“But I didn’t have any choice!” You might say that too, if your own pasture was bare and your animals were hungry. You might think the only way you could feed them would be to let them loose in your neighbor’s field. But the Law of Moses clearly requires restitution even from people who find themselves in such desperate circumstances.
“But I didn’t mean to do it!” You might say that if sparks from your campfire ignited some nearby brush, and then spread onto your neighbor’s property. Maybe not, but the Law of Moses says that if your carelessness causes any sort of economic harm to someone else, it’s your responsible to make it right, dollar for dollar.
Yes, a self-centered person would probably say, “Well, it’s not my property, so it’s not my problem.” But didn’t Jesus say we are to love our neighbors just as much and in the same way as we love ourselves? So wouldn’t such love require us to be just as careful with their property as we are with our own?
So, how can we put this principle into practice? Instead of taking their grass or hay for our animals, maybe we could sell those animals to someone who can afford to feed them. And of course it means doing the very best we can to make sure that we don’t cause anyone else any accidental harm – for we wouldn’t want someone else to be careless with our own property, would we?
And so we see that the commandment against stealing goes much farther than just prohibiting intentional theft. It means being good stewards not only of our own property, but of everyone else’s as well. For if we want our own property to be secure, we need to make sure our neighbor’s things are just as safe.
Exodus 22:5-6 (NASB)
5 “If a man lets a field or vineyard be grazed bare and lets his animal loose so that it grazes in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard.
6 “If a fire breaks out and spreads to thorn bushes, so that stacked grain or the standing grain or the field itself is consumed, he who started the fire shall surely make restitution.
