In such societies there is no room for God or for man ' s initiative, and the desire to get ahead is quenched. Man becomes a machine and nothing else. In the Old Testament, we find that God ' s greatest men owned property. The children of Israel inherited the Promised Land and the property was divided among them. In the New Testament, we learn that all property is given to us by God.
Property is obtained by the free gift of another person, by toil, or by theft.
This commandment recognizes the first two and forbids the third. The first two ways of obtaining property are God- given or provided. Either God has allowed or purposed for someone to give us property as a gift or He has enabled us to toil and thereby obtain property. This emphasizes the dignity of ownership. The man who owns something has a bigger stake in society, and is a better man for it, and usually is a better citizen.