Exodus 22:6

If fire break out,.... Even though of itself, as Jarchi interprets it:

and catch in thorns a thorn hedge or fence, with which cornfields might be en closed:

so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; whether it be corn cut down, bound up in sheaves, and laid up in heaps or stacks, or whether it be yet growing, and not fully ripe, at least not cut down, or any other fruits of the field; if the fire that takes the thorns which are near them should reach to those, and kindle upon them and destroy them:

he that kindleth the fire, shall surely make restitution: that is, though he kindles the fire upon his own ground, yet being careless of it, it breaks out without his intention and design, and catches hold on a thorn hedge between him and his neighbour's field, and so spreads itself to the corn there, whether standing or in stacks, or to other fruits either lying or growing there; now, though he did not kindle the fire in the corn, and among the stacks or heaps of fruit in his neighbours field, yet, for his carelessness in not looking after the fire he had kindled in his own field, he was to make good all the damages his neighbour sustained hereby: the Jewish canons relating to this affair are these;"if a man kindles a fire by the hands of a deaf man, or a fool, or a child, he is free by human judgment, but he is bound by the judgment of heaven (that is, to make restitution); if he kindles it by the hand of a knowing and understanding man, he is bound; one brings fire and another "afterwards" brings wood, he that brings the wood is bound; one brings wood and another "afterwards" brings fire, he that brings the fire is bound; "after that", another comes and blows the flame (or fire), he is bound; "but if" the wind blows it they are all free; he that kindles fire and it consumes wood or stones, or dust, he is bound, as it is said, Exo 22:6 "if fire break out", &c. if the fire passes over a fence four cubits high, or a public road, or a river, he is free (n);''those two things last mentioned, feeding on another man's field and fire, with the ox and the pit, observed in the preceding chapter, are with the Misnic doctors (o), the four fathers' fountains, or sources of damages.

(n) Bartenora in Misn. Gittin, c. 5. sect. 4. (o) Ib. c. 1. sect. 1.

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

Exo 22:6 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.

Ver. 6. Or the field.] The stubble.

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.

Exo_22:6

If fire break out.

Responsibility for actions

In the twenty-second chapter of Exodus the rights of property are defended, and the text before us may be considered as the law of fire insurance under the Mosaic dispensation. The law was a constant lesson to the people on their vast responsibility for the consequences of their conduct. Gods law thus showed that Omnipotence identified itself with every just claim, and would insist on compensation for every wrong inflicted.

I. This ancient law brings into view the general doctrine of liability for the consequences of our actions and neglect. Nothing is more difficult than to raise in most mens minds a vivid sense of the widespreading results of their own character and conduct. They readily acknowledge the responsibility of others, but not their own. Men never take so modest a view of their own individuality, as when the object is to set forth the insignificance of their own contribution to the evil that is in the world. But such calculations are founded on a gross delusion. The most commonplace sinner has a power of mischief in him which might sadden the blessed as they look at it.

II. The dormant sense of liability for the consequences of our conduct ought surely to be awakened by considering how we hold other men responsible in common life.

II. The right conception of judgment to come is the bringing to the consciousness of the finite the knowledge of the infinite in this regard. This, hast thou done. He who subverts the faith or the conscience of one soul subverts in effect the faith and conscience of all souls, and their blood will I require at the watchmans hand.

IV. These considerations should impress the mind with a new sense of the infinite bearings of our thoughts, words, and actions; and should make us swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. Let to-day be the day of salvation by becoming the day of judgment, for if we would judge ourselves, we should not be condemned with the world. (E. White.)

The penalty of carelessness

Learn--

1. To be careful of your neighbours material, intellectual, and spiritual interests, and do not damage them by a careless word or action.

2. In order that these interests may not be invaded, put a strong check on those loose and vagrant so-called interests of your own.

3. In order to prevent any possibility of the transgression of these interests, see that those passions of avarice, envy, and revenge which cause so much mischief in the world, are quenched.

4. If these interests are invaded, render a frank, manly, and ample restitution.

(1) Confess your fault.

(2) In the case of loss make it up.

(3) In the case of injury to character, let the acknowledgment be co-extensive with the slander.

(4) Let those who have been injured forgive as they hope to be forgiven. (J. W. Burn.)

