“If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies or is injured, or driven away, no man seeing it; the oath of Yahweh shall be between them both, he has not put his hand on his neighbor’s goods; and its owner shall accept it, and he shall not make restitution. But if it is stolen from him, the one who stole shall make restitution to its owner. If it is torn in pieces, let him bring it for evidence. He shall not make good that which was torn.
“If a man borrows anything of his neighbor’s, and it is injured, or dies, its owner not being with it, he shall surely make restitution. If its owner is with it, he shall not make it good. If it is a leased thing, it came for its lease.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 13, 15 Hebrew, broken.
Hebrew, broken.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv10–15 Exo 22:10 If a man deliver unto his neighbour…
Exo 22:10 If 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]:
Ver. 10. Or any beast, to keep.] As Jacob kept Laban’s cattle. {Gen 31:39}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv10–15 To keep, as his servant, not freely, but for…
To keep, as his servant, not freely, but for wages.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv10–15 If a man deliver to his neighbour an ass,…
If a man deliver to his neighbour an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast to keep,.... And he keeps it without a reward, as the Targum of Jonathan; but Jarchi and Aben Ezra more rightly interpret this of one that keeps for hire, as herdsmen, shepherds, &c. The Jews say (t) there are"four sorts of keepers; he that keeps for nought (or freely), he that borrows, he that takes hire, and he that hires; he that keeps for nought swears in all cases (and is free), he that borrows pays for all (that is lost or stolen, &c.) he that takes hire, and he that hires, swear on account of that which is torn, or carried away, or dies, and they pay for that which is lost or stolen,''which are the cases after supposed:
and it die; either of the above, or any other under the care of another; that is, dies of itself, not being killed by any, and its death sudden, and not easily accounted for:
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or be hurt; receive any damage in any part, though it die not; or "be broken" (u); have any of its limbs or bones broken; or be torn by a wild beast, as the Targum of Jonathan adds:
or driven away; from the flock or herd by thieves or robbers, or rather carried captive by an enemy in an hostile way, see Exo 22:12,
no man seeing it; die, or be hurt, or carried off; and so, as the above Targum paraphrases it, there is no witness that sees and can bear witness, that is, to any of the said things which have happened to it.
(t) Misn. Bava Metzia, c. 7. sect. 8. (u) "confractum", Pagninus, Montanus; "fractum", Junius & Tremelius, Piscator, Drusius; so Ainsworth.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v14 If a man (suppose) lent his team to his…
If a man (suppose) lent his team to his neighbour, if the owner were with it, or were to receive profit for the loan of it, whatever harm befel the cattle the owner must stand to the loss of it: but if the owner were so kind to the borrower as to lend it him gratis, and put such a confidence in him as to trust it from under his own eye, then, if any harm happened, the borrower must make it good. Learn hence to be very careful not to abuse any thing that is lent to us; it is not only unjust but base and disingenuous, we should much rather chuse to lose ourselves, than that any should sustain loss by their kindness to us.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv11, 13 Verse 11. An oath of the Lord be between…
Verse 11. An oath of the Lord be between them] So solemn and awful were all appeals to God considered in those ancient times, that it was taken for granted that the man was innocent who could by an oath appeal to the omniscient God that he had not put his hand to his neighbour's goods. Since oaths have become multiplied, and since they have been administered on the most trifling occasions, their solemnity is gone, and their importance little regarded. Should the oath ever reacquire its weight and importance, it must be when administered only in cases of peculiar delicacy and difficulty, and as sparingly as in the days of Moses.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v14 Exo 22:14-15. If a man (suppose) lent his team…
