Isn’t This Backwards? – The Eighth Commandment

Isn’t This Backwards?

The eighth commandment

Exodus 20.15; Deuteronomy 5.19

“You shall not steal.”

Exodus 22.6

“If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, he who started the fire shall make full restitution.”

And we love them for it?

Another line from Robin Hood comes to mind. The Sheriff learns that the unwashed masses are turning to Robin’s support, even though he punishes them when they do. He says to his bookkeeper, “Let me get this straight: Robin Hood steals from my coffers, forcing me to hurt the people, and they love him for it?” Something like that. And something like that is going on in our present economic crisis (the mere use of that word in print these days will land you in jail in Russia). Greedy investment bankers and irresponsible borrowers steal from our futures, Congress rewards them by increasing our tax burden and that of our grandchildren for years to come, and we return the Robin Hood wannabes all to office? Am I missing something? Could it be that we’re willing to allow the torching or overgrazing of our fields, even if it means the harvest will be spare in years to come, just to keep ourselves and our economic wellbeing relatively alive in the present? Are we all just greedy and self-seeking? We may be shoring up the failing dikes of our personal wealth, but we are sapping the moral character of the nation. And we are teaching our children to live for the present, do whatever is necessary to stay afloat, and let the chits fall where they may on the generations to come.

This is sounding rather harsh and uncaring, I know. But hang in there; where Law is obeyed, grace is never far away. What would be the consequences in this situation of just letting those who lit these fire bear the consequences of their irresponsible decisions? Would that affect you?

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.