Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He continues to establish judicial laws concerning theft, verse 1; concerning deposits, verse 7; concerning loans, verse 14; concerning fornication, verse 15; concerning sorcery, verse 18; concerning charity toward foreigners, widows, and orphans, verse 21; concerning usury and pledges, verse 25; concerning tithes and first-fruits, verse 29.
Vulgate Text: Exodus 22:1-31
1. If anyone shall have stolen an ox or a sheep, and shall have killed or sold it, he shall restore five oxen for one ox, and four sheep for one sheep. 2. If a thief be found breaking into a house or undermining it, and he be wounded and die, the striker shall not be guilty of blood. 3. But if he did this after sunrise, he has committed homicide, and he himself shall die. If he does not have the means to make restitution for the theft, he himself shall be sold. 4. If what he stole be found in his possession alive, whether ox, or donkey, or sheep, he shall restore double. 5. If anyone damages a field or vineyard and lets his beast loose to graze on another's land, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field or vineyard, according to the estimation of the damage. 6. If a fire breaks out and finds thorns, and catches heaps of grain or standing crops in the fields, he who kindled the fire shall pay the damage. 7. If anyone entrusts money or a vessel to a friend for safekeeping, and it be stolen from the one who received it, if the thief is found, he shall pay double. 8. If the thief is hidden, the master of the house shall be brought before the judges and shall swear that he did not lay his hand on his neighbor's property, 9. to perpetrate fraud, whether concerning an ox, or a donkey, or a sheep, or clothing, or anything that can cause loss: the case of both parties shall come before the judges; and if they judge against him, he shall restore double to his neighbor. 10. If anyone entrusts to his neighbor a donkey, ox, sheep, or any beast for safekeeping, and it dies, or is injured, or is captured by enemies, and no one has seen it: 11. an oath shall be taken between them that he did not lay his hand on his neighbor's property; and the owner shall accept the oath, and he shall not be compelled to make restitution. 12. But if it was stolen, he shall make restitution for the loss to the owner. 13. If it was devoured by a beast, let him bring what was killed to the owner, and he shall not make restitution. 14. Whoever borrows any of these things from his neighbor, and it is injured or dies while the owner is not present, he shall be compelled to make restitution. 15. But if the owner was present, he shall not make restitution, especially if it had been hired for the price of his labor. 16. If anyone seduces a virgin not yet betrothed and lies with her, he shall endow her and have her as his wife. 17. If the father of the virgin refuses to give her, he shall pay money according to the manner of the dowry that virgins customarily receive. 18. You shall not allow sorcerers to live. 19. Whoever lies with a beast shall be put to death. 20. Whoever sacrifices to gods shall be killed, except to the Lord alone. 21. You shall not sadden a stranger, nor afflict him, for you yourselves were strangers in the land of Egypt. 22. You shall not harm a widow or an orphan. 23. If you harm them, they will cry out to Me, and I will hear their cry; 24. and My fury will be aroused, and I will strike you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows and your children orphans. 25. If you lend money to My people, to the poor who dwell with you, you shall not press him like a creditor, nor oppress him with usury. 26. If you take your neighbor's garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset. 27. For it is his only covering, the garment of his flesh, and he has nothing else in which to sleep; if he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for I am merciful. 28. You shall not revile the judges, and you shall not curse the ruler of your people. 29. You shall not delay to render your tithes and first-fruits; you shall give Me the firstborn of your sons. 30. Likewise with your oxen and sheep: you shall do likewise; for seven days it shall remain with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me. 31. You shall be holy men to Me: you shall not eat flesh that has been tasted by beasts, but you shall cast it to the dogs.
Verse 1: If anyone shall have stolen an ox or a sheep, and shall have killed or sold it, he shall restore five oxen for one ox, and four sheep for one sheep
You ask: Why is the thief of an ox commanded to restore five oxen, but the thief of a sheep not five but only four sheep? Theodoret responds that a greater theft must be punished with a greater penalty and fine; and the theft of an ox is greater than that of a sheep, because an ox is of greater value than a sheep. To this add that the thief of an ox is justly compelled to restore a fifth ox, so that through it he may repair the loss that the owner of the ox suffered in his farming on account of its theft; for a sheep does not serve for this purpose, as an ox and horse do. Strabo alluded to this in the Gloss, and following him St. Thomas, I-II, Question 105, article 2, reply 9: God commands, he says, that the thief restore five oxen for one, because an ox has five uses: for first, it is sacrificed; second, it feeds with its flesh; third, it plows; fourth, it gives milk; fifth, it gives leather. But a sheep brings only four benefits: for first, it is sacrificed; second, it feeds with its flesh; third, it gives milk; fourth, it gives wool. This is a congruence, not the cause.
