What the Bible says about Theft
(From Forerunner Commentary)
Jacob lived long before God gave the Ten Commandments at Sinai, yet he understood theft. Stealing is taking or appropriating another's property or ideas without permission, dishonestly or unlawfully, usually in a secret manner. The apostle Paul reiterates the eighth commandment in the New Testament (Romans 13:9), showing that it is clearly a sin to steal.
Martin G. Collins
The Eighth Commandment
Covetousness produces only negative results like theft, lying, murder, harmful lusts, and apostasy. Only sorrow comes from covetousness—and eventually death, if it is allowed to dominate a person's mind.
Martin G. Collins
The Tenth CommandmentRelated Topics: Apostasy | Apostasy, Process of | Covetousness | Death | Lust | Lying | Murder | Tenth Commandment | The Tenth Commandment | Theft
In I Samuel 8:9-18, God strongly forewarns Israel about the painful future they were creating for themselves by desiring a king to rule over them. God had previously said in Deuteronomy 17 that the time would come when Israel would have a king, so their wanting a king is not the issue. The problem is that the Israelites desired a king who would be like the Gentile kings, not one whom God would appoint from among themselves.
God warns them that their request would open the door for their self-appointed king and his government's bureaucracy to steal their hard-earned wealth from them systematically. He tells them that it would be a curse beyond their imagination and that the king would take their wealth "legally" and then use it for his own political ends to extend his power.
Thus, at one extreme end of the thievery cycle, the state assumes the right to steal indirectly because it has taxing power to use anything and everything to its own ends. In the process, the government ceases to be the servant and instead becomes the master. Nowhere, under any circumstance, does God give either government, business, or individuals the right to steal another's property—regardless of how one feels the other came into possession of it or how greatly one feels justified in appropriating it.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Eighth Commandment
Find more Bible verses about Theft:
Theft {Torrey's}