Digest of Biblical Civil Law

Prov. 12:10, “A [consistently] righteous man regards the life of his beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”  Deut. 25:4, “You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain.” See also 1 Cor. 9:9-10; 1 Tim. 5:17-18.  Exo. 23:4-5 stands for the proposition that God expects man to care for his animals. It requires man to bring back a lost animal even to his enemy and requires that a man help his enemy to release his animal from too heavy a burden. Exo. 23:12 reveals the Sabbath—a day of rest—was made so that the ox and donkey—the beast of burdens could rest.
-  Katherine Yurica, "Why the Bible Commands You to Be a Liberal (And Vote for Democrats)," at http://www.yuricareport.com/Religion/TheBloodGuiltyChurches.html.