No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. (Matthew 6:24 // Luke 16:13, NRSV)
God speaks this Eighth Commandment, a creative and life-giving Eighth Word about the right use of property and possessions, to reinforce the living relationship that God wants humankind to enjoy with him. In other words, this Eighth Commandment is yet another version of the First Commandment: No Other Gods! Same song, second (third, fourth,...eighth) verse!
This may seem at first to contradict the pattern that we have seen in the division of the 10 Commandments into two tables. In the first four commandments (also known as the First Table) we have seen the LORD's creative Word at work making and protecting the relationship we have with our God. In the Second Table we have observed the LORD at work on our relationship with our neighbor:
- #5: Respect Parents! (Guard your nearest, pre-existing "neighbor" relationship--the one with your parents, who gave you life.)
- #6: Protect Life! (Guard your neighbor's life and physical well being.)
- #7: Honor Marriage! (Guard your neighbor's most intimate relationship.)
- #8: No Taking! (Guard your neighbor's stuff.)
On the surface, each of the commandments in the Second Table is aimed at safeguarding our relationship with our neighbor. But upon further reflection, it is clear that our love of neighbor is not an end in itself. Loving our neighbor is a means--a very visible, corporal, physical means--of loving God. The "first and greatest commandment" is indeed the First Word. It is primary. The "second" commandment that Jesus says is "like it"--loving neighbor as self--is indeed secondary and derivative, but always related.
As we begin this look at the Eighth Commandment, we should also remind ourselves of the rule of reciprocity that is at work in this Second Table. Our keeping of each commandment in the Second Table benefits our neighbor, and our neighbor's keeping of the commandment benefits us. We have already seen how our keeping of the Fifth Commandment preserves the life of our aging parents, but our children's keeping of the commandment benefits us. Our neighbor benefits when we keep her from harm (6th Commandment), and we benefit when our neighbor saves our life. My keeping of the commandment against adultery (7th Commandment) protects my neighbor's most intimate and important relationship, and my neighbor's keeping of the commandment protects my relationship with my spouse. And now we see that my protection of my neighbor's stuff is returned to me in the care that my neighbor takes with my things.
The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Romans 13:9, NRSV)
...But That's Highway Robbery!
The Hebrew verb (ganab) that is used in the Eighth Commandment means "to steal, to purloin, to take something by stealth" (HALOT/BDB). However, from the beginning in Scripture this word is broadly construed and is closely related to the other commandments in the Second Table. For example, to dishonor father and mother (5th Commandment) is to "steal" the financial support to which parents are entitled in their old age, to murder (6th Commandment) is to "take" a life, to commit adultery (7th Commandment) is to "take" a neighbor's wife, to take something "by stealth" may include bearing false witness (9th Commandment), and desire (10th Commandment) is a prelude to taking.
Stealing includes:
- Theft of Money (Genesis 44:8)
- Theft of Food (Proverbs 6:30)
- Theft of Clothing (Exodus22:9)
- Burglary (breaking and entering, housebreaking, Exodus 22:1, Hosea 7:1, Joel 2:9)
- Rustling (of goats, sheep, and oxen, Genesis 30:33, Exodus 21:37)
- Property Loss (of someone else's property in one's care to theft, to a wild animal, or storm or other force of nature, Genesis 31:39, Exodus 22:6, Job 21:18, Job 27:20)
- Deception and/or Running Away (literally "stealing the heart" of someone = "stealing away" or being stealthy, Genesis 31:20, 26-27, 2 Samuel 15:6, 2 Samuel 19:4)
- Kidnapping / Abduction / Body Snatching (the taking of a person [or god], Genesis 40:15, Exodus 21:16, Deuteronomy 24:7, 2 Samuel 19:42, 21:12, 2 Kings 11:2 // 2 Chronicles 22:11, Genesis 31:19, 30, 32)
- Murder (Job 24:14)
- Adultery (Proverbs 9:17, Psalm 50:18)
- Secret Whisper / False Testimony (a word "stole," Job 4:12; Proverbs 29:24)
- Plagiarism and Misappropriation (Jeremiah 23:30)
- Accepting Bribes (Isaiah 1:23)
- Fraud or Withholding Wages (Leviticus 19:13, Deuteronomy 24:14, James 5:1-6)
- Shorting the Offering Plate (stealing what is "devoted" to God, Joshua 7:11, Acts 5:1-15)
We should note that the commandment does not come with a penalty attached, but in the Old Testament "case law" about this commandment the penalty falls mostly into two categories: 1) restitution (full restoration and then some) for cases that involve the theft of things and 2) death in cases that involve the theft of people. (But if a thief is killed during a housebreak, the person who was defending the house is considered innocent of the thief's blood. See Exodus 22:1.) There are even instances when a person must make restitution for goods that were entrusted to him but stolen from him while they were still in his care (Exodus 22:11).
