm consume and destroy, and where thieves do not break through and steal; For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:19-21 EXPLANATION: Earthly treasures that are heaped up rust out and are eaten by moths and are subject to being stolen. Heavenly treasure that comes from living relationships with God and people, does not rust, is not eaten by moths and no thief can steal it. RESULT: Where ever a person s treasure is, he puts his heart into it. If a person has earthly treasure his or her heart will be with possessions. If a person has heavenly treasure his heart will be with relationships to God and people. CORRECTION: Possessions used to build relationships do not make earthly treasure but make heavenly treasure. NAME: GRAVE ROBBERS Therefore give an order to have the tomb made secure and safeguarded until the third day, for fear that His disciples will come and steal Him away and tell the people that He has risen from the dead, and the last deception and fraud will be worse than the first. Matthew 27:64 EXPLANATION: This scripture verse from Matthew is about an event which occurred after Jesus was buried in the tomb. The chief priests and the Pharisees spoke to Pilate remembering how Jesus said he would rise again in three days. They had Pilate give an order to seal the tomb so a pretended Page 4 of 11
resurrection could not occur. They thought that the disciples would be grave robbers and steal the body away. RESULT: If the grave robbers succeeded the deception and fraud would be worse that the idea that he was to rise given by Jesus before he died. The result of grave robbing is deception and fraud. NAME: ROBBERS CRUCIFIED WITH JESUS One of the criminals who was suspended kept up a railing at Him, saying, Are You not the Christ (the Messiah)? Rescue Yourself and us [from death]! But the other one reproved him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you yourself are under the same sentence of condemnation and suffering the same penalty? And we indeed suffer it justly, receiving the due reward of our actions; but this Man has done nothing out of the way [nothing strange or eccentric or perverse or unreasonable]. Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when You come in Your kingly glory! And He answered him, Truly I tell you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise. Luke 23:39-43 EXPLANATION: These scripture verses happened when Christ was crucified on the cross. Two criminals were crucified also, one on either side of Him. One criminal mocked and abused Him. The other criminal reproached the criminal who mocked saying that he needed to fear God as he was under the same sentence as Jesus. The difference was that the criminals were condemned for what they had done but Jesus was being crucified for nothing he had done Himself. RESULT: The one criminal then asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingdom. Jesus responded that this day the criminal would be with Him in Paradise. CORRECTION: Other scripture verses say that these criminals were robbers, the worst of criminals concerning what Jesus preached because they were taking away what He believed most by mocking Him. When the one criminal turned to him with belief, to Jesus that meant he wanted to repent and to be forgiven. Jesus forgave him. When a person has robbed and is under a curse for it, he or she must be remembered to Christ and Christ will forgive the robbery. Page 5 of 11
Part Two Jesus describes a thief in the terms of a sheepfold. I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, he who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way (elsewhere, from some other quarter) is a thief and a robber. John 10:1 A sheepfold can be thought to be a house, an apartment, a car or even a fenced yard. It must have a door and somehow contain people who are the disciples of Jesus. This part of the study explores what the Scriptures say about a thief by noting what aspect of a thief the verse mentions and explaining the aspect. ASPECT: KILLING A THIEF If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no blood shed for him. Exodus 22:2 During the night if a person strikes a thief so that he dies because the thief is breaking into his house, he is not required to stand trial for murder and he does not have to extend any payment. ASPECT: RESTITUTION But if the sun as risen [so he can be seen], blood must be shed for slaying him. The thief [if he lives] must make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. Exodus 22:3 If a person discovers a thief breaking in during the daylight such that he can see who the thief is and strikes him so that he dies, then the person must stand trial for murder. However if the thief lives, the thief pays back the person for whatever damage he did. If the thief is unable to pay the person back because he has nothing, then he must work off his thief as if a slave. ASPECT: PAY DOUBLE If a man delivers to his neighbor money or goods to keep and it is stolen out of the neighbor s house, then, if the thief is found, he shall pay double. Exodus 22:7 Two people are involved in this theft, the man who owns the money or goods and the neighbor who has been entrusted with keeping the money or goods for him. The thief injures both of them by stealing the money or goods from the neighbor s house. The thief must pay the man who owns the money or goods back and also must give a portion to the neighbor. ASPECT: NOT FOUND But if the thief is not found, the house owner shall appear before God [the judges as His agents] to find whether he stole his neighbor s goods. Exodus 22:8 Page 6 of 11
