Second Presbyterian Church

"You Shall Not Steal: The 8^th Commandment"
August 10, 2003

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Sermons Homepage » Sermons for 2003 » Sermons for August 2003

#9 in the Series on The Ten Commandments
The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.

• Exodus 20: 15
• 2 Samuel 11: 26 - 12: 13
• Luke 16: 19-31

This commandment, "you shall not steal," seems to be a fairly straightforward imperative. Stealing is wrong, period. Whoever steals is a thief, a sinner! And I doubt very seriously that there is anyone here who is a robber, or burglar.

King David of Israel was Israel's greatest king. He was a shepherd boy. He was an accomplished musician and songwriter. David is attributed to have written 69 of the 150 Psalms in the Bible, nearly half of them. He was a mighty warrior and a war hero. David loved the LORD and worshiped the LORD. In all his activities David relied upon the love and providence of God. Even the LORD referred to David as a man after the LORD's own heart.

I should say, in ALMOST all his activities David relied upon the LORD. One spring David had sent out his army to battle with the Ammonites. General Joab, his mighty and brilliant commander - David's right hand man - led the fighting. The Ark of the Covenant, the center of the presence of the LORD, was in the field with the Armies of Israel.

It was spring and King David was strolling along the perimeter of the roof of his palace; no doubt he had a good view of the surrounding area. He looked down and saw a woman. She was bathing; she was beautiful; she was bare naked; she was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite. David liked what he saw and sent for her. Bathsheba came to him and King David lay with her. As luck would have it Bathsheba conceived and sent word to the King that she was pregnant.

Now, David had a problem. But he was king; he would find a way to manage this problem. So he developed Plan A. David sent word to Joab to have Uriah, the Hittite, the husband of Bathsheba, report to David how things were going on the battlefield. When Uriah arrived he reported to the King the affairs of the campaign. Then David dismissed him and said, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." Translation, "Go home to your wife and lie with her." So Plan A was to finagle Uriah to sleep with his wife, Bathsheba, so that the pregnancy would appear legitimate.

Uriah, instead, went to the servants' quarters of the palace and slept there. This was reported to King David. When David asked Uriah why he did not go home and sleep with his wife he answered, "The Ark and Israel and Judah remain in army tents, and my commander general, Joab, and the servants of my lord are camping in an open field, how can I, thus, go to the comfort of my home to eat and drink and lie with my wife?"

Uriah continued, "As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing!" Out of sheer loyalty to God, to King David and his fellow soldiers Uriah refused to do that which King David so desperately needed Uriah to do - to sleep with his pregnant wife. Plan A failed.

It was time for Plan B. So David had Uriah eat and drink until he was drunk. Maybe Uriah would forget his tremendous loyalty and let the forces of nature take over. But Uriah, as reported to the King, continued to sleep in the servants' quarters of the palace. Plan B was also a miserable failure.

David now believed that he had no choice, but to implement Plan C. He had really not wanted to do this, being the Godly man that he was. But he disguised it so that everything looked legitimate. David wrote a note to General Joab, which said, "Put Uriah in the worst part of the battle, the front line, and withdraw from him so that he might be struck down and die." King David sealed the message and sent it with Uriah to give to Joab. Joab obeyed King David and Uriah was killed in battle. Joab sent word to David that the order was carried out. Bathsheba went into mourning according to the custom of the day, then after the required period of mourning for her husband, King David sent for Bathsheba and made her his wife. Plan C "worked."

It was at this point that Nathan the prophet visited king David and told him the parable that was read this morning in our Old Testament lesson.

There was this rich man who owned many FLOCKS of sheep. And there was this poor man who was barely able to get enough food for his family. The poor man had a ewe lamb that had become a beloved pet. It ate with him, and he would hold it in his lap. It was like a daughter to him. We can identify with this man in that many of us have had pets that we loved so much we considered them part of our family.

One day the rich man had company. This meant that he must give a feast and feed the man. The rich man was loathe to use one sheep from his many flocks, so he took the poor man's ewe lamb, killed it and served it for his guest. Not nice.

