Man’s Labor is Sacred

It should be noted that man’s labor is sacred in the sight of God. When a man gives to the Lord then this is in fact giving of his labor because he labored by the sweat of his brow to earn every dollar he has. God does not take this lightly and when a man gives out of his own labor then God receives this gift as a act of worship. It is for this reason that God considers that a man’s labor as being “sacred” or holy in God’s sight.

1 Samuel 2:12–17 (NASB95)
12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the LORD
13 and the custom of the priests with the people. When any man was offering a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand.
14 Then he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. Thus they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.
15 Also, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest meat for roasting, as he will not take boiled meat from you, only raw.”
16 If the man said to him, “They must surely burn the fat first, and then take as much as you desire,” then he would say, “No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force.”
17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD, for the men despised the offering of the LORD.

The two sons of Eli the priest were officiating in the office of priests only because they were sons of the high priest Eli. However, Eli never disciplined his sons and therefore they grew up to become worthless and self-indulgent men. When the citizens of Israel came to worship God at the tabernacle and give sacrifice to God, then these worthless men were present to seize for themselves whatever they wanted. They even threated to take it by force if those who came to worship God did not hand it over peacefully. It was for this reason that the men who came to worship the Lord ended up despising the offering of the Lord because it was seized from them by force.

When the men came to worship God they would bring grain offerings and the best of their livestock to present as offerings to the Lord. All of these things represented the labor of their own hands to plow and plant and harvest and thresh and to tend to livestock. They earned these things by the sweat of their own brow and it is for this reason that God considered these gifts as “sacred” and as an “act of worship” when they freely gave to God that which cost them so much to labor to produce.

Curse of Adam

Genesis 3:17–19 (NASB95)
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.
18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field;
19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

After Adam listened to his wife and ate the forbidden fruit (after she has already eaten it and died spiritually) then Adam received a curse. The curse of Adam was that he would have to labor by the sweat of his brow to earn every “dollar” that he had. The fields would be cursed and would produce thorns and thistles which represent everything that resists a man from prospering. This curse is still evident today and it is said that men live shorter lives than women because of the stress of trying to produce a living (when every cursed thing is against them prospering).

So when a man gives anything to God then this is taken seriously by God because his labor represents his love for God to sacrifice something that cost him so dearly to produce. This is why a man’s labor is sacred to God whenever a man freely chooses to give to God out of the increase he was able to produce (under the curse).

Therefore, if this labor is seized by force from a man then it is denying him of the opportunity of giving a freewill offering to God. If it is taken by force (as the sons of Eli did) then they have removed the “freewill” away from the men giving to God. Thus the offerings were actually stolen because the men who came to offer to God was deprived of giving to God freely. The sin of the sons of Eli was serious in God’s sight for this reason.

1 Samuel 2:22–25 (NASB95)
22 Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.
23 He said to them, “Why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people?
24 “No, my sons; for the report is not good which I hear the LORD’S people circulating.
25 “If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the LORD desired to put them to death.

These boys were not only stealing the offerings from the people by force but they were also committing sexual immorality with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting. Thus they were making the worship of God into an abomination by their evil and wicked behavior! Eli only suggested that it was not a good report he was hearing about them but he was a passive father who never took action to discipline his sons or remove them from office due to their evil behavior. These boys would not listen to their father because they had already gone too far and God had determined to put these two wicked men to death!

Again, a major part of why God determined to destroy these wicked sons of Eli was mainly (besides all of their other sins) the fact that they stole the offerings by force and thus deprived men of giving freely to God as an act of worship.

Labor Involved in Producing a Gift – Makes that Gift Sacred

Men will labored “all-year” to produce some grain or livestock or products or wages or operate a business. These same men must resisted all forces of the curse to earn a living. What they have produced came by sweat of their brown and often by extreme anxiety to produce what they have. God understands this and the labor (or effort) that men expended to produce wages or income therefore makes those wages sacred to God. The more they labored to earn these things the more valuable they are to God. The bottom line here is that when a man gives tithes or offerings to God out of his own substance then the value of these things in the sight of God is priceless. To give something to God that they worked so hard to earn is therefore an “act of worship” and is sacred in God’s sight!

Anything that wastes a man’s labor it therefore cursed in God’s sight just like the two undisciplined sons of Eli whom God destroyed (both on the same day) because they were stealing the labor of the men who came to worship God.

