Is there a relationship between justice and money?
Question 48 in Faith Seeking Freedom: Updated & Expanded
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In addition to the moral temptations that money can present, there is a strong relationship between justice and money. When covetousness and the love of money leads a person to steal from or defraud others, those dishonest acts are not merely sinful. They also violate the rights of those other people. There are also many cases where a person may improperly damage the property of another person. These problems were present in ancient times just like they are present today. That is why God gave clear directions to the ancient Israelites in the Torah about how to go about addressing acts of injustice. Often, money played an important role in the divine prescription for righting wrongs.
Personal injuries resulting from either intentional acts (Exod 21:19) or negligence (Exod 21:32–34) could sometimes be settled by payment of money damages. When a person was caught stealing livestock, the thief who still had the stolen livestock in his possession was required to pay two-fold (Exod 22:3). The trespasser who allowed his animals to devour another’s field had to pay with the proceeds from his own field (Exod 22:4). Negligent damage to a neighbor’s crops (Exod 22:5) or failure to protect entrusted livestock (Exod 22:9) both required compensation. People guilty of embezzlement, other forms of theft, or any sort of fraud were required to return their ill-gotten gains and to pay an additional amount of money restitution (Lev 6:1–5), in addition to bringing certain designated sin sacrifices to the priest (Lev 6:6–7).