“You shall not steal.
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“You shall not steal.
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Neither shalt thou steal.
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(5-17) Neither shalt thou steal.
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Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Deuteronomy 5:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 20:15 “You shall not steal.
- Romans 13:9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
- Ephesians 4:28 Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, producing with his hands something that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need.
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John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Neither shalt thou steal - Have you seriously considered,…
Neither shalt thou steal - Have you seriously considered, that these houses, lands, money, or goods, which you are used to call your own, are not your own, but belong to another, even God? Have you ever considered, that God is the sole proprietor of heaven and earth? The true owner of every thing therein? Have you considered, that he has only lent them to you? That you are but a steward of your Lord's goods? And that he has told you expressly the uses and purposes for which he intrusts you with them? Namely, for the furnishing first yourselves, and then as many others as you can, with the things needful for life and godliness? Have you considered, that you have no right at all, to apply any part of them to any other purpose? And that if you do, you are as much a robber of God, as any can be a robber of you?
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Deu 5:19. Neither shalt thou steal — Hast thou…
Deu 5:19. Neither shalt thou steal — Hast thou seriously considered that these houses, lands, money, or goods, which thou hast been used to call thy own, are not thy own, but belong to another, even God? Hast thou ever considered that God is the sole proprietor of heaven and earth; the true owner of every thing therein? Hast thou considered that he has only lent them to thee? That thou art but a steward of thy Lord’s goods? And that he has told thee expressly the uses and purposes for which he intrusts thee with them; namely, for the furnishing, first thyself and those dependant on thee, and then as many others as thou canst, with the things needful for life and godliness? Hast thou considered that thou hast no right at all to apply any part of them to any other purpose? and that if thou dost thou art as much a robber of God as any can be a robber of thee?
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The eighth commandment. The religion of the land.
The eighth commandment. The religion of the land.
There is much to be said in favor of the proposition that utility is the foundation of virtue; and provided that the sentence be well cleared up and guarded from abuse, and provided also that the word utility" be lifted up to its highest, and spread over its broadest significance, the maxim is less objectionable than it would otherwise appear. While it, however, has been and win be discussed in the philosopher"s classroom, for ages, we may safely go so far as to say, That is right which renders the highest service to mankind, and by its having this tendency, we know it to be right." Now, among serviceable institutions is that of property, which, as men are constituted, is a necessity of social weal. If rightness consists in recognizing the rights of each, the necessity of property comes out of the equality of natural rights. If a man is alone in the world, he may call it all his own. If there is a brother man with him, they must divide it between them. Apart from the institution of property, one incentive to labor would be gone. Who would be likely to toil day by day for that from which he would obtain naught when the work was over? Now, it is the social law of the institution of property, Divine yet natural, yea, natural because Divine, the existence of which is here assumed, and the recognition of which is here enjoined: in the barest and most elementary form, it is true, yet in the very form best according with the circumstances under which it was given; in a negative form, too, like the other commands, but yet with a positive intent. Perhaps there is no one of the commandments which is more extensively commented on, and repeated in so many forms in the Old Testament, nor one the violation of which is so variously prohibited. Our simplest mode of treating it homiletically seems to be to point out in turn the negative prohibition, and the positive duty which is to be set over against it.
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I LET US INDICATE THE NUMEROUS FORMS INTO WHICH THIS PRECEPT IS THROWS IN SCRIPTURE. If we regard the spirit of it, and read it by the light of Old Testament teaching, we shall find it set in great variety of ways.
1. It forbids our depriving any man of any right whatever. (Lam_3:35, Lam_3:36)
2. It is forbidden to gain an undue advantage at another"s expense (Exo_23:3, Exo_23:6, Exo_23:8, Exo_23:9; Lev_19:15; Deu_16:19, Deu_16:20)
1. It is forbidden to accumulate wealth by unlawful practices. (Pro_10:2 Pro_15:6)
2. It is forbidden to take long credit (Pro_3:28; Lev_19:13)
3. It is forbidden to oppress a poor man in his cause (Exo_22:26, Deu_15:7, Deu_15:10-13, Deu_15:17, Deu_15:18; Pro_22:22, Pro_22:23; Mic_2:1-3 Mic_3:1-4)
1. It is forbidden to pay insufficient wages. (Deu_25:4 Deu_24:14, Deu_24:15)
2. To lend money in any oppressive or exacting form (Exo_22:25; Lev_25:35-38; Deu_23:19) "The name usurerneshec which is derived from biting, sounded badly, since no one chose to be likened to a hungry dog, who fed himself by biting others" (Calvin).
4. To take advantage of the stranger, the widow, and the fatherless (Exo_22:21-24; Deu_10:17-19; Lev_19:33, Lev_19:34)
1. Unfair trading (Lev_19:35, Lev_19:36; Deu_25:13-16; Pro_11:1 Pro_16:11 Pro_20:10, Pro_20:23; Mic_6:10-12)
2. Imperiling another"s property. (Exo_21:33-36)
3. Life-long slavery (Exo_21:2; Deu_15:12-18)
4. Connivance at wrong. (Pro_29:24)
5. Respect of persons. (Exo_23:1-3)
6. Revengeful mischief even in war-time. (Deu_20:19, Deu_20:20)
7. Removing a neighbors landmark. (2Ki_19:14)
8. Withholding from the service of God. (Mal_3:8, Mal_3:9) Whenever we withhold what is due to God, or keep back what we owe to man, if the master is unjust to his servant, or the servant wastes the time or the goods of his master; if a man is guilty of trickery in trade, by adulteration of goods, or scant weight, or short measure; if a man is in any way deprived of his own right or freedom; if we take undue advantage of any one for our own benefit, we are guilty of breaking the command "Thou shalt not steal.
