decalog, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th
What is the eighth command?
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לֹא תִּגְנֹב׃ ס |
You shall not steal. (Exodus 20:15) |
What holy thing is marked out by this command?
The eighth command singles out a person’s right to their property as something sacred and not to be taken lightly. It guards the sanctity of private property. Here is the complete list:
| Command: | Principle: |
| First command: You shall have no other gods before Me. | The sanctity of God Himself |
| Second command: You shall not make for yourself an idol… | The sanctity of God’s worship |
| Third command: You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain | The sanctity of God’s Name |
| Fourth command: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy | The sanctity of God’s day |
| Fifth command: Honor your father and your mother… | The sanctity of authority |
| Sixth command: You shall not murder. | The sanctity of human life |
| Seventh command: You shall not commit adultery. | The sanctity of the sexual relationship |
| Eighth command: You shall not steal. | The sanctity of private property |
| Ninth command: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. | The sanctity of truth |
| Tenth command: You shall not covet … anything that belongs to your neighbor. | The sanctity of our thoughts or inner contentment |
What is stealing?
Stealing is taking something that does not belong to us.
How do we know what belongs to us?
Those things belong to us which we worked to achieve. Property is obtained by our labor.
What does the Bible say about stealing?
The Bible shows how sacred private property is to God. Michaelis notes (p219) that many of the peoples surrounding Israel were nomadic and stealing was a virtue and a sign of strength. God, however, will not have this and allots to each of the families of His people a portion of land which they are to cultivate and make fruitful.
But that Moses sought, nevertheless, to make his people desist from it [a life based on theft], is manifest from his decreeing that every man should have a piece of land of his own. He that attends to the cultivation of land, cannot wander about in the wilderness, and lie in wait to plunder caravans; nor will he attempt any such thing, because he can support himself by his industry. Hence the predatory Arabs refuse to have any settled possessions in land, because it would but fetter them, and as a restraint upon their liberty, be a punishment instead of a blessing.
This is the law God gave to His people:
‘The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me. ‘Thus for every piece of your property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land. ‘If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest kinsman is to come and buy back what his relative has sold. ‘Or in case a man has no kinsman, but so recovers his means as to find sufficient for its redemption, then he shall calculate the years since its sale and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and so return to his property. ‘But if he has not found sufficient means to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hands of its purchaser until the year of jubilee; but at the jubilee it shall revert, that he may return to his property. (Leviticus 25:23-28)
What is the teaching of this passage?
Here we see that God gave Israel the land of Canaan for their possession. God makes it clear that Israel does not own the land; they are renting the land from Him. In Joshua 13-21, the land of Canaan is divided up between the tribes. Then, we must assume that each tribe further divided up the land giving each family their allotment within the larger tribal allotment. This allotment of land was sacred; no Israelite was allowed to sell their land to another tribe; it was to stay in that family as long as they lived. In the event that someone was reduced to such distress that he had to sell his land, that land sale had to include a clause allowing the original owner or one of his relatives to buy back (or “redeem”) the land he had sold. In the event that this buy back didn’t happen, the land would revert to the original owner in the Jubilee.
Do we ever read of this law in action in the Bible?
We do. Consider the situation involving the daughters of Zelophehad. We are told that Hepher, of the tribe of Manasseh, had five daughters but no sons. (Numbers 26:33) When Israel arrived in the promised land, these daughters asked Joshua to provide them with an allotment of land even though there were no men in their household. (Numbers 27:1-4) When Moses lays their request before the Lord, their claim is judged to be legitimate. (Numbers 27:5-7) God then uses this occasion to give Moses a command regarding the property of a man who dies having no sons. (Numbers 27:8-11)
Where else do we see this law in action?
In Numbers 36, another situation arises again involving the daughters of Zelophehad. This time, some men from the tribe of Manasseh (Numbers 36:1) come to Moses and ask him what they should do if one of these daughters marries someone from another tribe. The problem is that the land allotted to these daughters would then transfer to the ownership of her new husband meaning the land would no longer belong to the tribe of Manasseh. (Numbers 36:2-4) Clearly, this violated God’s command that the land should never be sold. (Leviticus 25:23) Again, God pronounces this appeal to be just (Numbers 36:5) and gives the command that daughters in this situation had to marry within their tribe. (Numbers 36:6)
Was not this law the reason why Naboth refused to sell his vineyard to Ahab?
Yes, this is correct. To us, Ahab’s offer seems honest enough (1 Kings 21:2); but to Naboth, the offer was a blatant violation of God’s law that the land not be sold. Hence, Elijah pronounces God’s verdict on Ahab’s action: You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Have you murdered and also taken possession?” (1 Kings 21:19) The “taken possession” here refers to Ahab’s theft of Naboth’s allotment of land. Evidently, Ahab wasn’t the only king who thought to do this as is implied in Ezekiel 46:18.
Why is all this important for our understanding of the eighth command?
It shows us the value God places on private property. God regards a person’s property as a sacred thing; He hates theft.
What other teaching do we find on this command in the Bible?
The prophets repeatedly warn God’s people against theft. Ezekiel speaks of sons who live wickedly in spite of a Godly example from their father. (Ezekiel 18:9-10) The sins of this son are listed as:
“Then he may have a violent son who sheds blood and who does any of these things to a brother (though he himself did not do any of these things), that is, he even eats at the mountain shrines, and defiles his neighbor’s wife, oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore a pledge, but lifts up his eyes to the idols and commits abomination, he lends money on interest and takes increase; will he live? He will not live! He has committed all these abominations, he will surely be put to death; his blood will be on his own head. (Ezekiel 18:10-13)
Oppressing the poor, robbery, not restoring a pledge, lending money on interest are all sins against the eighth command.
