The Ten Commandments
HONESTY IN ALL THINGS
(Ex. 20:15; Matt. 19:16-22; Luke 19:1-10, 45, 46; 20:9-16: KJV)
Subject
How the Possession of Things That Do Not Belong to Us Corrupts Our Lives, While a Full Yielding of Our Lives to God Makes Us Instinctively Honest
Golden Text
“Thou shalt not steal” (Ex. 20:15).
Plan of the Lesson
The Commandment That Protects Man’s Possessions (Ex. 20:15)
The Man Who Made Possessions His God (Matt. 19:16-22)
The Man Who Restored What He Had Stolen From Others (Luke 19:1-10)
Jesus Drives Commercial Crooks from the House of God (Luke 19:45, 46)
The Parable of the Vineyard (Luke 20:9-16)
Setting of the Lesson
Time: The Ten Commandments were given in 1498 B.C. The words from Matthew were spoken in February or March, A.D. 30; the conversion of Zacchæus took place in March, A.D. 30; the cleansing of the temple occurred on Monday, April 3, of the same year; and the parable of this lesson was given on the following day, Tuesday.
Place: The Ten Commandments were given from Mount Sinai; the interview with the rich young man took place in Peræa on the eastern side of the Jordan River; the conversion of Zacchæus occurred in the city of Jericho near the Jordan River opposite the city of Jerusalem; the scene of the temple-cleansing of course was in Jerusalem; and the parable of this lesson formed a part of our Lord’s teaching in the same city during His last week on earth.
Scripture Reading: Exodus 20:15
The Commandment That Protects Man’s Possessions
20:15 … “Thou shalt not steal.” For further treatment of this subject see Leviticus 19:11; Hosea 4:2; Jeremiah 7:9. The penalties for stealing are found in Exodus 21:16; 22:1. The apostle Paul says, “Let him that stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have whereof to give to him that hath need” (Eph. 4:28).
“There is no commandment against which human ingenuity has brought more evasions to bear than this. ‘Property itself is theft,’ says the communist. ‘It is no grave sin,’ says the Roman text-book, ‘to steal in moderation;’ and this is defined to be, ‘from a pauper less than a franc, from a daily laborer less than two or three, from a person in comfortable circumstances anything under four or five francs, or from a very rich man ten or twelve francs.’ This revolt of the individual is especially tempting when selfishness deems itself wronged, as by the laws of property. And the Eighth Commandment is necessary to protect society not merely against the violence of the burglar and the craft of the impostor, but also against the deceitfulness of our own hearts, asking, ‘What harm is in the evasion of an impost? What right has a successful speculator to his millions? Why should I not do justice to myself when law refuses it?’ There is always the simple answer, ‘Who made me a judge in my own case?’” (G.A. Chadwick).
The powerful tendency of men to take things that do not belong to them is, of course, an axiom of human history. However, it is strange and a terrible comment on the depravity of human nature, that as civilization “advances,” the temptation to steal seems to be aggravated, and society has to increasingly protect itself with innumerable devices to retain its possessions. Today, we not only have locks on our doors and windows; but thousands of policemen patrol our streets at night, in addition to dozens of private detectives trying the doors of business establishments to see whether they are securely locked as they were when the owner closed his place of business. In many locations where the public gather, such as restaurants, stores and libraries, it is not uncommon to see a sign reading, “Not responsible for clothing or items left by customers.” Almost everyone knows of or has heard of a case where someone has lost clothing or some other personal item even while attending worship. We lock our cars because men will steal, and that is why gas tank locks were invented. This is why detectives patrol the large freight-yards of our cities day and night. Check-protectors were invented; as were burglar-alarms and highly complicated time-locks on safes, because men steal. Also, Internet security is a constant source of concern simply because men steal. Every time we enter a bank and see an armed guard, we can think of the Eighth Commandment. Perhaps one of the saddest comments on our civilization in this respect is the need to carry money behind the steel walls of armored cars, behind which are armed guards with machine guns.
