Exodus 22:5-8 NIV

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

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

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 22:7

If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour money or stock to keep ,.... Without any reward for keeping it, as the Targum of Jonathan; and so other Jewish writers F16 Jarchi in ver. 10. Bartenora in Misn. Shebuot, c. 6. sect. 5. understand this passage of such as keep a deposit freely, having nothing for it; whether it be money or goods, gold, silver, jewels, raiment, household stuff or any kind of vessels or instruments used in the house, or in trade; and also cattle, as appears from ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 22:8

If the thief be not found ,.... And so no account can be given of the goods deposited, what is become of them, and it becomes a doubtful case whether they have been stolen or embezzled, and there is suspicion of the latter: then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges : here called Elohim, gods, because they were God's vicegerents, and represented him, and acted under his power and authority; and who at this present were Moses, and those that judged the people under him,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 22:6

If fire break out - Mr. Harmer observes that it is a common custom in the east to set the dry herbage on fire before the autumnal rains, which fires, for want of care, often do great damage: and in countries where great drought prevails, and the herbage is generally parched, great caution was peculiarly necessary; and a law to guard against such evils, and to punish inattention and neglect, was highly expedient. See Harmer's Observat., vol. iii., p. 310, etc. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 22:7

Deliver unto his neighbor - This is called pledging in the law of bailments; it is a deposit of goods by a debtor to his creditor, to be kept till the debt be discharged. Whatever goods were thus left in the hands of another person, that person, according to the Mosaic law, became responsible for them; if they were stolen, and the thief was found, he was to pay double; if he could not be found, the oath of the person who had them in keeping, made before the magistrates, that he knew nothing... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 22:8

Unto the judges - See Clarke's note on Exodus 21:6 . read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 22:5

Verse 5 5.If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten. This kind of fraud is justly ranked among thefts; viz., if any man shall have put in his beast to feed in another’s field or vineyard. For if a person have made improper use of his servant to steal by him, he himself is deemed guilty of the offense, even although he may have touched nothing with his own hand; nor does he less do wrong who has given occasion of injury by means of a brute. Still, God restricts the punishment to a... read more

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

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

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

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

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 22:7

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 22:8

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 22:6

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 22:7

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 22:8

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 22:5

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