Mystically, the ox signifies the teacher of the people, and the sheep the hearer and disciple: hence he who takes away or corrupts a teacher is punished more severely than he who takes away a hearer. See Rabanus.
Verse 3: But if he did this after sunrise, he has committed homicide, and he himself shall die
Note: Here God ordains that he who kills a daytime thief is guilty of death, but he who kills a nighttime thief is not at all: therefore it was lawful to kill the latter, but not the former. The reason for the distinction is that the force and intention of a nighttime thief are uncertain; for it is not known whether he comes only to steal or also to kill. Furthermore, because at night the thief cannot be recognized, so that the owner might recover his property from him through a legal proceeding. Third, because a nighttime thief cannot be repelled or apprehended as safely as a daytime one; for during the day the householder has domestic help and the assistance of neighbors at hand, and can summon them immediately. The same distinction between a daytime and nighttime thief regarding his killing is found in canon law, Extravagantes, On Homicides, chapter Si perfodiens, derived from St. Augustine, which is based on this divine ordinance.
Understand this to apply only if the thief is merely acting as a thief; for if he further defended the theft with a sword or weapons, the daytime thief could be killed just as well as the nighttime one. So Augustine, Question 84, which was also established by civil law, as can be seen in the law Furem, Digest, under the Lex Cornelia, On Assassins.
AND HE HIMSELF SHALL DIE — namely, he who killed the daytime thief; in Hebrew it is: "bloods shall be restored to him in restoring," as if to say: He shall give his own blood for the blood of the thief shed by him; for since (because of the injury done to the thief through the killing) in a certain manner the blood of the killer is owed. The Chaldean refers this to the thief and translates it: "the thief shall surely pay," that is, he shall restore what he stole. But our Translator and the Septuagint more correctly refer this not to the thief but to the killer of the thief.
IF HE DOES NOT HAVE (namely, the thief) THE MEANS TO MAKE RESTITUTION FOR THE THEFT, HE HIMSELF SHALL BE SOLD. — For the Hebrews often leave the subject (which here is "the thief") unstated, and leave it to be understood as known from what was said before.
Verse 4: If what he stole be found in his possession alive, whether ox, or donkey, or sheep, he shall restore double
Note the words "alive" and "in his possession." For if he had killed or sold the ox or sheep, he was required to restore not two but five for one ox, and four for one sheep, as was stated in verse 1. But if the animal was found alive in the thief's possession, then the thief was required to restore only two for one. The reason for the disparity was that in the former case the guilt and injury were greater, both because in that case the thief had not only stolen the animal but had also killed or sold it, and because there was no hope of restitution from him — both of which circumstances were otherwise with the thief who still held the stolen animal alive; for it could easily be restored to the owner in many ways and returned to him. But now among Christians, for whom the crime of theft is a greater offense, in order to restrain the license of stealing and to maintain the necessary peace of the commonwealth, thieves — even if they keep the stolen property alive and intact — are justly punished by hanging.
The Emperor Alexander Severus was so zealous an avenger of theft that, if he saw any such person, he had a finger ready with which to gouge out the offender's eye; indeed, he ordered a certain man of high rank who was caught in theft to be crucified immediately according to the law. He also proclaimed through a herald: "Let no one who knows himself to be a thief salute the emperor." Likewise, he could not bear to look upon those infamous for suspicion of theft — so much so that when Septimius Arabianus, who had been notorious for the crime of theft under Heliogabalus and had been released, came among the senators to salute the emperor, he exclaimed: "O gods, O Jupiter, O immortal gods! Arabianus not only lives but even comes to the senate! Perhaps he has hopes of me? Does he judge me to be so foolish, so stupid?" Lampridius is the witness in his Life. Diogenes, according to Laertius, book 6, seeing a thief being led away who had stolen a bowl from the treasury, said: "The great thieves lead away the small one." Would that this could not be truly said of certain Christian magistrates, by whom sometimes one who has stolen ten drachmas is driven to the gallows, while they themselves grow rich with impunity through great thefts, or rather through embezzlement!