In what ways did the poor suffer from those who stole from them?
Micah provides more details on this:
Woe to those who scheme iniquity, Who work out evil on their beds! When morning comes, they do it, For it is in the power of their hands. They covet fields and then seize them, and houses, and take them away. They rob a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. (Micah 2:1-2)
When the prophet announces God’s judgments on the people for these sins (Micah 2:3-5), they respond by asking him not to say such things. (Micah 2:6) Micah rebukes them for this request:
‘Do not speak out,’ so they speak out. But if they do not speak out concerning these things, Reproaches will not be turned back. “Is it being said, O house of Jacob: ‘Is the Spirit of the LORD impatient? Are these His doings?’ Do not My words do good To the one walking uprightly? Recently My people have arisen as an enemy–you strip the robe off the garment from unsuspecting passers-by, from those returned from war. The women of My people you evict, each one from her pleasant house. From her children you take My splendor forever. (Micah 2:6-9)
Here again note the prominence of eighth command violations. Stripping off and stealing people’s clothing and evicting people from their homes, presumably in order to steal it, are mentioned here.
What is meant by “not restoring a pledge?”
This pertains to the commands given in Exodus 22 where a poor person gives collateral for some money or a tool that he borrowed. In this case, the man is so poor, that he gives his coat as collateral. When he is unable to repay the money or return the tool, the lender is commanded to return the coat since the man relies on that coat to keep him warm while sleeping in the cold nights.
“If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest. If you ever take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets, for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall come about that when he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for I am gracious. (Exodus 22:25-27)
The command is repeated in Deuteronomy:
When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not enter his house to take his pledge. You shall remain outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you. If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge. When the sun goes down you shall surely return the pledge to him, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and it will be righteousness for you before the LORD your God. (Deuteronomy 24:10-13)
Not returning the pledge is a kind of theft by which the poor man is robbed of the one thing that protects him from the cold.
How does the eighth command pertain to the role of civil government?
A government’s function is to enforce the eighth command. This is the only legitimate function of civil government.
How does the government do this?
By protecting people from having their rights or other property stolen from them.
What rights do people have?
As image bearers of God, every human person has a right to their own person and the products of their labor.
Does not our government do much more than enforce the eighth command?
It certainly does; and in doing so, it violates the eighth command.
How do governments violate the eighth command?
Governments steal from their subjects when they take money and appropriate it for themselves or when they take money from one person and give it to another. These latter are called transfer payments or the redistribution of wealth. God warned His people about this:
So Samuel spoke all the words of the LORD to the people who had asked of him a king. He said, “This will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots. He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants. He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and use them for his work. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants. Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day. (1 Samuel 8:10-18)
Are all transfer payments a violation of the eighth command?
They are.
But these payments are not forcibly taken from the citizens. In fact, it was the citizens who voted to elect these governing officials to their position of authority.
First, the money, by which these payments are made, is forcibly taken from the citizens. The paying of one’s taxes is not optional. Second, the consent of the electorate to appoint these officials to their office does not justify the taking of someone’s property and giving it to another. Whether the theft is done by an individual or a group of individuals, it is still theft. Even if we all get together and agree to hire someone to steal for us, the theft is still a theft.
Is there nothing governments can do to help alleviate poverty and to prevent destitution?
The Bible commands individuals to be generous to the poor; but just as clearly, the Bible warns against showing favoritism to the poor just because they are poor. (Exodus 23:3) Relieving the suffering of the poor can never be done at the expense of justice. (Leviticus 19:15) The principles of justice must always be followed. If a government wants to do something for its poor, then it should focus on growing the economy and thus providing more opportunities for the poor to work their way out of poverty. Franklin observed (p358):
For my own part, I am not so well satisfied of the goodness of this thing. I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion about the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor is not making them easy in poverty but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth, I travelled much and I observed in different countries that the more public provisions were made for the poor the less they provided for themselves and, of course, became poorer. And on the contrary the less was done for them the more they did for themselves and became richer. There is no country in the world where so many provisions are established for them, so many hospitals to receive them when they are sick or lame, founded and maintained by voluntary charities, so many almshouses for the aged of both sexes together with a solemn general law made by the rich to subject their estates to a heavy tax for the support of the poor. Under all these obligations are our poor modest, humble, and thankful? And do they use their best endeavors to maintain themselves and lighten our shoulders of this burthen? On the contrary, I affirm that there is no country in the world in which the poor are more idle, dissolute, drunken, and insolent. The day you passed that act [the corn laws] you took away from before their eyes the greatest of all inducements to industry, frugality, and sobriety by giving them a dependence on somewhat else than a careful accumulation during youth and health for support in age or sickness.
Is all government taxation theft?
No, the basic principle here is that any government spending which benefits only some of the people under its jurisdiction is a violation of the eighth command. When our federal government funds a court system, police, military, etc. these institutions benefit all the citizens of the nation. In the same way, a local government may build a bridge or a road that works for the good of all the citizens of that locality. Transfer payments are benefitting only some of the nation’s people. This kind of spending cannot be justified in light of the eighth command.