Gazal describes the violent tearing away of something — robbery by force, not stealth. It appears 30 times in the OT and is used of both human theft and metaphorical seizure. The eighth commandment (do not steal) covers the broader category; gazal specifies the brutal, forceful end of the spectrum — the kind of robbery that involves power over the powerless.
Gazal is the sin of the strong against the weak. The prophets thunder against it: rulers who gazal the poor, landlords who seize fields, priests who rob offerings. Ezekiel lists it among the worst abominations (Ezekiel 18:12). But the gospel reverses the robbery: Christ, though equal with God, "did not gazal" equality with God (the literal meaning of Philippians 2:6 in Greek — harpagmon). Instead He emptied Himself. Restitution and generosity are the kingdom antidote to gazal.