Deuteronomy 19:14 –
“When you arrive in the land the LORD your God is giving you as your special possession, you must never steal anyone’s land by moving the boundary markers your ancestors set up to mark their property.”
In today’s times we rarely think about moving boundaries to get more land. As a matter of record land is very difficult to steal today since you have modern survey tools that are accurate to 1/8” or better. Monuments, points that are very difficult to move, are the starting point when defining land boundaries. So in order to steal land today you have a very difficult time since more than just your property markers need to move.
With that said we bought some land where the previous owner knowingly built a fence and a driveway on other peoples lands. When I questioned this at closing they said no one had complained for years so it was ok. I fully expect to have to move a fence or a drive in the future. My point is even in something that cannot move like land, people push limits all the time.
I wonder why God needs to define these types of laws. I know they exist because people tend to push limits when they can and selfish desires win much of the time. Although the Ten Commandments are clear about coveting neighbor’s possessions, that was not enough and God felt in necessary to expand on the Law.
Now one would argue our current legal system has gotten way to complex and one wonders why. One only needs to look at the basis in Hebraic Law to see the start. People tend to find loopholes to take advantage or escape punishment. So what seems to be a simple law becomes increasingly complex as people take advantage of the nuances. One would think a judge or jury would be allowed to apply common sense, but that’s where a “good” lawyer hurts any system of justice. They can take a law’s wording or something not implicitly spelled out and free a guilty person. Hence why God and “law makers” get so detailed in spelling out what is right and wrong.