II LET US INDICATE THE PRECEPTIVE WORDS WHICH ARE SET OVER AGAINST THESE PROHIBITIVE ONES. In the fuller teaching of Moses there was not wanting an indication of an opposite duty, the cultivation of which would make a breach of the eighth commandment altogether out of the question. The people were to aim at cherishing a kindly feeling for each other, and instead of wishing to enrich themselves at anothers expense, they were to seek to enrich others, and to find their joy in helping the needy. (Exo_23:4; Lev_25:35; Deu_15:7-10 Deu_22:1-3 Deu_23:19 Deu_24:19) While in Proverbs, the contrast between sloth and industry is said to be one mark of difference between the righteous and the wicked.
III THE TEACHING OF THE NEW TESTAMENT IS STILL MORE EXPLICIT. (See Act_20:35; 1Co_10:24; Php_2:4, 5; and specially Eph_4:28) The words of our blessed Lord lingered in the apostles" ears as the strains of a lovely song. His life too seemed to say, "Be ever ready to give up what is your own, if thereby you can help another." So that not only is there to be such respect for the rights of others, that we do not infringe on them by abstracting from his property; but over and above the institution of property, which is recognized and guarded, there is the institution of labor, which is to be looked at, utilized, sanctified, so as to subserve the enrichment of others. So that we come at this specific rule: Labor, and sanctify your labor for others; then you will be in no danger of depriving them of the fruits of their labor! The political economist says, "Regulate labor so as best to subserve the production of wealth." So far, good. But Christian maxims go higher, and say, "Pursue and regulate labor with a view of promoting each other"s well-being." Now, in this sanctification of labor there are four rules to be observed.
1. Labor as servants of Christ. This is a specific direction both for employer and employed. Both are amenable to him who is the Head and Lord of the human race. In his eye the interests of the human family are the supreme concern on this globe. Material wealth is to him as nothing. Men are his purchased possession; and if by labor we increased the material wealth of this country a thousand-fold, if thereby one soul were destroyed, his curse would rest upon such labor.
2. Labor with an eye to the glory of God: not only as his servants, but so that all our labor may promote that great end for which he lived and died; and just in proportion as this is the case, will Christ approve our toil.
3. Labor in accordance with and for the promotion of anothers good. We are to let all our labors be in harmony with another"s well-being. We may not make ourselves rich at the expense of others; but only as our weal accords with theirs. All this, of course, applies nationally as well as individually. It is as clearly wrong for a nation to steal a continent as for a man to steal a shilling! And if we so labor as to ignore the good of another, we shall find that "there is a God that judgeth in the earth!
4. But it is not enough that there should be an absence of spoliation or greed, nor that labor should merely accord with human good; it is required of us that one direct object and aim of our labor should be the increase of our wealth that we may have the wherewith to give. As between man and man, the great God upholds our right to the produce of our labor. As between ourselves and him, he says, Use for your brother"s good, the wealth you get. You are but a steward. Nothing is yours absolutely. What hast thou that thou hast not received? Work, that you may get. Get, that you may have to give." "The poor shall never cease out of the land." If, by any sudden spurt, wealth could be equalized today, it would be unequal in twenty-four hours, and in twelve months scarcely a trace would be left of the readjustment. Some would be workers and some idlers; some spendthrifts and some misers; and any rectification of property, apart from the right-setting of men, would be of no avail. And, at any rate, so long as there are claims upon our sympathy, so long our labor is to have this stamp upon it: Labor, to gain the power of giving; and this is the antidote for any danger of breaking the eighth commandment. Yet, strange to say, there are not wanting those who object, on grounds of "political economy," to the withdrawal of a man"s gains for the purposes of benevolence (see Mr. Herbert Spencer, Contemporary Review, 19:556). Now, no one would question that there is a large amount of unwise charity; but the proportion is insignificant between that and the vast amount of ill-gotten and ill-used wealth in our cities and towns. The former is not worth naming by the side of the latter. And the hearts of men are not so over-generous that they need to be dissuaded from giving, by arguments which could hold only if men were naught else but wage-getting animals! But whoever fulfils his labor in a spirit of loyalty to Christ and of kindliness to his brother, will find in labor so discharged, a holy and blessed discipline of character. Shall we live under the low, selfish calculations of earth, or under the higher regulations of heaven? There is a wealth a wealth most to be coveted which" comes not as a heritage of birth, but as the reward of giving to others according as they have need. Acting on worldly maxims, a man might live for a thousand years and he will never have it. Acting on Christ"s rule, he will reap it as sheaves of golden grain. It is this: "The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow"s heart to sing for joy!"
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Neither shalt thou steal.
