Proverbs 6:30 (Mini Sermon)

---

 

30. Pro 6:30 - "Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;" A. Men will have compassion a thief who steals in order to feed himself if the following are true: i. He has no other means to acquire food. ii. He is not stealing with a wicked intent to harm his neighbor. iii. He is not stealing to enrich himself due to covetousness. B. When a man is hungry he will sometimes do criminal things out of desperation, and in such cases men will not despise him. C. "As for the sin of stealing, if a man were brought to it by extreme necessity, if he stole meat for the satisfying of his soul when he was hungry, though that will not excuse him from guilt, yet it is such an extenuation of his crime that men do not despise him, do not expose him to ignominy, but pity him. Hunger will break through stone-walls, and blame will be laid upon those that brought him to poverty, or that did not relieve him." (Matthew Henry's Commentary, Pro 6:20-35) D. Solomon is using a thief in contrast to an adulterer (Pro 6:32). i. Whereas men do not despise a thief who steals out of desperation, they will wound, dishonour, and reproach an adulterer (Pro 6:33). ii. This shows that adultery is a greater crime than theft (especially when the theft was a result of destitution). iii. The prohibition of adultery comes before the prohibition of stealing in the ten commandments (Exo 20:14-15). iv. Today, thieves are punished with jail time while adulterers are not punished at all, nor even dishonored or reproached in most cases which shows how far our society has fallen from Biblical morality.