Exodus 22:4 - Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

Exodus 22:4

2 If the thief is found ^abreaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be ^bno guilt for his bloodshed.

3 If the sun has risen on him, there shall be guilt for his bloodshed. He should make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he shall be ^asold for his theft.

4 If the theft is certainly^a found alive in his hand, whether it is an ox or donkey or sheep, he shall ^brestore double.

5 “If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed, and lets loose his animal, and it feeds in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard.

6 “If fire breaks out and catches in thorns, so that stacked grain, standing grain, or the field is consumed, he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.

7 “If a man ^adelivers to his neighbor money or articles to keep, and it is stolen out of the man’s house, ^bif the thief is found, he shall pay double.

8 If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought to the ^ajudges to see whether he has put his hand into his neighbor’s goods.

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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Exodus 22:1-4

LAWS CONCERNING THEFT. (Exo. 22:1-31)

If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep—The law respects the theft of cattle which constituted the chief part of their property. The penalty for the theft of a sheep which was slain or sold, was fourfold; for an ox fivefold, because of its greater utility in labor; but, should the stolen animal have been recovered alive, a double compensation was all that was required, because it was presumable he (the thief) was not a practised adept in dishonesty. A robber breaking into a house at midnight might, in self-defense, be slain with impunity; but if he was slain after sunrise, it would be considered murder, for it was not thought likely an assault would then be made upon the lives of the occupants. In every case where a thief could not make restitution, he was sold as a slave for the usual term.

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