John Calvin Commentary Exodus 22:9

"For every matter of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, [or] for any manner of lost thing, whereof one saith, This is it, the cause of both parties shall come before God; he whom God shall condemn shall pay double unto his neighbor." — Exodus 22:9 (ASV)

For all manner of trespass. An action for theft is here permitted, but with a fine attached if anyone should rashly accuse his neighbor; for otherwise, it might be doubted when or for what reasons the restitution of double or quadruple was to be required. He therefore permits that if anyone suspects another of theft, he should summon that person to plead his cause; if he should prove his case, he should recover double the thing lost; but if the judges should pronounce that he had brought his action groundlessly, he, on the contrary, should pay the penalty of his false accusation.

For such an action as this is not altogether a civil one, but carries with it the stain of infamy. Thus, it would be unjust that a man whom the judges acquit of the crime should be injured by false suspicions.

The word used here for judges is אלהים, elohim, which properly means gods, being of the plural number; however, it is often used for God.¹³⁷ It is transferred to judges to dignify their office, because in it they represent the person of God, in whose hand alone is all dominion and power.

Therefore Christ says they were called gods because to them the word of God came, (John 10:34), that is, that they should preside in His name and be set over others, a subject we treated under the Fifth Commandment.

¹³⁷ “Le Dieu vivant.” — Fr..