Ten Words: Commandments 7 and 8

Good evening. It was my intention to be finished with this series by the first week in January, but that did not happen. I suppose that is OK…we’ve got nothing but time. That said, I do want to move on, so I will be covering commandments 7 and 8 tonight, then next week we will finish up with 9 and 10.

Also, at the end, I will talk about what we are going to be doing next, after finishing up this series next week.

PRAY

Up to this point in the series, we’ve covered the first 6 commandments:

Exodus 20;

You shall have no other gods before Me

.You shall make no idols.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

Keep the Sabbath day holy.

Honor your father and your mother.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery

You shall not steal.

Let’s go ahead and begin with number 6:

Commandment 7: Adultery, Infidelity

Exodus 20:14

“Do not commit adultery.”

Think for a moment about how the Jewish people learned about morality before the 10 Commandments were given to them. Part of it was though the passing down of moral stories and such, but a large part was though the Egyptian culture. The Jews had been in Egypt for over 400 years…that is a very long time. Multiple generations had come and gone…each one of them becoming more and more indoctrinated into the Egyptian culture. By the time Moses comes along, the people were filled to the brim with pagan morality and a polytheism (multiple gods).

Imagine for a moment about what would happen if you suddenly took a person a fundamental Islamic man from Iran and put them in San Francisco or Las Vegas. It could be massive culture shock, to say the least. That is the type of shock that the Israelites experienced when they learned that there is really only one God and that He is a personal, loving God, but also demands holiness and obedience. This was a whole new way to live and to think.

So, to help them, God issues a list of commandments, that if followed, can lead to a fulfilling and content life of pleasing our creator. One of these commands, of course, is to not commit adultery.

The OT regards adultery as sexual intercourse involving a married woman, a man who is not her husband, and mutual consent. It did not consider a married man taking an additional unmarried (or unbetrothed) woman as a wife—i.e., polygamy—to be adultery.In fact, the rabbis tended to reduce the concept of adultery to sin against the property rights of another Jewish man, this is why adultery was limited to illicit sexual relationship with the wife of another Jew. In this view, seduction of a single woman or of a non-Jew’s wife was not considered adultery. Conversely, a woman was not permitted to have more than one husband (polyandry). Some might say that this is unfair, but the family name was of all importance back then, so, even if polyandry was allowed, no man would want to share is name with kids that are not his..which is what could happen if you had many men, but one wife. Regardless, that is how adultery was viewed.

Even before the law of Moses was given, relations outside of the marriage covenant were not looked upon favorably. For example, in both, Genesis 12, and 20, Abraham allows his wife to be taken by the local king…in Genesis 12 it is the Egyptian Pharaoh and in Gen. 20, it is king Abemaleck. In both instances, God warns the leaders to not have relations with Abraham’s wife. Granted, they did not know she was married, but that shows how seriously God took the situation. We also see terrible stories of incest in the book of Genesis, where Moab and Ammon were born after Lot’s daughter’s got him drunk and slept with him. There are other stories as well, but those are just a few examples, before the actual law was given.

Once God issued the command, the consequences for breaking it was death. The O.T. Israelites viewed the breaking of this command as an affront to God first, then the spouse. We see this with King David after being confronted with his adultery with Bathsheba.

Psalm 51:4

“Against you—you alone—I have sinned and done this evil in your sight. So you are right when you pass sentence; you are blameless when you judge.”

More than once, God compares Israel’s sin to that of adultery

Hosea 2:1–5

“Call your brothers: My People and your sisters: Compassion. Rebuke your mother; rebuke her. For she is not my wife and I am not her husband. Let her remove the promiscuous look from her face and her adultery from between her breasts. Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her as she was on the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and like a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst. I will have no compassion on her children because they are the children of promiscuity. Yes, their mother is promiscuous; she conceived them and acted shamefully. For she thought, “I will follow my lovers, the men who give me my food and water, my wool and flax, my oil and drink.””

There are a whole slew of passages that compare an unrepentant Israel with a sexual issues like adultery. Perhaps that seems like a weird comparison…but if we understand that how God views marriage, the comparison make sense. God views marriage as a covenant, just like the covenant that God made with Israel. Adultery is breaking that covenant of marriage…which is likened to Israel being disobedient to God’s covenant…both are forms of adultery.

Of course, as we move into the New Testament, we see the subject of adultery being addressed by Jesus. However, much like some of the other commandments, Jesus takes the narrow Jewish idea of not committing adultery and makes it an issue of the heart and mind.

Matthew 5:27–28

““You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery. But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

In Jesus’s day, a married Jewish man could lust at a single woman all he wanted…and that was not necessarily considered wrong. Even the 10 commandments show this notion with “do not covet your neighbors wife.” We’ve changed that to simply “do not covet,” but the command focused on a married Jewish woman…or her servants. Jesus comes along and say that any man who looks lustfully at a woman is guilty of adultery. If the commands were rewritten today they would be

“Do not be full of rage”

“Do not have sexual lust in your heart”

These new commands issued by Christ are all about doing the right things for the right reasons; not simply avoid an act…like murdering someone or having sex with another man’s wife. Let’s finish this command by quickly looking at 3 things we can do to avoid lust.

1. Secure your mind.

Job 31:1

“I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I look at a young woman?”

The first thing we must do, in order to avoid lust is to make a covenant with the Lord in this area, and to renew the covenant on a daily basis.

2. Block out temptation.

Blocking out temptation means to flee any situation that brings about the overt temptation to lust. It also means severing any emotional attachments that threaten your marriage. Maintain appropriate distances in relationships. Flee from temptations, just like Joseph did when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him.