Exo 22:14-15. If a man (suppose) lent his team to his neighbour, if the owner were with it, or were to receive profit for the loan of it, whatever harm befell the cattle the owner must stand to the loss of it; but if the owner were so kind to the borrower as to lend it him gratis, and put such a confidence in him as to trust it from under his own eye, then, if any harm happened, the borrower must make it good. We may learn hence to be very careful not to abuse any thing that is lent to us; it is not only unjust, but base and disingenuous: we should much rather choose to lose ourselves, than that any should sustain loss by their kindness to us.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv10, 15 This law appears to relate chiefly to herdsmen employed…
This law appears to relate chiefly to herdsmen employed by the owners of cattle. When an animal was stolen Exo 22:12, it was presumed either that the herdsman might have prevented it, or that he could find the thief and bring him to justice (see Exo 22:4). When an animal was killed by a wild beast, the keeper had to produce the mangled carcass, not only in proof of the fact, but to show that he had, by his vigilance and courage, deprived the wild beast of its prey.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv12–15 Stealth, of the person to whom it was entrusted,…
Stealth, of the person to whom it was entrusted, or by his connivance, as the Hebrew mamu, (de cum eo) "from with him," intimates. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv12, 15 12. If it be stolen from him — Hebrew,…
12. If it be stolen from him — Hebrew, from with him, that is, from a place where his immediate oversight would naturally prevent such seizure. In this case the loss would be regarded as due to his carelessness. Comp. Gen_31:39.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–15 10. be hurt] lit. be broken, i.e. be maimed…
10. be hurt] lit. be broken, i.e. be maimed or wounded: so v. 14, Eze_34:4; Eze_34:16, Zec_11:16, Lev_22:22.
or driven away] better, carried away, viz. by raiders (Job_1:15; Job_1:17); 1Ch_5:21 Heb., 2Ch_14:15. The word commonly rendered taken captive, 1Sa_30:3; 1Sa_30:5, &c.
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10–13. Procedure to be followed, when the property deposited, and afterwards injured or lost, is an animal.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv10, 12, 13, 14, 15 (10) And it die, or be hurt, or driven…
(10) And it die, or be hurt, or driven away.—The animal might “die” naturally, or “be hurt” by a wild beast or a fall down the rocks, or “be driven away” by the marauding tribes of the desert. Both parties might be agreed on the fact of its disappearance; the dispute would be as to the mode of the disappearance. Here the trustee might bring proof, if he could (Exo_22:13); if not, he might clear himself by an “oath of the Lord” (Exo_22:11).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv10, 12, 13, 14, 15 Vers. 10, 11. If a man deliver unto his…
Vers. 10, 11. If a man deliver unto his neighbour an ass or an ox, etc. The deposit of cattle is unheard of in classical antiquity; but it might well be the usage of a pastoral race. (Gen_47:3) The parallelism of the verse with verse 6 indicates that a deposit of the same kind is intended. If it die, or be hurt, or driven away. The deposited beast might "die" naturally; or "he hurt" by a wild beast or a fall; or be "driven away "by thieves, without anyone seeing what had happened. In that case, if the man to whom the animal was entrusted would swear that he was no party to its disappearance, the owner had to put up with the loss.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v14 If a man borrow.
Exo_22:14-15
If a man borrow.
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Borrowing
1. God in His law provideth against hurting our neighbours goods by borrowing.
2. Hurt and death may come to things borrowed without the sin of the borrower.
3. In case of the borrowers faultlessness in hurt, no restitution doth God award.
4. In case of wilful hurt and spoil the borrower by Gods law must make it good.
5. Things wilfully hurt which are borrowed by hire must be satisfied by Gods law.
6. Perishing of such in a lawful use of them, Gods law accounts satisfied by their hire (Exo_22:14-15). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Concerning borrowing
Learn:
1. On the one hand--
(1) To be obliging. If you can do a needy neighbour a good turn by lending advice or material assistance, do so.
(2) Dont make your needy but obliged neighbour answerable for any accident that may occur through your own misfortune or fault.
2. On the other hand--
(1) Be careful not to abuse that which is in kindness lent you; or--
(2) Forget to return it, and thus render evil for good. Book-borrowers should note this. But--
(3) Rather both in principle (2Ki_6:5) and in action suffer the loss than inflict it. (J. W. Burn.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v14 CONCERNING BORROWING.—Exo_22:14-15
CONCERNING BORROWING.—Exo_22:14-15
This is an extension of the preceding principles. Borrowing might be for the purpose of—1, obligation; or 2, trade.
