"You shall not steal. (Ex. 20:15).
There are very few people who need to be told that it is wrong to break into a shop and rob a cash-box; that burglary, house-
breaking, pocket-picking, and so forth, are criminal and sinful acts.
It is not an uncommon thing for people to charge different prices for the same goods; to expose one class of goods for inspection, and to deliver an inferior quality; to take advantage of a customer’s ignorance; or in various other ways to get more than the annual worth of a thing sold. Everything of this kind is just as really stealing as to pick one’s pocket of his purse; yet it is continually condoned on the ground that it is “business.”
The whole law of which the eighth commandment is a part, is summed up in these words: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself’” (Luke 10:27).
And then He continues, “You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” says the Lord of hosts; and all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the Lord of hosts” (Mal. 3:9–12)."
E.J. Waggoner
There are very few people who need to be told that it is wrong to break into a shop and rob a cash-box; that burglary, house-
It is not an uncommon thing for people to charge different prices for the same goods; to expose one class of goods for inspection, and to deliver an inferior quality; to take advantage of a customer’s ignorance; or in various other ways to get more than the annual worth of a thing sold. Everything of this kind is just as really stealing as to pick one’s pocket of his purse; yet it is continually condoned on the ground that it is “business.”
The whole law of which the eighth commandment is a part, is summed up in these words: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself’” (Luke 10:27).
Not simply our property,
but we ourselves belong to the Lord,
and we are to render to Him His own.
God asks this plain question:
“Will a man rob God?”
The people of whom He asks it think that they are innocent, for they reply, “Wherein have we robbed Thee?” and the Lord says, “In tithes and offerings.” And then He continues, “You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” says the Lord of hosts; and all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the Lord of hosts” (Mal. 3:9–12)."
E.J. Waggoner
