Exodus 22:5-6 – Be thoughtful, consider others around us

God expects us to be people who are responsible. While He knows that we need to take care of our own belongings and well-being, our actions must not incur any loss to our neighbours. Restitution must be made when one did not act responsibly and his careless action had resulted in one’s neighbour having to suffer some loss. Verses 5-6 give examples of two scenes.

The first scene described in verse 5 was when a man let his animal free to graze his field or vineyard and it strayed into his neighbour’s field and grazed what belonged to the neighbour. He would be responsible because he did not ensure that his animal just stayed on his side of the fence. Thus, he must make restitution for his neighbour’s loss by allowing his neighbour’s livestock to graze in his field or the best of his vineyard.  

Verse 6 gives us the second scenario. This happened when “…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.” It was common for farmers to clear their field by using fire. When a farmer did that, there was always the danger of the fire spreading to his neighbour’s field. He was expected to ensure that his neighbour’s field was not affected. If the fire he had started went wild because of a gust of unexpected wind and destroyed part of his neighbour’s vineyard, he was liable to make good what his neighbour had lost.

These two scenarios constitute a call for us to live life responsibly. It is perfectly alright to meet our needs in life, but what we must ensure is that what we do will not adversely affect others. God expects us to be considerate and sensitive to those around us. What we do must not result in others being severely disadvantaged. When what we do carelessness results in someone else’s loss, we must be man enough to make good our careless mistake. These two verses teach us to plan and act carefully. We must be conscious that our actions may affect the people around us. Hence, we must be considerate and not conduct life in a way that will disadvantage others. This is best reflected in our Lord’s call to love our neighbour as ourselves. Being considerate helps us to be careful not to hurt others. Let’s bear that in mind and be good and considerate neighbours.