XXI. LAWS CONCERNING THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS. (1) THESE ARE THE JUDGMENTS. — “The laws” (Knobel), “the rights” (Keil), “the rules which shall guide judicial decisions” (Pool). The paraphrase alone gives the full meaning.... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THOU BUY AN HEBREW SERVANT. — Ancient society was founded upon slavery. “The ultimate elements of the household,” says Aristotle, “are the master and his slave, the husband and his wife, the father and his children” (_Pol. i._ 2, § 1). In any consideration of the rights of persons, those of the s... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS WIFE SHALL GO OUT WITH HIM. — The privilege of the married Hebrew slave was to attach also to his wife, if he was married when he became a slave. It further, no DOUBT, attached to his children.... [ Continue Reading ]
If his master have given him a wife. — If, however, the Hebrew slave, being previously unmarried, had been allowed by his master to take to wife one of his female slaves, then, when the husband claimed his freedom the wife could not claim hers. Both she and her children remained in the slave conditi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF. — Better, _But if._ I LOVE MY MASTER. — Under every system of slavery affection grows up between the slaves and a master who is indulgent to them. At Rome it was common for slaves to endure the severest torture rather than betray or accuse their owners. If a man has no rights, he is thankful... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS MASTER SHALL BRING HIM UNTO THE JUDGES. — A formal act was necessary. The State must sanction the passing of a citizen into the slave condition, and so the “judges” were called in. The change was to be made by a significant ceremony. In order to mark that henceforth the volunteer bondman became... [ Continue Reading ]
IF A MAN SELL HIS DAUGHTER TO BE A MAIDSERVANT. — The right of selling their children into slavery was regarded in ancient times as inherent in the _patria potestas,_ and was practised largely by many nations (Herod. v. 6; Heyne, _Opusc.,_ vol. iv., p. 125). Among the Hebrews such sales were, compar... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO HATH BETROTHED HER TO HIMSELF. — The reading is to be preferred which gives the opposite sense — “who hath _not_ betrothed her;” and the meaning is, “If the man, after purchasing the woman to be his wife, finds that he does not like her, and _refuses_ to go through the ceremony of betrothal” —... [ Continue Reading ]
IF HE TAKE HIM ANOTHER WIFE. — Polygamy is viewed as lawful in this passage, as elsewhere generally in the Mosaic Law, which did not venture to forbid, though to some extent discouraging it. The legislator was forced to allow many things to the Hebrews, “for the hardness of their hearts” (Matthew 19... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE THREE — _i.e., one of these three things:_ (1) Espouse her himself; (2) marry her to his son; or (3) transfer her, on the terms on which he received her, to another Hebrew.... [ Continue Reading ]
(12-14) HE THAT SMITETH A MAN, SO THAT HE DIE. — Homicide had been broadly and generally forbidden in the sixth commandment. But something more was necessary. Laws are for the most part inoperative unless they are enforced by penalties; and for every case of homicide the same penalty would not be fi... [ Continue Reading ]
IF A MAN LIE NOT IN WAIT, BUT GOD DELIVER HIM INTO HIS HAND. — If, that is, without malice aforethought, a man happen upon his enemy, God’s providence bringing the two into contact without man’s contrivance, and the result is that one slay the other, then the law of the refuge or asylum shall come i... [ Continue Reading ]
IF A MAN COME PRESUMPTUOUSLY. — Rather, _if a man come maliciously,_ or _with premeditation._ (Vulg., _de industria._) THOU SHALT TAKE HIM FROM MINE ALTAR. — Comp. 1 Kings 2:28. In most parts of the ancient world a scruple was felt about putting criminals to death when once they had taken sanctuary... [ Continue Reading ]
(15-17) AND HE THAT SMITETH HIS FATHER...-With homicide are conjoined some other offences, regarded as of a heinous character, and made punishable by death: viz. (1), striking a parent; (2) kidnapping; and (3) cursing a parent. The immediate sequence of these crimes upon murder, and their punishment... [ Continue Reading ]
Severe assault, endangering life, but not actually taking it, is placed under the same head with homicide, as approaching to it, but is not to be punished in the same way. If death ensues in such a case, the crime is, of course, murder or manslaughter, according to the attendant circumstances; but i... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH A STONE, OR WITH HIS FIST. — Comp. The difference made under the English law between wounding with a sharp or a blunt instrument.... [ Continue Reading ]