3. Recognize your weaknesses.

1 Corinthians 10:12

“So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.”

One of the major reasons that Christians can fall into sexual impropriety is because they do not think they are vulnerable to such temptation. We must all recognize that we have the capacity to sin. Perhaps we would not consider having sex with someone other than our spouse, but we will become emotionally attached to them. We must recognise that we have the capacity for such things and not think too highly of ourselves.

If I were going to dedicate an entire Wednesday to this topic, obviously, I would draw these themes out a bit more. I’ll close this section by saying this: with the rise of pornography being available 24/7 to even young people, society has yet to see the consequences of such a thing.Not only that, but women are now consuming pornography almost as much as men…although it’s a different type of pornography…more emotionally based, rather than visually based. Anyone who is trying to raise kids in this environment should be leery, as the devil is out to steal, kill and destroy.

Commandment 8: Stealing

Exodus 20:15 “Do not steal.”

In the technical sense, the 8th commandment is about property…taking someone’s property without their permission, or not returning property that was borrowed, with permission. This issue of stealing is closely linked to the commandments of coveting and lying. If we steal someone’s property, it’s clear that we are coveting that item and are willing to lie in the process of obtaining the item. That said, coveting and lying can be separate actions and thoughts. For example, I can covet something, but not actually steal it. I can lie to someone without stealing something or or coveting…that is why I did not want to combine all 3 into one teaching.

Taking something that does not belong to you is viewed as wrong in just about every society that has ever existed. The question is then, what belongs to you? This dives in to the deeper topic of what is called property rights…which is what the 8th commandment is really all about. Although taking something that does not belong to you has always been considered wrong, the notion of a non-wealthy person actually owning something was non-existent. The laws for stealing were meant to protect the wealthy or ruling class from the poor or peasant. Perhaps that cuts against the way you think about things…which is OK. I’ll explain why: in most societies, the lower class was not allowed to own anything of value, like land or houses. In fact, the state could come in and confiscate whatever you had without any notice…including your children. If a king saw a girl he liked, guess what, that girl would be taken.

God told the Israelites that no one had the authority or right to take something that did not belong to them…implicit in this commandment was a new idea, that everyone could own something. After all, if I do not own something, then it’s not stealing it to take it away. There were obvious punishments for taking something that did not belong to you…this is where the concept of of an eye for an eye came in. If I steal 100 dollars from Joel and get caught, I would have to pay back the 100, plus 100 more of what belonged to me. We often associate an eye for an eye with murder, but in actuality, it had more to do with theft.

Property rights was a new concept, and what did God desire for the nation of Israel…to be an example to other nations. Unfortunately, Israel disobeyed the Lord and other nations rose to power that did not have the same ideals and virtues. The Romans are a good example…although they were very modern for their time, only wealthy roman citizens could actually own something…even then, Cesar had the right to come in and take whatever he wanted.

We do not see the concept of property rights come back until America was founded…the ideal was that anyone could actually own things of value. Naturally, it would take a while before the core concept was actually realized (and is still being perfected)…as women and black people could not own things…but, as I said, the core idea was there…similar in fashion to the ancient Israel. All that to say, Israel did not get it perfect…women could not own things, we do not have it perfect today. A good example of this is the street criminal who steals vs the Hedge Fund manager who steals. Both are wrong, but are viewed differently by both society and the law…so, it’s for sure that we have a distance to go. That said, the core principle is there, which I believe is a good thing.

All of that aside, wanted his people to know that stealing was wrong, no matter who did it.

The New Testament kind of flips the notion of stealing on its head. While it is for sure that stealing is still condemned:

Ephesians 4:28

“Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need.”

But even here, Paul mentions the N.T. principle that Jesus associated, along with stealing. Paul says that a person shouldn’t steal…not because it’s wrong (which it is), but because that person should be sharing with those in need. You see, when Christ arrives, the problem was not that people were going around blatantly stealing each other’s belongings, or murdering each other in the streets or having orgies with their neighbors. The problem was that people saw nothing wrong with being filled with rage, lusting in their hearts, and were becoming selfish and not wanting to share their property.

Matthew 5:38–42

““You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”

You see, anything taken too far has problems. Property rights are a fundamental good, but what happens when people intertwine their identity with what is “theirs?” Their stuff becomes so important to them, that they do not want to share…they want to hold on to what they have so tightly, in order to avoid losing it. This is what Jesus, and the new testament in general addresses…not being miserly and selfish. You see, it’s not good enough to not steal…like Paul said, the reason we don’t steal, is so we can give to those who are in need.

Another principle that the New Testament gives, in regard to stealing is that a person does not have to put on a mask, walk in to a store and steal something. A merchant can steal from the consumer by jacking up prices in a time of need…which we actually have laws against extreme forms of that. The famous theologian Thomas Aquinas once said: We break the 8th word every time we defraud our neighbor when buying or selling. When we purposely take advantage of a person, because of our position of authority, that is a form of stealing…and that is exactly what the Pharisees were doing to their fellow Israelites. That is what the tax collectors would do.

Luke 19:45–46

“He went into the temple and began to throw out those who were selling, and he said, “It is written, my house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves!””

Jesus took the notion of thievery very serious, but not in the way we often do. Jesus focused more on those who were being stolen from…which returns us to the idea that only the powerful and wealthy could own things or control commerce. Jesus advocated for the person being taken advantage of by forces outside of their control while Paul advocated for not being selfish with our material items. Our goal should be to keep these two notions of the 8th commandment in balance. We should advocate for those who are less fortunate, due to circumstances they can’t control and we should hold on loosely to the things we own, as all of it is owned by the Lord in the first place.