Restorative Justice – The Eighth Commandment

Restorative Justice

Exodus 20:15; Deuteronomy 5:19

“You shall not steal.”

Exodus 21:33, 34

“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, the owner of the pit shall make restoration. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead beast shall be his.”

You break it, you buy it!

Preventive justice and obligatory justice are designed to keep the scales of justice balanced in the community. But what happens when imbalance occurs? Three additional forms of justice are available, according to the Law of God, to restore the balance of justice. The first of these is restorative justice. In this kind of justice a person whose property has been adversely affected by the carelessness or maliciousness of his neighbor has a right to require repayment. In the example cited above, the price of the dead animal was paid so that the owner could replace it. Thus the animal was restored to its owner and justice was restored to the community. There is even a kind of compensation to the one whose open pit caused the damage: he gets to keep the dead animal for which he has made restoration. You can see examples of restorative justice any day of the week by watching the court programs on television. Most of these involve people who claim someone has wronged them – often by damaging their property or reputation – and are seeking redress before the court. The judge hears the claim, then the response, and then makes a decision accordingly. You can also see examples of restorative justice at work whenever your child breaks something at the store.

Why is restorative justice essential to the well-being of a community? Could we maintain peace and fairness without it?

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is 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.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.