IF HE RISE AGAIN, AND WALK ABROAD UPON HIS STAFF. — The charge of murder was not to be kept hanging over a man indefinitely. If the injured person recovered sufficiently to leave his bed, and get about by the help of a stick, the injurer was to pay his fine and be quit of his offence, whatever might... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF A MAN SMITE HIS SERVANT. — The homicide hitherto considered has been that of freemen; but the Mosaic Law was not content to stop at this point. Unlike most other codes, it proceeded to forbid the homicide of slaves. Hitherto, throughout the East, and also in many parts of the West, slaves had... [ Continue Reading ]
IF HE CONTINUE A DAY OR TWO, HE SHALL NOT BE PUNISHED. — Comp. the proviso with respect to freemen (Exodus 21:19). The notion is, that unless the death follows speedily it must be presumed not to have been intended; and this might be especially presumed in the case of a man killing his slave, since... [ Continue Reading ]
IF MEN STRIVE, AND HURT A WOMAN WITH CHILD. — It is assumed that this hurt would probably take place through the interference of a pregnant wife in some strife wherein her husband was engaged. It would almost certainly be accidental. AND YET NO MISCHIEF FOLLOW — _i.e.,_ no further mischief — nothin... [ Continue Reading ]
LIFE FOR LIFE, EYE FOR EYE. — It is a reasonable conjecture that the law of retaliation was much older than Moses, and accepted by him as tolerable rather than devised as rightful. The law itself was very widely spread. Traces of it are found in India, in Egypt, among the Greeks, and in the laws of... [ Continue Reading ]
(22-25) A personal injury peculiar to women — a hurt producing miscarriage — is here considered. The miscarriage might cost the woman her life, in which case the man who caused it was to suffer death (Exodus 21:23); or it might have no further ill result than the loss of the child. In this latter ca... [ Continue Reading ]
THE EYE... TOOTH. — An exception to the law of retaliation is here made. If the injurer is a free man and the injured person a slave, the marked social inequality of the parties would make exact retaliation an injustice. Is the slave, then, to be left without protection? By no means. As the legislat... [ Continue Reading ]
THE OX SHALL BE SURELY STONED — _i.e.,_ he shall die the death of a murderer. HIS FLESH SHALL NOT BE EATEN. — An ox killed by stoning would not be bled in the usual way, and would be “unclean” food for Hebrews. According to the Rabbis, the flesh might not even be disposed of to the Gentiles, but ha... [ Continue Reading ]
(28-32) Injuries to the person might arise either from man or from animals. Protection from both was needed. The law given to Noah (Genesis 9:5) had already laid it down that whenever a beast killed a man his life was to be forfeit. This law was now re-enacted, but with a further and very important... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS OWNER ALSO SHALL BE PUT TO DEATH. — It seems clear that under this law the representatives of the slain person might have exacted life for life; but probably they would in almost all cases have been ready to accept a compensation.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHATSOEVER IS LAID UPON HIM. — Primarily, by the aggrieved relatives; but in the case of an exorbitant demand there was, no doubt, an appeal to the judges, who would then FIX the amount.... [ Continue Reading ]
IF A MAN SHALL OPEN A PIT. — Rather, _uncover a well._ The wells in the East commonly have covers, which are removed when water is drawn, and then replaced. If a man neglected to replace a cover, he was rightly answerable for any damage that might ensue. The case was the same if he dug a new well, a... [ Continue Reading ]
LAWS CONCERNING THE RIGHTS OF PROPERTY. (33-36) The legislation slides from rights of persons to rights of property easily and without effort, by passing from the injuries which cattle cause to those which they suffer. They are injured (1) by the culpable _laches_ of persons leaving their pits unco... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DEAD BEAST SHALL BE HIS. — Having paid the full value of the live animal, the owner of the well was entitled to make what he could by the carcass.... [ Continue Reading ]
(35-36) IF ONE MAN’S OX HURT ANOTHER’S. — Where no blame attached to the owner, the loss was to be equally shared. Where the dangerous character of the animal was, or ought to have been, known, the man whose ox was killed received its full value.... [ Continue Reading ]