Exodus 22

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KI zu diesem Kapitel fragen

Exodus 22 is a chapter of case law from the covenant at Sinai. It begins with property: a thief repays fivefold for an ox and fourfold for a sheep; killing a night intruder is not guilt, killing one by daylight is; those whose animals or fires damage a neighbor's field make good the loss; goods left for safekeeping, borrowed, or rented are covered case by case. A man who seduces an unbetrothed girl must pay the bride price. Then come three capital crimes, sorcery, bestiality, and sacrifice to other gods, and then the laws that give the chapter its heart: do not oppress the foreigner, widow, or orphan, do not charge the poor interest, and return a poor man's cloak by sunset, "for I am compassionate."

Kapitelkommentar öffnen

Exodus 22 reads like a legal code because it is one, the oldest in the Bible, given to a people who had been slaves a few months earlier and now had to learn to live together. The cases come one after another, each beginning with "if." If a man steals an ox. If a thief is caught breaking in at night. If a fire spreads to a neighbor's grain. If you leave money with a friend and it is stolen from his house. If you borrow a donkey and it dies. The rulings are practical and proportionate: pay back double, or four or five times over, take an oath before the LORD when there are no witnesses, and know that killing an intruder in the dark is self-defense while killing him after sunrise is not. Three capital crimes follow, sorcery, bestiality, and sacrifice to other gods, marking the edges of the covenant. Then the tone changes, and the lawgiver starts to sound like a father. Do not exploit the foreigner; you were foreigners in Egypt. Do not mistreat the widow or the orphan; if they cry to me, I will hear them, and my anger will burn. Do not charge the poor interest. If you take a poor man's cloak as security, give it back before dark, because it is the only blanket he has, and if he cries to me I will hear, for I am compassionate. Ancient law codes from Babylon have rules about oxen and thieves. None of them has God saying that.

Wichtige Bibelstellen

Exodus 22:1-4 Exodus 22:21-24 Exodus 22:25-27 Exodus 20:22-26 Leviticus 25:35-38 Luke 19:8

Historischer und literarischer Kontext

The chapter is part of the Covenant Code, Exodus 20:22 to 23:33, the oldest collection of Israelite law, given after the Ten Commandments at Sinai. Its "if a man… then" form matches the case law of the ancient Near East, and several of its rules have parallels in the Code of Hammurabi and other Mesopotamian collections, which shows Israel lived in a shared legal world. What sets it apart is its repeated appeal to Israel's own memory, "you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt," and its direct concern for people without protectors. Lending at interest was normal in the ancient world; forbidding it to the poor was not. Zacchaeus's promise to repay fourfold in Luke 19 follows verse 1, and Paul cites verse 28 in Acts 23.

Wie sich das Kapitel entfaltet

Verses 1 to 4 cover theft of livestock and the killing of a burglar. Verses 5 and 6 cover damage by grazing animals and by fire. Verses 7 to 15 cover property entrusted to a neighbor, disputed ownership, animals in another's care, and borrowed or hired animals. Verses 16 and 17 cover the seduction of an unbetrothed virgin. Verses 18 to 20 list three capital offenses. Verses 21 to 27 protect the foreign resident, the widow, the orphan, and the poor borrower, with God's own promise to hear their cry. Verses 28 to 31 close with reverence for God and rulers, the offering of firstfruits and firstborn, and the call to be a holy people.

Warum dieses Kapitel wichtig ist

Exodus 22 is where the Bible's concern for the poor first becomes law. The prohibition on interest to the poor shaped Jewish and Christian teaching on usury for three thousand years, the cloak returned by sunset is the classic image of mercy limiting a creditor's rights, and "you were foreigners in Egypt" is the biblical foundation of the ethic of hospitality to immigrants. The chapter's principle of restitution, making the victim whole and then some, rather than imprisonment, has influenced modern ideas of restorative justice. The distinction between killing a night intruder and a daytime one is an early statement of proportionality in self-defense.

Auslegungsfrage im Blick behalten

Verse 18, "You must not allow a sorceress to live," was used to justify witch trials in Europe and America, a history that hangs over the chapter. Verses 18 to 20, and the selling of a penniless thief into servitude in verse 3, raise the broader question of how Christians read Israel's civil law: as binding, as expired with the old covenant, or as a window onto God's priorities whose principles still apply. The seduction law of verses 16 and 17 protects the girl's economic future in its own setting, but reads harshly today. The chapter also mixes property rules, sexual ethics, worship, and welfare without headings, and readers must decide how the parts illuminate each other.

