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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Exodus 22 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/exodus/22.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/exodus/22.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/exodus/22-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../exodus/">Exodus</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../exodus/21.htm" title="Exodus 21">◄</a> Exodus 22 <a href="../exodus/23.htm" title="Exodus 23">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-1.htm">Exodus 22:1</a></div><div class="verse">If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.</div>XXII.</span><p>(1-4) Theft is here treated of with great brevity, only three kinds being distinguished—(1) Housebreaking; (2) stealing without conversion of the property; (3) stealing with conversion. The main principle of punishment laid down is the exaction from the offender o! <span class= "ital">Double </span>(<a href="/exodus/22-4.htm" title="If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.">Exodus 22:4</a>). When, however, there has been conversion of the property, the penalty is heavier, the return of four-fold in the case of a sheep, of five-fold in that of an ox (<a href="/exodus/22-1.htm" title="If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.">Exodus 22:1</a>). Incidentally it is enacted that the burglar may be resisted by force (<a href="/exodus/22-2.htm" title="If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him.">Exodus 22:2</a>), and that to kill him shall be justifiable homicide; and further, it is laid down that a thief unable to make the legal restitution shall become a slave in order to pay his debt (<a href="/exodus/22-3.htm" title="If the sun be risen on him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.">Exodus 22:3</a>).<p>(1) <span class= "bld">If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep.</span>—The flocks and herds of the Israelites constituted their principal property, and hence cattle-stealing is taken as the representative of theft in general.<p><span class= "bld">And kill it, or sell it.</span>—Plainly showing persistence and determination.<p><span class= "bld">Five oxen . . . four sheep.</span>—The principle of the variation is not clear. Perhaps the theft of an ox was regarded as involving more audacity, and so more guilt, in the thief.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-2.htm">Exodus 22:2</a></div><div class="verse">If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, <i>there shall</i> no blood <i>be shed</i> for him.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">If a thief be found breaking up.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">breaking in: i.e., </span>making forcible entry into a dwelling-house. Most codes agree with the Mosaic in allowing the inmates of the house to resist such an attempt if made at night, and to shed the blood of the burglar, if necessary. He may be considered as having dissolved the “social compact,” and converted himself from a fellow-citizen into a public enemy. A murderous intent on his part may be suspected.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-3.htm">Exodus 22:3</a></div><div class="verse">If the sun be risen upon him, <i>there shall be</i> blood <i>shed</i> for him; <i>for</i> he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">If the sun be risen upon him.</span>—In the daytime no violence is to be feared. The housebreaker seeks to avoid observation, and decamps if discovered. Moreover, assistance is readily obtainable, and thus there is no need of resorting to extreme measures. The English law makes exactly the same distinction as the Mosaic.<p><span class= "bld">For he should make full </span>restitution.—Heb., <span class= "ital">restoring, he shall restore. </span>It is not quite clear whether he is to restore <span class= "ital">double; </span>but so most commentators understand the passage.<p><span class= "bld">If he have nothing.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">if he have not enough. </span>If he cannot make the <span class= "ital">full </span>restitution of the preceding verse, then “he shall be sold for his theft.” He shall become the slave for the term of six years of the man whom he has robbed, and in that way pay his debt.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-4.htm">Exodus 22:4</a></div><div class="verse">If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">If the theft be certainly found in his hand.</span>—If he had not converted it, consumed it, or, if it were an animal, killed it, then, instead of the four<span class= "bld">-</span>fold or five-fold restitution of <a href="/exodus/22-1.htm" title="If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.">Exodus 22:1</a>, a restoration of double was to suffice.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-5.htm">Exodus 22:5</a></div><div class="verse">If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field; of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">If a man shall cause a field . . . to be eaten.</span>—On theft follows trespass, another injury to property. Two kinds of trespass alone are mentioned; but from these the principles to be followed in punishing trespass generally can be sufficiently made out. Accidental injury, such as that caused by fire extending from one man’s field into another’s, was to be simply compensated up to the amount of damage done; but voluntary injury, such as followed on the turning of beasts into a neighbour’s ground, was to be more than compensated. The amount of produce destroyed was to be exactly calculated, and then the injurer was to make good the full amount of his neighbour’s loss out of <span class= "ital">the best </span>of his own produce.