Note what is said, "whether ox or sheep": for under these terms, by parity of reasoning, all cattle and livestock and all animals, both great and small, are to be understood, says Cajetan.
Verse 5: If anyone damages a field or vineyard
IF ANYONE DAMAGES A FIELD OR VINEYARD, AND LETS LOOSE (that is, so that he let loose, or by letting loose, as is clear from the Hebrew) HIS BEAST TO GRAZE ON ANOTHER'S LAND, HE SHALL MAKE RESTITUTION FROM THE BEST OF HIS OWN FIELD OR VINEYARD.
Verse 6: If a fire breaks out and finds thorns
Note the word "thorns." For this is how it should be read, not "ears of grain," as is clear from the Hebrew, Chaldean, Septuagint, and Roman editions. For this law commands that if anyone through his negligence failed to watch a fire he had kindled and did not take care to prevent it from spreading, and so it happened that the fire caught the thorns that hedged the crop and thence seized the crop itself, he shall be liable for the damage. The same judgment would apply if the fire had caught flax, or hemp, or trees, etc.
Verse 8: If the thief is hidden
IF THE THIEF IS HIDDEN (who stole the entrusted property, that is, the deposit), THE MASTER OF THE HOUSE (in which the deposit was stolen) SHALL BE BROUGHT BEFORE THE JUDGES, AND SHALL SWEAR THAT HE DID NOT LAY HIS HAND ON HIS NEIGHBOR'S PROPERTY — as if to say: If some thief has stolen the deposit, the depositary with whom the property was deposited and to whom it was entrusted, being summoned to court, shall come before the judges and shall purge himself by oath and prove his innocence from the theft.
Verse 9: Whatever can cause loss
In Hebrew it is: "concerning every lost thing of which he says, 'this is it,'" namely, which I lost through the depositary, as if to say: Concerning every charge that he brings against the depositary.
THE CASE OF BOTH (both the depositor who lost his property, and the depositary with whom the property was stolen) SHALL COME BEFORE THE JUDGES, AND IF THEY JUDGE AGAINST HIM, HE SHALL RESTORE DOUBLE TO HIS NEIGHBOR. — In Hebrew it is: "he whom the judges condemn shall restore double to his neighbor," which Cajetan and some others understand as referring to either party, as if to say: Whichever one — whether the depositary who is the accused, or the depositor who is the accuser — if he is condemned, must pay double. The depositary indeed, because he guarded the deposited property maliciously and fraudulently, or even stole it himself or shared it with the thief; the depositor on the other hand (if he is condemned), because he falsely brought a calumny of theft and unfaithfulness against the depositary, when the latter was innocent.
But our Translator more correctly explains this passage as referring only to the depositary, who is the accused, as if to say: The depositary who has been condemned by the judges for theft or collusion with the thief shall pay double the value of what was lost through his fault and stolen. For here the discussion concerns the depositary who is the accused: for it is his duty to restore the deposited property, as is stated here. The depositor, however, is not being discussed here; for if he is the accuser and falsely brings a calumny against the depositary, he must undergo the same penalty under the law of retaliation — this is ordained not here but in Deuteronomy chapter 19, verse 19.
Therefore there is here a threefold case and law regarding deposits. First, if the depositary through fraud has embezzled the deposited property, he shall pay double, as is decreed in verse 9. Second, if he did not commit fraud but through his negligence the deposited property was stolen, he shall pay the simple value — that is, the thing itself or its price — as is decreed in this verse 12. Third, if without his knowledge and without negligence the property was secretly and furtively stolen, he shall be considered innocent and shall restore nothing, as is decreed in verses 10 and 11.
Verse 10: And no one has seen it
AND NO ONE HAS SEEN IT — who could have prevented it, nor anyone who could be a witness, as if to say: If he cannot prove his innocence by witnesses, let him purge himself by oath, and let the oath by the most holy name of God be the end of the controversy; for in Hebrew the tetragrammaton name of God is added.
Verse 11: The master shall accept the oath
And the master (the lord or possessor — as the Hebrew has it — of the sheep or lost animal) SHALL ACCEPT THE OATH.
