Exodus 20:15 “You shall not steal.
Leviticus 19:13 “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.
Deuteronomy 24:7 “If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
Deuteronomy 25:15-16 A full and fair weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the LORD your God.
Proverbs 11:1 A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is his delight.
Micah 6:10-11 Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is accursed? Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights?
Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
1 Corinthians 6:10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Ephesians 4:28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
1Thessalonians 4:7-8 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
Malachi 3:8-9 Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me
This command is another important foundation for human society, establishing the right to personal property. God has clearly entrusted certain possessions to certain individuals, and other people or states are not permitted to take that property without due process of law. (Guzik)
This command forbids us to rob ourselves of what we have, by sinful spending, or of the use and comfort of it, by sinful sparing; and to rob others by invading our neighbour’s rights, taking his goods, or house, or field, forcibly or clandestinely, overreaching in bargains, not restoring what is borrowed or found, withholding just debts, rents, or wages; and, which is worst of all, to rob the public in the coin or revenue, or that which is dedicated to the service of religion. (Benson)
Thou shall not steal. Which is to take away another man’s property by force or fraud, without the knowledge, and against the will of the owner thereof. Thefts are of various kinds; there is private theft, picking of pockets, shoplifting, burglary, or breaking into houses in the night, and carrying off goods; public theft, or robbing upon the highways; domestic theft, as when wives take away their husbands’ money or goods. (Gill)
Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God in the land!
We never have the right to Steal, taking that which belongs to another and claiming it for ourselves either by theft, fraud, or utilization of fine print in contracts, obscure laws, or any other means. Stealing something from another person is wrong. There is no justification for it. We might say it is due me, they owe me so I am going to steal something back from them, or we might even say they have said or done something to me so I am going to steal from them. There is no justification for it. The heart says I want it, I need it, I will take it or swindle it away from he that owns it. There are many areas in a person’s life where stealing can manifest itself. Easily enough is outright theft or defrauding. How about stealing time from your employer, or underpaying employees for their work, finding a purse or wallet without returning it, falsely claiming something is yours, underreporting taxes, overstating expense reports, etc…. Not only are there many ways the heart and mind can find ways to steal, equally there are many ways the heart and mind justify it.
Let’s look at this from heaven. God is the Creator and author of each of us. Everything we have is ultimately His, especially our talents for they too are God-given, everything from brains to physical abilities. When we use these talents to honor and glorify God, this is true, right, and good for us to do. When we use these and claim them as our own talents, boasting publicly or privately as though through our own efforts they are worth our boasting and pride, we rob God of His glory and honor and praise and worship for what He has given to us. This too is stealing and this does not even touch on the tithed giving unto God.
We do well in our desire to honor and glorify God in all we think, say, and do, to ask for discernment in our hearts to recognize the seeds of whatever may allow us to justify taking that which is not ours.