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-6.htm">Exodus 22:6</a></div><div class="verse">If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed <i>therewith</i>; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">If fire break out, and catch in thorns.</span>—In the East, as elsewhere—<span class= "ital">e.g., </span>Italy (Virg. <span class= "ital">Georg., </span>i. 84) and England—it is customary at certain seasons to burn the weeds and other refuse of a farm, which, is collected for the purpose into heaps, and then set on fire. Such fires may spread, especially in the dry East, if care be not taken, and cause extensive damage to the crops, or even the corn-heaps of a neighbour. The loss in such cases was to fall on the man who lit the fire.<span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-7.htm">Exodus 22:7</a></div><div class="verse">If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man's house; if the thief be found, let him pay double.</div>(7-13) Property deposited in the hands of another for safe keeping might be so easily embezzled by the trustee, or lost through his negligence, that some special laws were needed for its protection. Conversely the trustee required to be safe-guarded against incurring loss if the property intrusted to his care suffered damage or disappeared without fault of his. The Mosaic legislation provided for both cases. On the one hand, it required the trustee to exercise proper care, and made him answerable for the loss if a thing intrusted to him was stolen and the thief not found. Embezzlement it punished by requiring the trustee guilty of it to “pay double.” On the other hand, in doubtful cases it allowed the trustee to clear himself by an oath (<a href="/exodus/22-10.htm" title="If a man deliver to his neighbor an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, to keep; and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it:">Exodus 22:10</a>), and in clear cases to give proof that the loss had happened through unavoidable accident (<a href="/exodus/22-12.htm" title="And if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution to the owner thereof.">Exodus 22:12</a>).<p>(7) <span class= "bld">If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep.</span>—The practice of making deposits of this kind was widespread among ancient communities, where there were no professional bankers or keepers of warehouses. The Greeks called such a deposit <span class= "greekheb">παρακαταθήκη</span><span class= "ital">. </span>It was usually made in money, or at any rate in the precious metals. A refusal to restore the thing deposited was very rare, since a special nemesis was considered to punish such conduct (Herod, vii. 86). However, at Athens it was found necessary to have a peculiar form of action for the recovery of deposits (<span class= "greekheb">παρακαταθήκης δίκη</span>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-8.htm">Exodus 22:8</a></div><div class="verse">If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, <i>to see</i> whether he have put his hand unto his neighbour's goods.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">To see whether he have put his hand.</span>—Kalisch translates, <span class= "ital">to swear that he has not put his hand, </span>and so the LXX. (<span class= "greekheb">καὶ δμεῖται</span>) and Vulg. (<span class= "ital">et jurabit quod non extenderit manum</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-9.htm">Exodus 22:9</a></div><div class="verse">For all manner of trespass, <i>whether it be</i> for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, <i>or</i> for any manner of lost thing, which <i>another</i> challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; <i>and</i> whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbour.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">For all manner of trespass.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">in every case of fraud. </span>The context limits the expression to cases of fraud, or alleged fraud, <span class= "ital">in connection with a deposit.</span><p><span class= "bld">For ox, for ass, for sheep.</span>—The deposit of animals is unknown in classical antiquity, but might well be the custom of a people whose wealth consisted in flocks and herds. In the wilderness small proprietors might have been glad to intrust their few animals to the herdsmen who guarded the flocks and herds of their wealthier neighbours.<p><span class= "bld">Which another challengeth to be his.</span>—The case is supposed of the trustee saying a thing is lost which the depositor declares he can identify, and show to be still in his (the trustee’s) possession.<p><span class= "bld">The cause of both parties shall come before the judges.</span>—This seems to mean that the challenge was to be made at the challenger’s risk. If he proved his point to the satisfaction of the judges, he was to recover double; if he failed, he was to forfeit double of what he had claimed.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-10.htm">Exodus 22:10</a></div><div class="verse">If a man deliver unto his neighbour an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, to keep; and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing <i>it</i>:</div>(10) <span class= "bld">And it die, or be hurt, or driven away.