Exodus 22:5
Special Forms of Expropriation
In Exo 22:5 there is a case of acting intentionally. Someone steals the fruit of someone else’s land to feed his own cattle and thereby spare the fruit of his own land. Here another is deliberately disadvantaged in order not to have to suffer any loss himself. However, the compensation means that he must give the best part of his own field or vineyard to the injured party. It is therefore important to keep control of one’s own property and not to let it be detrimental to others. It is always spiritually important that we use our gifts for the good of others and not to harm them.In Exo 22:6 it does not seem that someone is acting intentionally. It is about someone who sets fire to burn thorn bushes. However, he does not hold the fire under control. It becomes a blazing fire, whereby standing grain from another person’s field is consumed by the fire. The compensation consists of a full payment of the value of what has been lost.As a spiritual application we can think of the following. A fire represents judgment. Thorn bushes are a consequence of sin. If sin reveals itself, it must be judged. It may happen that the judgment of sin in the church, an act of discipline, is carried out too far. Discipline must be applied, but if it has achieved its objective, it must also be lifted. If someone repents and the discipline is not lifted, then someone is wrongly denied the blessing of the church. He cannot, so to speak, take pleasure in the fruits of the land. If discipline has reached its goal, it must stop, that such a one might not “be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow” (2Cor 2:7). The compensation to be given is “to reaffirm [your] love for him” (2Cor 2:8). In a personal application we can think of people who are frantic by nature. They are ready to act immediately when sin occurs. It is indeed good to act then. But because of their frantic nature they sometimes go too far and condemn the whole person. In this way they also destroy the wheat with the weeds. Then they have to confess their wrong or excessive approach and accept the other again with the good that is in him too.
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