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I. If that which was borrowed received hurt in the absence of its owner, Exo_22:14, the owner was to be indemnified.
II. But if, as might be the case when the loan were cattle, and the owner were present, the sum for which it was hired was understood to cover the risk of accident, and the owner bore the loss.
Learn—
i. On the one hand—
(1.) to be obliging. If you can do a needy neighbour a good turn by lending advice or material assistance, do so.
(2.) Don’t make your needy but obliged neighbour answerable for any accident that may occur through your own misfortune or fault.
On the other hand—
(1.) Be careful not to abuse that which is in kindness lent you; or
(2.) (grave though minor inability of life) forget to return it, and thus render evil for good. Book-borrowers should note this. But
(3.) rather both in principle (2Ki_6:5) and in action suffer the loss than inflict it.—J. W. Burn.
SOCIAL EVILS.—Exo_22:16-19
1. Are recognised in the Word of God, and recognised as abominable before God and man. But unfortunately they are not so recognised by Christian communities and governments. Hence their prevalence and their enormities.
2. Are dealt with delicately, but firmly, by the Word of God, Old and New Testament alike. But, from mock modesty and a strange stupidity or inhumanity, are not so dealt with, but are rather encouraged by Christian communities and governments. And the result, of course, is ruin and misery now, and to the third and fourth generation.
3. Should urge every man who takes the Bible as his law, and who loves his fellow-creature, to adopt every legitimate means, at all times, and everywhere, to bring back society and government to the spirit, at any rate, of the legislation here enforced.
I. Contrast the Mosaic precept with the Christian practice with regard to the seducer.
1. Then the penalties fell on the real criminal.
(1.) He must marry his victim; or
(2.) in case the parents should interfere, pay a fine of 50 shekels of silver—the amount of her dowry.
2. Now the penalty falls upon the victim.
(1.) It is true a feeble sentiment (anything but universal) is expressed, but nowhere legally as to the obligation of marriage. But when that obligation is not recognised, the poor creature loses all, loses reputation, position, opportunity for retrieving her character, inherits the scorn of her sex, and, driven mad with woe, sinks into a suicide’s grave.
(2.) While in the second case, the villain holds his head as high as ever, often escapes all penalty, and when that penalty is incurred it is the amount he spends upon his dog. Shame on our Christian society, which adds burdens to that which by itself is too heavy to be borne. Shame on our inhuman and immoral legislation, which dares to put a premium on vice and to let the oppressors go free. (See also Deu_22:23-29).
II.
1. The Mosaic precept concerning the beast was death without mercy.
2. The Christian practice is to put a cloak over his crime or to hurry him away.
Learn—
i. The awful sanctions of personal purity and chastity (1Co_3:16-17; 1Co_6:9-20).
ii. To expend your wrath on the right offender.
iii. Do not shun the society of the offender (Luk_7:27; Joh_4:18; but Gal_6:1; Mar_2:17; cf. Joh_13:15).—J. W. Burn.
DIVINE JUSTICE AND DIVINE COMPASSION
The strictness of the Divine justice is seen in these ancient enactments; but there is also revealed the tenderness of the Divine compassion. The law is severe on evil-doers, in order that well-doers may be encouraged and strengthened. God is just to punish the unjust and the oppressor; but He is compassionate to the weak and helpless. How tenderly He cares for the widow and the orphan. Their mournful cries touch His Divine heart. Here are combined the justice of the ruler and the tenderness of the father. We must be just, but justice must be tempered by mercy, and sweetened by compassion. Let the beautiful humaneness of our religion be always manifested.
