The Sanctity of Life and Property Text: Exodus 22:2-4
Introduction: Justice That Restores
We live in an age that is thoroughly confused about justice. Our modern systems of justice are fundamentally retributive and punitive, but not restorative. We take a thief, a man who has violated another man's property, and we lock him in a concrete box for several years at the taxpayer's expense. In this scenario, who pays? The victim pays through his loss. The taxpayer pays for the cage. And the criminal pays with years of his life, learning from hardened men how to be a more effective criminal upon his release. The one thing that does not happen is the one thing biblical justice demands above all else: restitution. The victim is not made whole.
The modern state has inserted itself as the primary offended party. When a man steals your car, the case is not "You vs. the Thief," but rather "The State vs. the Thief." The state takes the fine, the state exacts the punishment, and the victim is left to deal with his insurance company. This is a profound theological distortion. God's law is not primarily about punishing offenders in the abstract; it is about restoring a community that has been broken by sin. It is about making things right. Justice, in the Bible, is intensely practical.
As we come to this section of Exodus, we are in the Book of the Covenant. God has delivered the Ten Commandments, which are the bedrock principles of His law. Now, He provides what are called case laws. These are not exhaustive statutes for every conceivable situation, but rather paradigmatic examples that teach us how to apply the foundational principles. They are inspired illustrations of godly wisdom. They teach us how to think. And in these three short verses, we find a dense, tightly-packed bundle of wisdom concerning the rights of self-defense, the sanctity of life, the nature of property, and the absolute necessity of restitution.
Our culture wants to pit human life against property, as though they were in opposition. We hear sentimental nonsense like, "It's just stuff, it's not worth a life." But the Bible does not do this. The Bible understands that a man's property is an extension of his life. It is his time, his labor, his provision for his family, his future, all crystallized into tangible form. To steal from a man is to steal a portion of his life. And so God's law here provides a robust defense for both, in their proper order and relation. This is not dusty, irrelevant case law; this is the blueprint for a just and sane society.
The Text
“If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account. But if the sun has risen on him, there will be bloodguiltiness on his account. He shall surely make restitution; if he owns nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If what he stole is actually found alive in his hand, whether an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double.”
(Exodus 22:2-4 LSB)
No Bloodguilt in the Dark (v. 2)
We begin with a situation that is fraught with tension and uncertainty, a nighttime home invasion.
"If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account." (Exodus 22:2)
The term "breaking in" carries the sense of a forcible, violent entry. This is not shoplifting. This is a man coming into your domain, your home, under the cover of darkness. The law recognizes that in such a moment, the homeowner is facing a chaotic and terrifying unknown. Is this man here just for the silver, or is he here to harm my wife and children? Is that a weapon in his hand? In the dead of night, with adrenaline pumping, it is impossible to make a calm, rational assessment of the level of threat. The darkness itself is a form of aggression.
Therefore, the law grants the homeowner the benefit of the doubt. If, in the confusion and fear of defending his home and family, he strikes the intruder a fatal blow, he is not guilty of murder. There is "no bloodguiltiness on his account." This is a profound protection of the right of self-defense. Your home is your castle, your God-given place of dominion, and you have the right and the duty to protect those within it. The law recognizes that a man who breaks into another's home at night has, by his own actions, created a situation where lethal force is a foreseeable and justifiable outcome. He is gambling with his life, and if he loses, the guilt is his own.
This is not a license for vengeance. It is a recognition of reality. The law is not commanding the homeowner to kill the intruder, but it is absolving him of guilt if he does so in the fog of a violent encounter. The sanctity of the home is a high and holy thing, and its defense is therefore a righteous thing.
Bloodguilt in the Light (v. 3a)
But then the scenario changes dramatically with the rising of the sun.
"But if the sun has risen on him, there will be bloodguiltiness on his account." (Exodus 22:3a)
Why the difference? Because the sun changes everything. The primary factor that made lethal force justifiable, the terrifying uncertainty of darkness, is now gone. In the light of day, you can see the intruder. You can assess the situation. Is he armed? Is he a desperate teenager or a hardened killer? Can he be subdued without being killed? The light brings clarity, and with clarity comes responsibility.
