Making Things Right
God desires that His people be willing to make things right with others.
Exodus(52) (Part of the Rescued(51) series)
by Marc Webb(90) on September 29, 2024 (Sunday Morning(361))
MAKING THINGS RIGHT
In 2001 and 2002 American investors were stunned to watch a series of businesses falter after being exposed for fraudulent criminal activity. They were all major corporations—energy companies, accounting firms, pharmaceutical distributors, and telecommunications companies. These corporations had some of the best reputations in the business. Yet they were all caught breaking the law, and they all suffered the consequences. As federal investigators examined these companies, they discovered they were setting up false accounts, cheating on taxes, inflating their profits, lying about their losses, and generally violating the ethical standards of fair business. In almost every case the corruption went right to the top. The ones guilty of committing the corporate crime turned out to be leading executives. Most Americans took a certain amount of satisfaction from seeing them get what they deserved. In some cases, they had to go to jail and the reputations of these men were destroyed, but was justice really done? Most of their victims never got their money back. In one notorious case, employees who held stock in their own company were denied access to their retirement accounts. By the time they were allowed to sell, it was too late: The company had collapsed, the stock was almost worthless, and their life savings had all but disappeared. Meanwhile, the company’s top executives had been selling off their private holdings of company stock for a huge profit. When something like this happens, what does justice require? How should the victims be compensated? Should the wrongdoers simply be put in jail, or is there something else they should do to make things right?
The more we study the legal cases in Exodus, the clearer it becomes that God’s law is right and good. We would be wise to follow their general principles for justice. Sometimes thieves are thrown in jail, but they don’t always have to pay restitution. Or if they do, the fines are sometimes paid to the state rather than straight to the victim, as the law of Moses required. Corporate fraud is the perfect example. Even when crooked executives are found guilty their victims almost never get back what they’ve lost. But God’s property laws are different. It doesn’t demand jail time at all, but it does require thieves to pay back everything they owe. God’s law also requires restitution when people are negligent. Consider these examples. If your dog digs up your neighbor’s prize begonias, you need to replace them. If you are visiting a friend and knock over an antique vase, you need to pay for it. If you swing late on a fastball and the ball sails through a car window, you need to pay the repair bill. If you borrow a friend’s computer game and accidentally break it, you need to buy a new one. It is not enough to say, “Sorry! It was an accident” and then expect other people to pay for what we’ve done. An apology is a good start, but God’s justice demands that we make things right. It is our responsibility to repair whatever damage we do, whether we meant to do it or not.
To be in peace and harmony with our fellow human beings we need to be willing to accept responsibility and the consequences for our actions and be willing to make things right. God gave these laws, in the Book of the Covenant, for the express purpose of showing how His people could be in a right relationship with Himself and with others. We might consider these laws mundane and boring, but they were essential for His people to know and obey so they would be right with God and with each other in the covenant community. The same is true for us today. We have the laws of the land that we are supposed to obey and when we do, we can be in a right relationship with our fellow human beings and that goes a long way to being in a right relationship with the Lord which brings us to our big idea this morning that God desires that His people be willing to make things right with others. We can’t be in a right relationship with God if we are not in right relationship with each other. Things are going to happen in life. We may steal property from someone intentionally. We may be negligent and ruin the property of someone else. But peace and harmony can be had among our fellow human beings if we are willing to accept responsibility and the consequences for our actions and go the extra mile to make things right with them. And the added benefit is that we are doing what is pleasing to our holy and just God.
Before we unpack our scripture this morning, let’s pray: Dear Heavenly Father, we humbly come before you this morning asking that your Holy Spirit speak to us from your Word. We ask that your Word guide us, rebuke us, correct us and show us how to become more like your son, Jesus. We want to honor and glorify you with our thoughts, words and deeds and may your Word lead us to do that daily. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
There are three points this morning. The first point is Property Theft & Damage found in Exodus 22:1-6. This is what God’s Word says, “Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep. “If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed. “Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft. If the stolen animal is found alive in their possession—whether ox or donkey or sheep—they must pay back double. “If anyone grazes their livestock in a field or vineyard and lets them stray and they graze in someone else’s field, the offender must make restitution from the best of their own field or vineyard. “If a fire breaks out and spreads into thornbushes so that it burns shocks of grain or standing grain or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make restitution.