Forms of stealing
It seems as if almost every day develops some new temptation to steal and some new field of opportunity in which thieving people of one kind or another can profitably operate. Of course, common stealing, including such acts as theft, burglary, robbery, house-breaking, larceny, embezzlement, and fraud need not concern us here; because any gentleman, not to mention a Christian, immediately and emphatically condemns such sins. But there are other ways in which this commandment is broken; ways in which even those who consider themselves Christian are often guilty. How many of us have put hotel linen in a suitcase, and in an attempt to exonerate ourselves and quiet our conscience, say that the hotel charged enough to cover it? Many a minister has stolen someone’s sermon or copyrighted work, without a single word of recognition; and, when detected (which, by the way, is more often than some ministers think), the guilty minister loses his influence with those who are aware of his unacknowledged appropriation. It is not uncommon in this age to pay good money for a book by some outstanding Bible teacher in which whole pages appear taken from older works on similar subjects, word for word, without as much as a quotation mark. This is certainly stealing, and, if the matter were ever brought to court, would no doubt be condemned as a crime. Students are especially guilty of stealing books. We know of an old and beloved preacher who loaned a cherished set of one hundred and twenty beautiful slides on the Holy Land to a friend. Two months later he could not remember the name of the friend. He announced it the congregation; he advertised in the local newspaper; and, though this was several years ago, he has never seen his slides since. Every shopkeeper who intentionally short-weighs his customers, or sells goods advertised as quality, when he knows they are inferior, breaks the Eighth Commandment. A person who sells stock in a company, knowing it is not sound and will never pay dividends, is stealing money from people to whom such stock is sold. Every company that adulterates its goods, whether it is to be eaten or worn or used in building, or anything else used by men and women, steals from those who buy such goods. That is why our country has to set up so many laboratories for weights and measure, and standards of various kinds. Every person who knowingly sells patent medicine that is worthless, and those who knowingly manufacture it, and those who knowingly receive pay for its advertisements, steal. Loafing on the job is today and always has presented a temptation to break this commandment.
The cure for stealing “On every one of its sacred pages the Bible endeavors to shift the center of gravity of man’s nature from selfishness to love, from man to God, from time to eternity, from earth to heaven. All the multitudinous immoralities which spring from the hatred, the lust, the greed, upon which God has pronounced His verdict in these three commandments are caused by want of faith. If we seek the true wealth, if our treasure be in heaven, we shall not have the least temptation to the thousand-fold dishonesties caused by that hasting to be rich which shall be not be innocent. ‘A small thing which the righteous hath is better than great than great riches of the ungodly.’ The lesson of the Eighth Commandment is the lesson of Christ, ‘Set your affections on things above’” (F.W. Farrar).
Scripture Reading: Matthew 19:16-22
The Man Who Made Possessions His God
The story of the rich young ruler is also found in Mark 10:17-30, and Luke 18:18-30. From the parallel accounts of this story we are informed that this man was a ruler, probably in the local synagogue, and that Jesus loved him. It is not known where or how this prominent young citizen of Palestine came to hear anything about the subject of eternal life, for, though the greatest of all themes, it was not a subject commonly discussed by the rabbis of Jesus’ day. It is probable that he became profoundly interested in this subject by hearing discourses from the Lord Jesus Himself. We should note that with all his wealth, prominence, youth, and delightful personality, with his righteousness and cleanness of life according to the Mosaic Law, he was not satisfied. No man is ever satisfied with what he does himself; man can know perfect peace only when he receives the gift of God, which is eternal life through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The tragic blemish in this man’s life was that he thought more of wealth than eternal life – he was not willing to give up wealth in obedience to the command of Jesus, and follow Him. Giving up wealth is not a synonym for receiving eternal life. In fact, it is not synonymous with following the Lord Jesus. Many wealthy men have retained wealth by the permission of God, and have truly followed the Savior. Christ was not interested in this man’s wealth as such, but He was profoundly concerned about his heart. No man can serve two masters. One bound to wealth, pleasure, business, or any particular sin, who makes that thing first in life, not willing to give it up at the command of Jesus, simply cannot go the way Jesus would lead him. A man chained to a prison wall cannot follow a friend out of the cell; likewise, one bound to anything of this earth, or is a slave to sin, cannot walk after the Lord Jesus. This particular passage is placed in our lesson because it shows what an inordinate love for money will do; gold becomes the idol of some, the passion of their being, excluding the Lord Jesus, and ultimately condemning them to eternal loss.
“The young man seems to speak no word and to take no time for reflection. He stands for a moment as though stunned, and then silently turns away. What a moment! His fate hung on it. This man had never before been consciously brought to the fork in the road; but now the two ways are before him, and knowingly, he chooses the worst” (Alexander Maclaren).
There is one hopeful phrase in the last scene of this conversation – the young man went away “sorrowful.” We hope his sorrow never left him. We hope that he came back to the Savior and yielded his life to Him, receiving eternal life, finding that peace and joy for which every man in his better moments longs.
Can a little bit of money make one as avaricious as a large sum? What is it in money that fascinates us? What is the attitude toward money of a wealthy person devoted to Jesus Christ, who has a great abundance of wealth, what are some things that person will do with it? Can Jesus use large sums of money? Does Jesus ever give eternal life and abounding joy to a person who refuses to let the Lord have His own way?
