Exodus 22:1- 24 comments: Israelites' civil law cont.

Exodus 22:1 ¶  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. 2  If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. 3  If the sun be risen upon 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. 4  If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double. 5  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. 6  If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.

Laws regarding theft, including theft of growing food and damage to property are covered here. Again, this was to be the law that governed the Hebrew people. This can be thought of in the context of God’s standard set forth in the Ten Commandments, further defined and illuminated by Christ and by the apostle, Paul. This is part of the law for governance of these people on a day to day basis, but it does further illuminate God’s standard in the Ten Commandments of not stealing, on a practical level.

Exodus 22:7 ¶  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. 8  If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, to see whether he have put his hand unto his neighbour’s goods. 9  For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbour. 10  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 it: 11  Then shall an oath of the LORD be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbour’s goods; and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good. 12  And if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof. 13  If it be torn in pieces, then let him bring it for witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn. 14  And if a man borrow ought of his neighbour, and it be hurt, or die, the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good. 15  But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good: if it be an hired thing, it came for his hire.

Here are laws of responsibility and accountability for using the property of others.

Exodus 22:16 ¶  And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. 17  If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. 18  Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. 19  Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death. 20  He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed. 21  Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. 22  Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. 23  If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; 24  And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

If you remember the fierce and treacherous vengeance enacted by the children of Jacob over Dinah’s rape we can see a modification which would prevent vendettas and blind retribution. Remember that custom dictated that such a crime was against the family, the tribe, and the idea of the rights of the woman were not necessarily part of it.

A man who seduced an unmarried woman was required to ‘make it right’ by marrying her. If her father refused the offer of marriage he had to pay a dowry. It appears from another context that the dowry was a price paid to the father.

1Samuel 18:25  And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king’s enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

Verse 18 has to do with the treatment of witches. First, suffer in this context means to allow or permit. See an earlier example;

Exodus 12:23  For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

A witch, in the Bible, is much more than a folk herbalist or some suburbanite American teen who plays with sticks and worships nature. A witch in the Bible was someone who communed with spirits, tried to speak to the dead, and did other idolatrous things that were in opposition to God’s will that He alone should be trusted and relied upon. Note here the context in the following verse as synonyms to witch are presented.

Deuteronomy 18:10  There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11  Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12  For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

So, we see a witch is linked with those who offer human sacrifice, or read the guts of a dead animal to tell the future, a conjurer who looks for special times like when the stars are lined up or some type of combination of dates and portents in the sky making a desired thing propitious like today’s fortune-teller, someone who uses chants and spells to try to attain a desired end, or who tries to consult with spirits of ancestors dead or other spirits to learn information that is not available to others. God regards these occultic practices as opposed to our acceptance of His sovereignty alone.

Magicians and conjurers often believed they could control the gods with spells and chants. The magicians in Egypt claimed to be able to compel the highest gods to do their bidding and even threatened them with destruction if they didn’t comply. In India sorcerers were said to be able to command their trinity of Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu with their incantations. Of course, the God of the Bible would reject such nonsense even if some Christians today believe that things like the so-called Lord’s Prayer entitles them to something.

This can be extended to us today in regard to a Christian seeking special power of his own, trying to exercise a “gift” he or she pretends to, seeking power for themselves to glorify themselves. Beware of the Christian who emphasizes a special and powerful gift that is unique to them placing them on a higher level than others, which, while we all have our own special gifts, none of them make us more important than another. We are none of us shamans or wizards. See Romans 12. For instance, beware of the person who insists they can tell by a handshake if a person is saved or not or the one who just knows in their heart, they say, your spiritual condition just by meeting you without you saying a word or doing a thing. The witch or wizard seeks power, special spiritual power for themselves, apart from God even if they use God as an excuse to hide their wickedness behind.

God also likens disobedience to Him as witchcraft.

1Samuel 15:23  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.

Witchcraft is also linked by association, for Christians, for everything from rivalries based on envy, emulations, to a party person, or reveler. It is a work of the flesh, not appropriate for Christians although we aren’t called to kill anyone for such things.

Galatians 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Remember that what is shown here in Exodus is the civil Law and the ceremonial Law for the ancient Hebrews, not God’s commands for the Christian after Christ’s resurrection. No Christian is justified in killing a witch.

Verse 19 showed that bestiality was forbidden. This being stated reveals to us that it was practiced. Not only did ancient Canaanite religion promote heterosexual and homosexual temple prostitution apparently bestiality was not uncommon.

Leviticus 18:23  Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.

Leviticus 20:15  And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast.16  And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Deuteronomy 27:21  Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen.

There are Hindu depictions of bestiality, for instance, on the temple complex at Khajuraho in India, implying sex with gods who have taken on the form of animals although some Hindu scriptures forbid such practices.

Some authors have pointed out that cave drawings indicate that bestiality was not uncommon among primitive man. We who believe the Bible know that any cave dwellers were part of the dispersal of families around the world initiated by God at the attempted building of Babel.

Ancient Egypt, Babylon, and Rome all had proscriptions against it while, at the same, time regarding such practices in their mythologies and perhaps some religious practices. Ancient Greece did not have restrictions against it. Some Arab tribes practiced it as a cultural custom.

Verse 20 condemned idolatry. For the Christian, the Holy Spirit goes even further to say that covetousness in the context of sexuality is a form of idolatry.

Colossians 3:5 ¶  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6  For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

So, you can see the link between covetousness, idolatry, adultery, and fornication as the dissatisfaction with one’s own mate is a sign of a wicked heart and even, if you will, false worship.

Mercy and acting charitably toward foreigners, widows, and orphans: the politically powerless, was an essential standard. So it is the basis of religious practice for the Christian as far as God is concerned.

James 1:27  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

A stranger is a foreigner or alien.

Genesis 17:8  And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God…12  And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.

Genesis 23:4  I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.

Exodus 2:22  And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

Exodus 12:19  Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.

You can see by God’s threat here that He is adamant that such people as these not be abused in any way lest His wrath be incurred on the abuser.