Verse 12: But if it was stolen
BUT IF IT WAS STOLEN, HE SHALL MAKE RESTITUTION FOR THE LOSS TO THE OWNER. — That is, if through the fault or negligence of the depositary the property was stolen. Whence in Hebrew is added: "if from with him," that is, if while he himself knew or saw, or when he could easily have known or seen and taken precautions (for thus the expression "with him" is understood in verse 15, as all translate and explain there), the property was stolen, then he will be bound to restore the stolen property. This verse is contrasted with the preceding one, in which it was added, "and no one has seen it": for that spoke of a person from whom the property was taken without any fault on his part; for he was innocent.
Verse 13: If it was devoured by a beast
In Hebrew the meaning is: "If by seizing it was seized, or by seizing it was torn, he shall bring the very thing itself as a witness, namely that which was torn, and he shall not make restitution." So the Chaldean, and the Septuagint agrees. Whence our Translator translates very briefly and excellently.
Verse 15: But if the owner was present
BUT IF THE OWNER WAS PRESENT, HE SHALL NOT MAKE RESTITUTION — because when the owner of the animal is present, the care and vigilance of the borrower (for it is about him that the discussion concerns here) who received the animal on loan — or, to speak juridically and precisely, on commodatum — for use, is diminished, because the owner who is present ought to have care of his own property. If therefore he himself allows it to perish, let it be imputed to him. But if with all his care and effort he cannot preserve the thing, and it perishes by accident, let him be a witness of this circumstance and recognize that the borrower is innocent. If finally through the borrower's fault, which the owner himself could not prevent, the thing perishes, let the judges decide whether and how much he is bound to restore; for equity and justice demand this.
ESPECIALLY IF IT HAD BEEN HIRED FOR THE PRICE OF HIS LABOR. — In Hebrew it is: "if it was hired," that is, if it was a hired animal, "coming for its hire," that is, if the borrower, or rather the hirer, did not receive the animal for free but hired its use for a price, and the animal dies while the owner is present, he shall be liable for nothing. But if the animal was lent gratuitously in the borrower's favor, it could happen that he would be bound to make restitution; for a lighter degree of fault would have obligated the borrower to at least some partial compensation for the thing that perished — a degree which would not have obligated the hirer, who entered into such a contract not for his own benefit alone but also for the benefit of the other party, namely the lessor. In the same way, our civil laws now require a greater degree of fault in the hirer than in the borrower for him to be bound to restitution; for in the former they require slight fault, but in the latter only the slightest fault. Although our law does not correspond in all respects to the ancient one; for there are here many merely positive provisions of that time, such as what is repeatedly inserted here about the presence of the owner when the property perishes; for that is now irrelevant and does not help the borrower or hirer at all.
For a tropology similar to the above, see Rabanus.
Verse 16: If anyone seduces a virgin
You will object: In Deuteronomy chapter 22, verse 29, he who violated a virgin is sentenced precisely to 50 shekels, that is, florins; therefore an equal dowry was to be given to all. I respond: Deuteronomy speaks of a different case, namely if violence and force had been done to the girl, and consequently to her father; for then, because of the injury done to the parent, the ravisher was required to pay 50 shekels not to the girl but to the parent, and moreover was bound to marry the violated girl and keep her without any hope of divorce, as is stated there. So Abulensis. There, then, the discussion concerns rape and violence; here it concerns simple fornication.
Verse 17: He shall pay money according to the manner of the dowry that virgins customarily receive
HE SHALL PAY MONEY ACCORDING TO THE MANNER OF THE DOWRY THAT VIRGINS CUSTOMARILY RECEIVE — as if to say: He shall give to the virgin whom he violated as great a dowry as she would have received from her father according to her condition; for a greater dowry was to be assigned to the wealthier than to the poorer.
Verse 18: You shall not allow sorcerers to live
In Hebrew: "you shall not let the sorceress live," that is, you shall not allow her to live, or you shall not preserve her alive, but you shall take her life; for the female sex is more given to sorcery or poisoning than the male; but by parity of reasoning, by the sorceress understand also the sorcerer.
Verse 25: If you lend money to My people
In Hebrew: "you shall not be to him as a creditor or moneylender, and you shall not put upon him a bite," that is, usury: for the Hebrews call usury neshekh, that is, "a bite," because usury bites and gnaws the poor more than a dog.
Verse 26: If you take your neighbor's garment as a pledge
For "garment" the Hebrew has "covering"; for the law seems especially to speak of nighttime coverings, whether they be garments or blankets. This is a law not of justice but of charity and mercy, and it commands that creditors have mercy on their poor debtors and return the pledge taken from them in the evening, so that they may use it at night and cover themselves, bringing it back in the morning as a pledge if they wish. So Cajetan.
