Since the 1930s the Soapbox Derby has been a popular national sport across the USA. Thousands of boys and their dads built race cars from plywood that they would race down-hill powered only by gravity. The racers had to be built according to strict rules in order to qualify for the derby. The eventual winners from each state would go to Akron, Ohio, for the national championships. In 1972, fourteen year old Bobby Lange of Boulder, Colorado, won the title beating all competitors by several car lengths. A year later, Lange’s cousin, fourteen year old Jimmy Gronen also won big.
The fact that both boys were from the same community, and had been helped by Bobby’s father to build their cars, raised Soapbox Derby officials’ suspicions. After an investigation, both boys were stripped of their titles. It was discovered that Bobby’s father (Robert Lange, Sr. – Jimmy’s uncle) had installed hidden electromagnets in the boys’ cars’ noses. This caused a sling-shot effect when the metal starting rails were lowered in front of the cars. This gave them the advantage of being magnetically thrust out of the starting gate ahead of the other cars. The cheating scandal nearly ruined the Soap Box Derby’s reputation, though it is still run today.
Clearly, we would all agree that Robert Lange, Sr., was a cheater. We would also have to agree that he was a thief, as anyone who cheats in a sporting event certainly is! If a person cannot win a contest by following the rules, and covertly violates the rules in order to gain an advantage, he or she is stealing from those who might have won by abiding by the rules. In other words he or she is in violation of the Eighth Commandment: You shall not steal!
In this installment, we look at this commandment in the same way we have done for the first seven commandments. Let’s look at two key principles related to what this commandment teaches. The first principle concerns the absolute nature of this command.
1. Stealing is always wrong.
When I was about eight years old, a couple of older boys (both about twelve years old) on my street and I went to a construction site near our neighborhood. The boys said we needed some nails to use to build a tree house, and they knew where we could get some. We got to the building site and no one was there, but a box of nails was sitting on the floor. The two older boys told me to swipe some of the nails and put them in a sack we brought along. I knew it was wrong, but not wanting them to think I was “chicken,” I grabbed a handful and stuffed them in the bag.
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word usually translated as “steal” is ganav. It refers to a general prohibition of theft of any property that rightly belongs to someone else. Theft is regarded as a crime in nearly every legal system in the world. The Bible indicates that theft is not only a crime, but a serious moral sin. The unanimous Scriptural teaching is that stealing is always wrong. No excuse or rationalization can be made for robbing anything from another person. The Old Testament law addressed how this was to be applied in Israel and what should be the consequences. Here is are several examples, and some moral principles we can derive from them.
He who kidnaps (lit. steals) a man, whether he sells him or he is found in his possession, shall surely be put to death. (Exodus 21:16)
Kidnapping is considered by God to be a crime of stealing a person to make him or her a slave, or to force them to go or do something against their will. Remember O. J. Simpson? In 1997 he was acquitted of the charge of the 1994 murder of his ex-wife and a waiter from a local restaurant. However, in 2008, he was found guilty of kidnapping. He and a couple of his associates held a group of men at gunpoint in a hotel room in Las Vegas in 2007. They did it, they said, in order to recover some sports memorabilia Simpson claimed was actually his. Nonetheless, for that crime, Simpson spent nine years in a Nevada prison.
Consider also these cases from Exodus 22.
If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for the ox and four sheep for the sheep. (Exodus 22:1)
So don’t go stealing your neighbor’s oxen, sheep, or, to make more current application, his barbeque grill!
2 If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account. 3 But if the sun has risen on him, there will be bloodguiltiness on his account. He shall surely make restitution; if he owns nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4 If what he stole is actually found alive in his possession, whether an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double. (Exodus 22:2-4)
This law implies two things. One is that people are justified in defending their property against theft. It also signifies that, when caught, the thief should be held accountable to make restitution.
“If a man lets a field or vineyard be grazed bare and lets his animal loose so that it grazes in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard. (Exodus 22:5)
One of great conflicts in the American old west was the cattlemen versus sheep herders. The cattlemen resented the sheep herders because the sheep grazed to close to the ground and ruined the grasslands. The point of this biblical law is that no one has the right to destroy or decimate the property of others. So, as Clint Eastwood would say, “Get off my lawn!”
Here are a few more Old Testament laws regarding theft.
