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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Exodus 22:16 - 22:31
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Regarding Various Social Relations
v. 16. And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, thus seducing her and robbing her of her honor and virginity, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. The crime could be expiated at least in a measure by his marrying the girl and by giving dowry money to her father.
v. 17. If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay, weigh out, money according to the dowry of virgins. This procedure, in a way, reinstated the girl as a virgin, and she was afterwards not barred from marrying. The transgressor thus made good his crime as far as possible and showed his repentance. In the case of a betrothed virgin the punishment inflicted upon the seducer was death, Deu_22:23-24.
v. 18. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live; every one, man or woman, actually guilty of witchcraft, was to be put to death. The sorceress is merely named because women were more addicted to this practice than men.
v. 19. Whosoever lieth with a beast, in sexual intercourse, shall surely be put to death. Cf Lev_18:23; Lev_20:15; Deu_27:21. This vice was placed on the same level with pederasty or sodomy, Lev_20:13.
v. 20. He that sacriftceth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed. Since the government of the children of Israel was a theocracy, under the direct rule of Jehovah, the idolater forfeited his life. At the present time it would be wrong for a government to punish sorcery, idolatry, heresy, with death or in any form whatsoever, unless social damage has been done; for the state is concerned with outward matters only. But so far as the Christian congregations are concerned, they cannot tolerate offenders of this kind in their midst, for the trespasses named are deadly sins, which absolutely drive out faith.
v. 21. Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him, in no manner make life miserable for him, either by open persecution or by constant nagging; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt, and the memory of those years of oppression was intended to foster in their hearts true kindness. The word "stranger" apparently applies to non-Canaanitish strangers only; for the Canaanites were to be extirpated.
v. 22. Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. To humble widows and orphans by acts of unkindness is to challenge the Lord, who is the special Protector of the desolate.
v. 23. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry;
v. 24. and My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows and your children fatherless. In the wars which the Lord would bring upon them as an act of retaliation and revenge, their own loved ones, by their death, would be left as helpless as those whom the Israelites oppressed and humbled in the first place.
v. 25. If thou lend money to any of My people that is poor by thee, to any members of the Jewish nation that were in such need as to be compelled to borrow for the necessaries of life, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury, take interest in such a case.
v. 26. If thou at all take thy neighbor's raiment to pledge, take his garment as security, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down;
v. 27. for that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin, it serves to cover and protect his body against the inclemencies of the weather; wherein shall he sleep? The upper garment of the Oriental served him as a cover in which he wrapped himself at night. And it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto Me, that I will hear; for I am gracious, His divine favor rests upon such as are in need. We Christians also know that it pleases the Lord if we have compassion upon the widow and the fatherless, and that any oppression of the poor and needy will bring upon us His punishment.
v. 28. Thou shalt not revile the gods, that is, Elohim, the one true God, they shall not blaspheme, nor curse the ruler of thy people, who is a representative of the Lord on earth.
v. 29. Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits and of thy liquors, literally, "of thy fullness or plenty and of thy drop [of oil and wine] thou shalt not delay"; for. the Lord wanted the first-fruits of the field, of the vineyard, and of the olive-orchard. The first-born of thy sons shalt thou give unto Me. Cf Exo_13:2-12.
v. 30. Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen and with thy sheep: seven days it shall be with his dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it Me as a sacrifice.
v. 31. And ye shall be holy men unto Me, set apart as a peculiar nation; neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs. As a people that was consecrated to the Lord in the first-born they should abstain from the eating of unclean meat, to which that belonged which had been tom by beasts of prey. Christians will also abstain from all practices which will defile the heart and the mind and be glad to offer to the Lord of their income from all sources.