"You shall not steal." - Exo 20:15

The Eighth commandment.

Pursuing other gods, committing idolatry, disrespecting the name of God , neglecting Sabbath observance , dishonoring parents, murder and adultery are what we have covered till now. It is noteworthy that the last four were explicitly punished by death. ( cf Num 15:32 - Sabbath transgression, Exo 21:15,17 - parental disrespect, Num 35:17- murder, Lev 20:10 - adultery ). It gets worse... knowingly and willfully transgressing any of these commandments brings with it capital punishment!

"But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him." - Num 15:30,31

It may surprise you that theft also belongs in this category of capital crimes! It doesn't seem as bad as the others ... or maybe it's worse than the others ... you could have a point of view on that , but you could say the same thing about disrespecting Dad and Mom, or relations outside marriage. If we didn't have the Law, we would never have known how seriously our God views adultery ( even amongst "consenting" adults ) or respect for our parents.

Well, take a look at just one passage that equates theft with dishonoring Gods name..."Then he said to me, “This is the curse that is going forth over the face of the whole land; surely everyone who steals will be purged away according to the writing on one side, and everyone who swears will be purged away according to the writing on the other side. I will make it go forth,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name; and it will spend the night within that house and consume it with its timber and stones.” - Zec 5:3,4

Solomon has an interesting comparison of a thief and an adulterer (I think the thief comes out better here.. but only because of his motive for the theft) - "Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry;But when he is found, he must repay sevenfold; He must give all the substance of his house.The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense;He who would destroy himself does it." - Prov 6:30 Theft is never let off the hook for any reason!

The usual punishment for stealing was restitution ( repaying that which was stolen) along with a penalty. Apart from the obvious definition of theft ( taking someone's property without their consent ), the Law also frowns against fraud ( depriving people of their lawful rights/wages ) and cheating ( using fake weights and measures as one example ), robbery and dishonesty. Usually a thief stole knowing he could rightfully be killed for his attempt, but if caught would have to repay.

"If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account (!). But if the sun has risen on him, there will be bloodguiltiness on his account. He shall surely make restitution; if he owns nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If what he stole is actually found alive in his possession, whether an ox or a donkey or a sheep, --- he shall pay double.---" - Exo 22:2-4

Dishonest dealings were similarly punished.

"Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,“When a person sins and acts unfaithfully against the Lord, and deceives his companion in regard to a deposit or a security entrusted to him, or through robbery, or if he has extorted from his companion, or has found what was lost and lied about it and sworn falsely, so that he sins in regard to any one of the things a man may do; then it shall be, when he sins and becomes guilty, that he shall restore what he took by robbery or what he got by extortion, or the deposit which was entrusted to him or the lost thing which he found, or anything about which he swore falsely; ---- he shall make restitution for it in full and add to it one-fifth more. ---- He shall give it to the one to whom it belongs on the day he presents his guilt offering.Then he shall bring to the priest his guilt offering to the Lord, a ram without defect from the flock, according to your valuation, for a guilt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he will be forgiven for any one of the things which he may have done to incur guilt.” - Lev 6:2-7

Theft carried a 100% penalty, and dishonesty 20% -- over and above the full restitution of property.

God takes the issue of rightful ownership and due very very seriously indeed.

Just think, God could have given everyone a free pass on sin just by sovereign decree. He is literally judge, jury and executioner. Instead, we had to be REDEEMED. A price had to be paid for lawful ownership. God is not a thief!!!!! He abides by His own laws! Christ is both our restitution ( paid the price ) and the defect free ram of the guilt offering (that made the atonement ) ! We could not ever hope to pay for our sins, and were literally lifelong slaves to Sin and Death for as long as we kept sinning - remember - the thief would be sold to pay for his theft if he did not have money! Christ paid the price to free us from that penalty, and also to restore our fellowship with God!

The dim view of theft also extends to the figurative dimension, where it is related to the abuse of spiritual authority. --- "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep..... Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them......The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." - John 10:1-10 Jesus in this passage here refers to Himself as both the DOOR and (later in the same text) as the GOOD SHEPHERD.

He must be the one to ordain His shepherds, who will faithfully discharge their duties through and by Him - not with a view to enriching themselves at the expense of the sheep, but for the benefit of the sheep. They will not be hired help that run for the hills when they see the wolf coming! His true sheep however, will never respond to these voices but will keep searching till they hear the voice of the Good Shepherd! False sheep will not hear/tolerate His voice/Word but will be happy with a thief, and true sheep will not hear/tolerate false shepherds! Like Bob Kraft at this years Super Bowl, I will just say that with all the scandals abounding in Christianity historically and today, this needs no further explanation :-).

Judas was a thief. "Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was about to betray Him), said, “Why wasn’t this fragrant oil sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?” He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the money-bag and would steal part of what was put in it." - John 12:4-7 His love for money led Him to steal and betray His Lord, but just observe how that was cloaked under a veneer of piety!!

A final vignette leads us to the cross. Our Lord was crucified between two thieves ( or robbers ). It is truly ironic that the person who was lawfully buying back what was His was punished in the company of those that took what didn't belong to them. His arms were literally stretched out towards both of them, but only one heard His voice! This persons only claim to righteousness in his life was this one last act of believing in the Son of God, and He counted it to him for righteousness- saying to him - "Today you will be with Me in paradise."

God gave us this picture so that we may realize that it is not our works that give us Salvation but that we are justified by faith, and that too not of ourselves, because that faith itself is the gift of God so that no one can boast! There is no "work" of faith that we can do to attain our salvation - whether it's the sinners prayer or anything else! You may say it was the thief's declaration that saved Him but it was God who moved in his heart before his lips uttered a word.

People will have issue with this statement and call us Calvinists or worse - please view this video ( http://tabernacleoftheholyspirit.org/?videoid=Tj2_jW-PYhY) before commenting, and if you still do, please don't expect a response! This debate has raged for centuries and will not be settled here, all we can do is present our logic, which is what we have done in the video.

Why do we believe this? - because if we say we have done or can do anything to earn/deserve/secure our salvation we will be stealing from God the glory and honor due His sovereign Grace alone... and the commandment says - Do not steal.

Hallelujah!!