He must make full restitution for his wrong, add one fifth to it and give it all to the person he has wronged. – Numbers 5:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 29, 2012): Numbers 5

I used to be amused by the commercials that promised the lowest prices, and if they did not have the lowest price that they would refund the difference plus twenty percent. Part of the amusing part was that at one point it seemed to be the standard advertising practice – everyone was making the same promise. And logic said that they all could not be right. One had to have the lowest price.

I think it was the advent of loss leaders, products actually sold at a loss just to get you into the store, that curtailed the promise. You can still find the promise (an online catalogue from a major department store still carries the promise), but it no longer seems to take center stage in many corporate advertising schemes. The logic behind the scheme is that it is actually a fairly safe proposition. Most of us stop shopping after we have bought the item, and so we rarely ever take advantage of the promise.

But what we miss is that the promise is actually encoded into Mosaic Law. If you make a promise (like promising that your product is the lowest price) and you fail to follow through on the promise, then you are responsible for making up the difference (making full restitution) and while you are at it, giving the one wronged one fifth extra as an admission that you were at fault. The idea is that we are to take what we promise very seriously.

As Christians, I wonder if we take this instruction lighter than we should. Often we seem to think that we are covered by grace and the sacrifice of Jesus; that restitution is just no longer necessary. But the demands of grace are always greater than the demands of the law. Our word in the age of grace is much more important than it ever was under the Law of Moses. And the demands for restitution in even more important now than it ever was.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 6