Over-repaying your debts - 26 May 2011 |
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In Luke 19:8-9, Zacchaeus offers to repay four times the amount he has stolen, and Jesus takes this as proof of his repentance. What’s interesting is that such a large multiple of the amount stolen is rarely required in the Old Testament Law. Leviticus 6:5 requires the repentant thief to return only an extra 20 percent in addition to what was stolen (cf. Numbers 5:7). The only instances where the much larger compensation made by Zacchaeus would have been required were when either a sheep or an ox had been stolen and killed. In such cases, the thief was required to pay back fourfold for a sheep and fivefold for an ox (Ex 22:1; 2 Sam 12:6). But Zacchaeus had almost certainly not stolen oxen and sheep. He was a tax collector, and had “defrauded” (Luke 19:8) people of their money.Yet in addition to the higher level of restitution, Zacchaeus also commits himself to give half his possessions to the poor (v. 8).
Perhaps “Zacchaeus becomes an exemplary rich disciple” (Bock, Luke [IVPNTC], p. 308; cf. Morris, Luke [TNTC]).
Or perhaps Zacchaeus realises that his actions may have caused the death of animals from whose families he’d extorted money (since they might well have had to kill livestock in order to keep themselves alive), and he repays as if he’d killed them himself.
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Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Minister's Blog