Scripture Daily

Context No. 1476 of 4322 · Exodus

Context · Reflection

Exodus 22:1-5: in context

1“If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. 2If the thief is found breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt of bloodshed for him. 3If the sun has risen on him, he is guilty of bloodshed. He shall make restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4If the stolen property is found in his hand alive, whether it is ox, donkey, or sheep, he shall pay double. 5“If a man causes a field or vineyard to be eaten by letting his animal loose, and it grazes in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field, and from the best of his own vineyard.

These are laws of restitution. A thief who steals and slaughters or sells an ox must repay five oxen for it, and four sheep for a sheep; if the stolen animal is found alive in his possession, he pays back double. And one whose animal strays into a neighbor's field and eats his crop must make restitution from the best of his own field and vineyard. The principle running through these laws is that wrong done to another must be made right, and often at more than the original cost.

What these laws insist on is that repentance for wrong done to another is not complete without restitution. It is not enough to feel sorry, or even to confess the theft; the thief must repay, and repay generously, sometimes several times over. Wrong done to a neighbor created a real debt, and that debt had to be settled, concretely, at cost to the one who caused it. There is a searching truth in this that mere remorse can obscure. We can feel genuinely sorry for a wrong we have done and yet leave the wrong itself unrepaired, imagining that our sorrow is enough. But scripture ties true repentance to making things right where we can, to restoring what we took, repairing what we damaged, at real cost to ourselves. When Zacchaeus met Jesus, his repentance took exactly this shape: he did not merely apologize but paid back fourfold what he had taken, and Jesus said salvation had come to his house that day. Restitution is the point where sorrow becomes concrete, where repentance stops being a feeling and becomes an act. Where we have wronged another and it is in our power to make it right, to restore, to repay, to repair, that is what genuine repentance does. Being sorry is not the same as making it right; the law's insistence on restitution reminds us that the two belong together, and that love makes amends at cost to itself rather than resting content with regret.

Where I have wronged another and it is in my power to make it right, do I settle for feeling sorry, or does my repentance take the concrete shape of restitution, restoring and repairing at real cost to myself, as genuine repentance does?

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