Why the Ox Fine Exceeds the Sheep and the Dignity of Toil

Another interpretation: "If a man steals" — consecrated animals too were included, for if he stole and slaughtered them outside he pays fourfold and fivefold; yet Scripture removes them from the general rule to be stringent with them, binding them to liability for extirpation. One might think they are also liable for payment, and reasoning supports it: if he is liable for the severe punishment of extirpation, shall he not be liable for the lighter payments? Scripture teaches, "This is the thing which the LORD commanded" (Leviticus 17:2): they left the category of extirpation but not the category of payment. "Five oxen he shall pay" — four and the animal itself; "four sheep" — three and the animal itself. Rabbi Meir used to say: Come and see how beloved labor is before the One who spoke and the world came into being. An ox, because it has labor, he pays fivefold; a sheep, which has no labor, he pays fourfold. Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai says: The Omnipresent had pity on the dignity of creatures. An ox, which walks on its own legs, he pays fivefold; a sheep, because he must carry it, he pays fourfold. Rabbi Akiva says: "in place of the ox," "in place of the sheep" — to exclude the wild beast. For by reasoning one might say: since a domestic animal is subject to payment and a wild beast is subject to payment, if you have learned of a domestic animal that he pays fourfold and fivefold, so too a wild beast should pay fourfold and fivefold. No: if you say so of a domestic animal, which is offered upon the altar, and therefore he pays fourfold and fivefold, will you say so of a wild beast, which is not offered upon the altar? Then a blemished animal proves otherwise, for it is not offered upon the altar yet he pays fourfold and fivefold for it, and it proves regarding the wild beast that even though it is not offered upon the altar he pays fourfold and fivefold. No: if you say so of a blemished animal, whose kind is offered upon the altar, and therefore he pays fourfold and fivefold, will you say so of a wild beast, whose kind is not offered upon the altar? Therefore Scripture teaches, "in place of the ox," "in place of the sheep," to exclude the wild beast.