Deu_5:19
Neither shalt thou steal.
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The Eighth Commandment
I will consider the negative and, secondly, the positive part of the commandment. For the first, the negative part, to wit, what is forbidden here, we are to know that it extends to ourselves as well as to our neighbours. I begin with the former. We are forbid to wrong ourselves as to our goods and possessions. We are to do nothing that will impair our own estates and livelihood. Wherefore one main thing disallowed of in this commandment, as it respects ourselves, is living without a calling, or wholly neglecting our calling, and living in idleness (Pro_19:15). Idleness is the way to beggary; and this is the way to that theft which injures others. Whence the Hebrew ministers say, He that brings not up his son to some lawful calling and employment teaches him to steal. Idleness naturally disposes men to robbery. Those that work not steal from others. Drones filch honey from the bees who take pains for it. Again, a man is a thief to himself by niggardliness and denying himself those things which are fitting for his maintenance, though God has given him great abundance. But by being penurious he deprives himself of the comfort which he might take in the enjoyment of them. This is self-felony. Others are guilty of this by a contrary extreme, that is, wastefulness and prodigality. They steal from themselves by being lavish above their income. But this commandment doth more signally respect our dealings with our neighbours, and therefore I will chiefly insist on it under that consideration, and show what sins are forbidden by it. To begin with the lowest instance of stealing, here is forbid covetousness, that is, an unlawful desiring of other mens goods and possessions. This is a degree of theft, or an immediate tendency to it. But actual stealing is that which this commandment chiefly strikes at, and of that I shall speak next. It is a taking away that which is none of ours. Or more fully thus, it is an unjust taking away or detaining from any man what is his proper goods, either without his consent or without the warrant of some superior authority. This is the true notion of theft, and it is the sin here condemned. This is either open or secret; the former is called robbery, which is an open and violent taking away of anothers goods, as when one on the highway with force of weapons doth this. The other sort of theft, called by us larceny, is taking away privily from another that which is his without his knowledge or in his absence. These are downright thieves; but there are several other ways of defrauding our neighbours, as encroaching on our neighbours lands, called, in the Mosaic law, removing the landmarks, which were ever esteemed inviolable, even among the Gentiles. Likewise all oppression and extortion and screwing of our neighbours in any kind whatsoever is here forbid. Yea, denying of alms to those that are really in want is a sort of thievery, for we are not absolute proprietors of what we have, but are stewards, and therefore we are obliged to dispense some part of that we have to our brethren that are in want. If we do otherwise, and show ourselves hardhearted to our distressed neighbours, we rob them of their right, we detain from them what is their due. I might reckon ingratitude also among the other instances of defrauding others, for we are bound to show ourselves thankful to those who have done us kindnesses. And as there is injustice done to single persons, so likewise to the public, for there is a public right in which the whole community is concerned. And in the imperial law, and so, indeed, in the law of nature, it is commended to the care of all that the commonwealth suffer no detriment. And the good of the community is to be preferred to our own private profit. Yea, indeed, these two may be said to be joined in one, for our own interest is involved in that of the public. When the community is wronged, every individual person feels the effects of it, more or less. Unto the things forbidden by this commandment are to be reduced all cheats and circumventions, all articles of tricking and imposing upon others. There are three particulars more behind, namely--
1. First, theft or deceit in buying and selling, in trading and merchandising, is here forbid. The buyer is guilty of deceit when he knows the condition, use, and advantage of what he buys better than he that sells it, and yet cunningly dissembles it, and thereby purchases it at a cheaper rate than it is worth. The seller also is guilty of theft when
(1) he obtrudes upon the buyer bad wares instead of good, or
(2) he takes an unreasonable price for them that are good. I might add, and that most truly, that as there is a deceitfulness and theft in overrating what is exposed to sale, so there is in selling of commodities at too low a rate. He that doth this not only defrauds himself by undervaluing his goods, but he defrauds others of the same calling by getting away their custom.
2. Next I am to speak of sacrilege, which is a theft of another and a higher kind, for it is robbing of God, and impairing or alienating of what is sacred and separated to holy uses. The offence of sacrilege reaches to places, times, persons, and things.
I proceed now to the affirmative part of the commandment, namely, what is required of us. This part, as well as the other, hath respect both to ourselves and to others.
1. First, it concerns ourselves. We are obliged by virtue of this commandment to do ourselves right, to get and preserve such worldly goods as are for our convenience and welfare. We are to be content with our own, and not to covet other mens estates. We are to be moderate and prudent in our expenses. On the other hand, we are to take care that we be employed in some lawful business and honest calling.
