Is it wrong to steal?

However, God told the Israelites to borrow from and “spoil” the Egyptians (Exodus 3:22; 11:2; 12:35-36), God said that Israel shall “spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them” (Ezekiel 39:10).  See also Nahum 2:9.

See also: Leviticus 6:2-5; 19:11, 13; Deuteronomy 5:19; Psalm 37:21; Matthew 19:18; Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20; Romans 2:21; Ephesians 4:28; and I Thessalonians 4:6.

Response

Yes, it is wrong to steal.

In Exodus, God told the Israelites that the Egyptians would willingly give them their riches, and so this was not stealing; furthermore, the Egyptians had put Israel under cruel bondage without just compensation, and so this was not stealing: it was God’s way of paying the Israelites for all their work under the Egyptians.  A similar situation applies to Ezekiel 39:10—God says the Israelites will rob “those that robbed them.”  This is not stealing; it is reclaiming rightful property.  Nahum 2:9 is speaking of the spoils of war, something entirely different than stealing.

Another point is that all the earth is God’s anyway, and so He has the right to take from someone and give to someone else.  We, on the other hand, are commanded not to steal because God is in charge of everything, not we.