Scripture Reading: Luke 19:1-10
The Man Who Restored What He Had Stolen From Others
19:1, 2 … “And he entered and was passing through Jericho. And behold, a man called by name Zacchæus; and he was a chief publican, and he was rich.” Jericho was called “the city of palm-trees” (Deut. 34:3; Judg. 1:16), located about six miles from the Jordan River, and about fifteen miles east of Jerusalem. It was an ancient and wicked city. It was on the frontier of Palestine, and through it much trade was compelled to pass, necessitating the residence here of a tax-collector. Zacchæus was not only a tax-collector, but he was the chief tax-collector of that community. The Roman custom’s officer differed from our own in this way: ours is paid a fixed salary, and the taxes collected are placed into a national treasury. There is no advantage for him to gather much or little. His remuneration is independent of the amount of taxes collected. But among the Romans, the tax-gatherer bought the privilege of gathering. He paid a large sum for the office; and the taxes were his own. Thus, the more he gathered, the more he gained. As we might expect, there was great temptation to extort and oppress. Though the Roman customs were no doubt legally fixed, there were various ways of evading the law, and there was much power in the hands of the tax-gatherer. For instance, he would know the law; and those he oppressed would not. And, unless his exactions were totally ruinous there was little fear of exposure. However, if he was moderate and steady in his extortion, he might continue it at his pleasure.
19:3, 4 … “And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the crowd, because he was little of stature. And he ran on before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.” One might ask why this rich man was so interested in Jesus. While we do not know for sure, still, one reason might have been that his very position ostracized him from his own people, the Jews. He was in the same position as a native Belgian would have been if, during the months when Germany occupied a part of Belgium during the World War, he collected taxes from his fellow Belgian citizens for the German government, and not only collect taxes for them, but put some of the money into his own pocket. And, it is also possible that some movement of the Spirit of God may have come into his life, making him long for a higher, nobler, truer life than he had experienced from the bondage in which he was living. Of course, he obviously knew he was out of communion with God. Perhaps the hunger for things that truly satisfy the heart made him run on before the Lord and climb up that sycomore tree.
19:5, 6 … “And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and said unto him, Zacchæus, make haste, and come down; for to-day I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.” Our lesson will not allow us to dwell on the precious truths of these verses, but we must note the eagerness, joyfulness, and earnestness that marked every move of Zacchæus on that day. Jesus never forces anyone to accept Him. He never drags anyone into the kingdom of God. Almost invariably the man who receives Jesus with enthusiasm, earnestness and eagerness is the man from whom the greatest things may be expected in the days that follow. Zacchæus seemed to act like a man who felt that particular day was the day of crisis in his life, and unless things were settled that day they never would be.
19:7-10 … “And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, He is gone in to lodge with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchæus stood, and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have wrongfully exacted aught of any man, I restore fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, To-day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost.” One of the indisputable evidences of this man’s conversion was that, however humiliating it must have been, however contrary to all his prior habits and actions, he stood up before that whole multitude who intimately knew his life-history, crookedness and financial iniquities, and declared that half of his goods would immediately be given to the poor, and all he had falsely taken from any other man would restore fourfold. The little word “if” does not mean that Zacchæus had any doubt regarding whether he had taken money that did not belong to him, but rather should be translated, “if, as I know is the case, I have,” etc. (cf. Rom. 5:15; Col. 2:20). The phrase “wrongfully exacted” in the Greek means “to take money from others by intimidating them,” and generally referred to threats made against rich people by those who in one way or another could exercise power over them. It occurs in only one other place in the New Testament, in Luke 3:14. The verb used here is the verb “sukophanteo”, literally meaning, “to show figs.”
“At Athens those were called ‘sukophantai’ whose business it was to inform against any one whom they might detect exporting figs out of Attica; and, as sometimes they seem to have extorted money from those loath to be exposed, the name ‘sukophantes’ came to be a general term of opprobrium to designate a malignant informer, a calumniator, a base accuser from love of gain; thus it ultimately came to mean ‘to exact money wrongfully,’ ‘to defraud,’ and ‘to accuse wrongfully’” (J.H. Thayer).
In offering to restore fourfold all he had falsely taken he meets the extreme penalty imposed by the law on a man who was being compelled to make reparation (Ex. 22:1; 2 Sam. 12:6).
This miraculous change in the life of Zacchæus can be accounted for only by the coming of the Lord Jesus into his life. This was a mighty tribute to the power of faith in Christ – reversing the currents of moral life, refining and elevating character. In Zacchæus we see illustrated a right combination of faith and repentance, and the proper reciprocal play of the two. He took Christ into his heart because he had in him a sense of unworthiness and need; and, when he took Christ into his heart, he made it evident by a radical change in his habits and business methods. Think of the gain to a community if hard-faced and grinding extortioners were converted, and, following the example of Zacchæus, put their hands deep into their pockets and made restitution.
Scripture Reading: Luke 19:45, 46
Jesus Drives Commercial Crooks from the House of God
19:45, 46 … “And he entered into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold, saying unto them, It is written, And my house shall be a house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of robbers.” This is the second purification of the temple on the part of Jesus. The first one is recorded in John 2:13-17. This second purification, which took place on Monday of Passion Week, the day after the triumphal entry of our Lord into Jerusalem, is also recorded in Matthew 21:12, and in Mark 11:15-18. The passage quoted by our Lord is found in Isaiah 56:7. Cf. also Jeremiah 7:11.