1 Samuel 2:29–34 (NASB95)
29 ‘Why do you kick at My sacrifice and at My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling, and honor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the choicest of every offering of My people Israel?’
30 “Therefore the LORD God of Israel declares, ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever’; but now the LORD declares, ‘Far be it from Me—for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed.
31 ‘Behold, the days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father’s house so that there will not be an old man in your house.
32 ‘You will see the distress of My dwelling, in spite of all the good that I do for Israel; and an old man will not be in your house forever.
33 ‘Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from My altar so that your eyes will fail from weeping and your soul grieve, and all the increase of your house will die in the prime of life.
34 ‘This will be the sign to you which will come concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: on the same day both of them will die.

The lineage of Eli the priest would be cut off entirely and his descendants would be removed from the office of priest. A sign that this would be fulfilled was when both of the sons of Eli (Hophni and Phinehas) would die on the same day!

Again, is must be illustrated that God cursed the lineage of Eli because he was passive about disciplining his wicked sons and honored his wicked sons more than God. These two sons were killed by God because they seized the offerings of those who came to give to God by force. When seizing these offerings it was stealing as they stole the opportunity of the men to give freely to God out of their own labor.

Stealing a Man’s Labor Resulted in the Death Penalty from God

The fact that God issued an death penalty against those who stole the labor of the men (who came to worship God) shows that this is a serious offense against God.

Exodus 20:15 (NASB95)
15 “You shall not steal.

The commandments of God make it clear that stealing is a crime and so God commanded that no one should steal. However, one should consider what the term “stealing” actually is. When something is stolen then what was taken by the thief is actually the labor of the one who worked to earn that thing. If a thief steals any type of livestock then they are stealing the labor of the men who tended those livestock from birth. If any grain or produce is stolen then they have stolen the labor of the man who plowed and planted and harvested to produce that grain or agricultural commodity. If they steal a man’s tools they are stealing a man’s labor who worked hard to save money to buy those tools. All theft of any kind is the theft of a man’s labor.

Again, it should be noted that a man’s labor is sacred in the sight of God. If a man gives freely to God out of his labor (to pay tithes or offerings to God) then those gifts are “sacred” in God’s sight because they represent a man’s labor to give to God.

God also judges those who steal because breaking this commandment is always involved with stealing a man’s labor. God will bring retribution on all those who steal (both in this lifetime on earth – as well as in the life to come) where the thieves will burn eternally in hell for their crimes committed on earth (including the crime of stealing a man’s labor).

Proverbs 16:11 (NASB95)
11 A just balance and scales belong to the LORD; All the weights of the bag are His concern.

This scripture says that all weights (used to measure products) are God’s concern. Why is God concerned about weights used to measure product weights? This is because those who deal using false weights would used one set of false weights to cheat the farmer and get more than they paid for. Then these dishonest merchants would keep as second set of weights to cheat the consumer – to give them less than what they paid for. They were cheating coming and going but in fact what these dishonest merchants were doing was stealing the labor of men. They stole the labor of the farmer who worked to produce the grain or other products by giving him less than what was honest. They stole the labor of the consumer who worked for his wages to buy the products but were given less product that what they paid for.

Again, those who steal by false weights will burn in hell for the crime of stealing a man’s labor. This is a great sin in God’s sight.

Amos 8:4–6 (NASB95)
4 Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land,
5 saying, “When will the new moon be over, So that we may sell grain, And the sabbath, that we may open the wheat market, To make the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger, And to cheat with dishonest scales,
6 So as to buy the helpless for money And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”

This was a part of a prophecy of the Prophet Amos who exposed the sins of the reprobate Israelites who became wicked in behavior and were about to be destroyed by God’s judgment. Notice the crimes listed involved the theft of a man’s labor. The containers they used to measure grain were smaller to cheat the buyer to give them less than they paid for. They increased the price and reduced the amount given to the buyer and so they were stealing a man’s labor both coming and going. They were cheating with dishonest scales using one set for cheating the farmer and another set to cheat the consumer. They were stealing the labor of the producer and the consumer. They even operated scams designed to enslave the helpless for money so that they could seize all that they have under pretext of a manufactured debt to enslave them. So the poor were working for free for those who exploited them and so they were stealing the labor of those whom they enslaved by debts. The needy people were sold as slaves being purchased only for the value of a pair of sandals (as if these poor people were of no value whatsoever (like dung on the ground)! These cheaters even sold the refuse like chaff and dirt (together with the wheat) selling that which cannot be eaten.

All of these crimes involved stealing the labor of men and this is the major reason God destroyed the entire nation of Israel because this crime the theft of a man’s wages which was so common that it became rampant within their godless society. These cheaters had no fear of God and spent all of their time figuring ways to steal the labor of others for nothing.

