Jump Start # 3885
Exodus 23:4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him.”
As one journeys through the law section of our Bibles, the reading can seem tedious and without relevance to us. Laws about this and that, which will never apply in these times, yet God has preserved in His divine word.
But, one must look beyond the law and see a much bigger picture. For instance, our verse today, found in a section about your enemy’s donkey is something that we might read over so fast that we fail to learn much. The following verse talks about the donkey of one who hates you. I saw a donkey the other day. It was probably the only donkey that I’ve seen in months if not years. So why have these verses in our Bibles? Why even read them?
Here’s the bigger picture. God is defining what kindness looks like. In many ways, these verses illustrate our Lord’s golden rule from Matthew. Many these days are talking about being kind, but what they mean is keep your mouth shut. Tolerate everything, even if it bothers you and keep your opinion to yourself. That’s how our times see kindness.
God has a different definition. He is showing us that kindness is demonstrated in actions. And, it’s demonstrated towards those who hate us and are our enemies. Doing something nice for the one who doesn’t like you is hard. Doing what is good and right for someone who would never do that to you, is how God shows us what kindness means.
The enemy’s ox has wandered off. How easy to declare, “Finder’s keepers, loser’s weepers.” But, that’s not kind, nor right. And, with these laws about how to treat others and all the circumstances that can come up, the God of Heaven is showing us that His people were to be kind.
Some thoughts:
First, examples like our verse today, helps us to understand that all Scripture is profitable. One may have to dig around a bit to find some golden gems, but they are there. This is why all the Scripture needs to be read, thought about and focused upon.
Second, returning the lost donkey to your enemy places you face to face with him. And, by you going out of your way in kindness, you have extended an olive branch of peace to him. That very act of kindness may be all it takes for the enemy to now become your friend. The enemy may accuse you of stealing the donkey, but you know better. Had you stolen it, why would you return it? In the shepherd Psalm, God places a table before my enemies. Face to face with our enemy is not always comfortable nor a setting that we want to be in. But, it can be an occasion to come to an understanding. It may be an occasion for apologies and forgiveness to be offered. The longer we avoid our enemy, the worse things can become in our minds and hearts. Walls of separation can be built and a misunderstanding can become a major world war.
Third, God can use things like a donkey to bring two people together. God is good at things like that. When Paul was discouraged, God sent Titus. When Elijah was hungry, God sent birds. When David was facing his giant, God provided five smooth stones. God knows what we need and sometimes it’s sitting down with our enemy and trying to work things out.
Had the donkey not wandered off, the two parties may never have gotten together. But, since it did, God’s forethought was to cover that situation in His law. What to do when that happens? Here’s the answer. Had this not been part of the law, would the donkey had been returned? The donkey of an enemy who hated you? That seems unlikely. But, God took care of that. Here is what is to be done.
It’d take a bit of courage to walk to that house where you are hated, talked about, and not welcomed. I expect the person would be fearful. I expect he would be uneasy about what might happen. Yet, following the will of God, he would do this.
Kindness illustrated. Kindness demonstrated. More than obscure laws about farm life, these reveal the heart of a God who loves. If we want kindness in our culture, we’ll do the right and nice things, even to those who hate us. To that we say, “Amen.”
Roger