Laws About Restitution 33 “When a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit shall make restoration. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead beast shall be his. 35 “When one man's ox butts another's, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price, and the dead beast also they shall share. 36 Or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall repay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his. 22 “If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. 2 If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, 3 but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4 If the stolen beast is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double. 5 “If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over, or lets his beast loose and it feeds in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the best in his own field and in his own vineyard. 6 “If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, he who started the fire shall make full restitution. 7 “If a man gives to his neighbor money or goods to keep safe, and it is stolen from the man's house, then, if the thief is found, he shall pay double. 8 If the thief is not found, the owner of the house shall come near to God to show whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor's property. 9 For every breach of trust, whether it is for an ox, for a donkey, for a sheep, for a cloak, or for any kind of lost thing, of which one says, ‘This is it,’ the case of both parties shall come before God. The one whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor. 10 “If a man gives to his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep safe, and it dies or is injured or is driven away, without anyone seeing it, 11 an oath by the Lord shall be between them both to see whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor's property. The owner shall accept the oath, and he shall not make restitution. 12 But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner. 13 If it is torn by beasts, let him bring it as evidence. He shall not make restitution for what has been torn. 14 “If a man borrows anything of his neighbor, and it is injured or dies, the owner not being with it, he shall make full restitution. 15 If the owner was with it, he shall not make restitution; if it was hired, it came for its hiring fee. So, we've talked about building altars and how to properly worship God. We've talked about respect for life and limb and how all life matters and that includes punishments for people that are careless or intentionally malicious and disable someone. We even talked about honoring our fathers and mothers and how seriously God took it when someone would curse or strike their mother or father--a capital offense. All of these things so far would be "high crimes and misdemeanors" as most were punishable by death.
Now we are moving onto punishments that would usually be heard in "civil" courts--someone did something that damaged your property. The punishment for these crimes is usually going to be for the person to make some kind of monetary restitution or to make the person whole again by the concept of "an eye for an eye" so that if your ox gores another man's ox you either have to pay a fine or give him your live ox and take his dead ox. We'll notice though that there are some differentiation in punishment though for accidents, negligence (like your animal getting away so that it eats someone's field or gets in a fight with someone else's animal) or depraved indifference where you know you have an animal that likes to fight and gore other animals and you don't lock it up or put the animal down for the protection of others (as an animal that gores other animals may also attack humans). There are also lots of rules here about if a man steals from someone and whether it is done accidentally or intentionally. Notice though that even the life of the thief matters and that if the thief comes at night, he might be killed justly, but if he comes during the daytime, then the owner cannot kill him as he is expected to see who the thief was and track him down without loss of life. We'll see this come up in the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector (see verse 8 which I've emphasized for you to show that Zacchaeus was paying the penalty of intentionally defrauding someone.. 19 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:1-10) There are rules as well about if you are a caretaker of someone else's property--say you are watching over their house, property, or animals while they are away on a trip--and something happens. How responsible are you? What if you were asked to be caretaker, but the owner was still with you? Are you still responsible? Isn't it great that God through through all these things and made up these laws for His people? We see through these rules that God is a God of law and order and justice, but that the justice is to be given out by the courts and in proportion to the crime--yet sometimes the victim gets to suggest the fine, but the court ultimately is the one responsible for deciding what is a fair penalty. There is no place in God's law for vigilante justice. "19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”" (Romans 12:19). The theme of not taking vengeance and letting the Lord repay is all throughout the Old Testament including the Law. So we have laws about worship, laws about life, and now we have laws about property. Interesting that these are seen as some of the most fundamental rights by most societies and are even seen as "God-given" rights by most--inalienable rights, because they come from God and not from government. What have you learned about God by studying His Law? What does this tell you about His character and nature? Is it different than you expected? What can you take from this into your world today?
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Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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