As a result of these crimes of stealing a man’s labor for free, God totally destroyed the nation with disasters and war and famine and plague. Only a few survived the judgment ( those few who were not guilty of stealing a man’s labor). The rest of these cheaters all perished in judgement.

Again, it should be noted that the theft of a man’s labor is a serious crime in God’s sight and the nation of Israel was totally destroyed in judgment all because of this one overriding sin! We should therefore take notice and receive a warning here because God has not changed and he will still bring judgement whenever any society becomes reprobate and begins to engage in oppression and stealing a man’s labor for nothing without paying them for it.

When a Wife Steals Her Husband’s Wages

It has been said that Christian women are much more generous than their husbands. But the reason for his is that the man’s wages were earned by the sweat of his brow. This is why so many Christian women can dump their husband’s hard-earned money away freely (as if it means nothing to them). This is because the women doing these things did not labor by the sweat of their brow to produce these wages (as their own husbands did).

1 Timothy 2:12–14 (NASB95)
12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.
13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.
14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.

Adam was not deceived but it was the woman who was deceived and fell into transgression. Therefore, the women are prone toward deception and they are the ones who typically support charlatan preachers and give to fake ministers (as the sons of Eli also were).

1 Samuel 2:22 (NASB95)
22 Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

The sons of Eli serve as an example of what happens when ungodly men (full of greed) occupy leadership positions in places of worship. These evil men even deceived the women who came to the door of the tent of meeting telling them that the way to worship God was to have sexual relations with the priests (themselves). Thus they exploited these gullible and deceived woman to have sex with them.

Giving anything toward false ministers (who are like the sons of Eli) is a curse instead of a blessing. But I personally know Christian women who have taken thousands of dollars of their husband’s hard earned labor and gave it to false preachers. I told them these preachers were false but they would not listen and even defended them saying these false preachers were the Lord’s anointed. Even later after these same men were publicly exposed for their greed these women still could not see that these charlatans were evil. But their husbands protested in giving to these fraudsters but these Christian women resisted their husbands and gave anyway. Thus, the hard earned labor of their husbands was squandered and given to charlatans who were no more righteous than the two sons of Eli (who supposed ministry was a means of gain). I even heard one Christian woman say that her husbands blessing came to him because of all her giving to the Lord. But in fact those she gave to were almost always the worse deceivers and charlatan types of fake preachers.

This is an example of why God commanded that a woman submit to her own husband because her husband accurately predicted that these were false preachers (of the type like Eli’s sons). The blessing that the man received however was from the times that he gave sincere gifts to God to legitimate ministries.

See the link “Giving and Kingdom Finances” for more details.

Bean Counters that Steal Wages

There are historic U.S. companies whose founders followed the motto: “If you pay a man living wages then you will always have good help around!” I know of a company which was built upon “production incentive” and the employees earned more for the greater output they created. However, after the passing of the founder, the company was taken over by “bean-counters” meaning these managers did everything possible to reduce wages and increase the line speed at the factory and thus get more work out of the workers without paying them for it.

Wage Stealing Scam

This factory would work the men 50-hours per week but only pay them for a fixed 36-hours. The men were supposed to be paid time and a half for every hour they worked over 40-hours per week. This means that if they earned $10.00 per hour then they would be paid $15.00 per hour for every hour over forty-hours as over-time pay. But this company (after the founder died) would work them for 50-hours but only pay them for 36-hours so this is a theft of 14-hours of labor that they did not pay them for. The company then put the unpaid hours into a so-called “over-hour” bank. They would then send the men home a few hours early each day to deduct these hours so they would not have to pay them. Even if a man quit his job so that they were forced to paid him for his stored hours, this pay would be only straight time at $10.00 per hour rather than the over-time pay of $15.00 per hour. All of this was done to steal the labor of the workers and make them work for free. There were no other good jobs in that region for a hundred miles in any direction so this company could get away with the theft because the men had no other place to go for employment.

Pig Stealing Scam

Also this same company also operated as a slaughter factory which butchered pigs. They used to kill about 6,000 pigs a day before they used their billions in accumulated profits to remodel the entire factory to kill many thousands more. My father was both an employee at this factory and he also sold pigs to this factory because he raised hogs. He told me of the grade and yield system used by this company to determine how much they would pay the farmer’s for the hogs. He told me that this system was a legalized way of “pig-stealing” because they often paid the farmer less than what it costs to produce these animals. Many pig farmers went broke when the costs to raise the pigs exceeded the price they received when they sold the animals to this dishonest factory.

