Story · 21 · Yhwh and His People
Laws of neighborly kindness
Deuteronomy says: if you see your neighbor's ox straying, return it. If you find a lost item, keep it safe until the owner comes. If a donkey falls, help lift it.
Kinship means you may not look away.
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Deuteronomy even protects mother birds and forbids cutting down an enemy's fruit trees in a siege: 'Is the tree of the field a human, that it should be besieged by you?' Wisdom once taught to court elites became binding law for everyone.
Bible reference: Deuteronomy 22:1–7; 20:19
Source: Why the Bible Began, pp. 336–337
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