Robbery

Practiced by the Ishmaelites (Genesis 16:12), the Chaldeans and Sabeans (Job 1:15, 17), and the men of Shechem (Judges 9:25. See also 1 Samuel 27:6-10; Hos. 4:2; 6:9).

Robbers infested Judea in our Lord's time (Luke 10:30; John 18:40; Acts 5:36-37; 21:38; 2 Corinthians 11:26).

The words of the King James Version, “counted it not robbery to be equal,” etc. (Philippians 2:6-7), are better rendered in the Revised King James Version, “counted it not a prize to be on an equality,” etc., i.e., “did not look upon equality with God as a prize which must not slip from his grasp” = “did not cling with avidity to the prerogatives of his divine majesty; did not ambitiously display his equality with God.”

“Robbers of churches” should be rendered, as in the Revised King James Version, “of temples.” In the temple at Ephesus there was a great treasure-chamber, and as all that was laid up there was under the guardianship of the goddess Diana, to steal from such a place would be sacrilege (Acts 19:37).