This section begins to flesh out the eighth word or commandment that God spoke to Israel, “You shall not steal.” He wanted to protect the sanctity of possessions. He has given human beings the right to own property and possessions, and no one has the right to take what is someone else’s in secret or by force. Everything belongs to God, and he has entrusted some things to each of us and we need to respect his distribution of all that belongs to him. When we steal from our neighbor, we steal what God has personally provided for someone else and so are actually stealing from God. We must trust that God is going to provide all that we need when we need it and so we don’t need to steal it from others. By keeping this command, the Israelites would have unity with each other within the covenant community. But what if someone broke this command? God put the following laws in place so that the offender could make things right and unity could be restored.
There are two things happening in this section. One is an intentional stealing of someone else’s property. Two, is negligence on the part of someone that causes property loss or damage for someone else. Case number one: someone steals an ox or sheep. The reason these laws were important was because to steal these animals was to take a person’s means of livelihood. It would be like if you were a carpenter, and all your tools were stolen. Now today, we may have insurance to get us back on our feet but back then it wasn’t so easy. They didn’t have insurance, and money wasn’t readily available to go out and buy more tools. So, to take a person’s livelihood had serious ramifications. Next, we see a contingency to the law: the thief has slaughtered or sold the stolen animal. This was considered worse than stealing the animal for your own use or having the animal found in your possession because if it was slaughtered or sold it could not be given back to its rightful owner. It also means that the theft was probably intentional. The consequences for stealing an ox or sheep and slaughtering or selling it was the paying of restitution to the owner. The consequence for the ox was five times what was stolen and the consequence for the sheep was four times what was stolen. The restitution for stealing a sheep was less because it was not necessarily a work animal, and the loss would be less substantial than that of an ox.
Case number two speaks to when the theft took place and what sort of defense of your property you were allowed to take. If the thief was caught stealing during the night and the owner struck them so they died, the owner wouldn’t be guilty of bloodshed because it was considered self-defense. But if the owner killed the thief in broad daylight, the owner would be guilty of bloodshed. Back then it was very dark at night. You may have had torches or candles burning but it was nothing like our civilization today. So, if you came across a thief at night there was no way to know if he was armed or what his intentions were toward you. You were allowed to defend yourself even using deadly force. But you were not allowed to use deadly force in the daylight for a couple of reasons. In the daylight you could see where the thief was and what he was doing. You could tell if he had a weapon or not, and you could call your neighbors to help you. All of these would have been more difficult at night. Plus, in the daylight you could probably identify the thief. If that was the case, you were to let the justice system take its course and not take things into your own hands.
If the thief was caught stealing but couldn’t pay restitution, they were to be sold into servitude until they could pay for their theft. He may have been sold to the person he stole from or to someone else who would have the means to pay out the restitution. The thief would be in servitude until he paid full restitution or until six years were up. Then we see another contingency to case number one: the stolen animal is found alive in the thief’s possession. The consequence then is two times what was stolen. This is because the animal could be returned to its rightful owner. Their livelihood may have been interrupted but it wasn’t destroyed. Paying two times restitution was the thief’s consequences for his actions. These laws showed that God is good and just, and his laws were more merciful than the laws of the pagan peoples in the land. In the pagan nations you could receive the death penalty for theft or for not being able to pay restitution. Also, the penalty varied depending on the social status of who was stolen from. Restitution could be anywhere from ten to thirty times what was stolen. God’s laws showed that even the life of a thief was important and sacred to God.
Next, the law turns to property damage that comes about by someone’s negligence. Case number one: a person’s livestock strays and grazes in another man’s field eating his grass, etc. This wouldn’t have been uncommon because there were no fences around their fields. A lot of times they would put thorn bushes on their property lines but that didn’t always keep the livestock from wandering. This was not intentional, but as the owner of the livestock, you had an obligation to carefully watch your animals to make sure they didn’t graze in your neighbor’s field. This was considered negligence on your part, and you had to pay restitution to your neighbor. Restitution was one to one meaning if the neighbor lost a bushel of something you had to pay back a bushel of the same thing that was lost but the negligent person had to pay restitution with the best he had of his field and vineyard.
Case number two: a fire breaks out in a person’s field and spreads to their neighbor’s field, and it damages the shocks of grain (grain already gathered), standing grain (grain not gathered) or the entire field. The person who started the fire is to take responsibility and pay one to one restitution of what was lost. Fires were common back then just as they can be today. Just think about the wildfires in California. Someone may have been burning their land to make it more fertile, or fires were known to break out in the thorn bushes that marked the property lines. No matter, the same consequences as the first case applies here. The person who started the fire or the person whose land the fire originated on would be considered negligent because he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing, and he had to make things right. (Big Idea). God required his people to be responsible for the indirect consequences of their actions toward their neighbor and their possessions.
