Which Commandment?

I once heard a sermon on the Ten Commandments. It wasn’t which commandment was the most important or which commandment had a blessing attached to it, but on which commandment does all the other commandments hinge? The radio pastor said that all the other commandments rested on “Thou shalt not steal.”

At first I thought that it was a bit strange until he went through the Scripture and applied stealing to all of the others. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” When that law is broken, we steal the honor that only the LORD God deserves. The glory that is His because He is God almighty is diminished. Making a graven image, again that is stealing the reverence and veneration that belongs to God alone. When we give recognition that is due to the LORD to an inanimate object or to “Mother Nature,” one begins to replace the Creator with something in creation. Mankind devalues God and replaces Him with something less.

“Thou shalt not take the name of the lored your God in vain.” Stealing the laud, the recognition, and the elevation of the LORD’s name, we relegate it to the class of any other word in our vocabulary and steal the respect of that holy name.

“Keep the Sabbath day holy.” The Sabbath was a day the LORD set aside for mankind to rest and to worship Him. It wasn’t to be just another day of the week. When we don’t set aside the time for the day of worship, we steal fealty that we owe to God our Creator. Our God is a jealous God often taking back that time with illness to force us to slow down and to recognize Him.

“Honor your father and your mother.” When we don’t acknowledge and hold in esteem the people who gave us life, we steal something that is owed them. It is the one commandment with a blessing attached to it. When we honor our parents, God says that your days will be long upon the earth.

“Thou shalt not kill.” Killing takes a life. It takes something that doesn’t belong to you and destroys something precious to the other person.

Thou shall not commit adultery” and “Thou shalt not covet.” These two commandments are two sides of the same coin. Seeing something that doesn’t belong to you and you decide that you must have it. Stealing is the root.

“Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” When we bear false witness, we steal the reputation of our neighbor. Lying is another sin that God hates.

Finally, we are back to the commandment, “Thou shalt not steal.” I didn’t give justice to the preacher’s sermon, but I can understand his reasoning.