{"id":2914,"date":"2023-02-13T08:39:56","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T08:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saltshakers.com\/?p=2914"},"modified":"2023-02-13T08:41:58","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T08:41:58","slug":"yeshua-explored-108","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/saltshakers.church\/?p=2914","title":{"rendered":"Yeshua Explored"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Stealing<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What if disrespecting someone on Twitter was punishable by death?  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You shall not steal. <\/em>(Exodus 20:15)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A simple command. Perhaps a degree of stating the obvious, surely the essence of civilised behaviour is to be content with what you have and, if not, work hard to attain what you don\u2019t have<\/em>? Who said we\u2019re civilised, anyway? There are a whole variety of ways we can break this particular commandment. We can be direct and obvious and rob a bank, mug old biddies in the street or raid our kids\u2019 piggy banks. Or we can borrow pencils from work (minor perks) or fiddle our expenses in the great tradition set by some of our (right dishonourable) politicians (major perks). Or we can examine the original context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hebrew word here, ganav<\/em>, is singular, implying the stealing of a single object. Elsewhere, in Leviticus 19:11, we also see you shall not steal<\/em>, but, in this case, the word, ganavu<\/em>, is plural, implying the stealing of many things. The rabbis have much to say about this, particularly the influential Rashi. He suggests that the Leviticus verse conveys the traditional view of the commandment, in the sense of stealing money or property, but that the verse etched onto a stone tablet by the Finger of God has a very different meaning<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rashi and other rabbis urge us to look at the context, at the preceding commandments, dealing with murder and adultery, each punishable by death. They insist that the \u201cstealing\u201d being referred to here is the type of stealing that is also punishable by death. A clue is in Exodus 21:16:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper\u2019s possession.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word here for kidnap is, again, ganav<\/em>, the same word as in the Eighth Commandment. Food for thought, but, as we find with rabbis, not everyone agrees and the consensus is that, although kidnapping may have been the primary context, ordinary acts of stealing, burglary and general thievery are also implied. Because of the vagueness of the Hebrew language (to say nothing of the lack of vowels or punctuations in the original script), the Midrash goes further to suggest that the use of the singular and plural forms of the word is a warning against both stealing as a solo act and stealing in the company of others. And, because of this laxity, coupled with some fertile rabbinic minds, other possibilities also spring forth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n