This reminds me of a story. One Monday, I was burning stuff in a barrel in the back of our property, and I went inside the house for a few minutes. When I looked outside, a dead tree along our property line was engulfed in flames. I ran out and got the hose, but it wasn’t long enough. Our neighbor came over and brought his hose and helped. It took most of the night until I felt comfortable enough to leave and go back inside. I was negligent and could have paid a much higher price than I did. From what I understand, in Adams County, you are not allowed to burn on Mondays because it is considered wash day. If I had had to call the fire department, I would have been hit with a fine.
That brings us to our second point, Property Custody, found in Exodus 22:7-13. This is what God’s Word says, “If anyone gives a neighbor silver or goods for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor’s house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double. But if the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges, and they must determine whether the owner of the house has laid hands on the other person’s property. In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any other lost property about which somebody says, ‘This is mine,’ both parties are to bring their cases before the judges. The one whom the judges declare guilty must pay back double to the other. “If anyone gives a donkey, an ox, a sheep or any other animal to their neighbor for safekeeping and it dies or is injured or is taken away while no one is looking, the issue between them will be settled by the taking of an oath before the Lord that the neighbor did not lay hands on the other person’s property. The owner is to accept this, and no restitution is required. But if the animal was stolen from the neighbor, restitution must be made to the owner. If it was torn to pieces by a wild animal, the neighbor shall bring in the remains as evidence and shall not be required to pay for the torn animal.”
Property custody is talking about someone asking someone else to keep their property safe for some reason. They didn’t have banks back then so if you were going away for a period of time you may ask your neighbor to keep your property safe until you returned. The first case is of silver, or goods given to a neighbor for safekeeping that are stolen from the neighbor’s house. If the thief is caught with the stolen goods, he must pay back double, and the possessions are returned to the rightful owner. But if the thief is not found the next likely suspect becomes the neighbor who was given custody of the silver or goods. This person must appear before the judges, take a solemn oath and give his testimony. Based on this testimony, the judges would decide if he was guilty or not.
Case number two is someone accuses someone else of being in illegal possession of their property. This was considered a willful violation of a covenant obligation. Both parties say that the “possession” is theirs and their dispute goes before the judges. Both parties take solemn oaths, give testimony, and the judges make the final determination. Once the court has ruled, the guilty party is required to pay double restitution to his neighbor. There was no such thing as “finders’ keepers” in God’s covenant community. Case number three involves giving custody of an animal to a neighbor for safekeeping and the animal dies, is injured or taken away when no one was looking. The issue would be settled by taking an oath before the Lord. The person in whose custody the animal was in, must “swear” before the Lord that they had nothing criminal to do with what happened to the animal. MacKay says, the oath “uses the LORD, the covenant name of God, and would invoke on the party taking the oath the curse of God if what they claimed were untrue.” The owner would be obligated to accept this oath as proof that the custodian had nothing to do with the killing, injuring or stealing of their animal. And no restitution would be required from the custodian.
Case number four is an animal is “stolen” from the neighbor whose responsibility it was to watch the animal. The word “stolen” is emphatic meaning it was “certainly” stolen. The difference between this case and the previous one is that here the theft was witnessed by the custodian. The custodian would have been required to do all they could to keep the theft from happening. If the theft still took place, negligence would be assumed, and the custodian would be required to pay restitution. Case number five is an animal in the neighbor’s custody is torn apart by a wild animal. The neighbor was required to bring back as much of the dead animal as possible. This was to prove that the custodian did all that they could to save the neighbor’s property and to also prove that the custodian didn’t steal the animal themselves. If the proof was brought, no payment was required.
These laws showed that God required more from His people. He wanted them to go above and beyond when it came to dealing with their neighbors in the covenant community. This meant that the people of God needed to care more than just about themselves and their own welfare. They needed to care and be concerned for the welfare of their neighbors and for their possessions. If they damaged their neighbor’s property, they needed to be willing to make things right. (Big Idea) They were to treat their neighbors the way they wanted to be treated, and they were to treat their neighbor’s possessions the way they wanted their possessions to be treated. We need to do the same with our neighbors today, which brings us to the first next step on the back of your communication card: My next step is to Treat my neighbor and their possessions the way I want myself and my possessions to be treated.
That brings us to our last point, Property Borrowed, found in Exodus 22:14-15. This is what God’s Word says, “If anyone borrows an animal from their neighbor and it is injured or dies while the owner is not present, they must make restitution. But if the owner is with the animal, the borrower will not have to pay. If the animal was hired, the money paid for the hire covers the loss.”