Again, this one factory is an example of how they would steal the wages of the men who worked there by not paying them for their labor. The same company also found ways not to pay the farmer for the pigs that were sold to this slaughter factory. This factory had over 800 employees so they had a big effect upon the economy of the city where this factory was located. After the wages were drastically cut by the new management then the economy of the city suffered greatly because the employees could not afford to spend much when they were in dire straights with not enough money to feed their own families.

Never should a company seek to force their employees to work for nothing without paying them for the hours they put in. Never should a company cheat the farmers who raised the pigs to sell to this company. They were in fact cheating people coming and going by not paying for the labor of their workers and not paying the farmers honestly for the pigs they purchased. This type of cheating behavior brings a curse and diminishes prosperity and can cause an entire economy to falter because workers are also consumers and if they have no money to spend then local businesses will suffer also.

Jeremiah 22:13 (NIV)
13 “Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor.

Whenever civil leaders or corporate leaders make their people work for free (just because they have authority to withhold wages) they will be judged by God for this. Again, it must be noted that a man’s labor is sacred in the sight of God and anyone who does not pay their workers what is due them will face God’s judgment.

Jeremiah 23:1–2 (NIV)
1 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD.
2 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the LORD.

The shepherds mentioned above represent those who occupy positions of civil or corporate leadership which are expected to care for those who work for them. But if the same leaders only exploit the people and use their labor for free, then they will be punished by God for this evil which they have done. It is important that all those who occupy leadership positions should know that they are to be servants of the people (under their authority) rather than exploiting them for their own personal gain.

Jeremiah 23:4 (NIV)
4 I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD.

God promised that he would provide shepherds (good civil leaders) like David who would care for his people rather than exploit them and use them (as in the case of King Saul). It is pleasing in the sight of God when men seek a leadership position for the purpose of serving those under them rather than exploiting them. The good leaders who serve their people will be rewarded by God but those who seek leadership only to dominate or control or exploit those under their leadership will be judged by God.

See the link “Civil Leaders that Exploit” for more details.

Economic Collapse as Judgment

James 5:4–5 (NASB95)
4 Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
5 You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

The scripture above speaks of the evil foreboding of coming judgement. Why is this judgment coming? It is because the pay of the laborers that did the work was withheld from them. They were not paid for their labor. In fact, a man’s labor is sacred in the sight of God and if a man is cheated and not paid for his labor (being forced to work for nothing) then God will bring judgment.

The cries of these “defrauded” workers have reached the ears of the Lord of the Sabbath. The term sabbath speaks of entering into God’s rest but the working man never received his pay so he never entered the rest of having his needs met. He was left in a stressful condition because he was unable to provide for his family. The workers suffered lack while the company “bean-counters” were giving themselves raises and living in luxury with the great profits. These company men were stealing the wages of those who worked for them and keeping these wages for themselves. This is why these company men were living luxuriously on earth after they robbed the wages of the laborers and even stole the income of the farmers (cheating everyone for their own profit). Such people are headed toward the judgment of God. What will they do when there is an total economic collapse and all of the money they hoarded will become devalued and worthless? This is the type of sin that brings judgement because they deprived the working man of entering his rest of having his needs met. Instead the workers live under continual stress trying to save to make ends meet to feed their families. They would have been doing good if only they were paid for the hours they have worked. This is stealing wages and a man’s wages are sacred in the sight of God so this illicit activity will bring God’s judgment. Even if such exploitive companies escape an economic collapse, the company men responsible for this fraud will not escape eternal judgment because the cries of the laborers they failed to pay have reached the Lord of the harvest and they will be judged for all of this.

Isaiah 5:8–10 (NASB95)
8 Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field, Until there is no more room, So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!
9 In my ears the LORD of hosts has sworn, “Surely, many houses shall become desolate, Even great and fine ones, without occupants.
10 “For ten acres of vineyard will yield only one bath of wine, And a homer of seed will yield but an ephah of grain.”

This scripture above speaks of cheaters and scammers who were able to seize the fields of others under false pretenses (such a manufactured debts). So they seize the farmland under guise of debt repayment. These cheaters would add field to field taking the land of every farmer around them until they lived alone in the land within their fine mansions while the people they exploited were reduced to working for them for nothing. God’s judgement would come because of this dishonest exploitation carried out by those scammers which were living in mansions at other’s expense. These great mansions would be left desolate after the land was hit by disasters of war and famine and plague. There would be a curse upon the land so that the land would produce less than what was planted. All of this curse came as judgement for the crime of stealing a man’s wages without paying for it and forcing people to work for free.

If men occupying both civil and corporate leadership positions will fear God and do what is right for those people under their command, then they can be blessed and prospered by God instead of cursed.

See the link” Allowing Citizens to Prosper” for more details.