Thievery (like adultery) requires the cover of darkness, secrecy, and hiding. (Jeremiah 2:26) It is thwarted by light and transparency. Clearly, this commandment also stands at the nexus of rich and poor; thieves are enriched by the impoverishment of others. (Proverbs 30:9) But Scripture also knows of a kind of "'honor' among thieves" (Jeremiah 49:9 // Obadiah 1:5), in that thieves usually do not destroy for the sake of destruction, but take only what they think will be of value to them.
The Old Testament prohibition against stealing is not primarily about protecting property, but about protecting the neighbor. It is especially about protecting the neighbor's freedom and the neighbor's means of "economic support," "the means of livelihood and production," the neighbor's "means of subsistence" (Miller, The Ten Commandments, p. 320-321). The Eighth Commandment specifically encourages and commands the sort of neighborliness that lends and borrows, helps and assists, without fear of loss. In fact, the Old Testament legal statutes include the equivalent of our "contemporary 'Good Samaritan' laws," the ones that require people to stop and help when they see someone in trouble or distress (Miller, p. 323). That trouble may threaten not just your neighbor's own personal safety but also, less directly, it may threaten the source of your neighbor's livelihood. The trouble may be with his means of subsistence, and it may therefore indirectly threaten his survival. In other words, as a neighbor, you are responsible for the safety, health and well being of his ox or sheep (Deuteronomy 22:1-4, Exodus 23:4-5). The life-giving protection of this Eighth Word extends even to our enemies (Exodus 23:4) and its fullest creative force is derived from the fact that nothing we have truly belongs to us. What we sometimes incorrectly and audaciously claim as our own belongs instead to the LORD, the Creator, the one who made the heavens and the earth. Our possessions and our property are ours only temporarily, as a gift entrusted to our care and for which we are stewards. We return the first fruit of this gift to God as a sign that we truly understand the arrangement and are grateful for the gift. (Exodus 22:30; Miller, p. 322). In other words, the Eighth Commandment is best understood as a working out and elaboration in visible, corporal, and physical ways of the Prologue and the First Commandment--"I am the LORD thy God; thou shalt have no other gods." As keepers of the Eighth Commandment we are truly freed from the clutches of a life-denying Pharaoh (our possessions) and we are freed to serve only the LORD by truly loving our neighbor.
What Does Jesus Say?
