Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep. – Exodus 22:1

Today's Scripture Reading (October 9, 2021): Exodus 22

I am one of those people who count the change when purchasing something in a store. I try to do it quickly and without being obvious, basically because I don't want the clerk to think that I don't trust them. Actually, I do trust them, or I wouldn't shop in that store. But counting change is a defense of both of us, me and the store. I think, over the years, that I have received too much change more often than I have been shorted. And if I overlook that extra quarter when I am given the change, then I have to have that awkward exchange where I walk back into the store and settle up, and I mean, who does that for twenty-five cents. (If you haven't guessed, the answer is me because otherwise, I feel guilty, and who needs another thing about which to feel guilty.) So, it is easier to count the change while I am at the till.

Having said that, I have still walked away with money that did not belong to me. Or something I absent-mindedly picked up and had left the store with the item without making the purchase. And when that happens, I always find it more than a little embarrassing.

Theft has always been problematic for human societies, and different cultures have come up with diverse solutions. Sometimes, the answer to the problem was cutting off the offender's hand as the proposed penalty. Without hands, it is hard to steal. Tradition holds that the two criminals who were executed on crosses alongside Jesus were both thieves. Apparently, in Rome, theft was punishable by death.

But in the Mosaic Law, the penalty for theft was much more practical. Mosaic society did not maim, execute, or even imprison for stealing. The punishment for theft was restitution. If you just walked out of a store with something accidentally, then all that would be necessary was payment for the item, or if it was too much change, a reimbursement of what was incorrectly given. It was theft but theft that was accidental in nature. The thief was still responsible, but only for what was taken.

However, if what was taken was sold or destroyed, the law interprets that as stealing with intention or premeditation. And in that case, the penalty was much steeper. If a thief purposefully took something, simple restitution was not enough. Depending on what was stolen, the ordered restitution could be up to five times the amount that was taken; it was restitution plus a penalty.

This section of the law is intended to make the law practical in everyday life. If someone was brought before a judge and found guilty of stealing something, the Mosaic law limits how the judge could penalize the thief. And in this case, it was not a life or a hand that was the prescribed penalty, but up to five times the value of whatever it was that was purposefully stolen. 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 23