Make it count! – Theft and damage to property (Exod 22:1-15)

One of the cheapest words in our vocabulary today is the word ‘sorry’. ‘Sorry for the inconvenience’, says the station announcement when all trains are cancelled, and you are stranded at night trying to find an Uber for home. ‘Sorry for the inconvenience’, says the email of an online vendor who refuses to refund your purchase that was lost in transit. The section in our reading today deals with theft and accidental damage to livestock and other property and one of the clearest principles that stands out is the need for compensation. Not only are perpetrators to pay and reimburse victims for their actual damages, but they need to add to the amount depending on their level of responsibility.

Stealing livestock draws the heaviest penalties (Exod 22:1) because the loss of animals in an agricultural society seriously affects people’s livelihood, while the five and four-fold compensation probably indicates the animals’ relative value, so that the more severe penalty for the ox reflects the owner’s greater loss.[1] The steep fines also act as a deterrent.[2] If the animal is still found in the thief’s possession, there is less harm done and it is also harder to establish evil intent (whereas it is clear when the animal is butchered or sold),[3] and thus the restitution to be paid is only double, in line with inanimate property that is stolen or damaged (Exod 22:4, 7, 9).

While property rights are clearly to be respected and protected, theft is not singled out for major punishment, unlike in other ancient Near Eastern law codes (e.g. in Hammurabi’s law it incurs the death penalty). It is, in fact, striking that concern for life – even a thief’s – is of a higher priority (Exod 22:2-3). Thus, there is a difference if the thief is killed by the owner at night when the latter might fear for his life and kill in self-defence, whereas during daylight hours it is not assumed that the owner’s life is in danger and so killing is an excessive reaction.[4]

Beyond stealing, the guidelines for establishing responsibility are worked out in a number of cases involving other people’s possessions (fields – Exod 22:5-6, as well as money, livestock or other goods that are entrusted for safekeeping, hired or borrowed – Exod 22:7-15). We may discern many of these principles in today’s legal contracts for home or car rentals, but we should also reflect more generally on how we treat what belongs to others in a less formal setting, where there are no legal repercussions. To return to Israel’s law, when there is no witness to what has occurred, the suspicion is always present that the one entrusted with another person’s property has appropriated it. That is why an oath is taken before God (Exod 22:11), which indicates the conviction that the Lord knows what is happening in secret and will judge accordingly. It is clear from these case studies that negligence is not an excuse when dealing with someone else’s possessions, as the penalties clearly indicate.

It is harder to draw novel conclusions from these laws for application, since so much of what is presented here is embedded in our Western legal system and ingrained in our thinking and upbringing. Yet, the ease with which our societies say ‘sorry’ without meaning it is perhaps the area where we could be challenged. The point is not to try and replicate in a mechanical way what is in the laws (e.g. more compensation for animals than for inanimate objects), but to admit that our actions and words can deeply affect others even when they were done unthinkingly (negligence) and we had no intention to hurt. Making up for what we had done might mean monetary compensation or even a simple gesture that expresses our recognition of the issues and which can remove the sting of pain and bring reconciliation. Ultimately, making our ‘sorry’ count also applies to sins against God. How often have we hurt the Lord with our sins, said sorry, then turned around and continued as before. Once again, the point is not that we have to compensate God but that our acknowledgement of wrongdoing needs to be genuine (cf. Luke 19:8-9).

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[1] T. Desmond Alexander, Exodus, AOTC (London: Apollos; Downers Grove, IL: IVP), 492-93.

[2] Ibid., 505.

[3] Nahum M. Sarna, Exodus, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: JPS, 1991), 129.

[4] Ibid., 130.

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