</span>—The animal might “die<span class= "ital">” </span>naturally, or “be hurt” by a wild beast or a fall down the rocks, or “be driven away” by the marauding tribes of the desert. Both parties might be agreed on the fact of its disappearance; the dispute would be as to the mode of the disappearance. Here the trustee might bring proof, if he could (<a href="/exodus/22-13.htm" title="If it be torn in pieces, then let him bring it for witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn.">Exodus 22:13</a>); if not, he might clear himself by an “oath of the Lord” (<a href="/exodus/22-11.htm" title="Then shall an oath of the LORD be between them both, that he has not put his hand to his neighbor's goods; and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good.">Exodus 22:11</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-12.htm">Exodus 22:12</a></div><div class="verse">And if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">If it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution.</span>—<span class= "bld">It </span>seems to have been considered that theft could have been prevented by proper care, but that hurts from wild beasts or accidents were not preventible.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-13.htm">Exodus 22:13</a></div><div class="verse">If it be torn in pieces, <i>then</i> let him bring it <i>for</i> witness, <i>and</i> he shall not make good that which was torn.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">Let him bring it for witness.</span>—This would not always be possible. Where it was not, the trustee could fall back on the oath.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-14.htm">Exodus 22:14</a></div><div class="verse">And if a man borrow <i>ought</i> of his neighbour, and it be hurt, or die, the owner thereof <i>being</i> not with it, he shall surely make <i>it</i> good.</div>(14, 15) Lending is a species of deposit; but for the benefit, not of the depositor, but of the man with whom the deposit is made. The obligation of the latter to keep intact and to return is therefore even more stringent than in the preceding case. Consequently, if the thing lent were lost or injured, however the loss was brought about, the borrower was justly called upon to make it good. The only exception was, when the lender was still in charge of what he lent, present with it, and able to keep guard over it.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-15.htm">Exodus 22:15</a></div><div class="verse"><i>But</i> if the owner thereof <i>be</i> with it, he shall not make <i>it</i> good: if it <i>be</i> an hired <i>thing</i>, it came for his hire.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">If it be a hired thing.</span>—Letting out for hire is akin to lending; but still quite a different transaction. Damage to a thing hired was not to be made good by the hirer, since the risk of it might be considered to have formed part of the calculation upon which the amount of the hire was fixed.<p><span class= "bld"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-16.htm">Exodus 22:16</a></div><div class="verse">And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife.</div>MISCELLANEOUS LAWS.</span><p>(16-31) The remainder of the chapter contains laws which it is impossible to bring under any general head or heads, and which can, therefore, only be regarded as miscellaneous. Moses may have recorded them in the order in which they were delivered to him; or have committed them to writing as they afterwards occurred to his memory.<p>(16) <span class= "bld">If a man entice a maid.</span>—The seduction of a maiden is regarded more seriously in primitive than in more advanced communities. The father looked to receive a handsome sum (<span class= "greekheb">ἕδνα</span>) from the man to whom he consented to betroth his virgin daughter; and required compensation if his daughter’s eligibility as a wife was diminished. If the seducer were a person to whom he felt it a degradation to marry his daughter, he might exact from him such a sum as would be likely to induce another to wed her; if he was one whom he could accept as a son-in-law, he might compel him to re-establish his daughter’s status by marriage. It might be well if modern societies would imitate the Mosaic code on this point by some similar proviso.<p><span class= "bld">He shall surely endow her</span>—i.e., pay the customary sum to the father. See <a href="/deuteronomy/22-29.htm" title="Then the man that lay with her shall give to the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he has humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.">Deuteronomy 22:29</a>, where the sum is fixed at fifty shekels of silver.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-17.htm">Exodus 22:17</a></div><div class="verse">If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.</div>(17) <span class= "bld">He shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.</span>—It is not stated what the amount was to be in this case; but probably it was more than in the other.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-18.htm">Exodus 22:18</a></div><div class="verse">Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.