22:16-17 Next we have a case of seduction. Here the girl is viewed as the property of her father. If a young couple had premarital sex, the young man had to marry the young woman and give his father-in-law the customary payment (i.e., a dowry) to do so. The girl's father could refuse this offer, however, in which case the boy would not get the girl but would still have to pay the dowry.390This law pertained to situations in which seduction (persuasion), not rape, had resulted in intercourse. Moses did not comment on other similar situations here. Israel was evidently to function in harmony with previously existing law in these cases.391
"As many scholars recognize, the second half of the Book of the Covenant begins at Exodus 22:18 and the stipulations undergo a change in content to match what is clearly a change in form. The first half (Ex. 20:22-22:17) is fundamentally casuistic, whereas the latter half is not.392That is, the stipulations now are expressed as prescriptions or prohibitions with little or no reference to the penalty attached to violation in each case."393
22:18-20 God prohibited three more practices each of which brought the death penalty. All involve idolatry.
In the ancient world, people made a distinction between black magic and white magic. The former sought to harm someone, and the latter did not. The Hammurabi Code prohibited the former only,394but the Torah outlawed both without distinction. Magic constituted an attempt to override God's will. Probably Moses mentioned only the sorceress (v. 18) because women were particularly active in the practice of magic. Probably the law would have dealt with a sorcerer the same way.395
Having intercourse with animals (bestiality, v. 19) was something the Canaanites and Mesopotamians attributed to their gods and which they practiced in worshipping those gods. Whereas some law codes imposed the death penalty for having intercourse with certain animals, the Torah prohibited this practice completely.
The third ordinance (v. 20) prohibited offering any sacrifice to idols.
22:21-27 The next collection of laws deals with various forms of oppression. The first section deals with love for the poor and needy. While the Israelites were not to tolerate the idolatrous customs of foreigners, they were to manifest love toward the foreigners themselves as well as toward the poor and needy generally. The Israelites were to remember the oppression they had endured in Egypt and were to refrain from oppressing others. They were not only to refrain from doing evil but were to do positive good (vv. 26-27).
22:28 This verse urges reverence toward God and the leaders of the community. Having dealt with proper behavior toward people on a lower social level, God also specified how to deal with those on higher levels of authority.
22:29-30 The law for firstfruits required the Israelites to offer several offerings to the Lord. Perhaps the purpose of allowing animals to stay with their mothers for the first seven days of their lives was to allow them to develop safely.396It may also have been to give natural relief to the dam by suckling its offspring.397
22:31 Animal flesh torn in the field before humans ate it was unsuitable for Israelite consumption. Not only might the animal have died from a communicable disease but second-rate food like this was inappropriate for people set apart to a holy God.
