Exodus 22:1–15

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day you and I, we get together, we have a little bit of coffee, get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. In this year, 2023, Lord willing, we'll make it from Genesis through Leviticus. I'm so glad to be with you today. Why don't we have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into both property rights and human life rights. So let's have some coffee and pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. You are a generous, gracious, loving God. We pray, Lord, that you would help us to understand your word. Give us your spirit, Lord, and we pray that you would apply it to our lives in Jesus's name. Amen. Okay, so we pick up at Genesis, or sorry, not Genesis, Exodus 22. Exodus 22.
If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four oxen for a sheep. If the thief is found breaking in and he is struck so that he dies, there is no guilt for his bloodshed. If the sun has risen on him, there shall be guilt for his bloodshed. He shall make full restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
If the theft is certain, if the thief or if the theft is talking about the animal now, if the theft is certainly found alive in his hand, whether it is an ox or donkey or sheep, he shall restore double. If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed and lets loose his animals and it feeds in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and from the best of his own vineyard. If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that stacked grain, standing grain, or the field is consumed, he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution. If a man delivers to his neighbor money or articles to keep, and it is stolen out of the man's house, if the thief is found, he shall pay double. If the theft is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought to the judges to see whether he has put his hand into his neighbor's goods. For any kind of trespass, whether it concerns ox, a donkey, a sheep, or clothing, or of any kind of lost thing which another claims to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges, and whomever the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor. If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies, is hurt or driven away, no one seeing it, then an oath to the Lord shall be between them both, that he has not put his hand into his neighbor's goods.
And the owner of it shall accept that, and he shall not make it good. But if in fact it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to the owner of it. If it is torn to pieces by a beast, then he shall bring it as evidence, and he shall not make good what was torn. And if a man borrows anything from his neighbor and it becomes injured or dies, the owner of it not being with it, he shall make it good. If its owner was with it, he shall not make it good.
It was hired. It came for its hire. Well, we need to ask ourselves, A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? So first we need to kind of, when we're doing these laws, right, we have to ask ourselves, what is this law talking about? I'd like to not get too mucked up in the procedures, right?
We can go read commentaries. Actually, I have one right here that I find very helpful on the Book of Exodus. I'm not a huge fan of this commentary set all the time, but this one is pretty good. It's a new international version, the New American Commentary. This one on Exodus is pretty good. Not on all aspects, but on the law, so it's pretty good.
And anyways, we need to ask ourselves, what was the principle in this law? What was this talking about? It's kind of hard to pick out a best verse to underline in these, but then for calling, we're looking for what is the general equity of that principle, right? What is it that is timeless about what God is teaching us about himself and how we are to live? What's this about, right? This is about property rights. Somebody steals something, somebody loses something, somebody has negligence and other people's stuff gets harmed. How do we find equity in that? And here God shows, okay, Israelites, in the real life situation of where you're gonna find yourself in, There's going to be stuff that happens with your stuff and you got to deal with it in an equitable way.
And so the first is stealing an ox or any type of animal. If somebody steals an animal and kills it, A farmer has had to spend time and money and resources to care for that animal. And so if somebody steals that animal, kills it, they essentially have to pay for all that back time too. So it's going to be a heavy restitution. The Old Testament law believes in restitution. not just, oh, slap on the wrist, throw you in jail, but you've got to pay it back. And so for an ox, let's say for an ox here, it's five, right? If you slaughter it or sell it, you're going to owe five oxes for that. And it's four sheep if you do it for a sheep.
What's the principle behind that? Well, you've got to make it right. And the payment's going to be, right, there's a punitive aspect and a restorative aspect. And the punitive aspect is, you know, You're not going to want to do this again. Having to pay back five for one, this is going to take you a while. This might take you a few years. And you're going to remember how much it was horrible, just how miserable it was to have to pay back five for one.
This was meant to deter people from stealing. But it's also restorative, right? Because that meant this. If you had an ox, if you had a sheep and somebody stole from you. There is a guarantee that if they stole from you, you were going to you were going to be OK. But then it is interesting, verse two and three. is extremely important. If the thief is found breaking in and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed.
If somebody is breaking into someone's house and it's nighttime and they're trying to steal this animal out of their keep, out of their house, out of their property, When somebody breaks into somebody's house at night, you don't know why they're there. Are they trying to steal your stuff? Are they trying to kill you? You don't know what's going on. You can't defend yourself well.