</span>—The word translated “witch” in this passage is the feminine singular of that rendered by “sorcerers” in <a href="/exodus/7-11.htm" title="Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.">Exodus 7:11</a>, and means “a mutterer of charms.” The use of the feminine form can only be accounted for by supposing that, practically, witchcraft was at the time mainly professed by females. Whether “witches” had actual help from evil spirits, or only professed to work magical effects by their aid, the sin against God was the same. Jehovah was renounced, and a power other than His invoked and upheld. Witchcraft was as much rebellion against God as idolatry or blasphemy, and deserved the same punishment.<span class= "bld"><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-19.htm">Exodus 22:19</a></div><div class="verse">Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death.</div>(19) The sin here denounced was common among the Canaanitish nations (<a href="/leviticus/18-24.htm" title="Defile not you yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:">Leviticus 18:24</a>), and not unknown in Egypt (Herod. ii. 46). It was therefore necessary that God’s abhorrence of it should be distinctly declared to Israel.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-20.htm">Exodus 22:20</a></div><div class="verse">He that sacrificeth unto <i>any</i> god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">He that sacrificeth.</span>—Sacrifice in this place represents worship generally, being its most essential act. Elsewhere the death-penalty is affixed to any acknowledgment of false gods (<a href="/context/deuteronomy/13-1.htm" title="If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder,">Deuteronomy 13:1-16</a>).<p><span class= "bld">Shall be utterly destroyed.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">Shall be devoted, i.e., </span>devoted to destruction.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-21.htm">Exodus 22:21</a></div><div class="verse">Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.</div>(21-24) The juxtaposition of laws against oppression with three crimes of the deepest dye seems intended to indicate that oppression is among the sins which are most hateful in God’s sight. The lawgiver, however, does not say that it is to be punished capitally, nor, indeed, does he affix to it any legal penalty. Instead of so doing, he declares that God Himself will punish it “with the sword” (<a href="/exodus/22-24.htm" title="And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.">Exodus 22:24</a>). Three classes of persons particularly liable to be oppressed are selected for mention—(1) Strangers, <span class= "ital">i.e., </span>foreigners; (2) widows; and (3) orphans. Strangers have seldom been protected by any legislation, unless, indeed, they formed a class of permanent residents, like the Metœci at Athens. The law of civilised communities has generally afforded some protection to the orphan and the widow, particularly in respect of rights of property. The protection given is, however, very generally insufficient; and it is of the highest importance that it should be supplemented by an assured belief that, beyond all legal penalties there lies the Divine sentence of wrath and punishment, certain to fall upon every one who, careless of law and right, makes the stranger, the widow, or the orphan to suffer wrong at his hands.<p>(21) F<span class= "bld">or ye were strangers.</span>—Ye should, therefore, sympathise with “strangers;” not “vex them,” not “oppress them,” but “love them as yourselves” (<a href="/leviticus/19-34.htm" title="But the stranger that dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.">Leviticus 19:34</a>). The condition of foreigners in Israel is shown to have been more than tolerable by the examples of the Kenites (<a href="/judges/1-16.htm" title="And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lies in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelled among the people.">Judges 1:16</a>; <a href="/judges/4-11.htm" title="Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent to the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.">Judges 4:11</a>); of Araunah the Jebusite (<a href="/context/2_samuel/24-18.htm" title="And Gad came that day to David, and said to him, Go up, raise an altar to the LORD in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.">2Samuel 24:18-24</a>); of Uriah the Hittite (<a href="/2_samuel/23-39.htm" title="Uriah the Hittite: thirty and seven in all.">2Samuel 23:39</a>), Zelek the Ammonite (<a href="/2_samuel/23-37.htm" title="Zelek the Ammonite, Nahari the Beerothite, armor bearer to Joab the son of Zeruiah,">2Samuel 23:37</a>), and others.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-23.htm">Exodus 22:23</a></div><div class="verse">If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry;</div>(23) <span class= "bld">If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">If thou afflict them sore, and they cry earnestly unto me. </span>On the transgression of the laws against oppression by the later Israelites, see <a href="/jeremiah/5-28.htm" title="They are waxen fat, they shine: yes, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.">Jeremiah 5:28</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/7-6.htm" title="If you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:">Jeremiah 7:6</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/22-3.htm" title="Thus said the LORD; Execute you judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.">Jeremiah 22:3</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/22-17.htm" title="But your eyes and your heart are not but for your covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it.">Jeremiah 22:17</a>; Zech. 7:20; <a href="/malachi/3-5.htm" title="And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, said the LORD of hosts.">Malachi 3:5</a>; <a href="/matthew/23-14.htm" title="Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore you shall receive the greater damnation.">Matthew 23:14</a>, &c. The sword of the Babylonians and the sword of the Romans avenged the sufferers, according to the prophecy of <a href="/exodus/22-24.htm" title="And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.">Exodus 22:24</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-25.htm">Exodus 22:25</a></div><div class="verse">If thou lend money to <i>any of</i> my people <i>that is</i> poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.