2. But, secondly, our duty enjoined in this commandment hath respect to our neighbours, and that I am next to consider. We must suffer them to enjoy their wealth and estate, and we must help them in it. This is a general description of that justice and righteousness towards men which this commandment requires. Before I proceed to particulars, I will show what is the spring and root of this righteousness, what is the great rule and standard of it, and I will endeavour to illustrate it by propounding some instances. Without doubt the great and standing rule, as well as spring, of justice towards men is that command of our Saviour, All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them (Mat_12:1-50.), which is thus expressed in Luk_6:31, As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. I come now to the particular acts of justice and righteousness which are required in this part of the Decalogue. We are enjoined here to be true, just, and exact in our traffic and commerce. There ought to be great integrity in making of contracts, and as great in keeping them. Particularly in buying and selling there ought to be great faithfulness and sincerity. There must always be a just proportion between the price and the thing sold. This is justice, and this is religion, and they both go together. To which purpose it is observable that, according to Moses law, the standards of all weights and measures were kept in the sanctuary, and it was part of the priests work to oversee these (1Ch_23:29), which shows that we ought to use great fidelity in our dealings and bargains, and to transact them out of conscience and a sense of our religion which obliges us to it. Again, this commandment requires that we show ourselves just and upright in paying our debts. Further, this requires of us to make satisfaction for injuries, to repair all hurts and wrongs, to restore what was unjustly taken from others. Examples of this are Jacob and his sons (Gen_43:12; Gen_43:21), Samuel (1Sa_12:3), Zaccheus (Luk_19:8). Restitution is an inseparable ingredient of justice, for this bids us give to everyone his own. We are obliged by the laws of justice and righteousness to be grateful to our benefactors, to acknowledge their courtesies, to pray for them, and to make returns as our condition will permit. By the same law of justice we ought to relieve the poor, to supply the wants and necessities of those that are in distress. The same commandment that forbids theft enjoins charity and beneficence. I may add that justice extends even to the dead. To do the dead right, as well as the living, is an act of religion; and accordingly executors and those that are left to see the will of the deceased performed ought to act in this affair with a good conscience and to do what is just. Besides justice to single persons, there is also the same due to the community, for man is made for society, and calculated for converse and friendship. To this affirmative part belongs also equity, which mitigates the rigour of severe justice and tempers it with benignity. The office of this virtue is to exact of others less than we might, for the sake of peace, and to yield to them more than they could look for, and that for the same reason, namely, to prevent long disputes and to maintain peace. To what hath been said this must be added, that some people are more particularly concerned in this commandment, for though all are to observe the rules of justice, yet this is more especially incumbent on those who are in places of magistracy. (J. Edwards, D. D.)
Desiring to live honestly in all things
This word implies that it is right to own property; that it is perfectly just and legitimate for one to possess goods to which no one else can lay, claim. It is natural to desire to possess property, to have Some portion of goods you can call your own. I almost think that the gratification and pleasure with which a little child finds a pocket in his new dress are rooted in this instinctive desire of possession. We may speak of mans labour and ingenuity, the will of God, and the law of the land, as the grounds of right to property. That such a right exists few will deny, and there are many advantages resulting from it. As Paley says, It increases the produce of the earth. The earth, in climates like ours, produces little without cultivation, and none would be found willing to cultivate the ground if others were to be admitted to an equal share of the produce. It prevents contests. War and waste, tumult and confusion, must be unavoidable and eternal where there is not enough for all, and where there are no rules to adjust the division. It improves the conveniency of living. This it does in two ways. It enables mankind to divide themselves into distinct professions, which is impossible unless a man can exchange the productions of his own art for what he wants from others, and exchange implies property. Much of the advantage of civilised over savage life depends upon this. When a man is from necessity his own tailor, tent maker, carpenter, cook, huntsman, and fisherman, it is not probable that he will be expert at any of his callings. Hence the rude habitations, furniture, clothing, and implements of savages, and the tedious length of time which all their operations require. It likewise encourages those arts by which the accommodations of human life are supplied, by appropriating to the artist the benefit of his discoveries and improvements, without which appropriation ingenuity will never be exerted with effect. But while the institution of property has its advantages, the vast inequality in the social conditions of men carries with it many disadvantages, and is the source of much evil and misery. Hence the cry for communism, the social theories that have been propounded, the destructive forces that are secretly and ceaselessly working in Russia, and Germany, and France. And many who have not fallen into open crime are ready to declare war against society. They ask, Why are we compelled to toil like slaves, while others are rolling in wealth, and spending it on their amusements and lusts? Why does Lazarus beg at the gate and Dives feast in the palace? Is it the ordination of God? Then God is unjust, partial, tyrannical. Is it the arrangement of society? What society? The arrangement is a cruel one; it is a conspiracy of the rich against the poor; of capital against industry: let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. These words appear in a book in Russia--And when we, the socialists, get the upper hand, then will we rid mother Russia of all her oppressors. Then shall we be at liberty to set up our peasant brotherhood, in which there shall be neither mine nor thine, neither gains nor oppressions, but there will be labour for the common weal, and among all men brotherly aid. Wrong must be utterly rooted out, and Right must be set on foundations that will last forever. We do not hear much of this doctrine in our own country. A writer in the Contemporary Review says: Multitudes cherish a faith in the omnipotence for good of a well-intentioned government; and in those lands where socialism is most potent there have been facts to foster this belief. The Russian has seen the effect of the fiat of the emperor in reconstituting the rural life of his subjects; why should not the same power be exercised on behalf of the artisan as well? The German feels the potent grip of militarism at every turn; why should this force not be used for social rather than dynastic gain? No nation possesses such a heritage of political experience as ours, and none has yet attained to so much political wisdom; it is this that has prevented our impoverished masses from joining in the widespread cry for a total reorganisation of our social system. Socialism would be no remedy; it would be a disease far more terrible than the one it was intended to heal. This word of the law, then, implies the sacredness of property, Thou shalt not steal. Not only the burglar, and the pickpocket, and the swindler are the transgressors of this law, but all who by misrepresentation enrich themselves at the expense of their neighbours. There are many other applications of this law which I might dwell upon. Thou shalt not steal. A man steals from his family when by his indolence or his intemperance he neglects its interests, and provides not for those of his own household. A man may steal from himself by frittering away opportunities, squandering money, wasting time, and abusing the energy that might be employed for some high and useful ends. A man may steal from God. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. To withhold from Him that which belongs to Him, the attention of the intellect, the love of the heart, the service of the life, is to rob Him, to waste our Lords money, to embezzle our Masters property. Be just, then, in all your relations; be true, be honest. (James Owen.)
