Deuteronomy 5:17-19
You shall not murder.
Neither shall you commit adultery.
Neither shall you steal.
This is a very short scripture that contains very big ideas. In reality, it’s all about stealing something that’s not yours.
Murder steals a life.
Years ago when women were the property of their husbands, adultery stole property. It also stole the assurance that a man’s children were really his own.
Stealing property of any kind takes away something that belongs to another.
All of these commandments take about how we relate to one another in community. When we respect each other, then we are unable to do harm to each other. These rules are about not doing harm.
These seem pretty straightforward, but there are complexities and nuances that make them much more difficult to follow. Consider murder. It’s pretty easy to say we don’t kill one another. None of us is inclined to do that. But consider warfare when soldiers of one side kill the other – kill or be killed. Wars are sometimes fought over important issues. We agree that it’s good to support Ukraine in their battle for freedom and we’re supplying them the weapons that are killing many Russian soldiers. Is supplying weapons murder? Does it matter if we shoot first or respond to attack? All of our denominations are on record as supporting members who are conscientious objectors. That was more of an issue when our nation had a draft. Then we affirmed those who wanted to serve in the military as medics or support personnel rather than being in direct combat.
We are all horrified at the civilian deaths in the war in Ukraine. At the same time we’re unaware of how our own nation has contributed to civilian death. I just finished reading An Indigenous People’s History of the United States which lays out how we murdered women and children in villages in order to open our nation to settlement. We didn’t come to a land that was unpopulated, so we depopulated it. The kind of warfare that does anything necessary to win continues to this day. We killed many villagers in Viet Nam. Our drones have missed military targets and killed many civilians in places all around the world. To what extent are we responsible for what our country does around the world? What influence should we have over our military?
We are hearing a lot right now about the issue of reproductive rights and access to abortion. Some people are convinced that abortion is murder and others say it’s not. How do we talk to one another about women’s rights and health care?
Adultery is much less of an issue in contemporary culture than it once was, maybe because it’s become so common. We no longer consider women as the property of their husbands so adultery is no longer stealing the property of another. When these commands were written, adultery was much more the action of a man toward another man’s wife than a mutual decision among consenting adults. Adultery breaks a commitment that has been made. This commandment encourages us to take those commitments seriously.
At one time ending a marriage was considered adultery, but now divorce is much more common. Divorce allows people who are being abused in a relationship to end it – men or women. Divorce allows people who have grown apart over time to end unhealthy relationships and perhaps to begin another in a better way. This commandment suggests that we not do that lightly. That we not be too quick to give up on one another without making a sincere effort to make marriages work. At the same time we need to support people whose marriages are unhealthy in finding a better way to live.
And then we consider “do not steal.” That’s perhaps the most clear of these commandments. Don’t take what doesn’t belong to you. In any way. Don’t cheat on your taxes. Pay your employees a fair wage. Today we might say, “support economic justice for everyone.” It is ungodly, perhaps, for some to make billions of dollars while their employees barely scrape by. None of us becomes affluent on our own. Those who are successful in business benefit from the work of their employees and the support of customers. Wealth doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s appropriate for it to be shared equitably.
All of these commandments are about how we order society for the benefit of everyone. They are about creating norms and regulations that make life good for all people. They are about respecting and trusting each other and not taking advantage of anyone. We live by these rules not just because God tells us to do so, but because we genuinely care for one another. Maybe that’s why Jesus summarized the commandments as “love God/love your neighbor.” When you treat each other with love and respect , there are things you don’t do to each other. When we rely on each other to behave in loving ways, our world works better. That’s why the commandments can be called “the ten best ways to live.”