Ex. 22: Property and Society; Bestiality Revealed to be Wrong

In reading through the various property protection standards in the first half of Exodus 22, I am struck by how each punishment or consequence fits the the corresponding crime. There is no imprisonment, no generic fining.

If an animal is stolen and slaughtered, it must be repaid five times. Four times in cases of sheep. If not slaughtered, repaid double.

A thief makes restitution or is enslaved if payment is impossible.

Restitution to field owners if someones cattle graze on it, or burns it down.

A courtroom hears cases in which someone gives goods to a neighbor for safekeeping and something happens to it, property disputes, and cases in which animals are injured or killed in someone else's possession.

Sexual sins are also covered here. Verse 16 talks about the consequences to someone who seduces and sleeps with a virgin. Pre-marital sex, that is...

Verse 18...Do not allow a sorceress to live. What about a sorcerer? Sorcery must tap in to a power that is real and contrary, or else God would not provide that they should be put to death.

The death penalty is a punishment for bestiality, sacrificing to another god ("utterly destroyed" in the KJV), or taking advantage of orphan or widow.

Verse 21 speaks to our current illegal immigration debate.

In lending money to another Israelite, God commands that no interest be charged. If you take his cloak as collateral, it must be returned by sunset, as the cloak is the only covering for their body. Its just being nice. God, in His compassion, will hear the cries of a cloakless man.

Dissatisfied with who is currently in charge? Read verse 28.

Don't hold back offerings, and consecrate the firstborn of your sons and animals, a reiteration of the command in chapter 13. The eight day thing? Remember Genesis 17:12...

Also, the Israelites were not to be scavengers. They were to remain a holy people, eating what they raise and slaughter themselves.