Chapter Twenty-Two

1–20. Various cases of damage to a neighbor’s property and punishments imposed for violations of the commandment “do not steal”. 21–27. Rules for treatment of people in difficult and distressed circumstances. 28. Treatment of judges and rulers. 29–31. The obligation to offer to God the firstfruits of grain and wine and the firstborn of clean animals and the prohibition against eating flesh torn by wild beasts.

Exodus 22:1. If anyone steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for the ox and four sheep for the sheep. Theft of an ox, being a more valuable and useful animal in household economy than a sheep, inflicts greater damage; for greater damage a greater punishment is imposed. One who has slaughtered or sold the stolen animal is punished more severely than one in whose possession it is found. The reason for this lies in the fact that slaughter or sale of a stolen animal, on the one hand, deprives the owner of the possibility of ever recovering what has been stolen, and on the other hand, testifies to the thief’s complete lack of desire to confess his crime.

Exodus 22:2. If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there is no bloodguilt for him; Exodus 22:3. but if the sun has risen on him, there is bloodguilt for him. The thief must make restitution; if he has nothing, he shall be sold for the theft he has committed; Exodus 22:4. if the stolen property is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox, a donkey, or a sheep, he shall pay double for them. Killing a thief at night is equated with unintentional killing, since in darkness it is difficult to determine where the blow falls and to measure its force. As unintentional, it is not punished by death. But killing a thief in daylight, when the householder could have avoided him by using other means to protect his property, is considered intentional and, by the general law (Exod 21:12), is punishable by death. In the case when a thief is caught with the stolen goods in his hands—before he has managed to carry out his plan to sell or slaughter the stolen animal—he causes no damage to the householder and is punished only for the crime itself: for an ox and a sheep he pays double (Exod 22:4). Such an ordinance would be completely inapplicable to thief-paupers, which in turn could encourage them to steal. Given the possibility of theft by people who, according to these ordinances, would go unpunished, a new ordinance is introduced into the law: if the thief cannot compensate for the loss by his own property, then he is sold, and the selling price goes to satisfy the injured party.

Exodus 22:5. If a man lets his livestock loose and they graze in another’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard. Exodus 22:6. If fire breaks out and spreads to thorns and consumes sheaves or standing grain or a field, he who kindled the fire shall make full restitution. The property of one’s neighbor must be valued and respected as one’s own. Contemptuous treatment of it, especially deliberate treatment such as “letting one’s livestock loose to graze in another’s field,” is punished in that he who inflicts damage on his neighbor’s property compensates for it with interest: he pays the best of his vineyard. The Greek and Slavonic texts speak of compensation with the best only in the case when the entire field or vineyard is consumed. When plants are completely destroyed it is difficult to determine what they were like, good or poor; but since the law is on the side of the wronged, not the wrongdoer, the latter gives the former the best of his field. One who lights a fire on his own field, supposedly perhaps to burn weeds, is guilty in that he allowed it to reach enormous proportions—to burn thorns, hedgerows of thorny plants that separated one field from another, and the neighbor’s grain (Lev 26:4).

Exodus 22:7. If a man gives his neighbor silver or goods to keep, and they are stolen from his house, then if the thief is found, he shall pay double; See the commentary on verses 2–4.

Exodus 22:8. but if the thief is not found, the owner of the house shall come before the judges [and swear] that he has not put out his hand against his neighbor’s property. When the thief is not found, suspicion of theft falls on the one who took the item from his neighbor for safekeeping. To free himself from suspicion, it is sufficient for the accused to swear before the judges that he “has not put out his hand against his neighbor’s property.”

Exodus 22:9. Concerning any matter of dispute—about an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any lost thing about which one says, “This is mine”—the dispute of both shall come before the judges; he whom the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor. The particular case mentioned above provides occasion for establishing the general rule concerning resolution of disputes “over any matter of dishonest dealing,” that is, matters in which it is presumed that the interested parties have acted in a way contrary to truth. The question of who owns the disputed thing or animal is decided by the judges; if truth is on the side of the owner, then the one who appropriated them pays him double. If, however, the owner has slandered his neighbor, then he undergoes the punishment appointed for false testimony (Deut 19:19).

Exodus 22:10. If a man gives his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any other animal to keep, and it dies or is injured or is carried away, with no one seeing it,— Exodus 22:11. an oath before the Lord shall be between the two of them, that the one who took it has not put out his hand against his neighbor’s property; and the owner shall accept it, and he shall not pay; The absence of witness testimony (“with no one seeing it”) concerning the circumstances in which the loss of the animal given to be kept occurred is replaced by trust in the oath of the accused (Exod 22:8). The owner of the animal “shall accept it”—he is satisfied with it and has no right to demand payment.

