Holly Bible - KJV with Concise Commentaries by Z Selam - HTML preview
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Exodus-22
Laws concerning Restitution
1 If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall
restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.
Concerning theft, which are these:--
1. If a man steal any cattle (in which the wealth of those times chiefly consisted), and they be found in his custody, he must restore double, Ex 22:4. Thus he must both satisfy for the wrong and suffer for the crime. But it was afterwards provided that if the thief were touched in conscience, and voluntarily confessed it, before it was discovered or enquired into by any other, then he should only make restitution of what he had stolen, and add to it a fifth part, Le 6:4,5.
2. If he had killed or sold the sheep or ox he had stolen, and thereby persisted in his crime, he must restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep (Ex 22:1), more for an ox than for a sheep because the owner, besides all the other profit, lost the daily labour of his ox. This law teaches us that fraud and injustice, so far from enriching men, will impoverish them: if we unjustly get and keep that which is another's, it will not only waste itself, but it will consume that which is our own.
3. If he was not able to make restitution, he must be sold for a slave, Ex 22:3. The court of judgment was to do it, and it is probable that the person robbed had the money. Thus with us, in some cases, felons are transported into plantations where alone Englishmen know what slavery is.
2 If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there
shall no blood be shed for him.
3 If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; f o r he
should make full restitution: if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.