“Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.”
According to the “The World Counts” a child dies from hunger every 10 seconds. Poor nutrition and hunger is responsible for the death of 3.1 million children a year. That’s nearly half of all deaths in children under the age of 5. The children die because their bodies lack basic nutrients. Globally, 822 million people suffer from undernourishment. If the choice was stealing food or dying from malnutrition based on hunger I can see why someone would steal the food. In the US there are numerous church, community and government programs designed to keep hunger deaths from happening. As followers of Christ we have a responsibility to care for the hungry, not just by prayer but through tangible help as well. With the seriousness of this situation Solomon shows the greater consequence for the sin of adultery. This passage is used to compare the consequences of sin between stealing food to combat hunger with its penalty of as much as seven times what was taken and adultery which can cost you your life. This cost for stealing as high as it is, which in this verse is higher than demanded by law, is still nothing compared to what adultery costs. All sin cost Jesus His life. The consequences in our lives can vary based on the egregiousness of the act because degree our sin hurts others differs. Today flee sin and avoid the penalty. #BeTheEdge
“All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.” 1 John 5:17 NIV
