Profit Sharing? – The Law of God: Questions and Answers

Profit Sharing?

The Law of God: Questions and Answers

How shall we understand and apply the Law of God today?

Creatures should be allowed to share proportionately in the benefits they bring to men.

“You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out grain.” Deuteronomy 25:4

It is possible, I believe, to derive a third principle of justice from this statute. We’ve already seen that Deuteronomy 25:4 accords certain “rights” to animals at the same time that it validates humankind’s penchant for harnessing creatures to aid them in doing good and glorifying God.

The image in this statute is of an ox munching away at the grain as he pulls the sledge over it to separate the corn from the chaff. This is hard work, and an ox can get hungry with all that pulling. As the ox trudges over the threshed grain he might be inclined to munch a bit here and there. A greedy owner will muzzle his ox so that he cannot eat, thus hastening the ox’s exhaustion while, at the same time, leaving more of the harvest for himself.

Of course, he will feed his ox in due course, but the ox’s job is to work, not eat. The greedy owner will therefore muzzle his ox, so that it may eat only when he decides. We can believe that, in meager times, such an owner will cut back on what he feeds his oxen, while in times of plenty, he will not be likely to give them much more than what is considered sufficient for subsistence.

This owner will end up purchasing more oxen over a lifetime than one who follows the plain teaching of God’s Law.

Deuteronomy 25:4 teaches that oxen should be allowed freely to eat while they work. And they should expect to have food in their cribs as well, as Solomon reminded us (Prov. 14:4). When the harvest is meager, their “take-home pay” would perhaps have reflected that. But when the harvest is abundant, they would doubtless grow fat and happy, just like the masters they served.

There appears to be a principle of proportionate benefit embedded in this statute, a kind of “profit-sharing” principle which, it is clear, applies even to the animals that work with and for us. And to the people as well, as we shall see.

Order a copy of The Law of God from our online store, and begin daily reading in the commandments, statutes, testimonies, precepts, and rules of God, which are the cornerstone of divine revelation. Sign up at our website to receive our thrice-weekly devotional, Crosfigell, written by T. M. Moore.

–

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.