On theft
I. The nature of the vice of theft.
1. The meanness of this vice. Every decent man, if he has pride in anything, has a pride in appearing upon an equal footing at least with the members of his own society. He will not choose to be indebted for the mere means of living to any man, but to depend upon himself, and be obliged, as much as possible, to himself. While his health and hands are left him he will account it the most reproachful objection which can be made to him that he is a burden to the society or to any individual of it. The thief is the character which is in every respect the reverse of this. He neither possesses respect, nor seems to wish for it. He has an evil and a base mind, which has no sense of honour nor of credit. Instead of aspiring to his own place in society, he aspires to no place; instead of making it his pride to depend upon himself, he thinks of nothing but how he may subsist himself upon others.
2. The vice of theft is not only mean itself, but inconsistent with the very existence and great end of society. In vain has nature directed and Scripture taught us to make provision for our necessities, if the thief or robber is allowed to intercept it. In vain will we select our superfluities, and reserve them for our future occasions, if the base part of our species are allowed to pick our stores and possess themselves of the fruits of our labours.
II. The causes from which this vice commonly proceeds.
1. There is often an original difference among minds themselves. Some minds seem to be naturally base and ill-disposed. They possess a natural turn for shuffling and a dexterity in deceit. They will prefer at any time a gain which they can obtain by trick to the same gain which they might obtain by fair dealing.
2. As there are some who are naturally base-minded, and seem originally to have been made of bad materials, there are many more who were once virtuous, but are degenerated.
(1) Some are led to dishonesty from the obscurity and false shame of poverty.
(a) They consider themselves as removed from notice, and become careless of their own conduct.
(b) They are ashamed to discover their situation and to ask assistance and relief. The shame lies not in asking assistance, but in deserving to be reduced to that necessity. At any rate, we must not add one meanness to another, and, after contriving to be burdensome to our neighbours, contrive next to rob and plunder them.
(2) Another cause which leads men to commit theft is covetousness. The love of gain, when it takes full possession, can bear no rival in the heart. It puts every other principle, good and bad, to flight. The covetous man, from the moment he bows before it, acknowledgeth no superior power. It is the religion in which he is sincere, and the one only god whom he worships without hypocrisy. There is no vice which approaches so nearly to theft as covetousness. The distinction is very slight between the man who strongly desires what is mine and the man who takes it.
(3) As some are led to commit theft from covetousness, others are led to commit the same vice from prodigality. It is remarkable that in the natural world extremes meet, and that even in morals they produce often the same effect. Nature directs us simply to store up our superfluities and reserve them for our future wants. The covetous man stores up more than he ought; the prodigal stores up much less. The covetous man amasses everything; the prodigal throws everything away. The one goes beyond the intentions of nature; the other by no means fulfils them. The prodigal is under the dominion of vile habits and gross passions. He gorges the present without reflecting on the future. He seems born to waste and to consume. He never thinks on want or suspects that matters are to be any otherwise than as they are. It is easy to predict the effects of this character. If a man waste his substance he must come to poverty. If he acquire habits he must indulge them. If he consume in one day the provision of seven he must think of some way to supply the expenses of the other six. Sensual habits besides debase the mind and render it mean and worthless. In this situation what is he to do? He must borrow or he must steal.
(4) The last cause of theft which I shall mention here is idleness. There is not a more ample source than this of vice and of disgrace. Idleness, with respect to the bulk of mankind, produces want, and want must be supplied. But from whence is the supply to come An indolent, idle man cannot exert himself, or, if he can, he will not. His good qualities are destroyed and bad ones implanted in their room. He has acquired habits of expense from which he cannot disengage himself, and of vice which he cannot conquer. He is entangled in bad company, and soon finds himself engaged in bad practices. He has neither resolution to relinquish the one, nor virtue to surmount the other. His decline is therefore rapid, and his destruction sudden and inevitable. Lessons:
1. The first conclusion which presents itself is the necessity of employing the active and able part of our existence in acquiring that provision which is necessary to support the infirm and disabled parts of it. This goes to the source of the disorder. Every man, when he sets out in life, ought to ask himself this plain question, Whether he chooses to depend upon himself or to come upon the public? He has but this alternative, and must at last do one of these two things. If he choose the first, there is no covetousness, nor even any uncommon solicitude, necessary. He has only to exert himself and be careful. But then he must do it while he can, and not think that his youth is to last forever. If you would not know the fond pang of a parents heart brooding over the wants of his children; if you would not invite temptation; if you would not embrace vice and disgrace, work diligently, work while it is today.
