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In the Old Testament Book of Proverbs the prayer of a man called
Agur is recorded
PR 30:7 "Two things I ask of you, O LORD; do not refuse me
before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither
poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise,
I may have too much and disown you and say, `Who is the LORD?'
Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my
God.
But what does it mean to steal. In the Book of Exodus God says
this to his people:
EX 22:25 "If you lend money to one of my people among you
who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest.
If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, return it to him
by sunset, because his cloak is the only covering he has for his
body. What else will he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will
hear, for I am compassionate.
In the Book of Leviticus God says this to his people:
LEV 19:13 "Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him. Do not
hold back the wages of a hired man overnight. Do not use dishonest
standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. Use honest
scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin.
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt.
In the Book of Deuteronomy God says this to his people:
DT 19:14 Do not move your neighbor's boundary stone set up by
your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the
LORD your God is giving you to possess.
God says this to his people through the prophet Amos:
AM 5:11 You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain.
Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not
live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will
not drink their wine. For I know how many are your offenses and
how great your sins. You oppress the righteous and take bribes
and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts. Therefore the
prudent man keeps quiet in such times, for the times are evil.
Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty
will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty
will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.
And God says this to his people, again through the prophet Amos:
AM 8:4 Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the
poor of the land, saying, "When will the New Moon be over
that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market
wheat?" - skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating
with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy
for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.
God says this to his people through the prophet Isaiah:
ISA 10:1 Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue
oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold
justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey
and robbing the fatherless.
God says this to his people through the prophet Malachi:
MAL 3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you
ask, `How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. You are
under a curse - the whole nation of you - because you are robbing
me.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
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