CHAPTER 22 Feb.12 
Regulations about Theft and Loss
If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it, or sells it; he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. 2If the thief is found breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt of bloodshed for him. 3If the sun has risen on him, guilt of bloodshed shall be for him; he shall make restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4If the stolen property is found in his hand alive, whether it is ox, donkey, or sheep, he shall pay double. 5If a man causes a field or vineyard to be eaten, and lets his animal loose, and it grazes in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field, and from the best of his own vineyard. 6If fire breaks out, and catches in thorns so that the stacks of grain, or the standing grain, or the field are consumed; he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution. 7If a man delivers to his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it is stolen out of the man’s house; if the thief is found, he shall pay double. 8If the thief isn’t found, then the master of the house shall come near to God, to find out if he hasn’t put his hand to his neighbour’s goods. 9For every matter of trespass, whether it be for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any kind of lost thing, about which one says, ‘This is mine’, the cause of both parties shall come before God. He whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbour. 10If a man delivers to his neighbour a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies or is injured, or driven away, no man seeing it; 11the oath of Yahweh shall be between them both, whether he hasn’t put his hand to his neighbour’s goods; and its owner shall accept it, and he shall not make restitution. 12But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner. 13If it is torn in pieces, let him bring it for evidence. He shall not make good that which was torn. 14If a man borrows anything of his neighbour’s, and it is injured, or dies, its owner not being with it, he shall surely make restitution. 15If its owner is with it, he shall not make it good. If it is a leased thing, it came for its lease.
Regulations Teaching Sensitivity to Others
16If a man entices a virgin who isn’t pledged to be married, and lies with her, he shall surely pay a dowry for her to be his wife. 17If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. 18You shall not allow a sorceress to live. 19Whoever has sex with an animal shall surely be put to death. 20He who sacrifices to any god, except to Yahweh only, shall be utterly destroyed. 21You shall not wrong an alien, neither shall you oppress him, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. 22You shall not take advantage of any widow or fatherless child. 23If you take advantage of them at all, and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry; 24and My wrath will grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. 25If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor; neither shall you charge him interest. 26If you take your neighbour’s garment as guarantee of a loan, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down, 27for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What would he sleep in? It will happen, when he cries to Me, that I will hear, for I am gracious. 28You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse a ruler of your people. 29You shall not delay to offer from your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. You shall give the firstborn of your sons to Me. 30You shall do likewise with your cattle and with your sheep. Seven days it shall be with its mother, then on the eighth day you shall give it to Me. 31You shall be holy men to Me, therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by animals in the field. You shall cast it to the dogs.

Commentary

22:7 Pay double- But Zacchaeus paid back four times what he had stolen (Lk. 19:8). The existence of God’s law shouldn’t inculcate a spirit of minimalism in us, doing the letter of the law and no more. Rather if we perceive the principles behind it, we will do far over and above what the letter of the law requires. 
22:10 ‘God’ here refers to the judges or elders; to come before God’s representative is to come before God.
22:21 Israel were to be motivated in kindness to others by the recollection that they had been redeemed from Egypt; the memory of our redemption through the waters of baptism [cp. the Red Sea]  should have the same effect upon us.
22:25 Israelites weren’t to lend to each other for interest. Yet Jesus tells the rejected man that he should’ve done at least this (Mt. 25:7)- as if to say that the man should’ve done at least something with what God had given him, even if it wasn’t the ideal, and even if it technically infringed God’s law. Indifference and selfish laziness with God’s gifts is therefore highlighted as being so reprehensible to Jesus.
22:31 This command wasn’t only for hygienic reasons. God wished to encourage His people to have a healthy work ethic, not taking short cuts, but eating animals they had raised themselves for that purpose. We live in a society where laziness and trying to live for free has become almost an art form. We cannot ultimately get around the curse, that we shall eat only as a result of the sweat of our own labour. We have to accept our humanity and our fallen condition, looking for the lifting of the curse in God’s future Kingdom.