Jesus does not address stealing directly. Even when the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-30 // Matthew 19:16-30 // Mark 10:17-31) brings the matter up, claiming to have "kept all the commandments" and specifically listing "No Taking!" as one of the commandments he has "kept since youth," Jesus does not correct him. Rather, Jesus invites the rich young man to become a disciple and to grow in the direction of greater love for his neighbor by selling everything he has and giving the money to the poor. The Eighth Commandment lives at this nexus (or, negatively, at this "gulf" or "chasm"; see Luke 16:26) between rich and poor; here is where it gains its dynamic, creative power. It is here that true neighborliness is put to the test by Jesus. The rich young ruler goes away shocked and sad. Jesus then uses this illustration to remind his disciples how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom. (Luke 18:24) Rather, it is the poor who will inherit the kingdom. (Luke 6:20 // Matthew 5:3) Jesus' last word on the matter is, like the Eighth Commandment itself, a restatement of the First Commandment: "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." (Matthew 6:24 // Luke 16:13)
How to Keep the Eighth Commandment
We keep the Eighth Commandment by letting go of our possessions and giving them to our poorer neighbors. Like the prohibition against murder, this commandment requires that we sustain the life of our neighbor, especially those who are widows, orphans, strangers, sick and poor. We keep the commandment by keeping a watchful eye out for the suffering of others and acting immediately--like the Good Samaritan--to alleviate the suffering and restore our neighbor to health and wholeness. We keep the commandment every time we practice the sort of neighborliness that lends without expecting repayment. When we give others the tools with which to get a livelihood, when we teach others to fish (rather than give them a fish), then we have truly loved our neighbor as ourselves.
Discussion Questions
Read Exodus 20:15 (Deuteronomy 5:19) and Luke 18:18-30
- Have you ever stolen anything? Did you get caught? How did it make you feel? How did it impact the neighbor from whom you stole? Have you ever had anything stolen from you? Have you ever suffered the new form of thievery known as "identity theft"?
- Is it stealing to report ineligible items on an expense account? To leave work a little early; or to draw unemployment or disability when you could in fact work? (Ephesians 4:28) To fail to report some small cash transactions on your income tax return? To fail to report a large purchase on which state sales tax was not collected? To sell "inferior goods" to someone or to misrepresent the quality of something you sell? Is it true that "you can't cheat an honest man"?
- Luther says that the Eighth Commandment requires us to "promote and further our neighbor's interests, ...both friends and foes" (Large Catechism, Kolb and Wengert, Book of Concord, pp. 419-420; Miller, p. 324). If I am a shareholder through my 401(k) in a company that lays off 25% of its workforce in order to pay a 25% bonus to its CEO and to protect my share price and dividend, am I breaking the Eighth Commandment?
- If I become aware that my neighbor has been laid off, what is my responsibility? What if my neighbor has become too sick to work? If I become aware that a particular political party is campaigning to provide health care, food, clothing, and housing for those who are no longer able to work, does the Eighth Commandment require that I vote for that party? What if that party's policies will cause inflation, which robs those who are living on pensions and fixed incomes, mostly the elderly?
- Does your money belong to you? How might you use your money to help your enemy? Is Proudhon correct that "property is theft"?
- Does the Eighth Commandment require me to "watch for the economic endangerment of other members of the community and not to hide from it behind gated communities and the walling-off, literally or figuratively, of the ghettos of the economically endangered"? (Miller, p. 324) If so, does your church keep the Eighth Commandment? What would it take for your church to be economically "integrated" in this way?
- Is there any place in your life where you are trying to be stealthy ("steal-thy")? What are you trying to hide? What are you trying to hide from? Why? Are you avoiding responsibility for something? Is your secret harmful to someone else? What would it take to shine the light on this aspect of your life or bring it into the daylight?
- Read 1 Timothy 6:3-19. How might Paul's advice to Timothy help us, if we follow it, to keep the Eighth Commandment?
- Read Acts 2:43-47 and Acts 5:1-15. Is keeping the Eighth Commandment essential to the spread of the Gospel?
- This week watch carefully for someone who is in need of something that you can give--then give your neighbor what he or she needs and watch your heart follow your gift. Jesus says that where your treasure is, there your heart will also be. If you want to follow the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself, you must give your treasure to your neighbor. Above all, such giving requires faith that our LORD is indeed God, Creator of all that is, and that when we come to God empty we will be filled. The Lord's Supper is a faith-building reenactment of such emptiness and filling. We come with empty hands and God fills them; we all eat and are filled from one loaf and one cup.
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Copyright
© 2010 by Gregory L. Glover
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