128. Beasts to Be Helped

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 17
Listen from:
• BibleTruthPublishers.com
Exodus 23:55If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him. (Exodus 23:5). If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.
By reason of the roughness of the way, it was an easy matter for an ass, especially when overburdened, as was often the case, to fall to the ground, and it was also very difficult for the poor brute to extricate himself from the stones and hollows among which he fell. Hence this merciful law, requiring a man to help even his enemy when he finds him thus trying to aid an unfortunate brute. Wordsworth aptly suggests that this law sets the conduct of the priest and the Levite, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, in a most unenviable light, inasmuch as it shows them to have treated a fellow-being with less regard than their law required them to treat an enemy’s ass (Luke 10:31-3231And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. (Luke 10:31‑32)).