2. Avoid with the utmost circumspection the causes which lead to this vice upon their own account. Covetousness, prodigality, idleness, and theft belong all to the same family. They are all a monstrous perversion of nature, and the certain marks of a vitiated mind. (John Mackenzie, D. D.)
Rights of property
Is it a crime to be rich? Against whom is the offence committed? Against God? Against man? Against society? Underlying the amplest fortunes are inflexible truth, incorruptible honesty, incomparable honour. Poverty, competence, and affluence are the three financial conditions of man, in each of which there may be sainthood. Poverty may be as vicious upon the morals of character and life as wealth. Is it misanthropic to be rich? Do large possessions in land and money sour the milk of human kindness that flows through the veins of humanity? To whom are we indebted for those houses of charity whose gates of mercy stand open night and day? Who are the founders of those libraries which spread their ample feast before mankind? The universities and colleges of our country are the monuments of the rich. Is it unpatriotic to be rich? In the three great wars for the Union the rich poured forth their wealth as the rain descends upon the just and upon the unjust. Love of country rose supreme above the love of money. Wealth is not disloyalty. The capitalists of this country supported the Government in the darkest hour of the rebellion, when the national treasury was in sore distress. Is it tyranny to be rich? Do wealth and oppression go hand in hand? Are slavery and opulence born of the same parentage? Wilberforce was rich, yet foremost in the abolition of slavery in the British colonies. Gerrit Smith died worth his millions; yet he was the most eloquent, most ardent, most benevolent of abolitionists. Is it impiety to be rich? Is poverty essential to godliness? Are beggars the only saints? What, then, shall we do with Abraham, who was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold? Christ would not have had a decent tomb had it not been for the rich Joseph of Arimathea. The acquisition of wealth is a Divine gift. Industry and frugality are the laws of thrift. To amass great fortunes is a special endowment. As poets, philosophers, and orators are born such, so the financier has a genius for wealth. By intuition he is familiar with the laws of supply and demand. He seems gifted with the vision of a seer of the coming changes in the market; he knows when to buy and when to sell and when to hold fast. He anticipates the flow of population and its effect upon real estate. The Lord thy God giveth thee the power to get wealth (Deu_8:18). Against these natural and lawful rights to the possession of property is the clamour for the distribution of property among those who have not acquired it, either by inheritance or skill or industry. It is a communism that has no foundation either in the constitution of nature or in the social order of mankind. It is the wild, irrational cry of labour against capital, between which, in the economy of nature and in political economy, there should be no common antagonism. There is a wealth of muscle and a wealth of brain and a wealth of character. He is a labourer who does productive work; he is a capitalist who has five dollars or five hundred thousand dollars. Capital may be a tyrant, and labour may become a despot. Wealth has the noblest of missions. It is not given to hoard, nor to gratify, nor for the show of pomp and power. The rich are the almoners of the Almighty. They are His disbursing agents. When the wealth of capital joins hands with the wealth of intellect, the wealth of muscle, and the wealth of goodness for the common good, then labour and capital will be esteemed the equal factors in giving every man life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The right to property is founded in nature, sustained by organised society, and protected by the sanctions of the Divine law. The right has its origin in a prior fact, that each human being is a distinct individuality, adapted to all the purposes of self-government and responsible to God and to society for the manner in which his powers are employed. By his physical nature he is connected with the universe which is modified to supply his wants. He has a right to use his body as he will, provided such use is not an interference with the equal rights of his fellow men. Possessing an intellect, he has a right to the products thereof. Endowed with a soul of sensibilities, passions, and aspirations, he has the inherent right to seek happiness, always recognising a common right in each of his fellow creatures. By this physical, intellectual, and spiritual endowment man is made for society, and each individual in his social capacity is bound to every other individual by the law of reciprocity. If, by the constitution of nature, a man has a right to himself, he has also an equal right to that which may result from the innocent use of his bodily and mental powers. The result is what men call property. In all well-regulated society every man is accorded the right to possess that which he has made and the power of control over the same. The Creator treats this right as a self-evident fact, directs His mandates against every act violative of the same and against the temper of mind from which such violations may proceed. In harmony therewith human governments among their first acts protect this individual right, and treat the offender thereof as guilty of a wrong, and punish him accordingly. Upon the recognition of this right depend the existence and progress of society. Ignore this right, and no one would labour more than is sufficient for his individual subsistence. A nation of thieves would be a nation of barbarians. If such are the principles and consequences involved in this right of property, what are the violations of this right? the burglar takes the property of another without the knowledge and consent of the owner--this is theft; the highwayman takes the property of another with his knowledge, but without his consent. Not less guilty is he who presents wrong motives for the purposes of gain, who excites groundless fears, circulates false reports, inflames personal vanity, and awakens avarice for the purposes of illegal gain. A broker on Change who causes false information to be circulated for the purpose of raising