Exodus 22:20

Exo 22:20 He that sacrificeth unto [any] god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed.

Ver. 20. He shall be utterly destroyed.] As an execrable and accursed creature.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22:20 must be destroyed: See “Complete Dedication” Theme Note.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 20. Utterly destroyed.] The word חרם cherem denotes a thing utterly and finally separated from God and devoted to destruction, without the possibility of redemption.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(20) He that sacrificeth.—Sacrifice in this place represents worship generally, being its most essential act. Elsewhere the death-penalty is affixed to any acknowledgment of false gods (Deu_13:1-16).

Shall be utterly destroyed.—Heb., Shall be devoted, i.e., devoted to destruction.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20. Sacrifice by an Israelite to any god save Jehovah to be punished with the ban. Jehovah is a ‘jealous God’ (Exo_20:5), who does not tolerated the worship of any other god beside Himself.

utterly destroyed] banned or devoted. The ‘ban’ (ḥérem) was an archaic institution, often alluded to in the OT. A city or nation that was hostile to Jehovah was ‘banned,’ or ‘devoted’ (etymologically, as Arabic shews, separated or set apart1[189]), i.e. given over to Him as a form of offering, human beings being destroyed, with or without the cattle and spoil as well, according to the gravity of the occasion. For examples, see Deu_2:34 f., Exo_3:6 f., Exo_7:2, Exo_13:12-18 (an idolatrous Isr. city to be ‘devoted’), Jos_6:17-19; Jos_6:21, Jdg_1:17; Jdg_21:11, 1Sa_15:3; 1Sa_15:9. Here the ‘ban’ is to be put in force against the Israelite who is disloyal to Jehovah. The ban was also a Moabite institution. Mesha in his inscription (see DB. s.v. Moab, or EB. s.v. Mesha), ll. 16–18 tells us how, after he had carried off the ‘vessels of Yahweh’ from the town of Nebo (Num_32:38), and dragged them before Chemosh, he slew 7000 Israelite prisoners, for he had ‘devoted’ the city to Ashtor-Chemosh (cf. Num_21:2 f.). See further DB. v. 619b, EB. Ban.

[189] The root is the Arabic ḥarama, to shut off, set apart, whence ḥarâm, the sacred enclosure round the Mosque of Omar at Jerusalem, and ḥarîm, the secluded part of a Mohammedan establishment, in which the women live, applied also to its occupants, i.e. the ‘harem.’

In AV. heḥìrîm was usually rendered ‘utterly destroy,’ and the corresponding subst. ḥérem ‘cursed thing’ (Deu_7:26), or (in Joshua 6, Joshua 7.) ‘accursed thing’: but these renderings both express secondary ideas, besides being to all appearance entirely unrelated to each other: in RV. the verb, when applied to things, is rendered ‘devote’ (as Lev_27:29 AV.); when applied to human beings it is still rendered ‘utterly destroy,’ but ‘Heb. devote’ has been added on the margin; and ‘devoted thing’ has been substituted for ‘cursed’ and ‘accursed thing’ (e.g. Jos_6:18; Jos_7:1 ff.): the connexion between the two cognate terms has thus been preserved throughout.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou shall not vex a stranger,.... One that is not born in the same country, but comes into another country to sojourn, as Jarchi; not a native of the place, but of another kingdom or country; a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel, that is only in it for a time on trade and business, or through one providence or another; or else a proselyte is meant, not a proselyte of righteousness, who has embraced the true religion; but a proselyte of the gate, that takes upon him the commands of the sons of Noah; or, as Aben Ezra here expresses it, who takes upon him not to serve idols; such were allowed to dwell among the Israelites, and they were to carry it friendly and kindly to them, and "not vex" them, nor irritate them with words, as the Targum of Jonathan, and so Jarchi; by calling them names, Gentiles, uncircumcised persons, and the like; upbraiding them with their country, ignorance, and manner of life; they were not to say to a proselyte, as Ben Melech observes, remember thy former works; or, if the son of a proselyte, remember thy father's works:

nor oppress him; by taking his goods, as the above Targum, and so Jarchi; by refusing to assist him with advice or otherwise, to trade with him, or to give him lodging, and furnish him with the necessaries of life:

for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: out of which they were but just come, and therefore such a reason must be very striking and moving upon them: the Targum of Jonathan prefaces it,"and my people, the house of Israel, remember that ye were strangers, &c.''this they could not have forgot in so short a time, and the remembrance of this should move their compassion to strangers hereafter, when they came to settle in their own land; and therefore, as they would that men should have done to them when in such circumstances, the same they should do to others; and besides, the remembrance of this would serve to abate their pride and vanity, and their overbearing disposition.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

This was probably an old formula, the sense of which, on its ethical side, is comprised in the first and second commandments.

