Exodus 20.15

“You shall not steal.”

Deuteronomy 5.19

“‘And you shall not steal.’”

The eighth commandment is accompanied by more statutes, rules, and precepts than any other of the Ten Commandments. What does this say about human beings? Many things: we are not easily contented with the gifts God provides for us; we have a tendency to lust for things; it is easy for us to prefer love of things over love of our neighbors; we think we know better than God what constitutes a just distribution of goods within the divine economy; and so forth.

In short, we have a tendency to want to exercise lordship over the property of others. But we must remember that God alone is Lord of all property, and we are stewards, according to His gracious assignment.

As we shall see, stealing can take a variety of forms. At base, stealing is an affront to the will and plan of God. It challenges His wisdom, disrupts His design for the stewardship of the earth, and distorts His justice. To take by stealth or negligence or any other means that which God has entrusted to another is to reject His plan and purpose and to put ourselves in His place by asserting our will over His with respect to the distribution of material possessions. Stealing is not just an act of injustice against our neighbor; it is an affront and challenge to the sovereign pleasure of God.

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