Law respecting the Pit left uncovered. 33. If a man shall open a pit, &c. Not only were the statutes of this divine code so framed as to guard against mischief and injury arising from malice, but also against that which might be occasioned by a culpable negligence. The pits or wells from which water was procured in those countries, though usually covered when not in use, yet were very liable to be left open, thus exposing to the utmost peril the lives or limbs of the animals that chanced to fall into them. The law contemplates the two cases of opening an old pit and digging a new one. The damage accruing in either case was to be made good by the opener or digger, to whom, how ever, the carcase of the dead animal was to be considered as belonging. Law respecting Injuries done to cattle. 35. If one man's ox hurt another's. Where cattle fought and one killed another, the owners were to adjust the matter by selling the live ox and dividing the price equally between them, and also by making an equal division of the dead ox. But it is supposed in this case, that there had been no fault on the part of the owner of the slaying ox. On the other hand, if the animal was known to be of vicious propensities and his owner had not kept him in, it Law respecting Theft and Burglary. 1. If a man shall steal an ox, &c. The protection of person and property from the force of the violent, and from the frauds of the dishonest, is one of the chief objects of all criminal law; and this object is compassed, or at least aimed at, by means of punishments or penalties annexed to crime. Now certainly the most obvious, appropriate, and efficacious punishment for stealing is, that the thief should be compelled to restore many times the value of that which he had stolen; and in this we find the principle of the ensuing statutes concerning theft. As the property of the ancient Israelites consisted mainly in cattle, it was very natural that the prin ciples on which the magistrates were to proceed in determining cases of theft and robbery, should be shown in instances taken from this kind of possession. From this chapter it appears that the most gentle punishment of theft was twofold restitution to the owner, who thus obtained a profit for his risk of loss. This punishment was applicable to every case in which the article stolen 2 ¶ If a thief be found b break- die, there shall e no blood be shed ing up, and be smitten that he for him. b Matt. 24. 43. remained unaltered in the thief's possession; that is, was neither sold nor slaughtered. If however either of these were the case, and consequently all hope of repentance and voluntary restitution precluded, the punishment was more severe, being fourfold restitution in the case of a sheep or goat, and probably of other animals except an ox, where it was fivefold. This higher degree of penalty was annexed to the theft of oxen on account of their great value in the rural economy of the Israelites; for they used no horses in their husbandry. The ox did every thing on their farms. He plowed, he threshed out the corn, and he drew it when threshed to the barn or garner. If therefore the theft of an ox was more severely punished than that of any thing else, it was on the same principle on which an increase of punishment is inflicted for the crime of stealing from the farmer his plough, or any part of the apparatus belonging to it. It was, however, afterward enacted, Lev. 6. 4, 5, that if the thief were touched in conscience, and voluntarily confessed his crime and restored the stolen property, he should only be required to add a fifth part to it. Comp. Num. 5. 6, 7. 2. If a thief be found breaking up, &c. Heb. n bammahtereth, in digging through. Gr. Ev rw diopvypart, id. That is, digging or breaking through a house, as the Chal. expressly renders it. In the eastern countries the walls of the houses are made very thick in order to shelter the inhabitants more effectually from the intense heat of the climate, and they are very frequently made of dried mud, laid in between upright and tranverse pieces of timber. Maundrell, speaking of Damascus, says, "The streets here are narrow, as is usual in hot countries, and the houses are all VOL. II. 3 c Numb. 35.-27. built on the outside of no better a material than either sun-burnt brick, or Flemish wall, daubed over in as coarse a manner as can be seen in the vilest cottages. From this dirty way of building, they experience this amongst other inconveniences, that upon any violent rain the whole city becomes, by the washing of the houses, as it were a quagmire.' As an opening therefore was effected through dried clay, and not through wood or stone, we perceive the propriety of the terms employed. The phraseology may be illustrated by the following parallel passages: Job, 24. 16, 'In the dark they dig through houses which they had marked for themselves in the daytime.' Ezek. 8. 8, 'Then said he unto me, Son of Man, dig now in the wall,' &c. Mat. 24. 43, 'If the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief had come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.' Gr. 'To be digged through.' It is plain also from the sequel that the burglary is supposed to be committed at night.