Exodus 22

Laws of restitution (vs. 1-15)—These laws are simple, fair, and just. Again, keep in mind that the Lord is dealing with a primitive people here, and bringing them out of a civil darkness that is unknown in most of the modern world (largely due to God’s laws in the Old and New Testament). There are laws that seem harsh to us, but they were necessary to instruct and control this semi-barbaric people.

A quick rundown of the laws:
--if a man steals and ox or sheep, if he slaughters or sells it, he must pay back five oxen or four sheep (v. 1);
--if a thief is killed breaking and entering, there is no punishment for his killer (v. 2);
--if the thief is caught with the goods, he must make full restitution; if he didn’t have anything, he was to be sold into slavery (v. 3); an ox or donkey was to be restored double (v. 4);
--if a man’s animal is caught grazing in somebody else’s field, then he must give the best of his own field to the other owner (v. 5);
--an arsonist must make restitution (v. 6), though the amount is not stated;
--if a man asks another to safe-keep some goods, if those goods are stolen, the thief (if found), had to pay double (v. 7); if the thief wasn’t found, then the issue was to be decided in court (v. 8);
--if there is a dispute between two men over ownership of certain goods, that was to be decided by the judges, too; the loser paid double (v. 9);
--if man A safe-keeps some livestock for man B, and the animal is lost somehow (“no one seeing it”), then man A can take “an oath of the Lord” and not have to pay for the lost animal (vs. 10-11); but if the animal is stolen, he has to make restitution—it was in his safe-keeping (v. 12). If the animal was killed by a beast, he is not held guilty of that. Such things happened all the time (v. 13).
--if man A borrows from man B, and the thing borrowed becomes destroyed somehow, man A must pay for it (v. 14), unless the owner was present (v. 15).

These are the basic laws of restitution. They are wise and proper.

Sundry other laws (vs. 16-31)—We don’t like some of these, but again, God is dealing with a different people here who needed to learn some valuable lessons, especially about purity and service to Him. So some of the penalties are strict.

Here is a brief summary of each:
--if a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed, he must marry her. If her father utterly refuses to give him to her, then the father must pay money to keep his daughter (vs. 16-17). The idea here is to protect the woman, of course. If a man seduces a woman, he better be prepared to marry her. This law is not for rape; it’s for deception. A man who deceived a young woman paid for it by having to marry her. Or, the father might release him by paying the dowry;
--a sorceress (witch) was to be put to death (v. 18). She lured men away from God. This is an Old Testament law, not a New Testament command, but some ignorants over the last 2,000 years have used it judicially to kill suspected witches;
--bestiality was a capital crime (v. 19), as was sacrificing to any god but Jehovah (v. 20);
--widows and orphans (the helpless) must not be mistreated; oppression of the needy made God very angry (vs. 22-24);
--the poor were not to be exploited; moneylenders could not charge them interest; if his cloak was taken as collateral, it was to be returned before sundown so that he could be protected from the cold night (vs. 25-27). The “poor” aren’t defined here, but it was expected that the people would be able to recognize them or judge properly. Human relations were (are) very important to God, and it was expected that mercy be shown to the less fortunate. After all, He had been merciful to all of Israel, rich and poor;
--verse 28 is a bit ambiguous. The NKJV has “God,” the ASV and KJV has “gods.” The latter is probably correct, given the rest of the verse; “gods” here means “magistrates,” not foreign deities. Authority was to be respected, in religion, the home, and government;
--of their farm produce and sons, they were to give God the first, the best, and without delay (v. 29). It would be nice if God’s people honored that principle today;
--the same principle was true of animals, though the babe was allowed seven days with its mother (v. 30); this was perhaps for the health of the mother, or the full development of the young one. The Romans didn’t consider a lamb pure or clean before the eighth day, nor a calf before the thirtieth;
--and holiness meant not eating any animal killed by another; that was to be fed to scavengers (v. 31). Again, purity is no doubt the goal here.