Stealing the property of others. The basic prohibition is found in the Ten Commandments, “You shall not steal” (Exod 20:15). Elsewhere, the Bible contains specific rules regarding theft of domestic animals (Exod 22:1-4), imposing penalties of multiple restitution in kind. Highway robbery was a quite different phenomenon, representing a form of political opposition. The threat from such organized bands was to the central authority’s control of the communications network; hence, brigandage was treated by military rather than judicial means. But the Hebrew word for such robbery (gazal) came to be used by the prophets for a wide range of economic exploitation (robbing the fatherless, Isa 10:2). The NT continues the condemnation of robbery (1Cor 6:10; 1Pet 4:15), yet Jesus used the sudden and unexpected intrusion of the robber as a metaphor for the sudden inbreaking of God’s kingdom and the consequent need to stay alert (Luke 12:39-40; 1Thess 5:2; 2Pet 3:10; Rev 16:15).