Exodus 22:12. but if it is stolen from him, then he shall pay the owner; If the animal given to be kept is stolen, with the presumption both that the thief is not found and that the animal was stolen from a house where it could have been protected, then the one who took the animal to keep pays the sufferer.

Exodus 22:13. but if it is torn by a wild beast, then he shall bring it as proof; for what is torn he shall not pay. The presentation of an animal torn by a wild beast serves not only as confirmation of the fact that it occurred, but also as proof that the one who took the animal guarded it, drove away the predator (what is torn has not been eaten). Therefore he is not guilty (Gen 31:39).

Exodus 22:14. If a man borrows an animal from his neighbor and it is injured or dies, and the owner is not with him, then he shall make full restitution; An animal borrowed from a neighbor for use must be guarded more carefully than one taken for safekeeping, since in the first case it provides direct benefit to the borrower. Therefore if he is not careful with it, he is punished for his negligent treatment, as a result of which the animal dies or is injured from harsh handling.

Exodus 22:15. but if the owner is with him, he shall not make restitution; if it was hired, the loss is covered by the hire. The presence of the owner at the death or injury of an animal loaned to another freed the latter from the obligation to pay for it, because the owner could himself see that there was no negligence or cruelty in handling of his animal, and he himself could take measures to protect his property. “If it was hired, let the hire cover the loss.” In loaning another his animal for profit, for a fee, the lender, deriving benefit, takes the risk and loss, which may be covered by the hire received.

Exodus 22:16. If a man seduces a virgin not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride price [and take her] as his wife; Exodus 22:17. but if her father refuses [and will not] give her to him, he shall pay [the father] as much silver as the bride price for virgins. Seduction of a girl is a theft of her greatest possession—her virginity, and at the same time a devaluation of her on the occasion of marriage or sale into slavery. Therefore the seducer pays the bride price of 50 shekels (Deut 22:28-29) and in the case of the father’s consent to the marriage (Gen 34:11-12) marries her without the right to divorce for all his remaining life.

Exodus 22:18. You shall not permit a sorceress to live. The laws set out in these verses protect not the rights of one neighbor or another, but determine the punishment for violations intolerable in the people of God—violations of the fundamental principles of his moral and religious life. The common punishment for them is death. Sorcery, whether supposed or real communication with dark powers, is incompatible with faith in divine protection (Num 23:22-23—they impose the same punishment) and with the existence of revelation (Deut 18:10-14). Fortune-tellers, diviners, sorcerers, and the like must be put to death by stoning (Lev 20:27), and compassion for a weak woman should not incline a Hebrew to wish not to apply the law against a sorceress with full severity.

Exodus 22:19. Everyone who lies with an animal shall be put to death. Bestiality—a vice of nations rejected by God (Lev 18:23 and others), is a violation of law and the purpose of marriage, defiles the land (Lev 18:28).

Exodus 22:20. He who sacrifices to any god other than the Lord alone shall be utterly destroyed. As a chosen people, the Hebrews must serve the Lord; one who sacrifices to other gods violates the law that underlies the covenant between God and the chosen people (Exod 20:5).

Exodus 22:21. You shall not wrong a foreigner or oppress him, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt. Humane treatment of foreigners (Exod 23:9, Lev 19:33, Deut 10:19, Jer 7:6, Mal 3:5), people of other nationalities, represents in its motives—“for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt”—an application to a particular case of a general rule: “do not do to another what you would not wish for yourself” (Matt 7:12). As is evident from Lev 19:33-34, the law means not merely the avoidance of wrongs and unfair treatment of foreigners, but something far greater, namely love for them: “love him as yourself.”

Exodus 22:22. You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. Exodus 22:23. If you do afflict them, and they cry out to Me, I will surely hear their cry, Exodus 22:24. and My wrath will grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children shall become orphans. The easy possibility of afflicting widows and orphans, who have no one to defend them, of refusing them their legal claims (Deut 27:19), of taking their property (Isa 10:2, Mic 2:9), even reducing them to slavery (2 Sam 4:1), should not serve as a temptation to selfish people. The defender of widows and orphans, in place of their deceased head of family, is God Himself (Ps 67:6); He will hear their cries, as He hears the cries of all who need Him (Job 34:28), and He will punish those who afflict them by making their own wives widows and their own children orphans. At the foundation of humane treatment of widows and orphans lies the same principle as underlies compassionate treatment of foreigners (see above).

