“Thou shalt not steal,” vese 15.

Here again we have a short commandment which has a very broad application. The gospel enforce this and all the commandments of God, Eph 4:28.

There are many forms of ‘stealing’. The Hebrew word means ‘carry away’. That presents us with a picture of just what stealing is. It is a ‘carrying away’ that which belongs to another.

1. There is a ‘positive’ and a ‘negative’ side to this commandment.

The positive aspect. We are to seek to aid and help and enrich others. “And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner;  that he may live with thee,” Leviticus 25:35. “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others,” Philippians 2:4. In other words: “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD,”  Leviticus 19:18. The Lord requires us to ‘look out for each other’!

The negative side of this commandment — We are not to ‘deprive our neighbour of that which rightly belongs to him.’

We can do that in so many ways, often doing it without realising it. This commandment forbids:

i. ’Unlawfully taking the property of others’.

ii. ‘Dishonest business dealings’.

iii. ‘Failing to fulfil our duty in employment’.

iv. ‘Claiming from government agencies that which we have no legal right to’.

v. ‘Exploiting the ignorance of anyone’.

2. We must ever be aware of the watching eye of God

“The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles,” Psalm 34:15-17.

Nothing escapes the eye of God. “For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves,” Job 34:21-22.

Belfast shipyard workers in days of blessing in the 1920s under WP Nicholson — became aware of the watching eye of God and returned 1000s of stolen items to such a degree use sheds had to be set aside to receive the items!