Exo 22:1 "If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.
To steal an oxen required five oxen in reparations. Four sheep were required for one sheep stolen. Both were used as sacrifices. Sheep stay together and are easier to steal. Oxen were of more value, they were used to plow with and to pull carts. A heavier fine was to discourage anyone from taking them.
Exo 22:2 If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him,
If an intruder is struck by the owner in the night, he shall not be liable for injury or death. For his own life he was protecting.
Exo 22:3 but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
If the theft is in broad daylight, then if the owner sheds blood, he shall be guilty of shedding of blood. If the theif is caught in daylight, he shall pay for the theft or if unable, then he shall be sold for slave labor until the debt is paid.
Exo 22:4 If the stolen beast is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double.
If the stolen goods are found on the theif and returned, he shall pay double. He probably was not a hardened criminal.
Exo 22:5 "If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over, or lets his beast loose and it feeds in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the best in his own field and in his own vineyard.
The owner of the animals shall be responsible for the loss in equal amounts of value. He should have kept them in his control.
Exo 22:6 "If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, he who started the fire shall make full restitution.
Fires do a lot of damage, some are by accident, but the one who started the fire shall be responsible for the damages. Where there is no law there is anarchy and destruction. These are the civil laws that were given to Moses on the mountain with God.
Exo 22:7 "If a man gives to his neighbor money or goods to keep safe, and it is stolen from the man's house, then, if the thief is found, he shall pay double.
Exo 22:8 If the thief is not found, the owner of the house shall come near to God to show whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor's property.
How does the owner of the house come near to God? The word for God is the plural name; Elohim. This can be translated gods which refers to those under the authority of God to judge a person. The law enforcers have a trial or hearing to decide if he be guilty or not.
Judges and magistrates acting as gods must be responsible to God. Ungodly judges work evil. Those who were to judge the people when Jesus came, did not see him as the Son of God, inspite of all of his miracles and good works. They killed their promised Messiah.
John 10:32 Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?"
Exo 22:9 For every breach of trust, whether it is for an ox, for a donkey, for a sheep, for a cloak, or for any kind of lost thing, of which one says, 'This is it,' the case of both parties shall come before God. The one whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor.
Exo 22:10 "If a man gives to his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep safe, and it dies or is injured or is driven away, without anyone seeing it,
Exo 22:11 an oath by the LORD shall be between them both to see whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor's
property. The owner shall accept the oath, and he shall not make restitution.
What is this oath by the LORD? If the owner swears before the judge that he is innocent then he is presumed innocent if there is no evidence to prove him guilty.
Exo 22:12 But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner.
He was to pay double as in Exodus 22:4.
Exo 22:13 If it is torn by beasts, let him bring it as evidence. He shall not make restitution for what has been torn.
Exo 22:14 "If a man borrows anything of his neighbor, and it is injured or dies, the owner not being with it, he shall make full restitution.
Exo 22:15 If the owner was with it, he shall not make restitution; if it was hired, it came for its hiring fee.
If something borrowed is damaged and the owner was not present, then the borrower is responsible. If the owner was present then he is responsible.
There was a boy who would come to me asking for a rake, a tool, or something that he wanted to use. He would never return them. I would go to his house and retrieve the items. They did not belong to him. The borrower is responsible to the owner.
Laws About Social Justice
Exo 22:16 "If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride-price for her and make her his wife.
What if the woman doesn't want to be his wife? Well, she can talk to her father. The law requires the man to marry the virgin.
Exo 22:17 If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride-price for virgins.
Good for the father. What is the bride-price for virgins? It was the dowery price paid for a woman who he was to marry. After this, the woman has lost her value. Is their value in being a virgin in todays world? It is God's best that a man and a woman be not in fornication.
Deu 22:28 "If a man meets a virgin who is not betrothed, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found,
Deu 22:29 then the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has violated her. He may not divorce her all his days.
Exo 22:18 "You shall not permit a sorceress to live.
Take a visit to a book store and you will find books on sorcery, witchcraft , tarot cards, being a goddess, magic, and all kinds of evil practices. All such things are to delve into the powers of darkness. The penalty then was death. Now, it is no big deal. Schools require the reading of Harry Potter books and disallow the Holy Bible.
Exo 22:19 "Whoever lies with an animal shall be put to death.
HIV/Aids virus originated from Chimpanzees.
Exo 22:20 "Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the LORD alone, shall be devoted to destruction.
The other gods are demonic. The devil steals, kills and destroys. (John 10:10)
Exo 22:21 "You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
Exo 22:22 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.
A widow and child had no one to protect them. They may have been kidnapped and sold as slaves. Human trafficking is a problem now in our time.
Exo 22:23 If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry,
Exo 22:24 and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.
God will avenge wrongdoers.
Mark 9:42 "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
Exo 22:25 "If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him.
Be ready to forgive their debt if they do not pay you back.
Exo 22:26 If ever you take your neighbor's cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down,
Exo 22:27 for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
Forgiveness is a form of sacrificing. Sacrifices cost you something. Jesus gave his life for our benefit.
Exo 22:28 "You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.
Respect authority for they have power over you. The word for God is the plural "Elohim". This could be translated "gods". Referring to judges and magistrates who judge the people by the civil laws.
Exo 22:29 "You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me.
In Egypt the firstborn of Israel were spared from the death angel. Thereafter the firstborn were to belong to God. This included the first fruits and the animals. They were conecrated to God. If unable to give up the firstborn, then they were required to pay to redeem them.
Exo 22:30 You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep: seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to me.
They were not to delay in giving of the firstfruits and firstborn of their son's, and animals.
Exo 22:31 "You shall be consecrated to me. Therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.
The firstborn were for the service of God. They were not to defile themselvesby eating any unclean thing. Jesus added a more important explanarion for keeping oneself undefiled.
Mar 7:18 And he said to them, "Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him,
Mar 7:19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
Mar 7:20 And he said, "What comes out of a person is what defiles him.
In the new testament, love is the fulfillment of the law.
Rom 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
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