or depressing the market seeks profit by deep rascality. God says to such a man, Thou shalt not steal. Among the prevalent causes of the violation of mans right of property are a corrupt public sentiment, an inordinate love of wealth, an extravagance which amounts to prodigality. Society scourges the thief of necessity, but pities the thief of fashion. He who steals a loaf of bread to feed his starving family is sent to jail, but he who is successful in bold, dishonourable speculation, by which others are ruined, is caressed by society. Why is it that official dishonesty is considered less disreputable than dishonesty in a private citizen? A public man guilty of many flagrant sins is treated with consideration, while the private individual, less guilty, is shunned as a pestilential criminal. Does the dignity of his office cover him like a cloak? Does his position of trust and power commend him to our respect? If from the official who reflects public sentiment we turn to the private life of a nation, we shall not be surprised to discover the inordinate love of riches a prevalent and fruitful cause of the violation of the ancient law of property. Such is the greed for gain that justice, truth, honesty, are set at defiance. Men combine in vast monopolies to control vast wealth. All must bow to this shrine of Mammon. What is the dominant thought in the life of the world today? Is it the value of education? the purity of marriage? the elevation of the labouring classes? Is it not revenue, private and public? Out of this condition of things come financial panics with the regularity of clock work. The bold attempt is made to force prosperity--to get rich in a day. As well might a man attempt to force the harvest, The most conspicuous representative of the inordinate love of wealth is the financial prodigy who attracts, lures, ruins. Wise, careful, honourable financiers rarely fail, and rarely, if ever, are they the cause of financial panics; but rather the financial prodigy, whose brilliancy dazzles, whose success captivates, whose unscrupulousness is hidden by the splendour of his operations. Closely allied with this invasion of the rights of property is the prevalent vice of gambling, the abuse of an innocent pastime. It ignores the law of equivalent. It is something for nothing. The highest motives impel to keep the law of property. Nature insists upon the recognition of her rights. Providence is upon the side of the honest. Law throws its muniments of protection around the honourable possessions of man. Honesty leads in the path of personal safety. Peace of mind is the certain reward. The happiness of others is the benediction attained. The future opens its golden gates to those who have obeyed the inspired behest of Heaven. (J. P. Newman.)
Neither shalt thou steal
God has divided the worlds goods diversely. To one He has given much, to another little. This has been since the beginning. No attempt to alter this order of things has succeeded. That which God has given to the individual is called his property or possession; and in this commandment God throws a shield over mens possessions, be they great or small, and says to each, Thou shalt not steal. When do we keep this commandment?
I. When we do not acquire our neighbours property unjustly.
1. Of thieving. Luther says: It is the meanest occupation, yet the most widely practised profession on earth; and if one considers the world in its various conditions it will be found to be a den of thieves.
2. If a man waylays another and takes his gold, we call him a robber. If another breaks into a ]louse and carries off money or clothing, etc., we call him a thief; and of him who receives the stolen property we say, The receiver is as bad as the thief.
3. But he who invades his neighbours acres, who removes his neighbours landmark, or takes produce from his neighbours field, even though he plead necessity, is still a thief.
4. So, too, is the man who gets gain by adulterated goods or false dealing, the merchant who uses false weights or measures, who passes off spoiled or inferior wares as fresh and good, the artisan who gives scamped work for good pay, the purchaser who passes false coin, the extortioner, the servant or official who neglects duty, the beggar who by labour might earn a days wage, the man who finds what has been lost and makes no effort to trace the owner.
5. And it matters not whose possession is thus wrongly appropriated. The Government steals when it receives the taxes of the people and does not apply them for the good of the people, but for its own fads and designs; but the subject also steals when he seeks to avoid the legal taxation. The child steals when it takes or sells what belongs to the parent; but the parent steals when he squanders in play or debauchery the wifes or childrens portion or what should be given them for dally bread. It would be impossible to enumerate, briefly or at all, all methods of theft and robbery; and the victims--God is the avenger of all such.
II. When we do not uncharitably permit our neighbour to be despoiled of his possessions.
1. Many who lose their property have not to lament theft or deceit, but the carelessness of those who should have warned and helped them, e.g., the guardian who permits his ward to squander his property or is careless as to the investment and safety of that property; the neighbour who sees what damage his neighbours servants or children are doing and does not warn him such deal unjustly.
2. So, too, do those who damage their neighbours trade or credit. Rather we are to aid our neighbour to increase and protect his possessions, as the apostle has said (1Pe_4:10).
3. In the sight of men what you possess is your own; in the sight of God it is simply lent. It is His, and should be used according to His will. If God, therefore, requires that we should give or lend in order to increase or protect our neighbours possessions, we should do so. Give to him that asketh, etc. (Mat_5:42).
4. Further, Scripture says, Give thy bread unto the hungry, etc. (Isa_58:7). Not that the lazy, work-shirking beggar or the child who is being trained in beggary are to be directly relieved, for this would be to have part in sin; but whenever we are convinced that the truly poor and needy are before us we are to consider them as sent of God for our help. He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord, etc.
