Commentary - Exodus 22:19

Bird's-eye view

We are in a section of Exodus often called the Book of the Covenant, where God lays out the case law for the nation of Israel. These are not abstract principles floating in the ether; they are concrete applications of God's holy character to the life of His covenant people. This particular statute, stark and severe as it is, serves as a crucial boundary marker. It defines not just a particular prohibition but reveals the very nature of reality as God constituted it. The law against bestiality is a defense of the created order, a guardrail against the kind of profound confusion that obliterates the distinction between man and beast, and by extension, the distinction between the creature and the Creator. This is not about an arbitrary rule; it is about maintaining the integrity of what it means to be human, made in the image of God.

The severity of the punishment underscores the gravity of the offense. In our modern sentimentalist framework, we recoil from such penalties. But in doing so, we reveal how far we have drifted from a biblical understanding of holiness, justice, and the sheer ugliness of sin. This law forces us to confront the fact that some actions are not merely mistakes or lifestyle choices; they are abominations, acts of high rebellion that defile the land and the person. The ultimate principle here is that worship, life, and sexuality are all of a piece. To corrupt one is to corrupt them all. And as with all Old Testament laws, it points us to our desperate need for the one who did not just keep the law, but who absorbs the full penalty for our every foul rebellion against the created order.

Outline

Context In Exodus

This verse does not stand alone. It is sandwiched between the prohibition of sorcery (v. 18) and the prohibition of sacrificing to false gods (v. 20). This is not a random collection of rules. The common thread is the maintenance of fundamental loyalties and the rejection of all that would corrupt Israel's unique relationship with Yahweh. Sorcery is a trafficking with demonic powers, a rejection of God's sovereignty. Idolatry is the explicit worship of non-gods, a direct violation of the first and second commandments. Bestiality, in this context, is therefore not seen as a merely private perversion. It is a fundamental violation of the created order, an act that blurs the line between man, made in God's image, and the animal kingdom. It is a form of practical atheism, acting as though the Creator did not establish meaningful, unalterable distinctions in His world. All three laws are capital crimes because they represent a fundamental tearing of the fabric of covenant reality.

Key Issues

Verse by Verse Commentary

Exodus 22:19

“Whoever lies with an animal..."

The language is direct and plain. The verb "lies with" is a common biblical euphemism for sexual intercourse. The prohibition is absolute, applying to any person, man or woman. The sin here is a grotesque confusion of categories. God created mankind, male and female, in His own image (Gen 1:27). He gave them dominion over the animal kingdom (Gen 1:28). The sexual union was designed to be the physical expression of a one-flesh covenant between a man and a woman, a picture of the union between Christ and His Church (Eph 5:31-32). To lie with an animal is therefore a profound act of rebellion against this created order. It is for a bearer of God's image to descend to a level below his station, to defile the very thing that sets him apart from the beasts. It is an act of degradation, a willing surrender of human dignity. This is not simply an "unnatural act"; it is an anti-creational act. It spits in the face of the God who declared His creation, with all its ordered distinctions, to be "very good."

"...shall surely be put to death.”

The penalty is as stark as the crime. In the civil framework of the nation of Israel, this was a capital offense. Why? Because the sin was considered a pollutant, a contagion that defiled not just the individual but the community and the land itself (Lev. 18:24-25). Such an act was an abomination, and the land would metaphorically vomit out the people who engaged in such practices. The death penalty was the necessary judicial act to cleanse the land and to uphold the holiness of God in their midst. It was a declaration that this sin would not be tolerated in the covenant community. It was a line drawn in the sand, demonstrating the vast gulf between the holy living required by Yahweh and the debased practices of the surrounding pagan nations.

Now, as New Covenant believers, we are not under the Mosaic civil code. We are not an ancient theocracy. The magistrate does not, and should not, wield the sword for every sin listed in the Old Testament case laws. However, we must affirm what the Westminster Confession calls the "general equity" of this law. The underlying principle remains. While the civil penalty has expired with the state of Israel, the moral horror has not. This act is still an abomination in the sight of God. It is still a profound rebellion against His created order. The fact that our society now discusses such things with a clinical, detached curiosity, or even amusement, is a sign of deep cultural rot. This law reminds us that sin has consequences, and that some sins are so grotesque that they reveal a heart utterly given over to depravity. For the Christian, the takeaway is not to campaign for the stoning of sinners, but to recognize the depths of our own potential for depravity, to flee from all sexual confusion, and to cling to the cross where the ultimate penalty for all our abominations was paid in full.

Application

First, we must have our minds shaped by God's categories. We live in a world that is doing everything it can to erase the lines God has drawn. The distinction between man and woman, man and beast, right and wrong, all of it is being deliberately blurred. This verse is a bucket of ice water. It reminds us that God is the one who defines reality, and He has built certain non-negotiable truths into the fabric of the cosmos. To deny them is not sophistication; it is insanity.

Second, we must understand the true nature of sexual sin. It is never a private affair. The Bible treats sexual perversion as a corruption that affects everything. It is a form of idolatry, a worship of the creature rather than the Creator. When a culture gives itself over to sexual rebellion, it is not just breaking a few rules; it is sawing off the branch it is sitting on. This law shows us that God takes the stewardship of our bodies, made in His image, with the utmost seriousness.

Finally, this law, like all the harsh demands of the Old Testament, should drive us to the gospel. If the penalty for this one specific, and for us, outlandish sin is death, what of the lust, greed, and pride that so easily beset our own hearts? We are all guilty of rebelling against the created order in our own ways. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:1). Christ did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. He lived the perfectly ordered life we could not, and He died the death that our disordered lives deserved. This stark verse in Exodus reminds us of the holiness of God, the ugliness of sin, and the glorious beauty of the grace that saves wretches like us.