v. Steal
Genesis 44:4 why have you stolen my cup of
Exo 21:16 who will steal a person and sell him
Lev 19:13 you shall not oppress your neighbor .. you shall steal
2Sa 15:6 Thus Absalom stole the hearts of those of
Job 27:8 wicked, no matter how much he has stolen?
Pro 19:26; 28:24
(take what belongs to others).
Forbidden by Law: (Lev 19:13); the Seventh Commandment is “not to steal” (Exo 20:15), and 9 and 10 are “not to covet” the neighbor’s wife, and “not to covet” other people’s goods: (Exo 20:17). So the fact of “desiring it” is already a sin, even if you don’t get to steal the neighbor’s wife or property! . See “Catumnia”.
– Not giving the “tithes” and offerings to God is considered as “theft from God”: (Ma12Cr 3:8).
Christian Bible Dictionary
Dr. J. Dominguez
http://bible.com/dictionary/
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
The “Seventh Commandment” of God’s law demands respect for the property of others. And therefore, it requires not stealing, not stealing, not seizing the goods of others. The commandment is found in the Law of Moses: “Thou shalt not steal,” and it is repeated frequently in other places.
Exodus picks up the word “not to steal” (Ex. 20. 15; Dt. 5. 19) in the sense of not seizing what belongs to others. But then he adds that it is also obligatory not to desire the good of one’s neighbor, which is the ninth commandment of the Law: “You shall not desire your neighbor’s house, nor his wife, nor his servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox.” nor his donkey nor anything that belongs to him” (Ex. 20. 18; Dt. 5. 21)
And in the New Testament the concept of stealing is also recalled when the Lord makes it clear to the young man: “You shall not steal” (ou klepseis) as a starting attitude to reach eternal life. (Mt. 19. 18)
The exterior double facet: remove, steal; and interior, desire, yearn, marks a natural path (do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you) and a supernatural path: because the neighbor is a brother and son of the same Father.
The background of this divine mandate is the proclamation of justice (respect, dignity); but it is also charity (fraternity, solidarity).
It is a demand for the common good: respect for the property of others. It is acceptance of divine supremacy, which claims to comply with the creational laws and with the norms revealed by God.
1. The property is natural
The goods of the world have been created by God for men. Man by nature tends to own objects, goods, land, etc. Sometimes they come from just acquisition: work, inheritance, luck, purchase, donation, etc.; others are associated with a person or community by nature: distribution, tradition, appropriation. They always acquire a relationship that we call “property or belonging”, which demands respect from others.
However, there are two ways of understanding property: the absolute and total, non-negotiable and indisputable, which we can call “wild” and radical; and the “human”, intelligent and natural, which takes into account the world, the people and the conditions of the environment in which they live.
The first is defended by capitalist liberalism and is the basis of power, even at the cost of the misery of others.
The second is proclaimed by the various socialisms, from the most extreme, which come to deny the right of private property, to the moderate ones, which recall that the property rights of one end where the rights of others begin.
In Christian doctrine, a wild property right is not admissible: in food, in clothing, in land, in material goods, if others are harmed. God entrusted the earth and its resources to the totality of men and it is not according to his plan to monopolize the benefits of nature. The “right of possession” is untenable if it implies a conflict with other superior rights of others: life, health, liberty. For example, the hungry man’s right to survive trumps the landowner’s right to possess.
2. Commandment of respect
The seventh commandment commands to respect the property of others. And it prohibits unjustly taking or withholding the good of others. It prescribes justice and charity in the management of earthly goods and in the fruits of labor.
It is stealing or stealing to appropriate for personal benefit what belongs to someone, if it is done against their free and conscious will.
Theft can be personal, when it is carried out by a “thief”; or it can be collective, legal or not legal, when the majority abuses the minority or the weak and defenseless.
2.1. Respect of people.
The person is capable of possessing gifts and goods because the Creator has so arranged. But the person has been made by God to live with others and for others, not isolated or closed within himself.
Respect for property is only understood from the right of the person, which is always paramount in the human community. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “In economic matters, respect for human dignity requires the practice of the virtue of temperance, to moderate attachment to the goods of the world; of justice, to preserve the rights of others and give them what is due; and of solidarity, following the golden rule and according to the generosity of the Lord who, “being rich, for your sake he became poor so that you may be enriched by his poverty”. (2 Cor. 8. 9) (Nº 2407) This respect is based on natural principles, that is, on the dignity of man. But it also refers to man as son of God and brother of Christ.