So if that person is killed, while that would be tragic, it's not going to be murder or manslaughter. however however verse three if the sun has risen on him that being the thief there shall be guilt for his bloodshed if Someone breaks into the property and is trying to steal the ox or the sheep, and you kill that person for trying to steal your stuff. You have valued your stuff more than that person. And here it says, you will be liable for his bloodshed then.
There's not an absolute castle doctrine. If somebody's trying to steal, you could ward them off, you can scream at them, you could yell at them, you could take them to the judges, but you can't shoot them because they're stealing your stuff. Now if they're attacking you, there are laws for self-defense that we'll get into later, but this is not an absolute castle doctrine in the middle of the day. There's all sorts of stories of somebody came and knocked on somebody's door and they looked through the window and shot them. and it's just somebody doing door-to-door sales or something, that's not, no, you're liable for their bloodshed then, right? That's a general equity of this, that we value human life over our property rights. And the verse continues on here.
He should make full restitution if he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If you can't make it back, well, you're gonna become that person's servant or somebody else's servant until you can pay it back. Now, you're not put into debtor's prison in the sense that you're not allowed to work, you're never allowed to make restitution. No, you're actually going to be employed, but your wages are gonna be garnished, and they're gonna go towards paying off that debt. If the theft is certainly found alive, the theft there being the animal that was stolen, and if that theft is certainly found alive in his hand, whether it is an ox or donkey or sheep, he shall restore double.
Notice the difference, verse one, if there's an animal and he's killed it, or he sold it, well, that animal's gone, he can't get it back. So he's gotta pay back five for one or four for one. Here, though, You go to his house and man, it's in his barn. Look at that. He's got to give you double back instead of five. Why?
Because you don't have to feed that animal. You don't have to bring up an animal from calf on. You just have two animals now. So it's still a heavy restitution, but it's not as heavy. All right, verse five. If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed and lets loose his animal and it feeds in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard. I mean, this happens in rural agrarian settings. I'm telling you it does. What happens if somebody's cow gets out and it's late in the year, it's almost harvest, and somebody's cow gets out of their pen it happens i'm telling you it happens and starts eating it starts just their cows just decimate or or go through a field and they're just eating all the corn while the one farmer should pay the other farmer. From the best of your field, you pay them back. Do good to your neighbor. That's what this command is calling them to do.
And then in verse six, if there's a fire and it breaks out, and it catches in thorns so that the stacked grain, standing grain, or the field is consumed, he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution. You lit a fire? You're burning some brush, taking care of the edge of the field. But again, it's closer towards harvest time. And the fields are golden. And it catches the field on fire. The one who lit the fire is responsible.
They have to make restitution, right? They need to pay back. Why? Because there was a law of negligence here, right? You should have been more careful with it. Now, I'm not convinced that this requires absolutely, right? I think that mercy can be shown by the person who was harmed by it. But the point is they're still responsible. They need to make it good.
They did this thing, the embers spread. It lit the guy's field on fire. His weed is gone. The barley's burned. What are they going to do? That's their food for the year. That's his family's well-being. That's their income. You got to make it up to them. verse seven and eight, right?
If a man delivers to his neighbor money or articles to keep, and it is stolen out of the man's house, if the thief is found, he shall pay double, right? You let someone borrow your stuff, somebody comes in and they steal your stuff, they don't pay the guy who borrowed it, they pay the owner of it, and it's a double pay. If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought to the judges to see whether he has put his hand into his neighbor's goods. You loan something out to your neighbor, and then all of a sudden they say, oh, man, somebody came and they stole it. How are you supposed to prove whether this guy's telling the truth or not? Well, the King James here version says, you take it to the judges.
And that's a possible translation, right? The word here is Elohim. Elohim can be used as rulers, but it's also the generic name or the generic word for God. And so I think what's going on here, and we're gonna get to this in verse 11, is actually what we hear Solomon pray about in 1st Kings 8 beginning at verse 31. when anyone sins against his neighbor and is forced to take an oath, and comes and takes an oath before your altar in this temple, then hear in heaven and act and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, bringing his way on his head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness. This is the idea that in this type of society, where there's going to be an altar, there's going to be a tabernacle, God is going to institute where He is.
