Exodus 22: 7-15: “If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man’s house; if the thief be found, let him pay double. If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, to see whether he have put his hand unto his neighbour’s goods. For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbour. If a man deliver unto his neighbour an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, to keep; and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it: Then shall an oath of the LORD be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbour’s goods; and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good. And if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof. If it be torn in pieces, then let him bring it for witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn. And if a man borrow ought of his neighbour, and it be hurt, or die, the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good. But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good: if it be an hired thing, it came for his hire.”
This section tells us, along with others, why it is important to have regulations as well as the Law. “Thou shalt not steal” is an important Law but it is open to argument in some cases and your viewpoint depends on how you are affected by that circumstance. When one person asks another person to look after something for him and then the goods are stolen or damaged how does the Law apply? Is the person responsible for the goods to be treated as a thief. The person who has lost his goods would like that to be the case so that he can get restitution but the person who was holding the goods might not have done anything wrong. Why should he be responsible for the actions of someone else? Of course, when there is insurance then the insurance company will be involved and seek a way of avoiding their obligation but there wasn’t insurance, as far as we can tell, when the Lord gave Moses the Law. When something is borrowed then the borrower is responsible but if a person hires an animal or something else then the person who owns the animal or the goods is responsible. This illustrates how important it is for us, today, to make sure that we act justly before our God and act with grace and mercy towards our neighbours because we don’t always understand their circumstances.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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