Guard Against Negligence

Guard Against Negligence

Preventive justice requires that we guard against negligence.

Exodus 22:6

“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.”

James 3:5, 6

Exodus 22:5

“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.”

Negligence can result in a form of stealing. Fires that get out of control or beasts that graze the crops of others take from our neighbors that which God has entrusted to them as surely as if we seized their possessions ourselves. When loss was incurred because of negligence, full restitution was required. Thus the balance of justice would be maintained in the community.

These statutes caution us to think about our neighbors, and not merely ourselves, in whatever we undertake, lest, by our negligence, we bring harm to them or their property. They represent a form of preventive justice, requiring forethought in our actions with respect to the well-being of our neighbor and his property. Neighbor love begins in thoughtful consideration of our neighbor’s interests and concerns. If all we can think about, in any undertaking, is how we might benefit from our actions, the danger to others or their property might not be clear. To avoid being guilty of stealing, even when that was not our intent, we must take precautions in all we do to make sure that our actions do not injure our neighbor.

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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.