In Exodus 21:35, “If a man’s bull injures the bull of another and it dies, they are to sell the live one and divide both the money and the dead animal equally.” Again, as in previous verses, there’s a fatal injury caused by a bull, but this time it’s not caused by anyone’s negligence. So what’s Yahweh’s ruling on damages “when negligence isn’t to blame”?
There’s a clue in verse 35, in the word “they,” referring to the two owners, the owner of the dead bull and the owner of the bull that killed it. Two people have been brought together by circumstances that neither of them caused, but it can’t be ignored that one man’s bull is dead. Upset and anger, therefore, could very quickly give rise to blame and accusation, and the awful possibility of a relationship broken forever.
Yahweh’s solution was simple: have the two owners work together by “selling the live bull and dividing both the money from the sale and the (meat of) the dead animal equally” (35). And why do it that way? To save the relationship. Come up with a solution together that both find fair, and practical economically too. In this case, both men benefitted from both bulls equally, half the money and half the meat each.
Imagine applying that rule today. Instead of bulls, substitute cars. Cars, like bulls, do things that their owners have no control over either. A sudden puncture in a tire caused by a roofing nail, and off the car veers into another car, causing damage to it. In no way is negligence to blame, but there’s no ignoring the damage done and whose car did it. It’s a touchy situation that could easily turn nasty, so what course of action would Yahweh recommend?
Simply put: save the relationship by offering a solution that both parties benefit from. In a personal example, a man in a huge rush to answer an emergency in his family, hit our car hard enough to wipe out the back bumper. It wasn’t negligence, it was simply circumstance, but a circumstance that also needed a quick solution for his sake. A quick agreement was made: get him on his way, and he would pay whatever the estimate was for the damage. Which he did – and gave extra for the trouble he’d caused too. It was taking a chance, yes, but what a pleasure experiencing Yahweh’s laws still being applicable and effective today.
It was “holiness” seen in real life solutions to practical problems. With that in mind, then, did Yahweh also have laws dealing with “Crimes against property”?….(next blog)