I. Irreligion must be checked. The witch is especially mentioned because women are more addicted to these evil practices than men. She is instrumental in the promotion of radical irreligion. She invokes the aid of demoniacal powers. She nurtures all that is evil in man. She is an evil worker for the purpose of getting gain, or securing power, or carrying out her desire for revenge. “Thou shalt not suffer the witch to live.” Perhaps if she repents and forsakes her evil ways, pardon may be granted. It is strange that this enactment is carried out in countries where the Bible is not read. Witchcraft is very generally abhorred. We must avoid all causes which tend to the spread of irreligion.
II. Unnatural abominations promote irreligion. The beastly is opposed to the spiritual. Religion exalts humanity, while irreligion degrades it. “Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death.”
III. False sacrifices are the outcome of irreligion. We sometimes use the word religion in a loose sense. And in this way we speak of idolaters as religious. But religion is that which binds the heart of man to the service of his Maker. That man is not religious, in the scriptural sense, at least, who offers sacrifice unto a god made by art and man’s device. There are those who insist on a religious spirit, and say that forms are no matter. But a right spirit will embody itself in a right creed, and express itself in right forms of religious worship. It is ridiculous to affirm that it is of no consequence to what god we offer sacrifices, in what form we worship, so long as the heart is right. “He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.” Spiritual destruction at least will be the result of erroneous creeds and immoral practices. Erroneous creeds are very often the forced product of spiritual death or decline. The pure in heart shall see God, shall see His truth, and be led into right ways.
IV. Inhumanity is opposed to true religion. “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Knobel says, “The persons meant are the Canaanitish and non-Canaanitish strangers, who stayed as individuals among the Israelites; the Canaanites as a whole are, according to this lawgiver also, to be extirpated.” No penalties are laid down now for the non-observance of this command. An appeal is simply made to the former condition of being strangers. The remembrance of our own afflictions ought to make us sympathetic with the afflicted. But in the day of our prosperity we forget the days of adversity, and have not a due consideration for those in adverse circumstances. Vex not the stranger, for thy soul was once vexed in a strange land. Oppress not the foreigner, and he will come to love thee, and to admire that religion which has taught thee compassion.
V. Gentleness towards the weak is highest manhood and noblest religion “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” An exalted humanity abhors the conduct of him who oppresses the widow and the orphan. Their very helplessness should be their strength. If the oppressor makes them cry, their cries, though only the sighing of crushed hearts, will pierce the heavens. The oppressor will be finally crushed by means of the oppressed. It is the great law of nature and of revelation that as a man sows so shall he reap. Retribution will come sooner or later. The oppressor of widows and orphans shall be killed with the sword, and their wives shall be widows, and their children fatherless. Escape is only in seeming. The prosperity of the wicked cannot be for ever. Oppressors must be destroyed. Tyrants must feel the awful recoil of their tyranny. Let us hasten for forgiveness and for power to amend our ways to Him whose gentleness was such that He did not break the bruised reed.—W. Burrows, B.A.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WILLIAM ADAMSON
Divine Enactments! Exo_22:1-31.
(1) There is a world of difference between a stained glass window and a kaleidoscope. Their relative values are very different, and so is their structure. The pieces of variegated glass are flung anyhow, for the prism to arrange; whereas, those employed in the window are all arranged to give a beautiful, effective, and abiding impression. These separate enactments are not strung together haphazard. On the contrary, they are chords divinely arranged to produce harmony in the world, and give forth strains of Divine adoration in their observance.
(2) If one side of a tree grows, and the other does not, the tree acquires a crooked form. It may be fruitful, but it cannot be beautiful. God would have humanities and nationalities, theocracies and individualities, both rich in the beauties of holiness and the fruits of righteousness. The unequal growth of the Christian graces is undesirable; hence the numerous Divine precautions to make them alike fair, fragrant, and fruitful.
“Stern lawgiving! yet thou dost wear
The Godhead’s most benignant grace;
Flowers laugh before thee on their beds;
And fragrance in thy footing treads;
Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong.”
—Wordsworth.