“If a fire breaks out and spreads to thorn bushes, so that stacked grain or the standing grain or the field itself is consumed, he who started the fire shall surely make restitution. (Exodus 22:6)
“If a man gives his neighbor money or goods to keep for him and it is stolen from the man’s house, if the thief is caught, he shall pay double. 8 If the thief is not caught, then the owner of the house shall appear before the judges to determine whether he laid his hands on his neighbor’s property. (Exodus 22:7)
For every breach of trust, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any lost thing about which one says, “this is it,” the case of both parties shall come before the judges; he whom the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor (Exodus 22:9)
2. People can steal in many and varying ways.
When we talk about stealing, we are not just talking about the obvious cases, such as robbing a bank or holding up a convenience store. We already mentioned the example of someone cheating in a sporting event. Remember the case of the boys cheating in the Soap Box Derby? Perhaps the most notorious case of sports cheating was that of Lance Armstrong who won numerous professional bicycle races between 1992 and 2012. It was later alleged that Armstrong, for years, had been using illegal performance-enhancing drugs to get an advantage over his competitors.
Of course, that is but one kind of stealing/cheating. Here are a few others:
- Students cheating on tests. If a student cheats to pass an exam or make a better grade, he or she is stealing from the other students who studied hard and earned their grades.
- Cheating on income tax or other taxes. We may not like it, but the requirement to pay taxes is it the law of the land. Even Jesus said we should “Render unto Caesar….” Those workers who do not report their income and fail to pay their fair share are stealing from those who do.
- Using words or music written by others. This is called plagiarism. A notable example of this offense was in 1976 when Alex Haley published his popular book Roots: The Saga of an American Family. It was a Pulitzer Prize winning novel supposedly based on Haley’s research of his family’s history. He traced his “roots” all the way back to Africa where his ancestors were taken into slavery and brought to America. It was also the basis for the 1978 record breaking TV mini-series, Roots. Unfortunately it was learned that Haley had lifted major sections of the book from an earlier novel titled The African by Harold Courlander. A law suit was filed and Courlander was awarded $650,000 in compensation.
- Another example of plagiarism was George Harrison’s 1971 hit song (and hymn to a pagan god), “My Sweet Lord.” The song’s melody was nearly identical to that of a popular 1963 song titled “He’s so Fine”. That ditty was written by Ronald Mack and recorded by the pop girl group, the Chiffons. Harrison’s record label also had to pay up.
- Likewise, in 1963, the Beach Boys recorded one of their biggest hits, “Surfin’ USA.” Many listeners noticed that the melody for that song was nearly identical to Chuck Berry’s 1958 “Sweet Little Sixteen.” In fact, after some legal wrangling, Berry was eventually credited and remunerated as the authentic writer of both songs.
- Shoplifting and “inventory shrinkage.” I once worked in a large department store. The store naturally employed a security team and used Closed Circuit (CCTV) cameras to watch for theft. They especially watched for employees who might take off with merchandise – what was called “inventory shrinkage.”
- Embezzling funds. Another way that some thieves operate is by “juggling the books.” In other words, they try to falsify financial records and keep some of the money for themselves. One of the most notorious embezzlers was stock investment manager Bernie Madoff. In 2009, he was convicted of fraud for making false stock investments on behalf of his clients while sending their money to his own off-shore bank accounts. Many of them lost their life savings.
So violation of the Eighth Commandment can occur in many and varying ways. However, no matter how it is done, it remains a serious sin against God and mankind. Like all other sins, God forgives stealing. Nonetheless, a person who has received the forgiveness of this and all their sins by trusting in Christ should do all they can to make restitution to those whom they have wronged. Remember Jesus’ encounter with the tax-collector Zaccheus. When Zaccheus received Jesus into his home and accepted His message, he was motivated to make amends to those he had cheated.
8 Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:8-10)
Conclusion
Stealing is a sin. Whether it is a small thing, such as “swiping” a few nails, or a much greater crime, such as robbing a bank or committing fraud, it is wrong. The Eighth Commandment makes that crystal clear. Like all sins, people need to confess it, repent of it, and, if possible, make restitution for it. Then God will forgive and restore their healthy relationship with Him. In the last installment of this ten part series we address another commandment closely related to this one: “You shall not covet…” (Exodus 20:17). That Tenth Commandment concerns the internal motivations of people wanting things they have no right to possess.
Meanwhile, the next installment will focus on the Ninth Commandment: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). Sadly, one of the most commonly committed sins is lying, even under oath. We will examine what this sin entails and what can be its terrible consequences.
© 2018 Tal Davis