Shall be utterly destroyed - The Hebrew word here used is חרם châram (i. e. devoted). See Lev 27:28.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Death. Hebrew, "shall be anathema," (erom) which denotes utter destruction both of the person and of his goods. (Jonathan) (1 Kings xv. 3.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Sacrificeth, or otherwise worshippeth, as appears from Deu 17:2-5, and many other places. One act of worship put for all by a very familiar synecdoche.

Destroyed, Heb. anathematized, i.e. esteemed execrable, and as such destroyed without mercy. See Deu 13:15; 18:20.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Law against sacrificing to false gods. Sacrifice was the chief act of worship; and to sacrifice to a false god was to renounce the true God. Under a theocracy this was rebellion, and rightly punished with temporal death. In ordinary states it would be no civil offence, and would be left to the final judgment of the Almighty. Utterly destroyed. Literally, "devoted;" but with the meaning of "devoted to destruction."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whoever offered sacrifice to strange gods instead of to Jehovah alone, was liable to death. יחרם he shall be banned, put under the ban (cherem), i.e., put to death, and by death devoted to the Lord, to whom he would not devote himself in life (cf. Lev 27:29, and my Archologie, 70).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Yahweh must be completely destroyed

This can be stated in active form. AT: "Yahweh, you must completely destroy" (See: Active or Passive)

wrong a foreigner

"mistreat a foreigner" or "cheat a foreigner"

translationWords

sacrifice

God

Yahweh

wrong

alien

oppress

Egypt

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

וגר לא תונה — means, do not vex him with words (referring to the fact that he is a stranger); contrarier in old French Similar is, (Isaiah 49:26) “And I will feed them that vex thee (מוניך) with their own flesh”.

ולא תלחצנו NOR OPPRESS HIM — by robbing him of money (Mekhilta).

כי גרים הייתם FOR YE WERE STRANGERS — If you vex him he can vex you also by saying to you: “You also descend from strangers”. Do not reproach thy fellow-man for a fault which is also thine (Mekhilta). Wherever גר occurs in Scriptures it signifies a person who has not been born in that land (where he is living) but has come from another country to sojourn there.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND A STRANGER SHALT THOU NOT WRONG, NEITHER SHALT THOU OPPRESS HIM; FOR YE WERE STRANGERS IN THE LAND OF EGYPT. There is no reason why all strangers [from countries outside the land of Egypt] should be included here because of our having been strangers in the land of Egypt! And there is no reason why they be assured for ever against being wronged or oppressed because we were once strangers there! Now Rashi explained that this is a reason for the prohibition against annoying a stranger. G-d warned against vexing him with words, for “if you vex him he can also vex you, by saying to you, “You also descend from strangers.’ Do not reproach your fellow man with a fault which is also in you.” Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained the verses: “Remember that ye were strangers as he is now.” But there is in all these comments no real reason for the law.The correct interpretation appears to me to be that He is saying: “Do not wrong a stranger or oppress him, thinking as you might that none can deliver him out of your hand; for you know that you were strangers in the land of Egypt and I saw the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed you, and I avenged your cause on them, because I behold the tears of such who are oppressed and have no comforter, and on the side of their oppressors there is power, and I deliver each one from him that is too strong for him. Likewise you shall not afflict the widow and the fatherless child, for I will hear their cry, for all these people do not rely upon themselves but trust in Me.” And in another verse He added this reason: for ye know the soul of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. That is to say, you know that every stranger feels depressed, and is always sighing and crying, and his eyes are always directed towards G-d, therefore He will have mercy upon him even as He showed mercy to you, just as it is written, and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto G-d by reason of the bondage, meaning that He had mercy on them not because of their merits, but only an account of the bondage [and likewise He has mercy on all who are oppressed].

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

You must not abuse … a stranger. In their own land B’nei Yisrael have an advantage over the strangers living among them—i.e. those gentiles who renounce idolatry. Therefore they are commanded not to abuse them but to recall that they were in a similar position in Egypt.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.