If the sun is up, and you can see that the thief is unarmed and attempting to flee with your property, you do not have the right to shoot him in the back. To do so would be to incur "bloodguiltiness." Why? Because you are no longer acting in self-defense against an unknown threat to life; you are acting as an executioner for a crime against property. And in God's economy, the penalty for theft is not death. The penalty is restitution.
This is a brilliant and humane distinction. It upholds the right to defend one's life and family with lethal force when necessary, but it simultaneously protects the life of the thief from excessive, vengeful violence. Life is always of a higher order than property. You may defend your life at the cost of another's, but you may not take a life merely to protect your stuff when there is no immediate threat to your person. This law forces a man to be responsible. He cannot justifiably panic in broad daylight. The law demands a proportional response.
The Engine of Justice: Restitution (v. 3b-4)
Having established the principles of self-defense, the law now turns to the proper penalty for theft. And it is here that we see the genius of biblical justice most clearly.
"He shall surely make restitution; if he owns nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If what he stole is actually found alive in his hand, whether an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double." (Exodus 22:3b-4)
Notice the first phrase: "He shall surely make restitution." This is the heart of the matter. The goal is not to punish the thief for the sake of punishment, but to restore the victim. The crime created a debt, and that debt must be paid. Justice is not served until the victim is made whole, and then some.
Verse 4 gives a specific example. If the thief is caught red-handed with the stolen animal, before he has had time to sell it or slaughter it, he must pay back double. This is the minimum penalty. Why double? One animal is to replace what was stolen. The second animal is the penalty for the crime. It compensates the victim for his trouble, his fear, his lost time, and the disruption to his life. It also ensures that crime does not pay. The thief is not merely returned to his pre-theft financial state; he is set back. This is a powerful disincentive.
But what if the thief is poor and "owns nothing"? Our modern system would say, "Well, you can't get blood from a stone," and the victim would be out of luck. The state might cage the man, but the victim gets nothing. Biblical law is far more just and practical. "He shall be sold for his theft." This is not chattel slavery as was practiced in the American South, which was based on the wicked and prohibited practice of man-stealing (Exodus 21:16). This is indentured servitude. The thief's labor is sold for a period of time sufficient to pay back his debt to the victim. This accomplishes three things simultaneously. First, the victim is paid back in full. Justice is done. Second, the criminal is forced to be productive and learn the value of labor. He is integrated back into the economy, not isolated from it. Third, the society is not burdened with the cost of his incarceration. This is a system that restores, teaches, and profits all at once. It is justice that works.
Gospel Restitution
As with all of God's law, this points us to a much deeper reality. We must see that we are all, before God, thieves. Adam, our federal head, broke into God's garden. He stole what was forbidden, seeking to take for himself the knowledge of good and evil, to be his own god. And in him, we all have done the same. We have robbed God of the glory due His name. We have taken His air, His sun, His blessings, and used them for our own rebellious purposes. We have incurred an infinite debt that we cannot possibly repay.
We are caught in broad daylight. The sun has risen on us, and our guilt is plain. We have nothing with which to make restitution. We are spiritually bankrupt. The law demands that we be "sold" for our theft, and the wages of our sin is death, an eternal servitude to judgment. This is our desperate condition.
But into this hopeless courtroom steps our Advocate, the Lord Jesus Christ. He, the only innocent one, takes our bloodguilt upon Himself. He stands in our place. And He does what we could never do. He makes full restitution. On the cross, He pays our infinite debt to the Father's justice. He restores what He did not steal away (Psalm 69:4). He pays back not just what was lost, but infinitely more, purchasing for us a righteousness that is not our own.
And when we are united to Him by faith, this great transaction is applied to our account. Our debt is canceled. But it does not stop there. The one who has been forgiven much, loves much. The one who has received such a great restitution is compelled to become a restorer himself. Like Zacchaeus, who, upon meeting Jesus, joyfully pledged to pay back fourfold anything he had taken dishonestly, the redeemed heart longs to make things right. We now seek to restore what has been broken in our relationships, to confess our sins, to pay back our debts, and to live as agents of restoration in a broken world, all because the great Restorer has made us whole.