Property and Restitution

Property and Restitution

Justice extends into everyday details.

Exodus 22:7, 8

“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. 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.”

Exodus 22:14, 15

“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. If the owner was with it, he shall not make restitution; if it was hired, it came for its hiring fee.”

We are responsible for goods held in trust for or borrowed from our neighbors, should they be stolen or should anything untoward happen to them while in our possession.

If the goods or money were stolen, and the thief was located, he would have paid double what he took, thus inflicting upon himself the “wages” of his crime (cf. Rom. 6:23). If he was not found, yet the claim remained that a theft was committed, then the one to whom the goods or money were entrusted should “come near to God,” that is, to the local judges, who stood in the place of God as judges of His Law, in order that his innocence or guilt might be demonstrated. Presumably, this involved some taking of an oath in the presence of a priest or the local rulers, who would then seek the Lord for the truth of the matter.

If the owner was present with the goods or money when they were lost or compromised, then no restitution was required, since he would be assumed to be exercising responsibility for his own possessions while he was still with them. If the goods were hired by a neighbor, that was considered like an insurance policy against their being lost or stolen, and no restitution would be required.

Again we can see how important the idea of justice was to ancient Hebrew society. Even in the very small areas of personal property it was important to practice justice. Those who were faithful in these small areas would be conscientious in greater areas as well, should they arise.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.