</div>(25-27) The Mosaic law of borrowing and lending was strange and peculiar. It was absolutely forbidden to exact any interest from those borrowers who were Israelites. The wording of the present passage, and of some others (<a href="/leviticus/25-35.htm" title="And if your brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with you; then you shall relieve him: yes, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with you.">Leviticus 25:35</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/15-7.htm" title="If there be among you a poor man of one of your brothers within any of your gates in your land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother:">Deuteronomy 15:7</a>), construed strictly, prohibits interest only on loans to the poor; but, as in a primitive state of society only the poor wish to borrow, the qualifying expression lost its force, and to exact any interest of any Israelite was regarded as wrong. (See <a href="/psalms/15-5.htm" title="He that puts not out his money to usury, nor takes reward against the innocent. He that does these things shall never be moved.">Psalm 15:5</a>; <a href="/proverbs/28-8.htm" title="He that by usury and unjust gain increases his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.">Proverbs 28:8</a>; <a href="/nehemiah/5-7.htm" title="Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said to them, You exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them.">Nehemiah 5:7</a>; <a href="/nehemiah/5-11.htm" title="Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that you exact of them.">Nehemiah 5:11</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/18-13.htm" title="Has given forth on usury, and has taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be on him.">Ezekiel 18:13</a>; <a href="/ezekiel/22-12.htm" title="In you have they taken gifts to shed blood; you have taken usury and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten me, said the Lord GOD.">Ezekiel 22:12</a>.) And some prohibitions, as <a href="/deuteronomy/23-19.htm" title="You shall not lend on usury to your brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent on usury:">Deuteronomy 23:19</a>, were expressed in the most general terms. On the other hand, the lending of money upon interest to foreigners was distinctly allowed (<a href="/deuteronomy/23-20.htm" title="To a stranger you may lend on usury; but to your brother you shall not lend on usury: that the LORD your God may bless you in all that you set your hand to in the land where you go to possess it.">Deuteronomy 23:20</a>), and no limit placed upon the amount of interest that might be taken.<p>(25) <span class= "bld">Usurer. . . . usury.</span>—The Hebrew <span class= "ital">nûsheh </span>and <span class= "ital">nĕshek </span>have no sense of “excess” attached to them. They mean simply “interest,” and <span class= "ital">“</span>the man who lends upon interest.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-26.htm">Exodus 22:26</a></div><div class="verse">If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down:</div>(26, 27) <span class= "bld">Thy neighbour’s raiment</span>.—The <span class= "ital">simlah, </span>or <span class= "ital">salmah, </span>here translated “raiment,” was the large flowing outer raiment, elsewhere called <span class= "ital">beged, </span>which was commonly of woollen, and corresponded to the <span class= "ital">abba </span>of the modern Arabs. It was a warm wrapper, and has sometimes been compared to a Scotch plaid. The poor Israelite did not much want it by day; but needed it as a blanket by night—a practice known to many modern tribes of Arabs. The present passage forbids the retention of this garment as a pledge during the night, and seems to imply a continuous practice of pledging the <span class= "ital">simlah </span>by day, and being allowed to Enjoy the use of it, nevertheless, as a nocturnal covering.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-28.htm">Exodus 22:28</a></div><div class="verse">Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.</div>(28) <span class= "bld">Thou shalt not revile the gods.—</span>The LXX. And Vulgate give the passage this sense; and so it was understood, or at any rate expounded, by Philo (<span class= "ital">De Vit. Mos. </span>ii. 26) and Josephus (<span class= "ital">Ant. Jud. </span>iv. 8, § 10), who boasted that the Jews abstained from reviling the gods of the nations. But the practice of the most pious Israelites in the best times was different (<a href="/1_kings/18-27.htm" title="And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleeps, and must be awaked.">1Kings 18:27</a>; <a href="/context/psalms/115-4.htm" title="Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.">Psalm 115:4-8</a>; <a href="/context/psalms/135-15.htm" title="The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.">Psalm 135:15-18</a>; <a href="/isaiah/41-29.htm" title="Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.">Isaiah 