Exodus 20: 15
Thou shall not steal
As we all know and believe, stealing is taking anything that
is not our own. Some examples would be taking a candy bar from the store
without paying, taking a $20 bill from the counter at your neighbor’s house.
But what if we take it a bit deeper. Stealing is also claiming an extra hour of
work on your time sheet that you didn’t actually work. Or even not paying your
worker for work that was completed.
Here is an example from Genesis of stealing and why we
should not do it.
Genesis 31: 33-35
And Laban went into
Jacob’s tent, into Leah’s tent, and into the two maids’ tents, but he did not
find them. Then he went out of Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent. Now
Rachel had taken the household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat
on them. And Laban searched all about the tent but did not find them. And she
said to her father, “Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise before
you, for the manner of women is with me.” And he searched but did not find the household
idols.
Rachel stole from her father and did not tell anyone about
it. This causes Jacob to be accused in front of all the people by her father of
stealing. She later had to lie to her father about why she could not stand up
to greet him.
Ultimately, we see that stealing is very connected to
coveting. It is just the next step. But this sin too leads to more sin. Once
you steal, you then will almost always be forced to lie about it and lying is
considered disgraceful to YHWH.
Proverbs 12:22
Lying lips are an
abomination to the Lord, But those who deal truthfully are His delight.
Next we have the people as a whole of Israel stealing
something that was cursed. This lead to negative consequences.
Joshua 7:11-13
Israel has sinned, and
they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have
even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and
they have also put it among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel
could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their
enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with
you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you. Get up, sanctify
the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the
Lord God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you
cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from
among you.”
First off, Achan stole things. Second, some of those things
were considered cursed by YHWH and would cause Israel to no longer be able to
stand against their enemies because it was in their possession. Notice that all
Israel was being held accountable because of this. Next, notice what Achan has
to say about why he stole it in the following passage.
Joshua 7: 20-21
And Achan answered
Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this
is what I have done: When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian
garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels,
I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the
midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”
Achan took a Babylonian article of clothing, gold and
silver. He says he “coveted” these things. Again we see, sin leads to sin. Stealing
comes from the coveting of an object. We should never want something so bad as
to feel the need to take it from someone else. Also, the taking from someone
hurts that other person. It causes that person a pain that is hard to describe.
It is a violation of one’s self security. I remember I had a radio stolen from
my car. The feeling you get when you notice someone has violated the safety of
your property, it makes you feel as if nothing you have is safe. It puts you in
an uneasy state of unrest. This is not what YHWH wants for us and He definitely
doesn’t want us to put others in this state. He loves us and He loves them.
Acts 20: 35
I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that
you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He
said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
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