You are walking along a road. Across the field you see an ox. It is the ox of a man you cannot stand. You know, privately, he has done wicked things. Your dislike is not petty — it is based on things you have seen. And the ox is wandering loose.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Exodus (Exodus 23:4) strips away every excuse: If thou meet the ox of thine enemy whom thou dislikest on account of the wickedness which thou only knowest is in him, or an ass that wandereth from the way, thou shalt surely bring it to him.
Why the Targum Adds “Wickedness Thou Only Knowest”
The plain verse says enemy. The Targum clarifies: this is not a casual grudge. This is someone whose wrongdoing you have personally witnessed. You have a justified low opinion. No one would blame you for walking past his stray animal.
The Torah commands otherwise. The animal did not wrong you. The field did not conspire against you. Your moral clarity about his character does not release you from responsibility for his property.
The Subtle Mercy in Returning It Yourself
Notice: the Torah does not say tell someone or leave a message. It says bring it to him. You will have to face him. You will have to hand him his ox. Something softens in both of you in that encounter — and the Torah is counting on it.
The Takeaway
The Torah does not ask you to pretend your enemy is your friend. It asks you to act toward his property the way you would toward a stranger's. And in the act of returning, enmity itself begins to wear thin.