When do robbers become terrorists? (28:24)

He who robs his father or his mother and says, “It is not a transgression,” is the companion of a man who destroys.

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Surprisingly, perhaps, the vicious habit of theft begins at home, and particularly when adult children steal from their own parents, they’re not just thieves, but terrorists.

Our parents gave us life and nurtured us when we were helpless and totally dependent on them. So stealing from them is truly wicked. Parents may give as they wish, but children have no right to take anything.

Robbing our parents violates the commandment, “Honour your father and your mother”—the commandment most important after those commanding our worship of Our Lord God himself.

Classic KJV - Proverbs 28:24

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Robbing parents violates the fifth commandment, “Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” This “so that” is huge; this is the only commandment that brings a concrete promise with it. Parents are almost sacred. Even when they fall short of their own parental duties, they must be revered in truth and not abused.

Governments should learn from this text to design tax benefits to support parenthood, reducing family stresses and societal breakdown. Virtually every social disorder and psychological dysfunction has its origins in eroding families. Yet “no-fault divorce” is the only contract where the legal system supports the party who wants to violate it. And our so-called “social safety net,” designed to backstop families, does little more than encourage irresponsibility and break-ups. The recovery of family life depends on the renewed respect and autonomy of parenthood.

A grown child who steals from a parent will quite easily steal from a sibling or friend. And as parents grow older, more dependent and more vulnerable, the family thief will grow bolder and more abusive, getting sucked into a shameful vortex of malice and selfishness.

Translation

The Hebrew word for a man who destroys, שחת (šā•ḥăt, pronounced “shah-khăth”), is first used in Genesis 6:11, where it’s translated as “corrupt,” describing the state of the world just before Noah’s flood. It connotes an evil more grievous than mere thievery, involving imminent violence and injury. The modern term for a man who pillages like that is a saboteur or terrorist. There may be many sorts of terrorism, but the text asserts that the financial abuse of parents is one of them.

Birds of a Feather Flock Together

28.24 rs shooooo 1356253 The expression, “is a companion of,” avoids the direct accusation of calling such a child a destroyer. Yet by close association with someone, we implicitly approve of their lifestyle and values. We pickup of their mannerisms. We learn their habits. We become like them.

Parental Support Tax Incentive

If robbing parents is wrong, then providing for them is right! Rather than taking from a parent’s finances, add to them. Any nation would be served well by tax incentives that would allow offspring to deduct from their gross income any amount used to support their elderly parents. This could significantly reduce the costs of public elder-care. Such a tax incentive would draw God’s blessing upon the nation, since it would line up with God’s word and strengthen families.

Classic Comments

To quote the commentator, Gill:

Sins against parents are greater than against others...more aggravated, especially when parents are aged, and cannot work for themselves, but depend on what they have for their livelihood; whereas a young man can, and ought, and should rather give to his parents than rob them of what they have.

Matthew Henry also notes that children may rob their parents indirectly by wasting what they have been given or by incurring debt and leaving their parents to pay it.