If there is not a break in such that no thief is found, then the owner of the house stands trial for taking the money or goods that his neighbor gave the house owner to keep for him. ASPECT: KIDNAPPING If a man is found kidnapping any of his brethren of the Israelites and treats him as a slave or a servant or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall put evil from among you. A kidnapper seizes by force and carries away a person. The kidnapper may use fraud and demand a ransom. In Israel a person could not enslave or even turn another person into a servant by force. Forcing a person to come with and selling the person to be a servant or slave is also kidnapping. The result was decreed to be death. ASPECT: START OF A THIEF The murderer rises with the light; he kills the poor and the needy, and in the night he becomes a thief. Job 24:14 A person, who is angry with the poor or the needy, runs the danger of killing them in the daylight. Then at night the person tries to thieve their places of habitation. This is how a person becomes a thief. ASPECT: SHOUTS They are driven from among men, who shout after them as after a thief. Job 30:5 Men who do not start work as a boy are driven from among men. People shout after them as after a thief. When a thief steals something and runs off, shouts follow him. Shouting stops a thief from stealing and starts him working. ASPECT: ASSOCIATES When you see a thief, you associate with him, and you have taken part with adulterers. Psalm 50:18 Casting the words of God behind him, some people associate with thieves. God s commandment is, do not steal. To associate with a thief a person approves of the thief. This is not God s way and the person must cast the words behind him to associate with a thief. The same is true for adultery. ASPECT: PARTNERS Whoever is partner with a thief hates his own life; he falls under the curse [pronounced upon him who knows who the thief is] but discloses nothing. Proverbs 29:24 Revealing the identity of a thief brings him to justice. If instead a person partners the thief he sacrifices his own life too. He receives a curse for not bringing the thief to justice and helping him correct his ways. ASPECT: SHAME Page 7 of 11
As the thief is brought to shame when he is caught, so shall the house of Israel be brought to shame they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets Jeremiah 2:26 Shame comes on a thief when he has been found out and caught. Jeremiah is prophesying that Israel will feel the same shame for their idolatry as if they had been thieving God. ASPECT: FALSEHOOD When I would heal Israel, then Ephraim s guilt is uncovered, and the wickedness of Samaria; how they practice falsehood, and the thief enters and the troop of bandits ravage and raid without. Hosea 7:1 When God would heal uncovering guilt and wickedness, He uses thieves and bandits. The guilt and wickedness shows how falsehood has been practiced. When people are false to God, God sends a thief into them to correct the people. ASPECT: ENTRY They leap upon the city; they run upon the wall; they climb up on and into houses; they enter in at the windows like a thief. Joel 2:9 Attackers entered the city and climbed into houses through the windows like thieves. Thieves do not use the doors to enter. They come to steal, kill and destroy, not to present themselves at the door like a visitor. So thieves enter a building through a window, sneaking in the house. ASPECT: A CURSE I will bring [the curse] forth, says the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief and into the house of who swears falsely by My name; and it shall abide in the midst of his house and shall consume it, both its timber and its stones. Zechariah 5:4 The Lord brings a curse on the house of a thief who is swearing falsely by the name of the Lord. The curse consumes the house. This is meant to stop the thief from taking what doesn t belong to him into his house. ASPECT: UNEXPECTED But understand this: had the householder known in what [part of the night, whether in a night or a morning] watch the thief was coming he would have watched and would not have allowed his house to be undermined and broken into. Matthew 24:43 Thieves come unexpectedly in the night. They can enter in the night or morning watch. A homeowner would have kept the watch in that part of the night if he had known the thief was coming then to prevent the thief from breaking in. ASPECT: TREASURE Page 8 of 11
