The Law of God Miscellanies (13)

“If the sun has risen on him, there shall beguilt for his bloodshed. He should make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.” Exodus 22.3

Reflect and discuss.
1.  Today’s text contains a statute related to the eighth commandment. It explains how to deal with someone who has stolen the property of another. Do you see how the threat of punishment set forth in this statute is still acknowledged as valid today? Explain.

2.  This text is one of several in the Law of God that validate and qualify the practice of slavery. Slavery in Israel was quite different, either from what surrounding nations practiced or what was done in America prior to the Civil War. Because the Law permitted slavery, does that mean we should permit it today? Explain. Does the practice of slavery as a threat in ancient Israel contain a valid principle of justice for us today?

Think about it.
While slavery in ancient Israel was nothing like the horrendous chattel slavery practiced in the American experience, it was nonetheless a deprivation of freedom that no one would enter into voluntarily, except under the most extreme conditions. 

Everyone in those days would have preferred to be free rather than to be owned by another person, even though slaves in Israel had many rights. They could own and accumulate property. They were not to be kept from instruction in God’s Law. They could marry and raise a family, were protected against physical violence, and could ultimately be emancipated or emancipate themselves.

The threat of slavery, as a punishment for theft when one could not meet the demands of restitution, would have been an effective deterrent for those who, especially among the poor, might have been tempted to steal from their neighbors. It is not clear from today’s text, but the suggestion in God’s Law is that the period of enslavement would have lasted until the obligations of restorative justice were fulfilled – that is, until the fruit on any income-producing activity accomplished by the perpetrator would have been passed to the victim of the theft, or the condemned would have been required to do work for the one who “owned” him until the debt of restitution was satisfied.

The New Testament points the way to the eradication of slavery in all its forms (cf. Gal. 3.26-29; Philem. 1.8-16); and historically, Christians have always been on the forefront of the battle to end human trafficking. To be a slave in ancient Israel would not have been a preferred lifestyle for most people. However, it would have been far preferable to being a slave in any of the surrounding countries. Even in her own time and context, Israel was showing the way to restored humanity and freedom through obedience to God’s Law, even in those laws that regulated the practice of slavery.

Meditate on discuss.
1.  Biblical justice is a jewel with five facets, one of them being restorative justice. What does restorative justice require? Why is this just?

2.  When Paul sent Onesimus back to Philemon, no longer as a slave, he might have been accused of breaking the Law of God (cf. Deut. 23.15, 16). Paul, however, understood that, with the coming of the Spirit and the Kingdom, things had changed. He sent Onesimus back as a brother and not a slave. How can you see that Paul both fulfilled the Old Testament laws about slavery (see especially his explanation in Philem. 1.17, 18) and pointed the way to a new view of this practice?

3.  Is there a sense in which imprisonment today reflects the threat of slavery in ancient Israel? Explain. But does our practice of imprisoning offenders include restoration? Should it?

“Therefore the thief being taken pays fourfold, but he that spoils by violence is worse than if he steals. And if this last ought to give fourfold what he stole, the extortioner should give tenfold and much more. Even so he can make atonement for his justice.” John Chrysostom (344-407 AD)

Pray Psalm 142.
God is in the freedom business (Jn. 8.32). As you pray, ask the Lord to show you any areas where your soul is in prison or otherwise enslaved to sin. Confess and repent.

Psalm 142.1-7 (Dix: For the Beauty of the Earth)
With my voice, O Lord, I cry –
Hear my plea for mercy, Lord!
My complaint mounts up on high,
Bringing You my troubled word:
Refrain vv. 5, 6
Lord, You are my Refuge strong!
O receive my plaintive song!

When my spirit faints away,
You my falt’ring pathway know;
Where I take my journey they
Traps have hidden to my woe.
Refrain

Lord, look to my right and see:
None takes notice of my plight.
Is there refuge left for me?
Is my soul out of Your sight?
Refrain

Hear my cry, Lord, I am low!
They are strong who seek my soul.
Jesus frees from every foe;
He will keep and make me whole!
Refrain

Out of prison lead me, Lord;
Thanks and praise to You shall be.
Righteous men armed with Your Word
Will Your grace bestow on me.
Refrain

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006.