22:1-17

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Laws about repayment

(Ex 22:1-17)

A convicted thief had to return stolen goods and pay a fine in the form of an additional compensation to the owner. The more serious the crime, the heavier the fine. If the thief could not make the payment, he himself became the payment by becoming the slave of the one whose goods he had stolen.

It was not lawful to kill a thief caught in the act, unless at night, when self-defence could make such action excusable. Normally the thief was to be captured and brought before the judges (Ex 22:1-4). Compensation had to be made for damage caused by cattle or fire (Ex 22:5-6).

A person who had goods left in his care could become the centre of a dispute if those goods were lost or damaged. If he could satisfy the judges, either through making a statement on oath or by producing evidence, that he was not responsible, he was not required to pay compensation.

But if a suspicion of dishonesty existed, or if two parties claimed possession of the same thing, the judges had some means of deciding who was wrong (Ex 22:7-15).

When a man, through misbehaviour, caused a young woman to lose her virginity, he had to pay compensation to the woman’s father.

This payment was required whether the father allowed the man to marry his daughter or not, because the father now had no chance of obtaining the bride price he could normally expect for a virgin daughter (Ex 22:16-17).