1._Now these are the judgments_. Both passages contain the same appointment, viz., that as to the Hebrews slavery must end at the seventh year; for God would have the children of Abraham, although obliged to sell themselves, to differ from heathen and ordinary slaves. Their enfranchisement is, there... [ Continue Reading ]
From this passage, as well as other similar ones, it plainly appears how many vices were of necessity tolerated in this people. It was altogether an act of barbarism that fathers should sell their children for the relief of their poverty, still it could not be corrected as might have been hoped. Aga... [ Continue Reading ]
12._He that smiteth a man_, _so that he die_. This passage, as I have said, more clearly explains the details, and first makes a distinction between voluntary and accidental homicide; for, if a stone or an axe (Deuteronomy 19:5.) may have slipped from a man unintentionally, and struck anybody, He wo... [ Continue Reading ]
14._But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor_. He expresses the same thing in different ways; for although there is a wide difference between slaying a man presumptuously (32) and with guile, yet Moses applies them both to a willful murder; for by _guile _he means a wicked disposition to i... [ Continue Reading ]
The commandment is now sanctioned by the denunciation of capital punishment for its violation, _yet _not so as to comprehend all who have in any respect sinned against their parents, but sufficient to show that the rights of parents are sacred, and not to be violated without the greatest criminality... [ Continue Reading ]
18._And if men strive together_. The punishment here enacted for wounds and blows is so slight, that it might have served as a provocative to the mischievousness of the ill-disposed. Since the Law of the Twelve Tables only inflicted a fine of twenty-five _asses _upon a man who had beaten another unj... [ Continue Reading ]
20._And if a man smite his servant_. Although in civil matters there was a wide distinction between slaves and free-men, still, that God may show how dear and precious men’s lives are to Him, He has no respect to persons with regard to murder; but avenges the death of a slave and a free-man in the s... [ Continue Reading ]
22._If men strive_, _and hurt a woman_. This passage at first sight is ambiguous, for if the word death (39) only applies to the pregnant woman, it would not have been a capital crime to put an end to the _foetus_, which would be a great absurdity; for the _foetus_, though enclosed in the womb of it... [ Continue Reading ]
26._And if a man smite the eye_. Since, in the sight of God, there is neither slave nor free-man, it is clear that he sins as greatly who smites a slave, as if he had struck a free-man. Still, a distinction is made as regards the civil law and human justice, especially if any one have inflicted a wo... [ Continue Reading ]
28._If an ox gore a man_. Moses now descends even to the brute animals, so that, if they injured any one, by their punishment men may be more and more deterred from shedding blood. If, therefore, a goring ox have killed a man, he commands that it should be stoned, and that its carcass should be thro... [ Continue Reading ]
31._Whether he have gored a son_. I know not whether they are correct who refer this to age, as if any young persons of either sex were meant by the words son and daughter; but I do not reject this opinion. Still Moses seems to extend the law, as if, in case a butting ox had killed its owner’s son,... [ Continue Reading ]
32._If the ox shall push a man-servant_. It is not unreasonable that the punishment for the death of a slave should now be set at less than for that of a free-man. As regarded the crime of voluntary murder, there was no distinction between slaves and masters; but in a case of mischance (_delicto_) t... [ Continue Reading ]
33._And if a man shall open a pit _He enumerates still more cases of damage inflicted, in which restitution is to be demanded of the person who gave occasion for the occurrence. First, it is said, If a man shall open a pit, or cistern, and not cover it, and an animal shall fall into it, he is bound... [ Continue Reading ]