Case number one is a borrowed animal being injured or dying while its owner is not present. If this is the case the borrower must pay one-to-one restitution, animal for animal. Case number two is if the owner of the animal is present when the borrowed animal is injured or dies. The borrower would not be required to pay restitution because the owner would know if there was any negligence on the part of the borrower or not. In case number one, there would be no way to know for sure, so the borrower had to accept responsibility and the consequences. Case number three is about someone hiring an animal and the animal is injured or dies. In this case, the person who hired the animal out would have been responsible to add in an “insurance” cost for just that contingency. That would cover the loss of the animal and the person who hired the animal would not have to pay any extra. If the person who hired the animal out didn’t include “insurance” in the price, then that was their loss.
The Old Testament property laws are useful for helping us get along with one another. These laws show us the righteous requirements of the law, but what about the grace of the Gospel? How do these property laws help us understand the gospel? Let’s consider the story of Zacchaeus found in Luke 19. Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector in Jericho. He was a thief because he swindled people by overcharging and underreporting on the taxes he collected. As Jesus was passing through Jericho, Zacchaeus wanted to see him. He had heard something about Jesus, his curiosity was aroused, and he was determined to see Jesus for himself. But the crowds were so large, and he was such a short man that he couldn’t get a good look at Jesus. So, he ran ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree. In verse 5, when Jesus saw Zacchaeus up in the tree, he said, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ Zacchaeus jumped down and “welcomed” Jesus, receiving him not only into his home, but also into his heart. In verse 10, it says that Jesus, the Son of Man, “came to seek and to save the lost.” This was what Jesus came to earth to do and he invited himself into the sinner, Zaccheaus’ life, and he responded with the obedience of faith. But now that Zacchaeus had accepted Jesus into his heart, he still had some spiritual work to do. He needed to repent of his sin; he needed to turn away from being a thief. For Zacchaeus, turning away from sin meant making things right with all the people he had cheated. And he promised to do this. He confessed his sin in verse 8b, saying, “If I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Zacchaeus must have known his Bible, because the idea of making restitution comes right out of Exodus 22. Now that he was in a right relationship with God, he needed to make things right with his fellow human beings so he could be in a right relationship with them as well. (Big Idea)
There is something significant about the promise Zacchaeus made. He told Jesus he would pay back four times as much as he had taken, which was more than the law required. Leviticus 6:4-5 says, “when they sin in any of these ways and realize their guilt, they must return what they have stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to them, or the lost property they found, or whatever it was they swore falsely about. They must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day they present their guilt offering.” According to the book of Leviticus, if a man confessed a theft on his own initiative, he only had to give back what he had stolen plus one-fifth of its value. The regulations in Exodus 22 were only for people who got caught stealing, not for people who came forward to confess what they had done. This shows that people who admit their sin should be treated more leniently. Zacchaeus was paying back 400 percent when all he owed was 120 percent. This was much more than the law required. Then Zacchaeus went one step further. He was not content simply to make up for the sins of the past—he wanted to serve God right away, and he wanted to do it with his money—in the one area of his life where he was such a sinner. So he started emptying his pockets and said to Jesus, in Luke 19:8a, “Look, Lord! Here and now, I give half of my possessions to the poor.”
God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior. Jesus offered his own life for our sins, dying on the cross to save us. If God has done all this for us, then what will we do for him? At the very least, we will give back what we have stolen and restore what we have damaged. But even more, we will give as much as we can to meet the needs of the poor and to spread the gospel around the world. It is good to stop stealing and better to pay back what we owe, but best of all is to give away what is ours for Jesus’ sake. Hopefully, we will never resort to stealing or be negligent in some way, but we can still respond to the Gospel of Jesus like Zacchaeus did. That brings us to our last next step this morning which is to Respond to the Gospel of Jesus by offering everything I am and have for God’s service.
As the praise team comes to lead us in a final song and the ushers prepare to collect the tithes and offering, let’s pray: Gracious God, thank you for being with us this morning as we have gathered to worship and praise you and give you glory for who you are and what you have done for us. Thank you again for your Word. May be dive deep into it daily for it is powerful, inspired by you and authoritative. Lord God, help us to be in a right relationship with you and with our neighbors. Help us to treat our neighbor and their possessions the way we want ourselves and our possessions to be treated. Help us to respond to the Gospel of Jesus by offering everything we are and everything we have for your service. And may all this be done to your honor, your worship, your praise and your glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Opening: Philip Graham Ryken and R. Kent Hughes, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 720–721.
Closing: Philip Graham Ryken and R. Kent Hughes, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), 729.