2.2. Respect for property
The seventh commandment also requires respect for the same goods, as long as they are owned by a person who exercises dominion over them. Things (objects, animals, possessions) participate in the dignity of their owner and demand respect. The usurpation of someone else’s property against the reasonable will of its owner is a disturbance of order and goes against the will of God.
There are many ways to accomplish that usurpation. They are all irreverent to nature. God has placed man in the world “so that he may cultivate it” (Gen. 2. 15). He has given natural orders: “Eat of the fruits of the earth” (Gen. 1. 29) And he has extended the law to humanity: “Be fruitful and multiply.” (Gen. 1. 28)
The universal destination of the goods that man obtains with his work is to live better and better. Progress enters into the plan of the Creator and the property that derives from progress constitutes a natural right that stems from the freedom to act, from the intelligence to choose, from the dignity to acquire. Against Manichaeism, which judged the goods of the earth to be bad, since all matter is an expression of evil and a hindrance to the activity of the spirit, Christianity values material things as gifts from God. The universal destination of the goods of the earth is not opposed to the personal bond of what one produces, cultivates, invents, acquires. When someone seizes it by being stronger or bolder, he steals. Theft is an attack on the dignity of the possessor who is deprived of what is his. Nature has laid this law. If there were no respect for private property, the common good would not be possible.
Vatican II said: “Man… must consider the external things that he legitimately possesses not as his own but also as common, and see that they are to benefit not only himself, but also others.” (Gaudium et Spes 69.1)
They are yours and others must respect them. But the right of each man is not absolute, but relative and limited by the right of others. The right to possess ends where another’s right to survive begins. That is why there is no theft if one appropriates an essential food to live even if another has a right to possess it.
3. Types of theft
There are many possible ways to steal: subtract, deceive, dispossess, snatch, remove, hold up, assault. Some are crude and direct and others are very subtle.
There are direct, clear and shameful thefts and others are cunning and deceitful. There are even legalized robberies.
Some forms of theft can be remembered that require a common rejection, although with certain moral nuances depending on their characteristics.
– Stealing with skill and without the owner knowing is called stealing, subtracting, removing, dispossessing.
– Stealing with violence and aggressiveness towards the victim, frightened by physical or psychological means, is also assaulting, robbing, running over, violating, blackmailing.
– Stealing by deception and abusing the ignorance of the dispossessed is commonly called swindling, pilfering, confiscating, snatching, dispossessing. In all cases, be it violent or covert, stealing is harming man and going against the will of God.
Although it is done for apparent reasons or due to generalized habits, it implies a disturbance of the natural order wanted by God and constitutes an immorality that must be repaired, since in addition to respect, justice is violated. When it has been stolen, it is not enough to repent of the disorder, but it is necessary to repair, restore, compensate for the damage caused.
3.1. Steal
It is seizing what is not one’s own, whether the dispossessed finds out or ignores it. There is something in human nature that indicates that it is a disorderly action. And unless the conscience is disturbed, due to lack of intelligence, freedom or dignity, any normal person is ashamed of such an action.
Whoever has stolen has to make restitution so that his sin, or estrangement from God, is forgiven.
3.2. Assault or robbery
Add violence to robbery, especially malevolent if it involves weak and defenseless people. To the injury of justice, the destruction of charity is added, which implies a greater moral deficiency.
To the injustice of the seizure of goods is added the injustice of the injury. It is especially serious when weakness and defenselessness due to age, illness, deficiency or disability are abused. When repenting, it is necessary to add to the restitution the repair of the damage, which is more serious in that it involves abuse of the victim.
3.3. Scam or extort
It is appropriating something through lies and deception and causing loss of property to the swindled and injury to the truth.
In addition to stealing, one lies, which means that the ethical injury is greater. Any embezzlement, fraud, deception, trap, lie or farce, which suppose moral injury is stealing. To extort is to take advantage of another, of a need. Such is usury, counterfeiting or fraud, violent exploitation.
– Usury. It is offering a loan and demanding an exaggerated price for it, taking advantage of the need of the person who asks for it. It is immoral because it is abuse to obtain unfair benefits for the loan of goods, fiduciaries or materials, in exchange for disproportionate rates, rents or interests. The commercial practice of benefiting from loans is not usury, infrequent in static economies such as rural and primitive ones, but common and fair in mobile and dynamic economies such as those of today’s developed countries. But it is usury when the profit percentages are higher than normal or when it is exploited…