Exodus 22:1-31

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 22:1-6

Here are the laws, I. Concerning theft, which are these:?1. If a man steal any cattle (in which the wealth of those times chiefly consisted), and they be found in his custody, he must restore double, Exod. 22:4. Thus he must both satisfy for the wrong and suffer for the crime. But it was afterwards provided that if the thief were touched in conscience, and voluntarily confessed it, before it was discovered or enquired into by any other, then he should only make restitution of what he had... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 22:7-15

These laws are, I. Concerning trusts, Exod. 22:7-13. If a man deliver goods, suppose to a carrier to be conveyed, or to a warehouse-keeper to be preserved, or cattle to a farmer to be fed, upon a valuable consideration, and if a special confidence be reposed in the person they are lodged with, in case these goods be stolen or lost, perish or be damaged, if it appear that it was not by any fault of the trustee, the owner must stand to the loss, otherwise he that has been false to this trust... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 22:16-24

Here is, I. A law that he who debauched a young woman should be obliged to marry her, Exod. 22:16, 17. If she was betrothed to another, it was death to debauch her (Deut. 22:23, 24); but the law here mentioned respects her as single. But, if the father refused her to him, he was to give satisfaction in money for the injury and disgrace he had done her. This law puts an honour upon marriage and shows likewise how improper a thing it is that children should marry without their parents? consent:... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 22:25-31

Here is, I. A law against extortion in lending. 1. They must not receive use for money from any that borrowed for necessity (Exod. 22:25), as in that case, Neh. 5:5, 7. And such provision the law made for the preservation of estates to their families by the year of jubilee that a people who had little concern in trade could not be supposed to borrow money but for necessity, and therefore it is generally forbidden among themselves; but to a stranger, whom yet they might not oppress, they were... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 22:1

If a man shall steal an ox or a sheep ,.... In which the substance of men chiefly lay in those times, and particularly the people of Israel, who were now come out of Egypt, with their flocks and herds, and these lying near together, were the more liable to be stolen; and hence also the laws in the preceding chapter concerning oxen and damages done by them, and oxen and sheep are only mentioned; perhaps chiefly because used in sacrifice, as well as serviceable for other things; not but that... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 22:2

If a thief be found breaking up ,.... An house, in order to steal money, jewels, household goods, &c.; or breaking through any fence, hedge, or wall of any enclosure, where oxen, or sheep, or any other creatures are, in order to take them away: the Targum of Jonathan is,"if in the hole of a wall (or window of it) a thief be found;'that is, in the night, as appears from the following verse, "if the sun", &c.; to which this is opposed, as Aben Ezra observes; some render it, with a... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 22:3

If the sun be risen upon him ,.... Either upon the thief, or upon the master of the house, or the person that finds the thief and smites him that he dies; it matters not which it is interpreted, it is true of both, for when it is risen on the one, it is on the other: there shall be blood shed for him ; the person that kills him shall die for it: the Targum of Jonathan is,"if it is as clear as the sun (and so Jarchi), that not to kill any he entered, and he should kill him, there is... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 22:4

If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive ,.... Or, "in finding be found" F9 המצא תמצא "inveniendo inventum fuerit", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator. , be plainly and evidently found upon him, before witnesses, as the Targum of Jonathan; so that there is no doubt of the theft; and it is a clear case that he had neither as yet killed nor sold the creature he had stolen, and to could be had again directly, and without any damage well as it would appear by this that he was not an... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 22:5

If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten ,.... Which is not his own, by putting cattle into it to feed upon it, as it is explained in the next clause: and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field ; do damage in one or both those two ways, either by his feet treading down the grass and fruits of the earth, which the Rabbins, as Jarchi says, think, is meant by putting in his beast; or with his beast eating up the same, which is intended by the latter... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 22:6

If fire break out ,.... Even though of itself, as Jarchi interprets it: and catch in thorns a thorn hedge or fence, with which cornfields might be en closed: so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith ; whether it be corn cut down, bound up in sheaves, and laid up in heaps or stacks, or whether it be yet growing, and not fully ripe, at least not cut down, or any other fruits of the field; if the fire that takes the thorns which are near... read more

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