What is Stealing? (Oct. 22, 2023) Exodus 20.15

Today we come to the eighth commandment. Again, like the last two, it is short and sweet. Do not steal. Sounds like another cut and dry command. But as usual, these commands are filled with layers, when one peels one back there is another. The question needs to be asked, “What is stealing?” We believe that we know what the answer is (the taking of someone’s property) and that would be one way of viewing this command. But there are many other ways to steal something. Many other ways to interpret this command and to see that things are not quite as simple as they seem.

This command, or word, is gnob. It does mean to steal, purloin, or deceive. What is not known here by most is that this word does not have an object, a noun that can point to what the verb is speaking of when used. And that makes for some very interesting interpretations.

One of those is that this command is against the kidnapping people and selling them as slaves. This has been a relatively modern interpretation though there is evidence that this was a rabbinic interpretation in the early first century. This interpretation can be seen in the story of Joseph where his brothers sell him into slavery and earn a nice little profit from their duplicity.

Patrick D. Miller gives a very good view of this interpretation: “What is particularly noticeable in this story and in the laws that have to do with stealing persons is that stealing a person’s freedom is virtually always a matter of economics, the theft of a person for economic gain, turning the stolen object into a human machine of productivity…. Thus, every attempt to enslave, to restrict the freedom, and to coerce and force economic production from one’s brother or neighbor—such is a violation of the Eighth Commandment. The slave trade thus gets its first blow under the hammer of freedom and economic protection that is the Eighth Commandment, and the Commandments are seen to uncover a complex of legal and justice-shaped specifics about slavery that begin with the free Israelite but move out into other relationships that involve both the nonfree and thus nonequal Israelite and the outsider or foreigner.”[1]Given that owners of slaves in this country used the Bible to protect and justify slavery, one wonders what would have happened if this interpretation was known then. Would they not take those whom they captured from their homes and families and sold them into slavery? Or would they have used a different excuse, the most common being that these were inferiors to whites and therefore not worthy of being seen as humans who deserve dignity?

And while this is a valid interpretation, this command is viewed in the way that most of us have viewed it: we are not to steal.

But this would seem to protect the “haves” and oppress the “have nots”. It would seem to say that those who are wealthy are more important than those who are not. This would go against all that the Bible teaches us about the poor being lifted up and being special in God’s sight. This command however protects those who are the “have nots”.

There is more than one way to “steal”. In fact, it can come from above as well as from below. There can be more than one way to take a person for economic gain. How many of you know the song Sixteen Tons sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford? In this song is a line, “St. Peter don’t you call me ‘cause I can’t go, I owe my soul to the company store.” This was true of the coal mining towns in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The company would pay the miners in scrip which was good only at the company store. There the miners and their families could buy what they needed to live and sometimes purchase things on credit. When they did this, the company would take whatever wages were owed to the miner and they would find themselves deeper in debt and owing more to the place that they really wanted to get away from. It is interesting that the miners could have been paid in cash, but cash was no good at the company store. The miners would have to leave the coal town and go out of the hollow to the towns there, sometimes walking seven miles just to get groceries. These people’s lives were sold for the profit of the mining company. The same can be said today of workers who find themselves in a position of being trapped in a job they must have to pay the debts that they have accrued. Sometimes these debts are soul crushing such as student loan debt. Students go to college and are given loans that build interest over time. When the student graduates, they have a massive debt that many find they will not pay off until they are in their retirement years. Again, souls are sold so that the companies can make a tidy profit.

What is stealing? There are so many ways to steal. John Calvin in the Sixteenth century gave a definition that we can recognize today. He says: “One consists in violence, when another’s goods are stolen by force and unrestrained brigandage. A second kind consists in malicious deceit, when they are carried off through fraud. Another lies in a more concealed craftiness, when a man’s goods are snatched from him by seemingly legal means. Still another lies in flatteries, when one is cheated of his goods under the pretense of a gift…Let us remember that all those arts whereby we acquire the possessions and money of our neighbors—when such devices depart from sincere affection to a desire to cheat or in some manner to harm—are to be considered as thefts.”[2]

We live in a time of theft. There is the theft that most of us think of: burglary, mugging, violent taking of items, shoplifting. But there are others. Computer hackers steal data from people all the time, causing billions of dollars in losses. Cable is stolen from the cable companies by someone tapping into another’s line. We even steal WI-FI. The government says that it loses billions of dollars every year not to welfare cheats and others that we would assume, but from “respectable” corporations who get bailouts and then continue to take. Fraud is of course rampant whether on tax returns, insurance claims or other places fraud can occur. It seems that this commandment is one of the most broken.

And why do people steal? Some are hungry. In Les Misérables John Valjean steals bread to feed his hungry family. Because of this he is sentenced to row in the galleys. In total he spends 19 years as a prisoner. It is interesting also that St. Thomas Aquinas taught that when one is hungry and there is nothing else to do, stealing bread is not to be considered a sin.

Others steal because they are addicted. It costs a lot of money to pay for a heroin or opioid addiction. Gamblers are addicted and need large sums to try to “hit it big.” Those who take easy credit get addicted to having an unrealistic lifestyle.

Some get a kick out of stealing. Many shoplifters take things they don’t need or use. It is the thrill of the thing. St. Augustine wrote about his stealing pears from a neighbor when he did not need them and could get better pears in his own orchard.

Finally, some steal out of greed. Think of the recession of 2008. There were millions who were enticed to take sub-prime loans to finance the American Dream of owning a home. They then realized that they could not make the payments and had to default. The banks made a killing off these loans even when told they were not sustainable. Or the televangelists who prey on those who are hoping for a miracle if they just send in a specified amount to them. These people find that the money that they sent is used buy new jets, fancy cars and funding a lifestyle that makes Jesus weep that they call on his name.

So, what can be done? This appears to be a vicious cycle that we are in, and we don’t know how to break it. But listen to the first reading again: “Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy.”[3]This text tells us what to do. We are to stop stealing. Yes, we have all stolen something whether it be a pen from work or a tax “slip up” that is in your favor. We are to stop stealing and work. But that is not all. When we work, we will have something to give to those who are needy.

Giving is the positive that can change our view of stealing. Giving is, as Albert Curry Winn puts it, a positive addiction that gives a high that lasts longer than anything a drug can give. Giving gives us the kick that we can’t find by stealing. Giving is stronger than greed.

When we give, we rule out stealing. We cannot give what is not ours, the person from whom we took is the one who is giving. To give to the needy, we must work. That way when we give, we give what is truly ours. We are also reminded that what we have is not really ours anyway. Calvin states it thus: “We must consider that what every man possesses has not come to him by mere chance but by the distribution of the supreme Lord of all.”[4]As Job states, the Lord gives. We may think that it is ours by what we do but remember that it is the Lord’s and a gift to us.

Giving generously is contagious. I mentioned Jean Valjean earlier. He was given generosity from a bishop from whom he stole. Because of that generosity, he goes on to be a generous benefactor. But nothing can compare to the generosity of God. We are given grace and mercy freely, without any strings. God sent Jesus who died, and we are given all things freely with him. When we realize this and live it, the eighth commandment will be fulfilled, and we will not steal. Amen.

[1] Miller, Patrick D. The Ten Commandments. Ed. Patrick D. Miller. First edition. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009. Print. Interpretation: Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church. [2] Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion & 2. Ed. John T. McNeill. Trans. Ford Lewis Battles. Vol. 1. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011. Print. The Library of Christian Classics. [3] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [4] Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion & 2. Ed. John T. McNeill. Trans. Ford Lewis Battles. Vol. 1. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011. Print. The Library of Christian Classics.