Exodus 22:19

22; 1 - 31 Judicial laws. - The people of God should ever be ready to show mildness and mercy, according to the spirit of these laws. We must answer to God, not only for what we do maliciously, but for what we do heedlessly. Therefore, when we have done harm to our neighbour, we should make restitution, though not compelled by law. Let these scriptures lead our souls to remember, that if the grace of God has indeed appeared to us, then it has taught us, and enabled us so to conduct ourselves by its holy power, that denying ungodliness and wordly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, Titus 2:12. And the grace of God teaches us, that as the Lord is our portion, there is enough in him to satisfy all the desires of our souls.

In like manner as a man and woman, by carnal copulation; this is a crime so detestable and abominable, so shocking and dishonourable to human nature, that one would think it could never be committed by any of the human species, and that there was no occasion for making a law against it; but, such is the depravity and corruption of mankind, that divine wisdom saw it necessary, and, to deter from it, made it death, as follows; such an one shall surely be put to death; no mercy shown him, no pardon or respite given him by the civil magistrate: according to the Targum of Jonathan, the death of such a person was by stoning, for it paraphrases the words,"he shall be killed with the casting of stones.''

Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live - See the marginal references. and Leviticus 20:27 . The witch is here named to represent the class. This is the earliest denunciation of witchcraft in the law. In every form of witchcraft there is an appeal to a power not acting in subordination to the divine law. From all such notions and tendencies true worship is designed to deliver us. The practice of witchcraft was therefore an act of rebellion against Yahweh, and, as such, was a capital crime. The passages bearing on the subject in the Prophets, as well as those in the law, carry a lesson for all ages. Isaiah 8:19 ; Isaiah 19:3 ; Isaiah 44:25 ; Isaiah 47:12-13 ; Micah 5:12 , etc.

Verse 19. - Law against unnatural crime . The abomination here mentioned is said to have prevailed in Egypt, and even to have formed part of the Egyptian religion (Herod. 2:46; Strab. 17. p. 802; Clem. A1. Cohort. ad Gentes, p. 9; etc.). Though regarded by the Greeks and Romans as disgusting and contemptible, it does not seem to have been made a crime by any of their legislators. It was, however, condemned by the Gentoo laws and by the laws of Menu (11:17). Exodus 22:19

13 . was hardened ] Heb. was strong . One of the three synonyms used in Ex. to express the idea of hardening of the heart: the three being (1) ḥâzaḳ, ḥizzçḳ , lit. to be and to make strong (i.e. firm, hard, unyielding , cf. Ezekiel 3:7-9 Heb.), used by P ( Exodus 7:13 ; Exodus 7:22 , Exodus 8:19 , Exodus 9:12 , Exodus 11:10 , Exodus 14:4 ; Exodus 14:8 ; Exodus 14:17 ), and E ( Exodus 4:21 , Exodus 9:35 , Exodus 10:20 ; Exodus 10:27 ); (2) kâbçd, hikbîd , lit. to be and to make heavy (i.e. slow to move or be affected, unimpressionable , cf. of the tongue, Exodus 4:10 ), used by J ( Exodus 7:14 , Exodus 8:15 ; Exodus 8:32 , Exodus 9:7 ; Exodus 9:34 , Exodus 10:1 ); and (3) hiḳshâh , which is properly rendered, to harden (cf. the cognate adj. of the neck, Exodus 32:9 al. ), only Exodus 7:3 (P). (1) and (2) are always distinguished in RV. of Ex. by a marg. In these passages, Pharaoh’s heart is itself said to be hard in Exodus 7:13-14 ; Exodus 7:22 , Exodus 8:19 , Exodus 9:7 ; Exodus 9:35 ; Pharaoh is said to harden it himself in Exodus 8:15 ; Exodus 8:32 , Exodus 9:34 ; and God is said to harden it in Exodus 4:21 , Exodus 7:3 , Exodus 9:12 , Exodus 10:1 ; Exodus 10:20 ; Exodus 10:27 , Exodus 11:10 , Exodus 14:4 ; Exodus 14:8 (cf. 17). See further the detached note below. and he hearkened not to them, as Jehovah had spoken ] P’s closing formula (p. 55), as v. 22, Exodus 8:15 b, 19, Exodus 9:12 . Had spoken , see v. 4a.

6. If fire break out, and catch in thorns—This refers to the common practice in the East of setting fire to the dry grass before the fall of the autumnal rains, which prevents the ravages of vermin, and is considered a good preparation of the ground for the next crop. The very parched state of the herbage and the long droughts of summer, make the kindling of a fire an operation often dangerous, and always requiring caution from its liability to spread rapidly. stacks—or as it is rendered "shocks" (Jud 15:5; Job 5:26), means simply a bundle of loose sheaves.

The laws which follow, from Exodus 22:18 onwards, differ both in form and subject-matter from the determinations of right which we have been studying hitherto: in form, through the omission of the כּי with which the others were almost invariably introduced; in subject-matter, inasmuch as they make demands upon Israel on the ground of its election to be the holy nation of Jehovah, which go beyond the sphere of natural right, not only prohibiting every inversion of the natural order of things, but requiring the manifestation of love to the infirm and needy out of regard to Jehovah. The transition from the former series to the present one is made by the command in Exodus 22:18 , "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live;" witchcraft being, on the one hand, "the vilest way of injuring a neighbour in his property, or even in his body and life" (Ranke), whilst, on the other hand, employment of powers of darkness for the purpose of injuring a neighbour was a practical denial of the divine vocation of Israel, as well as of Jehovah the Holy One of Israel.

The witch is mentioned instead of the wizard, "not because witchcraft was not to be punished in the case of men, but because the female sex was more addicted to this crime" (Calovius). תחיּה לא (shalt not suffer to live) is chosen instead of the ordinary יוּמת מות (shall surely die), which is used in Leviticus 20:27 of wizards also, not "because the lawgiver intended that the Hebrew witch should be put to death in any case, and the foreigner only if she would not go when she was banished" (Knobel), but because every Hebrew witch was not to be put to death, but regard was to be had to the fact that witchcraft is often nothing but jugglery, and only those witches were to be put to death who would not give up their witchcraft when it was forbidden. Witchcraft is followed in Exodus 22:19 by the unnatural crime of lying with a beast; and this is also threatened with the punishment of death (see Leviticus 18:23 , and Leviticus 20:15-16 ).