What if you left your favorite donkey with a neighbor for safekeeping and it ended up dead or injured or missing when you returned? Don’t have a favorite? Ok, any of your donkeys. That problem was covered in the civil laws God gave to His people in the wilderness. The man who was responsible for keeping the donkey would stand with the owner and swear before God that he did not kill, injure, or lose the donkey, and that he knew nothing about the circumstances in any of those cases. He had not, he would say, “put his hand to his neighbor’s property.” The owner was then obligated to receive that testimony as truth. This is a foundational principle we hold dear in our nation, that someone is innocent until proven guilty. But what if it was discovered that the donkey truly was stolen and the man had watched it happen? That is covered as well. The neighbor did nothing to prevent the theft so he was guilty and had to make restitution.
This section of the civil code, in part, is a study in being the right neighbor for others and choosing the right neighbors when you have a need. Asking your neighbor to watch your animals and your house for you when you are gone is taking a calculated risk that is certainly minimized when you ask the right person to do it. Right? Think of this question: Which of your friends would you call if you wanted to have fun, you know, watch a movie and eat pizza together? OK, got that person in mind? Now, which of your friends would you ask to take care of your dog or cat while you are out of town? Different person? Yeah, sometimes. The fun friend may not be the responsible friend.
In His civil laws, God also covered the matter of borrowing. Anybody who has ever loaned a tool or a DVD or a lawnmower to a friend knows how that can end up. Honestly, sometimes you never see that thing again. Or you may see it years later on a table at a neighborhood yard sale! You say, “Hey, I am not going to pay $5 for this! It’s mine!” God knows the human heart so he gave us some good rules here that boil down to this simple truth: the borrower has to take complete responsibility for the thing borrowed. Especially in the civil laws in Exodus, which seem to indicate that the number one thing borrowed was an animal. You borrowed your neighbor’s ox so you could plow your field. If something happened to the ox while you are using it, you have to make restitution. Simple! But God said if the owner of the ox was there while you are plowing, watching you do it, then you are not responsible. Huh? This may be because he saw you about to drive the oxen into a steep ditch that could break its leg and he did nothing to stop you from doing it. The same applies if you didn’t borrow the ox but you rented it. You paid the fee to hire out the ox so that fee also covered any damages that occurred while you used it.
So much about the civil laws we have covered today and last week find their foundation in the eighth and ninth commandments: You shall not steal, and You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. We see how practical God is. Did you steal something? Then you pay it back, and even pay double. Did you lie about what was stolen? God knows. Even if the elders of the city or even your own parents can’t tell you are lying, God sees and knows.
I mean, seriously, do we ever really get away with stealing something?
J. Mark Fox 