41:29</a>; <a href="/context/isaiah/44-9.htm" title="They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.">Isaiah 44:9-20</a>; <a href="/context/jeremiah/10-11.htm" title="Thus shall you say to them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.">Jeremiah 10:11-15</a>, &c.). The gods of the heathen were uniformly, and with the utmost scorn. “reviled.” It has been suggested that the true meaning of <span class= "ital">elohim </span>in this place is “judges” (Rosenmüller, Zunz, Herxheimer); but to have that sense, the word requires the article. It is best, therefore, to translate by “God,” as is done by De Wette, Knobel, Keil, Kalisch, Canon Cook, &c., and to understand the entire passage as intended to connect the sin of cursing a ruler with that of reviling God, the ruler being regarded as God’s representative.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-29.htm">Exodus 22:29</a></div><div class="verse">Thou shalt not delay <i>to offer</i> the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.</div>(29) <span class= "bld">The first of thy ripe fruits.</span>—Heb., <span class= "ital">of thy fulness. </span>“Firstfruits” were the spontaneous tribute of natural piety among almost all nations. They were called by the Greeks <span class= "greekheb">ἀπαρχαί</span>, by the Romans <span class= "ital">primitive. </span>Abel’s offering (<a href="/genesis/4-4.htm" title="And Abel, he also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect to Abel and to his offering:">Genesis 4:4</a>) was one of the “firstlings of his flock,” and Cain’s probably one of firstfruits. In the present passage it is assumed that firstfruits are due, and the stress is laid upon offering them promptly, without “delay.” Delay would show a grudging spirit.<p><span class= "bld">Of thy liquors.</span>—As wine and oil. (Compare <a href="/nehemiah/10-37.htm" title="And that we should bring the first fruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground to the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage.">Nehemiah 10:37</a>; <a href="/nehemiah/10-39.htm" title="For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the corn, of the new wine, and the oil, to the chambers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests that minister, and the porters, and the singers: and we will not forsake the house of our God.">Nehemiah 10:39</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">The firstborn of thy sons.</span>—See the Note on <a href="/exodus/13-2.htm" title="Sanctify to me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.">Exodus 13:2</a>; and on the means of redeeming firstborn sons, see <a href="/exodus/13-13.htm" title="And every firstling of an ass you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among your children shall you redeem.">Exodus 13:13</a>, and Num. 17:15, 16.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-30.htm">Exodus 22:30</a></div><div class="verse">Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, <i>and</i> with thy sheep: seven days it shall be with his dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it me.</div>(30) <span class= "bld">Thine oxen.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">thy beeves. </span>The word used is applied to horned cattle of either sex.<p><span class= "bld">Seven days it shall be with his dam.</span>—Compare <a href="/leviticus/22-27.htm" title="When a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat, is brought forth, then it shall be seven days under the dam; and from the eighth day and thereafter it shall be accepted for an offering made by fire to the LORD.">Leviticus 22:27</a>. The main object of forbidding sacrifice before the eighth day would appear to have beer-regard for the health and comfort of the mother, which needed the relief obtained by suckling its offspring. There may also have underlain the prohibition some reference to birth as an impure process. Compare the circumcision of the male child on the eighth day.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/22-31.htm">Exodus 22:31</a></div><div class="verse">And ye shall be holy men unto me: neither shall ye eat <i>any</i> flesh <i>that is</i> torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.</div>(31) <span class= "bld">Ye shall be holy men unto me.</span>—Compare <a href="/exodus/19-6.htm" title="And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.">Exodus 19:6</a>. The holiness really desired was holiness of heart and spirit. Outward ordinances could not effect this; but, to keep the thought perpetually before- men’s minds, a network of external obligations was devised, whereof a specimen is given in the law which follows. The flesh of an animal torn by a carnivorous beast would be doubly unclean: (1) By contact with the unclean carnivorous beast; and (2) through not having all the blood properly drained from it. It was therefore not to be eaten by a Hebrew.<p><span class= "bld">Ye shall cast it to the dogs</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>ye shall do this rather than eat it. The flesh might probably be given, or even sold, to an alien. (Compare <a href="/deuteronomy/14-21.htm" title="You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself: you shall give it to the stranger that is in your gates, that he may eat it; or you may sell it to an alien: for you are an holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.">Deuteronomy 14:21</a>.)<p><span class= "bld"><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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