Fragen zu diesem Kapitel

  • The thief repays four or five times what he took. How does restitution differ from punishment, and what does each do for the victim?
  • God says of the widow and the orphan, "I will surely hear their cry." What does it mean that God takes the side of people without protectors?
  • The cloak must be returned at sunset even though it was lawfully taken. When should mercy limit a legal right?

Mit Kontext studieren

Nutze dies als Kapitel-Leitfaden und gehe dann tiefer in den Text selbst. Ziel ist es, die Beobachtung zu verlangsamen, die Struktur wahrzunehmen und bessere Fragen zu stellen, bevor man vorschnell zu Schlussfolgerungen kommt.

Zu Notizen hinzufügen
1 If any man steal an ox or a sheep, and kill or sell it: he shall restore five oxen for one ox, and four sheep for one sheep. 2 If a thief be found breaking open a house or undermining it, and be wounded so as to die: he that slew him shall not be guilty of blood. 3 But if he did this when the sun is risen, he hath committed murder, and he shall die. If he have not wherewith to make restitution for the theft, he shall be sold. 4 If that which he stole be found with him, alive, either ox, or ass, or sheep: he shall restore double. 5 If any man hurt a field or a vineyard, and put in his beast to feed upon that which is other men’s: he shall restore the best of whatsoever he hath in his own field, or in his vineyard, according to the estimation of the damage. 6 If a fire breaking out light upon thorns, and catch stacks of corn, or corn standing in the fields, he that kindled the fire shall make good the loss. 7 If a man deliver money, or any vessel unto his friend to keep, and they be stolen away from him that received them: if the thief be found he shall restore double: 8 If the thief be not known, the master of the house shall be brought to the gods, and shall swear that he did not lay his hand upon his neighbour’s goods, 9 To do any fraud, either in ox, or in ass, or sheep, or raiment, or any thing that may bring damage: the cause of both parties shall come to the gods: and if they give judgment, he shall restore double to his neighbour. 10 If a man deliver ass, ox, sheep, or any beast, to his neighbour’s custody, and it die, or be hurt, or be taken by enemies, and no man saw it: 11 There shall be an oath between them, that he did not put forth his hand to his neighbour’s goods: and the owner shall accept of the oath; and he shall not be compelled to make restitution. 12 But if it were taken away by stealth, he shall make the loss good to the owner. 13 If it were eaten by a beast, let him bring to him that which was slain, and he shall not make restitution. 14 If a man borrow of his neighbour any of these things, and it be hurt or die, the owner not being present, he shall be obliged to make restitution. 15 But if the owner be present, he shall not make restitution, especially if it were hired and came for the hire of his work. 16 If a man seduce a virgin not yet espoused, and lie with her: he shall endow her, and have her to wife. 17 If the maid’s father will not give her to him, he shall give money according to the dowry, which virgins are wont to receive. 18 Wizards thou shalt not suffer to live. 19 Whosoever copulateth with a beast shall be put to death. 20 He that sacrificeth to gods, shall be put to death, save only to the Lord. 21 Thou shalt not molest a stranger, nor afflict him: for yourselves also were strangers in the land of Egypt. 22 You shall not hurt a widow or an orphan. 23 If you hurt them they will cry out to me, and I will hear their cry: 24 And my rage shall be enkindled, and I will strike you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. 25 If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor, that dwelleth with thee, thou shalt not be hard upon them as an extortioner, nor oppress them with usuries. 26 If thou take of thy neighbour a garment in pledge, thou shalt give it him again before sunset. 27 For that same is the only thing wherewith he is covered, the clothing of his body, neither hath he any other to sleep in: if he cry to me, I will hear him, because I am compassionate. 28 Thou shalt not speak ill of the gods, and the prince of thy people thou shalt not curse. 29 Thou shalt not delay to pay thy tithes and thy firstfruits: thou shalt give the firstborn of thy sons to me. 30 Thou shalt do the same with the firstborn of thy oxen also and sheep: seven days let it be with its dam, the eighth day thou shalt give it to me. 31 You shall be holy men to me: the flesh that beasts have tasted of before, you shall not eat, but shall cast it to the dogs.

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