Tropologically, St. Gregory, book 16 of the Morals, chapter 11, says: We are commanded to return the pledge before sunset, because before the sun of justice sets in us through sorrow of heart, we must render to Him the confession of pardon from whom we have received the confession of guilt.
Verse 28: You shall not revile the judges
In Hebrew: Elohim, that is, judges; you shall not despise them or make them cheap with your words. So the Chaldean. So Ecclesiastes chapter 10, verse 20: "In your thought," he says, "do not detract from the king, and in the secret of your chamber do not curse the rich man," because nothing is hidden from the powerful, "for," he says, "the birds of the sky will carry your voice, and he who has wings will announce the matter," as if to say: Rumor will carry your curses to his ears; for such things easily leak out. For as Juvenal says, Satire 9: "Do you think any rich man has a secret? Though the servants be silent, the beasts of burden will speak, and the dog, and the doorposts, and the marble."
"Many," says Xenophon, book 8 of the Education of Cyrus, "are the ears of a prince, many his eyes; and everywhere they fear to say things that are not advantageous to the prince, as though he himself were listening; and they fear to do things not conducive to his interests, as though he himself were present."
And Vegetius, book 2, chapter 5: "To the emperor," he says, "when he receives the name of Augustus, faithful devotion must be rendered as to a present and bodily God, and vigilant service must be given; for whether private citizen or soldier, one serves God when he faithfully loves him who reigns by God's authority."
Verse 29: You shall not delay to render your tithes and first-fruits
The Translator has clearly expressed what in Hebrew is said in general and obscure terms: "do not delay to offer your fullness and your tear," that is, your full ears of grain and your wine and every liquid that, when pressed, distills a "tear," that is, a drop. This means, as the Chaldean, Septuagint, and our Translator render it: you shall offer your tithes and first-fruits; for God does not command that all produce be offered, but only tithes and first-fruits of them, as the Hebrew text expresses elsewhere. And this for the reason, says Philo in his book On the Honors of the Priests, that while the Hebrews grow accustomed always to set apart a portion of their food for God, they may never forget Him, but remember that these things were given to them by God, and to testify to this, they should give — or rather return — to God tithes and first-fruits of His produce.
Verse 30: For seven days it shall remain with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me
Here God commands that the firstborn of oxen and sheep be offered to Him on the eighth day from their birth, not before; because before the eighth day the offspring is too tender and as it were immature and imperfect, and not sufficiently fully formed. So St. Thomas.
Anagogically, for seven days we remain in this life with our mother the Church, but on the eighth day of the resurrection we shall be presented to the Lord, to receive from Him the reward of the good. So Rabanus.
Verse 31: You shall be holy men to Me
YOU SHALL BE HOLY MEN TO ME — both in soul and in body, that is, by holy observance of My commandments and by guarding against all defilement, even that of flesh devoured by beasts, as follows.
YOU SHALL NOT EAT FLESH THAT HAS BEEN TASTED BY BEASTS. — God commands this, first, to teach the Hebrews a certain external and bodily propriety and holiness. Second, to teach them to live according to reason and in a manner that displays nothing of savagery or barbarity, says Theodoret. Third, to keep them further from killing and theft, and to instill in them aversion and horror for such things. So Cajetan.
Tropologically, it is not lawful to eat flesh tasted by beasts, that is, it is not lawful for a Christian to imitate the animal way of life and teaching that has been torn apart by heretical or diabolical work. So Rabanus.
Again, a man captured by the devil, or by men who have beastly habits and are foreign to the worship of piety, is not to be "eaten," that is, he is not to be imitated but to be admonished. So Radulphus on chapter 3 of Leviticus, and Rabanus.
Whence St. Ambrose, sermon 12, citing and mystically explaining this law, says: "More foul than a beast is whoever takes what the beast has left over. Tell me then, you Christian, why have you seized the spoil left behind by robbers? etc. Most people say that wolves are accustomed to follow the tracks of lions, namely to sate their own fury with another's plunder, and that what remains from the lions' satiety is consumed by the rapacity of wolves — just as these wolves of avarice have followed the tracks of robbers, so that what was left over from their rapacity might yield to the ferocity of these."