Other Ordinances

(Exodus 22:16 - 23:19)

If a man seduces a young woman who is not yet betrothed and has sexual relations with her, he is obligated to marry her and pay the bride price.  If the father adamantly refuses to sanction the marriage, then the man must still pay him an amount equivalent to the customary bride price. 

Women who practice sorcery should not be permitted to reside in the community.

Anyone who has carnal intercourse with an animal should be executed.

Anyone who makes a sacrifice to any god other than Jehovah should be thoroughly ostracized.

Do not maltreat a foreign immigrant or persecute him (for you were once foreign immigrants in the land of Egypt).

Do not exploit any widow or orphan, for if you do so in any way, and they voice the slightest complaint, I will hear it; my righteous wrath will be aroused, and with a sword will I strike you down, making your wife, a widow and your children, orphans.

If you lend money to any of my people who are poor, do not take advantage of them by acting like a loan shark and charging interest on the loan.  If, for instance, you take a debtor's cloak in pledge, you must restore it to him by the end of day, for, being poor, his cloak may be the only blanket he has to cover himself when he sleeps.  Indeed, if the poor have cause to complain to me, I will listen to them, for I am compassionate and merciful.

Do not disrespect your judges, or speak evil of your rulers.

Do not delay from sacrificing to me the harvested grains of the field and the juice of your wine presses.  The first born of your sons are owed to me as well.  And it must be the same with your cattle and sheep.  The first-born male calf or lamb may remain with its mother for seven days, but on the eighth day, it must be sacrificed to me.

To me, you are holy men; therefore, do not defile yourself by consuming the meat of predated animals: feed it to the dogs.

Do not testify to confirm falsehoods or perjury yourself to aid an evildoer.  Do not be swayed to follow the majority when it is in the wrong or allow it to pressure you into subverting justice by repeating its lies.  Nor should you, on the other hand, display undue favoritism to the minority.

If you encounter a steer or donkey going astray, even though it may belong to an enemy, you should steer it back on its proper way.  And if you see a donkey belonging to someone who hates you crouching on the ground, collapsed under the weight of its load, you should not pass by and ignore it, but help it on its feet.

Do not prevent the poor man from seeking justice.  Reject trumped-up charges.  Do not sentence to death an innocent, blameless man, for I will not pardon such miscarriages of justice.

Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the judgments of the just.

Do not persecute the foreign immigrant, for you know his lot and can sympathize with his plight, having been foreign immigrants yourselves in Egypt.

You should plant your fields with grain and harvest it for six years, but, on the seventh year, leave the crop unharvested so that the needy of your people may eat from it.  (The animals may feed on the leavings.)  Deal likewise with your vineyards and olive groves.

Labor for six days a week and take a holiday on the seventh day, so that your cattle and donkeys may have a rest and so that the slaves and the resident aliens may be refreshed.

Heed all the words I have spoken to you.  Never swear by other gods or even utter their names.

Three times a year you should celebrate feasts to honor me.  You should observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Then you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib when you departed from Egypt.  (Do not appear before me with empty hands!) You will also celebrate the Feast of First Fruits, when what you have planted first bears fruit, and the Harvest Feast, when, at the end of the year, the harvested grain is brought in from the fields and stored.

Thus, three times a year all your males must participate in these religious rites dedicated to me.

(You must not mix the blood of my sacrificial offerings with unleavened bread, or save any fat till the next morning.  The choicest fruits of the harvest you should bring to the altar of Jehovah your god.  Do not boil a kid in his mother's milk.)

Notes 
1. In this series of ordinances we see some of the first inklings of Jehovah's compassion -- for the poor and needy, for widows and orphans, for foreign immigrants.  And there is expressed an almost Christian sympathy in aiding the poor and the needy, even one's enemy when his livestock goes astray or when his overburdened donkey needs a helping hand.  Also, there is an emphasize on Jehovah's animosity to other gods and his insistence on getting his due, no work on the Sabbath, and, of course, his beloved animal sacrifices.

2.  In Hebrew society dowries were not paid by the bride’s father, rather a bride price was paid to the bride’s father by the husband.

3.  The oft-sited King James Version passage, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," which seems to mean that witches should be killed on sight, is, at best, misleading.  The text is not clear, but “live," I would suggest, does not here mean "exist," but rather "reside."  This is not an exhortation to execute witches or sorcerers, but rather a prohibition against them living among the Hebrews.  If the commandment meant that witches were to be executed, surely the text would have been phrased like similar passages enumerating capital crimes.

4.  What happens to someone sacrificing to a god other than Jehovah is not clear.  It does not say that he should be put to death, but “devoted” whatever that might mean. Many translations say “utterly destroyed.”  But what is the distinction between destroyed and being executed?  My guess is that the person would be ostracized, a terrible punishment in ancient societies.

5.  Here is the first reference to a prohibition on the charging of interest on loans.  From later passages it will be clear that the ban is not universal, a reasonable, non-usurious is permissible on loans to the wealthy or to foreigners, but not to fellow Israelites who are poor and needy.  The Bible, in both testaments, is rather hard on money lenders. (It is somewhat ironic then that Jehovah’s chosen people became notorious in later times for being usurious money lenders.)

6.  The three feasts are given several names in various translations.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread is, of course, Passover.  The Feast of First Fruits would later be called the Festival of Pentecost or Shabuoth.  The Harvest Feast, later called Festival of Tabernacles, is now celebrated as Succoth.