When David heard this parable he became very angry and said to Nathan, "that man does not deserve to live!"

Nathan replied, "You are that man!" Nathan went on to tell David how the LORD was displeased with his behavior, his stealing Bathsheba from Uriah and then having Uriah killed.

King David, the greatest, most Godly and obedient King Israel had ever had, had been caught. He had murdered (and disguised it as okay); there goes the 6th Commandment. He had committed adultery; there goes the 7th Commandment. And he had coveted his neighbor's wife; there goes the 10th Commandment. He had taken what was not his right to take; there goes the 8th Commandment - You shall not steal.

Perhaps David acted out in a moment of weakness. Perhaps he had let the royal power and authority go to his head. You know the old saying: power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Whatever the psychological motivation David ended up doing things that normally disgusted him. He became an adulterer, murderer, thief and a coveter.

I spent time with this story, not only because it has to do with how a non-stealer may steal, but also because it is absolutely important for us to become aware of how far and how quickly we can sink into sins, sins that we KNOW are wrong.

The parable from Luke is more subtle. Dives, the rich man, lives in tremendous luxury while Lazarus suffers on a daily basis. He begs for food, the crumbs from Dives' table. As he sits at the doorstep of Dives, the dogs come and lick the sores on Lazarus' skin.

Dives doesn't steal, but he doesn't' share, either. From his wealth he could have made Lazarus' life much more comfortable.

All of this speaks of a theology of possessions. The Book of Leviticus describes the Sabbaths for the fields and the Year of Jubilee.

Every fifty years, there was to be a year of Jubilee! All property that had been purchased was returned to the original owner. If a person had to sell himself into slavery, bondage, he was released and was free again. If a person had to sell property because times had been hard, then the land was returned to him.

This all feels strange to us, for many reasons, most of which may be the cultural differences between ancient Israeli society and our society. But the lesson is important for us to learn, even as it pertains to the 8th Commandment. The point was this: all that Israel had belonged to the LORD. Even if you had great possessions, they were really God's property placed in your stewardship and care. Israel was to always remember that they belonged to God. And that their prosperity and their possessions were actually God's possessions. Therefore when they had material wealth, they were to treat and use it as if it really belonged to the LORD. And I believe that, as Christians, people who have committed their lives to Jesus Christ, we believe the same thing. Anything that we have, or think we own, really belongs to God, God alone. That includes our wealth, our homes, our family, even our bodies and our health!

In this context, "You shall not steal," means that we are to remember, always remember, that all we have belongs to God who has placed it in the stewardship of our hands. And as Christians we are responsible to administer our leased possessions in ways that are consistent with what Christ would have us administer them. When we get anxious and hoard, it is my belief that we are actually depriving others of things that the LORD would like for them to have. In other words, when we get anxious and hoard, we steal; we break the 8th Commandment.

Does that mean it is wrong to have great wealth and affluence? No, it does mean that the LORD has given you a great responsibility of stewardship. It means the LORD has given you more to work with and to use in ways that should glorify God.

Nobody is exempt. Rich and poor alike, need to understand that their lives and their possessions belong to God and that they are to administer them in accordance to His will. For the poor person it may not be much wealth. For the affluent person it definitely means a lot of responsibility. All of us need to ask ourselves, "How does God want us to use and administer what we have?"

We all blow it. We sin. We even break this commandment, even if we are not burglars! King David, when he heard Nathan's indictment did not make excuses. He did not say, "Well Gee, it was spring, and the feeling of spring sort of came upon me and took over. I really didn't mean any harm, just a simple one night stand, maybe two." No, when David realized that he was the thieving, adulterous, coveting murderer, he said, "I have sinned against the LORD." "I am guilty as charged!" I have done a great wrong!"

Psalm 51 is attributed to David after Nathan had confronted him. It begins:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;
According to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your
Sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless
When you pass judgment.

Thou shall not steal. It is an obvious commandment. And it is still a commandment to which honest Christian men and women need to pay attention.

Amen.

The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.