Sell what you possess and give donations to the poor; provide yourselves with purses and handbags that do not grow old, an unfailing and inexhaustible treasure in the heavens, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. Luke 12:33 Thieves do not steal treasure in heaven. By selling the possessions that thieves are trying to steal and giving the money from the sale as a donation to poor people, a person gains heavenly treasure that is inexhaustible for producing good works. ASPECT: STEAL, KILL, AND DESTROY The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). John 10:10 A thief comes in the window only to steal, kill and destroy the household. Jesus is the door to life and through Him a person has abundant and overflowing life. ASPECT: JUDAS Now he did not say this because he cared for the poor but because he was a thief; and having the bag (the money box, the purse of the Twelve), he took for himself what was put into it [pilfering the collections]. John 12:6 Judas was one of the twelve of Jesus disciples and kept the money for the group. He was concerned about the collection of the money not because he cared for people but because he could take some of the money for himself. He pilfered the collections. He betrayed Jesus and was lost as a disciple. ASPECT: SUDDENLY For you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the [return of the] Lord will come [as unexpectedly and suddenly] as a thief in the night. I Thessalonians 5:2 A thief comes during the night unexpectedly and performs a sudden break in. Jesus will come again just as unexpectedly and suddenly as the thief however he does not come as a thief. ASPECT: SURPRISE But you are not in [given up to the power of] darkness, brethren, for that day to overtake you by surprise like a thief. I Thessalonians 5:4 A thief takes a household by surprise. The day of the Lord, when he returns, will not take those who are Christ s disciples by surprise like a thief does because the Lord s disciples are not under the power of darkness but in the light. ASPECT: SUFFERING But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or any sort of criminal, or as a mischief-maker (a meddler) in the affairs of others [infringing on their rights]. I Peter 4:15 Page 9 of 11
Thieves experience suffering from doing what is wrong in God s eyes. Christians can confess their wrong, their sins and receive Christ s forgiveness relieving the suffering. ASPECT: THE DAY OF THE LORD But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will vanish (pass away) with a thunderous crash, and the [material] elements [of the universe] will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up. 2 Peter 3:10 The day of the Lord is a day of God s judgment and punishment for all the evil on the earth. God is long suffering of evil but His day comes, like a thief in that people will be unaware of when it will come. This scripture verse describes the end of the world where the heavens vanish, the elements are dissolved by fire and the earth burned up. ASPECT: WATCH So call to mind the lessons you received and heard; continually lay them to heart and obey them, and repent. In case you will not rouse yourselves and keep awake and watch, I will come upon you like a thief, and you will not know or suspect at what hour I will come. Revelation 3:3 Christ will return and people must watch for His return. He will come like a thief who cannot be watched for if people are not laying the lessons taught to them to heart, obeying and repenting of their sins. People must rouse themselves and keep awake expecting Christ s return. ASPECT: AWAKE Behold I am going to come like a thief! Blessed (happy, to be envied) is he who stays awake (alert) and who guards his clothes, so that he may not be naked and [have the shame of being] seen exposed! Revelation 16:15 Christ is going to return like a thief, unexpectedly. People who stay awake and alert and guard their clothes will have clothes to wear when He comes so not to be seen exposed and put to shame. People are clothed in righteousness and wear these clothes when Christ comes again. Page 10 of 11
SOLUTION TO BREAKING THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT This study has explored many names for stealing and many aspects of being a thief. But what is the practical way to stop stealing or being a thief? In the book of Ephesians, the apostle Paul gives this insight. Let the thief steal no more, but rather let him be industrious, making an honest living with his own hands so that he may be able to give to those in need. Ephesians 4:28 A person who steals or is a thief must be let stop his thieving. This means he must gain permission from those in power over him. Then the person must be industrious and make an honest living by working with his hands. The purpose in earning a living must be clear that it is so that the person has something to share with those in need. This correction to someone who steals or is a thief comes gradually as the person realizes what earning money is all about, how working with his or her hands produces something that another person is thankful for combined with the concept of providing something for the poor or needy which brings God s approval. Page 11 of 11