III. When we are careful that our possessions do not unhappily become to us occasions of sin.
1. We must be careful that we have not to blush at the question as to how we obtained our possessions. Gold on account of which tears are shed--tears of poverty, of the deceived--will burn in the heart. Better to be Bartimaeus the beggar than Ahab and Achan the thieves, or as the miser who on his death bed lamented that the gold which had once been to him like rose leaves on which he could sleep peacefully now appeared to be like thorns and thistles and red-hot needles.
2. We must guard against idleness. He who is idle may soon come to poverty; and if he cannot dig and is ashamed to beg, he may take to thieving. This applies as well to those who have no need to labour for daily bread. To every man some work is given, and labour has a golden foundation.
3. Beware of extravagance. He who squanders his possessions in play or drunkenness, etc., has no right to say, I spend what is my own. No, it is Gods possession--the possession of his children and, if they have enough, of Gods poor. The prodigals fate is mostly an evil one. The young free-liver becomes the old beggar.
4. Beware of avarice. Many treasures, many snares. To him whom Mammon never satisfies sufficiently, who will sooner forego love and mercifulness than goods and gold, his possessions are occasions of sin. Avarice increases with gain during the years--binds its cords on rich and poor alike, makes the heart stony, and is indeed a root of all evil. Many a one would not go about with disturbed mind and troubled heart, a broken promise, and the curse of the betrayer on the conscience, had such an one remembered that Mammon is a merciless lord and gives evil rewards to his servants. What shall it profit a man? etc.
5. Beware of envy. A mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. Men may have wealth and yet sorrow and misery enough. Poverty and riches lie not in chests, but in the soul. He is rich who combines godliness with contentment. Modest and honourably acquired possessions are like a graceful fountain, full of water (like the widows cruse), which fills many pitchers and yet is not exhausted. From a small fountain we may satisfy our thirst as well as from a great one.
6. Set not your hope on riches. The riches which water engulfs, fire destroys, rust eats, worms gnaw, and thieves steal are truly uncertain riches.
7. Let both rich and poor put their hope in God. With Him men can be poor or rich without sin; and He has given the promise, I will never leave thee, etc. And where poor and rich can grasp this promise, then what Solomon says takes place. (K. H. Caspari.)
Stealing
This commandment strikes at many different forms of stealing, which are being practised today.
1. Perhaps it is hardly necessary to say anything concerning the simple act of purloining articles belonging to other persons. People seem to forget, e.g., that to borrow a book and not to return it is a theft.
2. The sin of stealing is terribly prevalent in the matter of fraudulent getting. Unjust weights, false measures, lying advertisements, etc.
3. The whole habit of gambling is of the essence of theft, and this for the reason that it is a means by which men come into possession of property which is a violation of both the laws upon which property may alone be held. A man who gambles, whether by play or betting, puts into his pocket money for which he gives to the person from whom he takes it no adequate return, money for which he has done no honest work; and by the very act he robs the man from whom he receives, and violates the law of love.
4. The commandment is, moreover, violated by all such as enrich themselves by means that rob their fellow men of the inalienable rights of human beings. The wealth that is tarnished by a death rate higher than is necessary is ill-gotten gains, and they who spend their days in the enjoyment of such wealth are branded in the light of the perfect law of God as thieves--thieves, indeed, by the side of whom Bill Sykes, the burglar, is a hero, for in the prosecution of his unlawful practices he risks his life; but these men risk nothing but the lives of their fellow creatures.
5. The commandment is broken again and again every day within the great realm of capital and labour. How often today might the words of James (Jam_5:4) be quoted with advantage. It is lamentable, but equally true, that many a working man robs his master in that he withholds his fair share of honest labour while he takes his wage.
6. Principles apply to individuals and to nations with equal force. This being so, this eighth word of the Decalogue is a severe denunciation of the false imperialism which is growingly manifest through all the nations of the world. Strong peoples have, without cause, stolen the land of the weaker. Weak nations have been handed over to the control of new Powers without reference to their own rights, and to the wrong of those so dealt with. (G. Campbell Morgan.)
Stealing in business
1. One of the common transgressions of this law is entirely a modern sin. I refer to those dishonest Limited Liability Companies which are so frequently floated. False prospectuses are issued, hopes of gain which is never made are held out to investors. The men who wilfully promote a dishonest company are as really thieves as the burglar who breaks into the house and forcibly appropriates its plate.
2. A closely connected form of stealing is found in the over-capitalisation of some companies which are formed to take over and to work a prosperous private concern.
3. The same principle applies to the lesser businesses of the world. A tradesman, for instance, who sells his customer goods of inferior quality to that of the sample that leads the customer to purchase, or who adulterates more expensive goods with a cheaper product, and then sells them as genuine or pure, may or may not be punishable by the law, but he is a thief in the sight of God, he is robbing the purchaser as truly as if he put his hand into his pocket and stole his purse. A short time ago I was talking to a commercial traveller of a certain person whom we both knew, and whose name had an unsavoury reputation in the town in which he lived. I said, He is a very sharp man of business, is he not? and the reply was, Yes, he is too sharp to be honest. In other words, he was a thief, living by deceiving seller and buyer alike.
4. Let us not, however, forget that there may be dishonest buyers quite as truly as dishonest sellers of goods. A man who purchases goods without the means of paying for them, and who does it deliberately, is as really a thief as the man who purloins them. (G. S. Barrett, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.