No trifling with bread

This is right. The Bible really builds upon granite bases; there is nothing merely fanciful in this legislation. This is sound common-sense, and common-sense in the long run wins the esteem and confidence of the world. No man may trifle with bread. Bad enough to burn down any kind of property; but to consume stacks of corn is to commit murder with both hands; to light the standing corn when it waves in the fields is to thrust a knife, not into one heart, but into the very life of society. How can restitution be made? It cannot be made. You cannot replace corn; money bears no relation to corn; corn is not an arithmetical quantity. Destroyed bread is destroyed life. Who destroys bread? He who makes poison of it; he who turns it into a drink that takes away the reason and deposes the conscience of men. He who holds back the bread-stuff until the time of famine that he may increase his own riches by an enhanced market value is not a political economist, unless, under such circumstances, a political economist is a heartless murderer. And if it is wicked to set fire to corn, is it a light or frivolous matter to set fire to convictions, faiths--the bread-stuff of the soul? Is he guiltless who takes away the bread of life, the bread sent down from heaven? Is he a pardonable incendiary who burns down the altar which was a stairway to the light, or reduces to ashes the Church which was a refuge in the day of storm? (J. Parker, D. D.)

Who kindled the fire

This statute had a peculiar necessity in such a hot, dry country as Palestine, where there was a peculiar danger from accidental conflagrations. If a man burned over his stubble field, it was necessary, before the dry grass was lighted, to see that the wind was in the right quarter, and every precaution taken that the flames should not kindle upon the property of a neighbour. The sound principle that underlies this law is that men must suffer for the evil they do through thoughtless recklessness, as well as for what they do with malicious intent.

1. If I invite a group of young men in my house to surround a card-table, I may simply design to furnish them an hours amusement. But perhaps a lust for gambling may lie latent in some young mans breast, and I may quicken it into life by my offer of a temptation. There is fire in that pack of cards. And I deliberately place that fire amid the inflammable passions of that youthful breast. On me rest the consequences of that act, as well as upon him whom I lead into temptation. The motive does not alter the result by one iota.

2. Among social virtues none is more popular than that of hospitality. When bountifully practised toward the needy, it rises to the dignity of a Christian grace. And ordinary hospitalities may be set to the credit of a generous spirit. But here is the master or mistress of a house who spread their table with a lavish provision for the entertainment of their evening guests. Among the abundant viands of that table the lady of the house places the choicest brands of Madeira wine, and on a side-board she sets out a huge bowl of inviting punch. And among the invited guests of the evening comes a man who has promised the wife of his early love that be will never again yield to his awful appetite, and turn their sweet home into a hell. He sees the tempter in that accursed punch-bowl, and is pressed very courteously to take a glass. The fire catches in the dry thorns in an instant. He drinks. He goes reeling into his own door that night, and his whole household is in a flame of excitement and terror, and agony and shame. Now, who kindled that fire? Let her who put the bottle to her neighbours lips make answer.

3. The artillery of this Divine law against incendiarism has a wide range. It is pointed against that social nuisance, the slanderer. Behold how great a matter his little fire kindleth. The utterance of evil reports may be well likened to playing with fire.

4. This law against incendiarism applies to every utterance of spiritual error and infidelity. He who utters a devilish suggestion to corrupt the innocence of chastity sets fire to passion, and becomes the incendiary of a soul. He who scatters a pernicious literature comes under the same condemnation. He who sows scepticism, by tongue or pen, sets fire to the standing corn of righteous opinion. Beware how you play with the sparks of falsehood. Beware how you play with the fire of wicked suggestion, that may kindle a blaze of sin in anothers heart. (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 22:6. He that designed only the burning of thorns might become accessary to the burning of corn, and should not be held guiltless. If the fire did mischief, he that kindled it must answer for it, though it could not be proved that he designed the mischief. Men must suffer for their carelessness, as well as for their malice. It will make us very careful of ourselves, if we consider that we are accountable, not only for the hurt we do, but for the hurt we occasion through inadvertency.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If fire break out, and catch in thorns--This refers to the common practice in the East of setting fire to the dry grass before the fall of the autumnal rains, which prevents the ravages of vermin, and is considered a good preparation of the ground for the next crop. The very parched state of the herbage and the long droughts of summer, make the kindling of a fire an operation often dangerous, and always requiring caution from its liability to spread rapidly.

stacks--or as it is rendered "shocks" (Jdg 15:5; Job 5:26), means simply a bundle of loose sheaves.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 6. If fire break out] Mr. Harmer observes that it is a common custom in the east to set the dry herbage on fire before the autumnal rains, which fires, for want of care, often do great damage: and in countries where great drought prevails, and the herbage is generally parched, great caution was peculiarly necessary; and a law to guard against such evils, and to punish inattention and neglect, was highly expedient. See Harmer's Observat., vol. iii., p. 310, &c.