“One month before the feast of Passover, money-changers opened their stalls in every country town. All Jews and proselytes – women, slaves, and minors excepted – had to pay the annual temple tribute of half a shekel. This had to be paid in exact half-shekels of the sanctuary, or ordinary Galilean shekels. When it is remembered that, besides strictly Palestinian silver and especially cooper coin, Persian, Tyrian, Syrian, Egyptian, Grecian, and Roman money circulated in the country, it will be understood what work these money-changers must have had. From the 15th to the 25th Adar they had stalls in every country town. On the latter date the stalls in the country were closed, and the money-changers henceforth sat within the precincts of the temple. . . . If we compute the annual temple tribute at about $375,000, the banker’s profits may have amounted to from $40,000 to $45,000, an immense sum in the circumstances of the country. . . . It is reasonable, nay, an almost necessary inference that many of the foreign Jews arriving in Jerusalem would take the opportunity of changing at these tables their foreign money, and for this, of course, fresh charges would be made. We can picture to ourselves the scene around the table of an Eastern money-changer – the weighing of the coins, deductions for loss of weight, arguing, disputing, bargaining – and we can realize the terrible truthfulness of our Lord’s charge that they had made the Father’s house a mart and place of traffic. It was a great accommodation that a person bringing a sacrifice might not only learn, but actually obtain, in the temple from its officials what was required for the meat and drink offering. The prices were fixed by tariff every month, and on payment of the stated amount the offerer received one of four counterfoils, which respectively indicated, and, on handing it to the proper official, procured the prescribed complement of his sacrifice. The priests and Levites in charge of this made up their accounts every evening, and these (though necessary) transactions must have left a considerable margin of profit to the treasury. This would soon lead to another kind of traffic. Offerers might, of course, bring their sacrificial animals with them, and we know that on the Mount of Olives there were four shops, specially for the sale of pigeons and other things requisite for sacrificial purposes” (Alfred Edersheim).
Here our Lord is fiercely condemning dragging the world’s business into the precincts of a holy place dedicated to worship, prayer, sacrifice and praise. The noise, trickery, exchange of money, the bargaining and presence of thousands of animals, mercenariness of the hearts of these men with whom pilgrims had to do business, the animosities that would be created, the bitter words that would be said, the resentment of many pilgrims against the crooked practices of those with whom they had to deal, made worship practically impossible – men would go away almost hating the very faith that had came to honor. Even today, in the same land, a traveler becomes nauseated with the commercialism of those in whose care religious buildings have been placed, and who pretend to be there for the purpose of assisting devout pilgrims, when it is obviously evident they are there only for selfish, godless enrichment.
Scripture Reading: Luke 20:9-16
The Parable of the Vineyard
This parable is also found in Matthew 21:33-46, and Mark 12:1-12; cf. Isaiah 5:1-7. If we begin our reading with the sixteenth chapter of Luke’s Gospel, we will note that in His parables, in His didactic teaching, in His conversation with those who came to Him for one purpose or another, and in His cleansing of the temple, our Lord continually emphasized the perils of having money, the right and the wrong uses of money, and the sacredness of our possessions. While it does not mention money, this parable of the vineyard does emphasize our obligations regarding those things that have been given to us. Of course, the parable primarily refers to the Jewish people, i.e., to Israel, often likened to a vine in the Old Testament. God had chosen Israel, given her a divine revelation, a land of glory, a king, an unparalleled succession of prophets and messengers. However, Israel had acted treasonably, ungratefully, indeed, most iniquitously, toward God, her great Benefactor, and had gone as far as actually to kill the prophets God sent to her (Jer. 20:1, 2; 37:15; 1 Kings 18:13; 19:14; 22:24-27; 2 Kings 6:31: 21:16; 2 Chron. 24:19-22; 36:15, 16; Acts 7:52; 1 Thess. 2:15; Heb. 11:37, 38). Finally, Israel did put to death the very Son of God Himself. If we look at this passage exclusively in the light of honesty, the subject of our lesson, we learn that God has a right to expect certain fruits from our life yielded to Him. In other words, because He has given us life and health, our talents, all the joys of living and working, we are, with these gifts of His, to extend His kingdom, exalt His Son, lead others to recognize Him as God and Father, yield lives of holiness to His praise and labor in the tasks that immediately pertain to His eternal purposes for this earth and its people. When we deliberately shut God out of our life, and do everything for ourselves, for our own advancement, and for our own gratification we have done what these wicked husbandmen did – we have refused to give to God what He has a right to expect from our lives, because what we have is only by His beneficence, mercy, grace, and love.
