Restorative Justice – The Rule of Law: Justice (5)

Restorative Justice

The Rule of Law: Justice (5)

When we have caused injustice, we must set it right.

“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.” Exodus 21:33, 34

Acts of injustice happen, frequently without being intended. Sometimes injustice occurs because measures of preventive justice have been neglected, as in the situation envisioned in the above statute. Whenever injustice has occurred, the one responsible for creating the injustice is required to make restoration. Thus, restorative justice is the third side of the justice pentagon.

Restorative justice, simply put, seeks to restore the situation as it existed prior to the injustice. The money a man would have to pay to his neighbor would have been enough to replace the dead animal. The loss of the animal was the only “damage” incurred by this failure of preventive justice. Nothing was required in payment to assuage the emotions of the owner at the loss of his beast, or to compensate him for the trouble of having to go to the market and purchase a new animal. The Law of God is careful not to create injustice by requiring more in the way of restorative justice than the situation actually demands.

Restorative justice can, however, require the payment of costs for injuries and lost opportunities (Exod. 21:18, 19). Such situations would be carefully considered by the judges and elders of the local community, who would hear the complaints, investigate the circumstances, reckon the payment appropriate to restore justice, and then impose it on the guilty party. Justice would be restored and without requiring more of the perpetrator of injustice than what everyone would be able to see was fair and reasonable.

For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the life of faith, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.ailbe.org and click on our Bookstore, then Church Issues.

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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.