A good case can be made that the eighth commandment, do not steal, is the one commandment that

encompasses all the others.

How does do not steal encompass the other commandments?

Well, murder is the stealing of another person's life, adultery is the stealing of another

person's spouse, coveting is the desire to steal what belongs to another person, giving

false testimony, stealing justice, and so on.

This commandment is unique in another way.

It is the only commandment that is completely open-ended.

All the other commandments are specific.

The fifth commandment, for example, states that it is our parents whom we should honor.

The sixth commandment prohibiting murder is about taking the life of an innocent human being.

The seventh commandment prohibiting adultery is also specific to a married person.

Two unmarried people cannot commit adultery, but the commandment against stealing does

it even hint at what it is we're forbidden to steal, which means that we cannot take anything

that belongs to another person.

And that in turn means three big things.

First and foremost, the commandment against stealing has always been understood to mean that

we are not allowed to steal another human being, what we call kidnapping.

That is why no one, who at even an elementary understanding of the eighth commandment,

could ever use the Bible to justify the most common form of slavery the kidnapping of

human beings and selling them into slavery.

The basics of the Bible argue that the Bible allowed slavery, but the type of slavery

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