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Portion 50

Golden Text: Exodus 20:15
Readings for the week:

Day 1: 2Samuel 15

Day 2: Ezekiel 17-19

Day 3: Micah 3-5

Day 4: Malachi 3:6-12

Day 5: John 10:1-21

Day 6: Acts 5:1-11

I- Everything has two owners.

This word or oath implies the right to private property. First, it must be understood that God is the owner of everything and in the same way has allowed man to have and increase his possessions. So, we must be careful not to steal from God or from men[1].

II- Stealing or stealing, which is worse?

In Spanish we use the verbs steal and steal interchangeably, but in Hebrew there is a differentiation between the two. Genebah is when you take something that does not belong to you without the owner of that object knowing and this is what is translated as ‘stealing’. However, gezela, is taking something from a person by force or through intimidation, is what translates as ‘stealing’. Despite what one might think, some scholars on the subject consider that the former is more dangerous than the latter, because that act implies believing that, just as the damaged person does not know, God does not know either.

Apart from these different forms of use, the Hebrew verb used in this word is also accentuated on the concept of abduction. It is not that it does not involve stealing goods, but that it extends to human kidnapping. This is the damage to the other person himself even when nothing material was taken from him.

From this perspective of harm to the person, it can be understood then that it is not allowed to appropriate anything that does not belong to him, because whatever the price, the damage will always be just as bad.

There are thieves who think that what they stole is very insignificant or that it was an oversight of the other person, but once again, from the perspective of harm to the person this type of argument is unreasonable.

Stealing covers many areas, from buying stolen things to plagiarizing information. Nothing justifies theft.

Questions:

1.- Under what causes do you think it is lawful to steal? Why?
2.- What do you think are the most common thefts today?
3.- Do you think that time can be stolen? How could this be?

 

[1] 1Ch 29.

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