Exodus 22:25. If you lend money to one of My poor people among you, you shall not be like a money-lender to him; you shall not charge him interest. A loan is intended not for the enrichment or profit of the creditor, but for the support of the impoverished neighbor (Lev 25:35-37); therefore interest cannot be taken from him, neither silver nor grain shall be given out as a loan at interest (Deut 23:20, Ps 14:5, Ezek 18:8, and others). The basis for this particular ordinance is the general principle that there should be no poverty among the Hebrew people (Deut 15:4).

Exodus 22:26. If you take your neighbor’s garment in pledge, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down; Exodus 22:27. for it is his only covering; it is his garment for his body; in what will he sleep? And when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am compassionate. To ensure payment of debt, the creditor was permitted to take a pledge from the debtor, but even in this case the creditor had to be guided by compassion for the poor debtor. The creditor could not go into the debtor’s house himself for the pledge; the debtor was left to choose an item that he could manage without relatively easily for a certain time (Deut 24:10-11, Exod 22:26). Such an item was, among others, clothing, which was frequently given as a pledge (Job 22:6, Prov 20:16, Amos 2:8). Its return to the debtor is an act of compassion for the poor neighbor, who would otherwise be condemned, lacking a special covering, to shiver from cold during the cold eastern night (Job 24:7). Since the creditor might fear that returning the pledge would deprive him of the possibility of collecting payment of the debt, and he might not attach particular importance to the thought that his debtor would have nothing with which to cover himself during the night, the incentive to compassion is the consideration that God, who is merciful to the poor (Exod 34:6, Ps 85:15, 2 Chr 30:9), will be stern toward the hard-hearted—He will punish them (Job 22:6).

Exodus 22:28. You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people. “Do not revile, do not criticize God” or judges. According to one explanation, God—as testified by Prov 24:21 and 1 Pet 2:17, for in both places the commandment to fear God stands, as in this verse, in connection with an indication of respect for rulers. According to another opinion, judges in the literal sense, since the word “elohim” is applied to them (Ps 81:6). In the latter case the ordinance would aim to raise respect for the law, which is undermined by reviling its representatives. But since the understanding of “elohim” in the sense of “judges” introduces a tautology into the ordinance: “revile not judges, nor curse him who is a ruler—that same judge—,” it is far more natural to understand “elohim” as God. This is also confirmed by the fact that the ordinance: “revile not elohim” stands before the mention of delays in offering to God the fruits of the earth and the firstborn (Exod 22:29). Finally, at such an explanation, the connection of the words in question with the preceding ones becomes fully clear and natural. Fulfillment of the moral ordinances given in Exod 22:21-27 restricted the inclination, natural to many, to increase their well-being through the oppression of the poor, and therefore could provoke complaint and discontent with the law. Therefore it is now said: “Revile not God,”—do not complain about God, do not murmur against Him because you are given ordinances that restrict your selfish desires. “Nor curse rulers,” who ensure the fulfillment of these laws.

Exodus 22:29. Do not delay offering the firstfruits of your harvest [to Me] and the outflow of your presses; give to Me the firstborn of your sons; The firstfruits of the “threshing floor,” that is, of grain, and of the “wine press,” that is, of grapes and oil, were offered to God as the lord of the promised land, in gratitude for its gift to the Hebrews (Deut 26:2-11); He would give them to the priests (Num 18:12). So that the latter could receive the means necessary for life in good time, the Hebrews should not delay in offering the firstfruits. The people are warned against a careless attitude toward the fulfillment of the commandments. “Give to Me the firstborn of your sons.” These words do not constitute a repetition of a commandment previously given (Exod 13:13), but only an application of the prohibition against delay to the fulfillment of an already known commandment concerning the firstborn.

Exodus 22:30. Do the same with your oxen and your sheep [and your donkeys]: seven days they shall be with their mother, and on the eighth day you shall give them to Me. The remark about offering to God the firstborn of clean animals on the eighth day after their birth shows that they were destined for sacrifice (Lev 22:27). And since the need for sacrificial animals was great, the law requires not delaying their delivery.

Exodus 22:31. And you shall be holy people to Me; and you shall not eat flesh torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs. Eating meat of an animal torn by a wild beast made a Hebrew unclean (Lev 22:8, Ezek 4:14); therefore the prohibition against eating it stands in connection with the command to be a holy people.