CHAPTER 22

(1491 B.C.)

RESTITUTION

¹If 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.

²If a thief be found breaking up (breaking into a house), and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him (justifiable homicide).

³If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him (the thief has no intention of harming anyone; therefore, if he is maliciously killed, the man who kills him may very well suffer the same fate from the mans relatives); for he should make full restitution (the thief should replace what he has stolen); if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for this theft (sold as a slave, in order that the debt be paid).

⁴If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.

⁵If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another mans field; of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution (as Im certain is obvious by now, property rights were held sacred).

⁶If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.

⁷If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the mans house; if the thief be found, let him pay double.

⁸If 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 neighbours goods. (The Law of Moses, which in reality is the Law of God, taught Israel many things. It taught them how they should conduct themselves toward God, and also went into minute detail as to how they should conduct themselves toward their fellowman. Nothing was left out, with every single thing covered; Israel was expected to abide by this legislation.)

⁹For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challenges to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges (a trial); and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbour.

¹⁰If 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:

¹¹Then shall an oath of the LORD be between them both, that he has not put his hand unto his neighbours goods; and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good.

¹²And if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof.

¹³If it be torn in pieces, then let him bring it for witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn.

¹⁴And 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.

¹⁵But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good: if it be an hired thing, it came for his hire. (While the Law was totally fulfilled in Christ, which means that it is not now incumbent upon Believers, still, the principle of Law will always, and without exception, be carried out in Christ, that is, if Christ is properly addressed.)

ENTICEMENT

¹⁶And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife (if this law was followed now, this sin would be greatly decreased).

¹⁷If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he (the one who committed the sin) shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.

CAPITAL CRIMES

¹⁸You shall not suffer a witch to live (this applied to Israel only, and is not incumbent on modern Believers; however, it must be readily understood that God is unalterably opposed to all type of witchcraft).

¹⁹Whosoever lies with a beast (engage in intercourse) shall surely be put to death (this sin is grossly unnatural, in that it insults God, as it regards His role as Creator; any such act pulls one down to the level of an animal, thereby insulting Gods highest form of creation, which is man).

²⁰He who sacrifices unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed. (Pulpit says: Sacrifice was the chief act of worship; and to sacrifice to a false god was to renounce the True God. Under a theocracy, which Israel was, this was rebellion, and rightly punished with death. In states which were not a theocracy [God-ruled], and none were with the exception of Israel, such would not be a civil offense, and would be left to the final judgment of the Almighty.)

VARIOUS DUTIES

²¹You shall neither vex a stranger (a Gentile) nor oppress him: for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

²²You shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.

²³If you afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry;

²⁴And My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. (The Gentile, referred to as a stranger, was placed with the widow and the orphan, and made the special object of Gods care. In fact, it was on account of the neglect of this precept that the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and the destruction of its inhabitants, was allowed to take place [Jer. 22:3-5].)

²⁵If you lend money to any of My people that is poor by you, you shall not be to him as an usurer, neither shall you lay upon him usury. (In the lending of money, Jews were not to charge other Jews interest on that money. On the other hand, it was distinctly declared that interest might be taken from strangers [Deut. 23:20].)

²⁶If you at all take your neighbours raiment to pledge (as collateral), you shall deliver it unto him by that the sun goes down:

²⁷For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he cries unto Me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.

²⁸You shall not revile the gods (Judges or Magistrates), nor curse the ruler of your people (the office must be respected).

²⁹You shall not delay to offer the first of your ripe fruits, and of your liquors (Tithes): the firstborn of your sons shall you give unto Me (dedicate to the Lord).

³⁰Likewise shall you do with your oxen, and with your sheep: seven days it shall be with his dam (the mother); on the eighth day you shall give it Me (due to the Fall, birth was viewed as an unclean process, which it was, and is, and, therefore, nothing was fit for presentation to God except after a particular interval, here, seven days).

³¹And you shall be holy men unto Me (to be set apart exclusively unto God): neither shall you eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; you shall cast it to the dogs. (It was because the blood of such an animal would not be properly drained from it. Some would remain in the tissues, and thence the animal would be unclean.)