You go there for judgment. Both people, you know, raise their right hand in the air, maybe they put their left hand on the Torah, I don't know, and they're making an oath to the Lord. The God of heaven is going to judge between these two. He's going to be the one who's going to make it known. And either one person is going to be strung with guilt and say, I can't make that oath. I know God's going to strike me dead.
I did it. I stole your stuff, man. Great. He pays for it. Or there's not a witness. There's not two or three witnesses. Who knows what happened? One guy suspicious that he stole it. The other guy said, no, I didn't. They both take an oath to the Lord. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. Right. This is what we read in Romans chapter 12.
And so you leave it to the Lord. You leave it to him to judge. Well, verse nine through 13 continue on in this, for any trespass, whether a concern of the ox, a donkey, a sheep, or clothing, or any kind of thing, loss, which another claims to be his, the cause before both parties shall come before the judge, and whoever the judge condemns shall pay double to his neighbor. Again, the word here for, for this idea of judges shall come before the judges could be before God. Whether it's before the judges or whether it's before God, I think it's before God. I lean that way. I'm not gonna come down dogmatic on that.
Either way, if you find something and one says, ah, it's mine, the other says, no, it's mine, the evidence is heard, the oath is made, the one who's found a steal pays back double. If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep or any kind of animal and it dies, it's heard driven away, no one seeing it, then an oath of the Lord shall be given or shall be between them both that he has not put his hands into his neighbor's goods and the owner of it shall accept that. And he shall not make it good. Or if the man takes an oath to the Lord and he says, I didn't do it, I swear to Jehovah, I did not do this. You're to accept him at that oath. He's not to pay restitution, even if it was as expensive as an ox or a donkey. if he makes that oath to the Lord, or to accept it, why?
Because the Lord will judge. The Lord will judge. But if in fact it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to the owner of it. If it is torn in pieces by a beast, then he shall bring it as evidence, and he shall not make good what was torn, right?
If it wasn't his fault, He borrowed this donkey, took it home, he borrowed the ox, he put it in his own barn, he's gonna bring it back the next day, and all of a sudden coyotes or wolves or lion or something get in there and they rip it apart. He's like, oh man, I can't believe this happens. Loads it up, puts it in his cart, takes it to his neighbor and he's like, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, you're to accept that. and had to force restitution. It wasn't that man's fault.
Well then, verses 14 and 15, if a man borrows anything from his neighbor and it becomes injured or dies, the owner of it not being with it, he shall surely make it good. All right, so if you're with the animal, you borrowed someone's ox or donkey, it's working in your field, and it becomes injured or dies, and the owner's not with it, well, then you're responsible for that animal. However, If its owner was with it, he shall not make it good. If it was hired, it came for its hired. If you didn't just hire the animal, but the owner is there with it and the animal dies, well, the owner could see with his own eyes what happened.
And so he's not liable for the cost of that animal. What's the principle behind that? You got to build it into your wages. Put it into your operating costs. If you're an Israelite and you're going to hire out your animal and you're going to supervise that animal, you're also going to have to recognize that if that animal dies or is hurt, you're liable for it, not the person who hired you with it.
Well, what's the general equity of all of this? I know that we're going on a long time. This is the hard thing with the law, right? God respects property rights. There's human life that supersedes property life or property rights. Human life supersedes property rights. But God is also the God of justice and equity. Someday He will judge. He is omniscient. He knows everything. He is omnipresent. He is all places. And someday He is going to take vengeance. Someday the judge is going to make it clear what actually happened. The things that were stolen in secret, the lies that were spoken in someone's heart, the deceit, the treachery, who was right, who was wrong, the Lord will make it right.
So we don't in this life have to demand absolute justice right now. No, we can be patient. We can trust that the Lord will make it good. We can know that the God in heaven knows the truth. And even though we might face injustice in this life, we can know that Jesus Christ will come again and judge the living and the dead. We could take comfort and hope in that.
Let's pray. Father, we pray that we would indeed love our neighbor well. That we would be a people of equity and justice. but that we would also be a people who know that you are the true just judge and that you care for your people. Lord, we long for that day when you will make all things right. And we thank you that you have promised you will do it. Father, please bless us this day. Let us trust in you in Jesus's name. Amen. May the Lord bless you. May you walk in the peace that the Holy Spirit gives to you. I'll see you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.