Protecting the Gift of God
Using Our Resources in Rightly Keeping the 8th Commandment
Howdy!
I don’t mean to take away from your time doing other things (an 8th Commandment joke), but this week we are going talk about the sin of theft. While financial resources are no question the main focus of the law there is a lot more going on here than just that. Let’s look at the Catechism questions for further clarification:
Q. 73. Which is the eighth commandment?
A. The eighth commandment is, Thou shalt not steal.
Q. 74. What is required in the eighth commandment?
A. The eighth commandment requires the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others.
Q. 75. What is forbidden in the eighth commandment?
A. The eighth commandment forbids whatsoever doth or may unjustly hinder our own or our neighbor’s wealth or outward estate.
As noted wealth is of course an important thing when it comes to being obedient on this point. However, that which constitutes wealth encompasses matters like land, material goods, and even family heritage. As an example, taking care that the Gospel which we have received from our forefathers is properly preached and taught is a matter of the 8th Commandment. We have no right to steal from future generations the words of life, in fact in the Old Testament the prophets will call out false teachers in this particular way, of taking from the people under their care what Jehovah had provided in His word. Central to this statute is remembering our relationship to reality as it is, and who it is that has made all things for His glory. As stewards of God’s creation we are neither to make new nor go on our own way.
The call of the Israelites to procure the country then owned by the Canaanites is placed in terms of gaining property which belongs to the LORD. In other words they are reclaiming something God had set aside for His covenant people through the promises made to Abraham. In Leviticus 25 as the year of Jubilee is laid out one of the consequences of the law was to see any land which had been sold should be returned to the family it was originally owned by. The reasoning behind this kind of idea is made clear in v.23-24, “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land.” When we read that the whole concept is quite foreign to us. Especially since several folks in our church live on grants given to their forefathers by the last king of America, George III. However, unlike the English sovereign whose ownership was temporary, the proprietorship of the land of God never changes. So in the case of Levitical statute there was a return in order to show the place of Israel was also based not on the works they had done, or the victories they won, but purely upon the grace of Jehovah, who had the freedom to give the land to whomever He designed in His providence.
Why mention that?
Simple. All the goods we have, whether they be dirt or a second-floor apartment, are a gift from above and should be treated as such. My kids get tired of me saying this, but one of the reasons I get on them to take special care of toys which were provided by others as presents is primarily because someone else’s labor and financial resources went into your having said plaything. In a sense what you do with your own stuff is up to you, yet when you have something which is not yours there is an inherent duty to make sure it is being used properly and with such concern that if the person asked for it back it would be in better shape than when they gave it to you. There is a lot to said here about the way we approach life. A heart of thanksgiving is always looking for ways to help others, as well as understanding in humility the temporality of the world. Selfishness is the opposite of Christian character. Arrogantly assuming the earth was made for your pleasure and that you have a right to all regardless of who or what gets in the way is sign number one that you are breaking the 8th Commandment.
Let’s go back for a second to that question about a heart which rightly understands the nature of the physical world. In previous walks through the catechism I’ve noted that each of the commandments and the questions are building upon what came before. Go back to the 1st Commandment for a second. Remember there how we are called to not have anything before the living and the true God. Key to keeping that law is remembering that God is God and you are not. The same is true of this statute from Exodus 20. You had no say in your being born, where, at what time, and to who, or with what mental or bodily blessings. To misuse the good gift of the Lord in His providence by destroying the liver or the brain is as much a violation of the 8th Commandment as it is of the 6th Commandment. Look above at Q. 75. When it speaks about taking care of our outward estate it’s not just the weeds in the garden that the Divines had in mind. What are we doing to improve upon our Baptism? Not seeking to grow in holiness and the knowledge of the Lord is taking away from Jehovah what He has made us for. Consider again the work of Christ on your behalf? The one who did not consider it robbery to give Himself up for you is to be our guide.
However, in closing out this lesson we need to talk about the obvious. Don’t take what doesn’t belong to you. You have no right to it, and seeking to countermand God’s design is sin. In the Larger Catechism Q.142 there are specific things related to money marked out also as a transgression of the law worth listing and meditating on:
…theft, robbery, manstealing, and receiving any thing that is stolen; fraudulent dealing, false weights and measures, removing landmarks, injustice and unfaithfulness in contracts between man and man, or in matters of trust; oppression, extortion, usury, bribery, vexatious lawsuits, unjust enclosures and depopulations; hiding commodities to enhance the price; unlawful callings… idleness, prodigality, wasteful gaming, and all other ways whereby we do unduly prejudice our own outward estate, and defrauding ourselves of the due use and comfort of that estate which God has given us.
Now, without elucidating all of that there is one there which is near to us worth noting and that is wasteful gaming. Basically this is talking about gambling of any kind, everything from scratch-offs to Powerball, to slots and table games at the casino. The reasoning behind that is two-fold. First it is a denial of the ordinary means of providence and it also involves putting at risk the outward estate of both family and yourself. A common theme in old Westerns is dad losing the farm in a poker game…my guess is a more careful keeping of the 8th Commandment would have prevented a lot of unnecessary violence and bar fights.
On the later here is something more to read on that:
https://www.opc.org/qa.html?question_id=177
Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church