Restitution

DEVOTION

EXODUS

RESTITUTION

Ex 22:1-15

22:1 "If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep. 2 "If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; 3 but if it happens after sunrise, he is guilty of bloodshed. "A thief must certainly make restitution, but if he has nothing, he must be sold to pay for his theft. 4 "If the stolen animal is found alive in his possession — whether ox or donkey or sheep — he must pay back double. 5 "If a man grazes his livestock in a field or vineyard and lets them stray and they graze in another man's field, he must make restitution from the best of his own field or vineyard. 6 "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. 7 "If a man gives his neighbor silver or goods for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor's house, the thief, if he is caught, must pay back double. 8 But if the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges to determine whether he has laid his hands on the other man's property. 9 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 his neighbor. 10 "If a man gives a donkey, an ox, a sheep or any other animal to his neighbor for safekeeping and it dies or is injured or is taken away while no one is looking, 11 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. 12 But if the animal was stolen from the neighbor, he must make restitution to the owner. 13 If it was torn to pieces by a wild animal, he shall bring in the remains as evidence and he will not be required to pay for the torn animal. 14 "If a man borrows an animal from his neighbor and it is injured or dies while the owner is not present, he must make restitution. 15 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.

NIV

All this is an expansion of the commandment, “Do not steal”.  Why did God need to make a detailed account of his command for them not to steal from one another? All that is explained here would seem to be obvious to them, if they understood what stealing meant. But God knew their hearts and knew they would find some way for one act or another to not be covered under that command. Do men always look for a way to interpret God’s word for their own benefit? It seems this is the case. God had to lay out a detailed explanation of exactly every scenario that was covered under, “Do not steal”. He also made sure that this type of behavior required restitution. It is one thing to be guilty of stealing, but to have to pay back more than they stole was certainly required. This dissertation is actually more about the making of restitution then about the thief. God was showing them all forms of theft required restitution. When we turn our backs on God, we have stolen ourselves from him. All of mankind actually belongs to God, as he is our creator. He not just knit us to together in our mother’s womb, but he knit all in their mother’s womb. What is almost not understandable is that the vilest of people were still knit together in their mother’s womb by God. It is not that he created them evil, but that at some point in their lives they became evil, suppressing any knowledge of him by their evil deeds. When we steal ourselves from God, restitution must be made by the guilty. We need to pay back double or whatever the punishment is, which in our case, is death. But God made the restitution for us. He paid the price for our sin, our stealing of ourselves from him. If we think we own ourselves then we are to go to the judge and present our case. In some sense when we take charge of our own lives, we have taken illegal possession of our self. We have been told in scripture that we are to surrender to God, to humble ourselves before him. What we need to see is that Jesus made all the restitution ever needed for all our sin, even the attempted theft of our own being. Jesus is the Good Shepard and we are his sheep. His sheep know his voice and listen only to him. When we listen to our own voice, we are, in essence, either wandering off from him, or attempting to steal ourselves from him. Satan is no doubt the thief that would steal everything and everyone from God. He would never make restitution, but Jesus already has. Jesus has covered the loss. He has done it all. He has bought us in full. Of course there is also the lesson about our actions and behaviors toward each other, and the ownership of stuff and the taking of another’s things. But the lesson is in the fact, God had to lay out detailed information. Man always seems to try to figure out some way to use to scripture for his own benefit. We make detailed declarations of our statement of faith, or own doctrinal position, proving our case for why we believe what we believe. With over hundreds of denominations, each with a different statement of faith and doctrinal position, it is proof enough that some men are stealing from the one truth of God. There are not multiple truths, at least not enough to go around for hundreds, even thousands of different denominations. God has laid out a specific truth for us, and it is very detailed so that we should not be able to not understand it. Just as he has done here for the people regarding stealing and the making of restitution. So let us not try to either steal ourselves from him or steal his truth, trying to make it our truth. Yet this lesson still is about Jesus making restitution for our sin.