Seduction-Solatium! Exo_22:16-17. Marriage or money are the only earthly compensations which can be made. Unhappily, Wilson’s “Tales of the Borders” abound with instances, in which this law—still in force—was utterly disregarded altogether in its compensatory aspects. So far are men from any disposition of heart towards the act of restitution, that English law has to be framed and put in force to compel them to make solatium, either by matrimonial contract or pecuniary indemnity. One of the most painful of the annals of British Law Courts is that which concerns the disclosure of man’s heartlessness in regard to the maiden whom he has seduced. Law, however, can only enforce compensation; and it remains for grace to suppress the inclination. St. Benedict relates that when he felt this desir upon him, he rushed from his cave, and flung himself into a thicket of briars and nettles, in which he rolled himself until the blood flowed. This expedient could only be a temporary relief; and the only efficient and permanent method of preventative is “Prayer for divine grace.”
“Terrestrial objects, disenchanted there,
Lose all their power to dazzle or easnare;
One only object then seems worth our care—
To win the race.”
—Elliott.
Witchcraft and Wizardry! Exo_22:18.
(1) The Church of Rome subjected persons suspected of witchcraft to the most cruel torments; but itself is the most notorious offender in this respect. Its pretended miracles from the blood of St. Januarius to the trance of La Pucelle are a concentration of superstitious wizardry. In tens of thousands of cases the victims—often innocent—were burned alive; while others were drowned by the test applied. Rome herself, the apocalyptic wizard clothed in scarlet, is to know the retributive penalty of this law: “She shall not be suffered to live.”
(2) Sad as are the evidences of superstitious wizardry in modern spiritualism of America and England, there is this sure solace, that all witchcraft is doomed sooner or later. It is Carlyle who says, that the burning of a little straw may hide the stars of the sky; but the stars are there, and will reappear. Truth is Eternal.
“Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again—
The eternal years of God are hers;
But Error, wounded, writhes in pain,
And dies among her worshippers.”
—Bryant.
Witchcraft! Exo_22:18. The river Dart is a bright clear stream, which takes its rise amid the wild beauty of our English Alps—the Dartmoor range. Long years ago, a crowd was gathered. Here were the middle-aged and young farmers and labourers, with mingled fear of all witches, and hatred to witchcraft a part of their very creed. Here also were women with rancorous tongues; little children, with babes in their mothers’ arm, gathered as for a holiday. The squire’s daughter has been condemned to the test of witchcraft; if she sinks, she is guilty; if she rises and escapes, she is innocent. Arrayed in white garments, she is led towards the river through the crowd, whose cruel jests and coarse words are the first gauntlet her pure mind must run. The tender arms were grasped, and the graceful form hurled into the stream, swollen with the unusually heavy rains. Suddenly a cry was raised; the cruel crowd gave way; and a man rushed breathlessly to the river’s brink. It was the maiden’s lover, to whom she was shortly to be united; and having heard of the dreadful ordeal designed, he had hastened to rescue her from the “witch’s test.” Too late! Without a word, he plunged in after her. A gleam of a white robe—a sudden uphang of a man’s strong arm—were all that the superstitious onlookers ever saw more of the maiden or her lover.
“But endless is the list of human ills,
And sighs might sooner fail than cause to sigh.”
—Young.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10, 14 an oath to Yahweh must be taken by them…
an oath to Yahweh must be taken by them both
Only the man who is accused of stealing the animal must swear the oath. The owner of the lost animal must accept the oath that has been sworn. This can be stated in active form. AT: "the man who was caring for the animal must swear an oath before Yahweh and the owner must accept that oath" (See: Active or Passive)
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But if it was stolen from him
This can be stated in active form. AT: "But if someone stole the animal from him" (See: Active or Passive)
If an animal was torn in pieces
This can be stated in active form. AT: "But if a wild beast tore the animal in pieces" (See: Active or Passive)
He will not have to pay for what was torn
This can be stated in active form. AT: "He will not have to pay for the animal that the wild beast destroyed" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
neighbor
donkey
cow
ewe
die
wrong
oath
Yahweh
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.