The Law of Restitution

Introduction:

How much is a life worth? We all know that life is priceless, but if you had to put a dollar amount on it, how would you calculate it? Well, it turns out that the Institute for Life Insurance says that it depends on how much a person stands to make in his or her lifetime.

But you know, in all actuality, there are people out there that want to tell us that people are less valuable than animals. Take for example the outrage people have over anyone that might touch a Bald Eagle egg or a sea turtle at the beach. These animals have federal protections that even the unborn in this country don’t have!

Now I don’t say that to be political. It is a shame that our country has stooped to this place, but I say that to say that something has happened to the values of Americans, and even global citizens, that has led to this shift in values.

I believe it all goes back to misunderstanding what the Bible teaches about man and the Imago Dei, or the image of God. We were created in the image of God and have value. We also were created to have dominion over all of creation.

This passage that we are going to look at tonight clearly teaches us that man is more valuable than animals. This doesn’t mean animals are not worthy of our protection or that we should become animal abusers. It simply means that we need to understand where everything sits in the grand scheme of God’s design. That’s exactly what we are going to look at tonight as we finish out chapter 24 in the Book of Leviticus.

This is the chapter that has included instructions regarding the lamps in the temple and the bread of the presence. Then we learned about what to they were to do to a man that blasphemed the name of God. The people were instructed to treat the name of the Lord as holy and the man was to be executed by stoning.

Now we turn to what happens when a man kills another man in an act of murder that is not self-defense. In these instructions, we find God has a lot to say about the value of life and the order of things in creation.

Leviticus 24:17–23 ESV

17 “Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death. 18 Whoever takes an animal’s life shall make it good, life for life. 19 If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him. 21 Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, and whoever kills a person shall be put to death. 22 You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.” 23 So Moses spoke to the people of Israel, and they brought out of the camp the one who had cursed and stoned him with stones. Thus the people of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.

1. There is a Distinction Between the Value of Man and Animals (v.17-18, 21)

People in this world will try to tell you that man and animals are the same. We all evolved from the same primordial soup. That’s why we can see people that value the lives of animals more than they do humans. They don’t see a difference in the life of either, and yet they get more pleasure from an animal than a person, so in their mind, why not save the animal.

The truth is that all throughout Scripture God shows the supreme value of man over animals. In fact, man is the pinnacle of God’s creation. The Bible says this,

Psalm 8:4–8 ESV

4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

2. There is a Spirit of Restitution (v.18-23)

When we think of the word “restitution,” we automatically think of getting even.

The law said, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” This was a common law in the ancient world, but God changes this up. To say “an eye for an eye” is a figurative way of saying that restitution should be paid. In other words, we should make things right.

This is not a prescription for mutilating people or brutal retaliation.

This used to be common sense and practice that was generally observed.

God is also highlighting the seriousness of treating others the way you would want to be treated. We should not take lightly what we do to other people.

Illustration:

We had a gentleman that left us several messages on the answering machine and we didn’t receive them until today. The internet has been out and we have been trying to figure out why. It turns out that this man was calling to let us know that he had driven a tractor trailer through the parking lot to turn around and was a new driver. He didn’t realize it until he was down the road, but he had passed under our internet cable and pulled it lose. He told me that he was determined to get in touch with me and make it right and that he was going to show up to service to find me if we had not returned his call so that he could make amends.

That’s noble! That’s the spirit of this law.

Application:

Are there any people in your life that you have wronged and need to make things right with? Don’t just ask for forgiveness and stop there. Go the extra mile and seek to make things right. The Bible often prescribed a 1/4 extra in addition to the loss that had been suffered. We should seek to go above and beyond what we are asked to do because we love the Lord and want to be a good reflection of who He is.

3. The Law is to Be Applied Equally (vv.22-23)

The last thing that we see in this passage is that the law was to be applied equally. We know that as long as man is judge, we will come short of perfect justice. I think of celebrities that have gone to posh prisons like Martha Stewart and others. They seem to be too rich to have to be punished like the rest of us would. That is not fair justice and the Bible condemns this form of treatment.

This concept is one that the elite in our society have a hard time with. They think that there is one law for the common person and another for the them.

God doesn’t judge this way. We all stand on equal ground with God. The cross is the perfect picture of this. We are all guilty and need the exact same salvation in Christ. His death is not differently applied to one person than it is to another.