Robbery
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
, or the seizing of another’s thing or property, openly, by violence. Not only do the present-day Bedouins of Arabia live by pillage and robbery, but in the deepest antiquity they were preceded in this by the Ishmaelites and their neighbors the Chaldeans (Gen. 14:12; Job 1:17). In later periods of Hebrew history, instances of banditry are frequently mentioned, as, for example, in the days of the Judges (9:25; 11:3). Certain campaigns of the Philistines, Amalekites, and others were nothing other than predatory raids (1 Sam. 23:1; 27:8, and elsewhere).
During the earthly life of Jesus Christ, the road going from Jerusalem to Jericho was especially dangerous for travelers, on account of robberies and plunder (Luke 10:30). As to the gravity of the sin of theft and robbery, one may judge on the basis of the words of Holy Scripture, in the First Epistle to the Corinthians (6:10) and in the Apocalypse (21:8; 22:15).