Exodus 22:2

Exodus 22:2

If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him.

a. This shows there were exceptions to the 6^th Commandment.

1). Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.

b. Another example of exception would be capital punishment or in the case of Israel enforcement of the Mosaic Law. Here is just one example of quite a few.

2). Leviticus 24:16 And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death.

c. I have recently discovered the “Castle Doctrine” or Castle law is in effect in most states, and that the foundation of that law is here in Exodus 22:2.

d. The following is from the South University website.  

1). The Castle Doctrine (also known as castle law or make my day law) gives citizens in their homes – and in some states – cars or workplaces the right to protect themselves, other people, and their property by force – in some instances even deadly force.

The laws differ from state to state, and what may be considered self defense in one state, might be grounds for a murder or manslaughter indictment in another. Today most states have some kind of castle law. The stronger laws do not require homeowners to attempt to retreat before using force to protect their domicile, and there are a select few states that have very strong stand-your-ground laws allowing citizens to use force in their car or at work without first trying to retreat. http://source.southuniversity.edu/castle-doctrine-from-state-to-state-46514.aspx

e. Matthew Henry’s Commentary on this verse.

1). If a thief broke a house in the night, and was killed in the doing of it, his blood was upon his own head, and should not be required at the hand of him that shed it, (v 2). As he that does an unlawful act bears the blame of the mischief that follows to others, so likewise of that which follows to himself. A man’s house is his castle, and God’s law, as well as man’s, sets a guard upon it; he that assaults it does so at his peril. Yet, if it was in the day-time that the thief was killed, he that killed him must be accountable for it (v. 3), unless it was in the necessary defense of his own life.

f. William Blackstone’s Commentary on the Laws of England Book 4, Chapter 16 Burglary, or nocturnal housebreaking which by our las was called hamsecken, as it is in Scotland to this day, has always been looked upon as a very heinous offence: not only because of the abundant terror that it naturally carries with it, but also as it is a forcible invasion and disturbance of that right of habitation, which every individual might acquire even in a state of nature, an invasion, which in such a state, would be sure to be punished with death, unless the assailant were stronger. But in a civil society, the laws also fome into the assistance of the weaker party: and besides that they leave him his natural right of killing the aggressor  if he can, they also protect and avenge him, in case the might of the assailant is too powerful. And the law of England has so particular and tender a regard to the immunity of a man's house, that it stiles it his castle, and will never suffer it to be violated with immunity:”