¶ No blood for him; as it reads without the italics. ארן .Heb ain lo damim, no bloods' to him. That is, no blood shall be imputed to him who killed him; he shall not be held guilty of murder, inasmuch as it could not be known in the dark who the intruder was, or how far his designs might have carried him if not prevented. Gr. ouk sσtiv auto povos, there shall not be slaughter for him. Chal., Sam., and Vulg. 'The smiter shall not be guilty of blood.' Syr. 'He shall not have an action of life.' Arab. 'His blood shall be unpunished.' The propriety of this enactment will appear more obvious if it be considered that in the night season men are less upon their guard, and where the precautions are 3 If the sun be risen upon him | vineyard to be eaten, and shall put there shall be blood shed for him: for in his beast, and shall feed in anohe should make full restitution; if ther man's field: of the best of his he have nothing, then he shall be own field, and of the best of his d sold for his theft. own vineyard shall he make restitution. 4 If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall frestore double. 5 ¶ If a man shall cause a field or d ch. 21. 2. e ch. 21. 16. f See ver 1. 7. Prov. 6. 31. 6 ¶ If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field be consumed therewith; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution. the preceding, 'he should or might have been sold.' 4. If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, &c. This is not to be understood as being at variance with what is said Prov. 6. 31, 'If he be found, he shall restore sevenfold;' as the 'sevenfold' here is doubtless but another term for abundantly, according to the common usage of the number 'seven.' Comp. necessarily slight, the rigor of the law should be increased. Besides, a robbery committed in the dead of night, when no spectators are by, is attended with great inconvenience for the want of witnesses, by whose testimony only the thief could be condemned. The case was directly the reverse provided the sun had risen, for then the presumption was that the thief's sole purpose was to steal and not to kill, and slaying | Gen. 4. 24. Ps. 12. 6.-79. 12. The prowas not the punishment for stealing. In God's code punishment is always duly proportioned to crime; and it teaches us to be tender of the lives of bad men. 3. If the sun be risen upon him. Chal. 'If the eye of witnesses shall have fallen upon him.' Targ. Jon. 'If it be clear by the sun's light that he did not enter for the purpose of killing.'. THe should make full restitution. clause is designed as a statement of the reason for what goes before. The kill ing This of the man under such circumstances were a mere act of wanton homicide, inasmuch as he could, if spared, have made complete restitution; or if too poor for this, he could have been sold as a slave, according to law, and the avails have gone to compensate the theft or the injury.— -T Then he shall be sold. An unhappy rendering when strictly considered, for the housebreaker is supposed to be killed; and if so, how could he be sold as a slave? The version ought properly to have run like vision in this case seems to be based upon a mild construction of motives. The theft being found in his hand would appear to argue more hesitation and less management and decision in ini. quitous practices than if he had proceeded to kill or sell it. So nice are the discriminations that are made in this wonderful code. Law respecting Trespass. 5. If a man shall cause a field or vineyard, &c. This was a case of trespass upon another man's grounds, where the intruder sent in his cattle to feed upon and eat down the grass, vines, or fruit trees of his neighbor. The penalty was that he should make restitution of the best of his own. Law respecting Conflagrations. 6. If a fire break out, and catch in thorns, &c. It is a plain principle running through these enactments, that men should suffer for their carelessness, as well as for their wickedness; that they are to consider themselves accountable | tions, to extinguish the fires they have not only for the injury they do, but also for that which they occasion through inadvertency. Here it is not necessary to suppose that he who kindled the fire designed the mischief that ensued. As it is a common custom in the East to set the dry herbage on fire before the descent of the autumnal rains, the fire may have been kindled on a man's own ground and by his own hand, and from want of proper attention it may have spread, and been productive of the widest ravages over the neighboring possessions. An adequate restitution is all the penalty enjoined in such a case of accidental conflagration; whereas for wilfully and maliciously kindling a destructive fire a much severer punishment was undoubtedly to be inflicted. The danger to property and loss of life arising from this source is strikingly | depicted in the following note on this passage in the Pictorial Bible. This (law) doubtless alludes to the common practice in the East of setting fire to the dry herbage, before the commencement of the autumnal rains, under the very correct impression that this operation is favorable