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

(6) If fire break out, and catch in thorns.—In the East, as elsewhere—e.g., Italy (Virg. Georg., i. 84) and England—it is customary at certain seasons to burn the weeds and other refuse of a farm, which, is collected for the purpose into heaps, and then set on fire. Such fires may spread, especially in the dry East, if care be not taken, and cause extensive damage to the crops, or even the corn-heaps of a neighbour. The loss in such cases was to fall on the man who lit the fire.

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

6. Damage done by fire spreading accidentally to another man’s field. In this case compensation according to the damage done in sufficient, as no blame, or malice, attaches to the person who kindled the fire.

break out] lit. go forth (Num_21:28), i.e. spread from the place in which it originated—being blown, for instance, by the wind. Contrast in v. 5 let the burning spread, viz. through culpable neglect.

thorns] such as were used to form a ‘hedge’ about fields (cf. Isa_5:5 a, Sir_28:24).

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.

He that kindled the five, whether wilfully for such a purpose, or carelessly in such a time or place as was dangerous.

He shall surely make restitution; which if he were not able to do, it is probable he was to be sold for it, as in like cases was provided.

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

If fire break out. It is usual in the East (as in England) to burn the weeds on a farm at certain seasons of the year. When this is done, there is always a danger, in the dry parched-up Eastern lands, of the fire spreading, and carotid watch has to be kept. If this watch were neglected, a neighbour"s sheaves or standing corn might be seriously damaged or even destroyed. The law punished such carelessness, by requiring the man who had kindled the fire to make restitution.

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

He that designed only the burning of thorns might become accessary to the burning of corn, and should not be held guiltless. If the fire did mischief, he that kindled it must answer for it, though it could not be proved that he designed the mischief. Men must suffer for their carelessness, as well as for their malice. It will make us very careful of ourselves, if we consider that we are accountable not only for the hurt we do, but for the hurt we occasion through inadvertency.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

If a fire breaks out and spreads in thorns

"If someone starts a fire and it spreads in thorns"

spreads in thorns

"moves along the ground through dry plants"

stacked grain

This is grain that has been cut and tied in bundles. "bundled grain" or "harvested grain"

standing grain

This is grain that has not been cut, but it is ready to be harvested.

a field is consumed

"fire consumes a field" or "fire destroys a field"

must surely make restitution

"must certainly pay for the grain that the fire destroyed"

translationWords

grain

consume

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

וגנב מבית האיש AND IT BE STOLEN OUT OF THE MAN’S HOUSE — i. e. according to his statement),

אם ימצה הגנב ישלם IF THE THIEF BE FOUND HE — the thief — SHALL PAY שנים DOUBLE to the owner (to the bailor not to the bailee) (Bava Kamma 63b).

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.

IF A MAN DELIVER UNTO HIS NEIGHBOR MONEY OR VESSELS TO KEEP. This section [Verses 6-8] speaks of an unpaid guardian, therefore He has freed him from payment in case the money or vessels are lost or stolen, as is the Tradition of our Rabbis. Scripture mentioned it without specifying what the case is because those who guard money or vessels generally do so without reward. The second section [Verses 9-12] speaking of a paid guardian mentions an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, because it is the customary way to give over cattle into the hands of shepherds who pasture them for payment.

AND IT BE STOLEN OUT OF THE MAN’S HOUSE. Rashi explained it as meaning that it was stolen out of the man’s house “according to his statement,” meaning that this is what the unpaid guardian claims. stolen, for then how could Scripture say in the next verse that if the thief was not found, the guardian must swear, since it is admitted that it was stolen from him? Hence the verse must mean that he claims it was stolen. Scholars have brought parallel cases in Scripture [as proof to Rashi’s explanation]. Thus: If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet; Hananiah the son of Azzur the prophet, for he is not referred to by that epithet [“prophet”] as a true description, but only because he claimed to be so. But there is no need for this. For Scripture is stating that if it was really stolen out of the man’s house and the thief be found, he shall pay double; and if the thief be not found, they shall come to court and the guardian shall swear concerning the stolen article whether he have not put his hand unto his neighbor’s goods, and he whom the court condemns as the thief of this article shall pay double, as the court will not convict anyone and make him pay double unless he stole it, since the law of twofold restitution applies only to a thief, as He said above, If the theft be found in his hand alive… he shall pay double.

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.