to the next crop. The herbage is so perfectly dry by the long summer droughts, that the fire when kindled often spreads to a great extent and cannot be checked while it finds any aliment. The operation is attended with great danger, and requires to be performed with a careful reference to the direction in which the wind blows, and to local circumstances, that nothing valuable may be consumed in the course given to the destructive element. Such a fire kindled accidentally or wilfully is sometimes attended with most calamitous consequences, destroying trees, shrubs, and standing crops, and placing in considerable danger persons who happen to be abroad on a journey or other wise. Such accidents sometimes happen through the carelessness of travellers in aeglecting, when they leave their sta used during the night. The dry herbage towards the end of summer is so very combustible, that a slight cause is suffi cient to set it in a blaze. Dr. Chandler relates an anecdote, which sufficiently shows the necessity and propriety of the law which the text brings to our notice. When he was taking a plan of Troas, one day after dinner, a Turk came near and emptied the ashes out of his pipe. A spark fell unobserved upon the grass, and a brisk wind soon kindled a blaze, which withered in an instant the leaves of the trees and bushes in its way, seized the branches and roots, and devoured all before it with prodigious crackling and noise. Chandler and his party were much alarmed, as a general conflagration of the country seemed likely to ensue: but after an hour's exertion they were enabled to extinguish the flames. The writer of this note can himself recollect, that when one chilly night he assisted in kindling a fire, for warmth, on the western bank of the Tigris, so much alarm was exhibited by the Arabs lest the flames should catch the tamarisks and other shrubs and bushes which skirt the river, that the party were induced to forego the enjoyment which the fire afforded. The writer has often witnessed these fires, and the appearance which they present, particularly at night, was always very striking. The height of the flame depends upon the thickness and strength of its aliment; and its immediate activity, upon the force of the wind. When there is little or no wind the fire has no other food than the common herbage of the desert or steppe; the flame seldom exceeds three feet in height, and advances slowly and steadily like a vast tide of fire backed by the smoke of the smouldering embers, and casting a strong light for a considerable height into the air, sometimes also throwing up a taller mass of flame where it meets with clumps of bushes or shrubs which 7 ¶ If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man's house; gif the thief be found, let him pay double. 8 If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, to see whether he have put his hand unto his neighbour's goods. 9 For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing which another challengeth to be his: the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall g ver. 4. h ch. 21. 6. & ver. 28. i Deut. 25. 1. 2 Chron. 19. 10. condemn he shall pay double unto his neighbour. 10 If a man deliver unto his neighbour an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast to keep; and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it: 11 Then shall an koath of the LORD be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbour's goods; and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good. 12 And if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof. 13 If it be torn in pieces; then let him bring it for witness, and he k Hebr. 6. 16. 1 Gen. 31. 39. double. But if the thief were not found, there was at least a suspicion that he who had them in keeping had secreted or abstracted them, and a judicial inquiry was thereupon to be instituted. The depositary was to be summoned before the magistrates and his oath that he knew nothing of them was to be con afford more substantial aliment. This taller mass lingers behind to complete its work after the general body of flame has continued its destructive and conquering march. A high wind throws the flames forward with great fury, while, if the ground happens to be thickly set with clumps of bushes, the tall columns of flame which start up in the advanc-sidered as a full acquittance. The law ing fiery tide, give increased intensity to the grand and appalling effect of one of the most remarkable scenes which it falls to the lot of a traveller to witness. In the steppes of southern Russia the writer has passed over tracts of ground, the surface of which had, for fifty miles or more, been swept and blackened by the flames.' Pict. Bible. Law respecting Deposits. 7. If a man shall deliver unto his neighbor money or stuff to keep. Heb. keseph o këlim, silver or vessels; i. e. furniture, utensils. Perhaps the general word articles comes the nearest to the original. When valuable articles were left for safe keeping in the hands of any one, and while thus entrusted were in some way missing, if the thief were found he was to restore indeed does not expressly mention the 9-13. For ox, for ass, for sheep. |