Exodus 21:27

_AND IF A MAN SMITE THE EYE OF HIS SERVANT, OR THE EYE OF HIS MAID, THAT IT PERISH; HE SHALL LET HIM GO FREE FOR HIS EYE'S SAKE._ If a man smite the eye of his servant ... he shall let him go free ... It may be inferred from the general equity of these laws that this provision was not confined, as some think, to Israelite servants only, but was intended for the benefit of foreign slaves also; otherwise its beneficial influence on the conduct of irritable and tyrannical masters would be greatly diminished. Their manumission was a just compensation to servants for the injury sustained; and although an eye and a tooth are specified, yet, as the one is the principal organ, and the other is a small part of the body, all other members must be considered as included in the wide range of the act....

22-36 The cases here mentioned give rules of justice then, and still in use, for deciding similar matters. We are taught by these laws, that we must be very careful to do no wrong, either directly or indirectly. If we have done wrong, we must be very willing to make it good, and be desirous that nobody may lose by us....

Verse Exodus 21:27. _IF HE SMITE OUT HIS - TOOTH_] It was a noble law that obliged the unmerciful slaveholder to set the slave at liberty whose eye or tooth he had knocked out. If this did not teach them _humanity_, it taught them _caution_, as one rash blow might have deprived them of all right to the future services of the slave; and thus self-interest obliged them to be cautious and circumspect....

Freedom was the proper equivalent for permanent injury....

EXPOSITION THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT.—_Continued_. I. _Laws connected with the rights of persons_ (Exodus 21:1). The regulations of this section concern— 1. Slavery (Exodus 21:2); 2. Murder and other kinds of homicide (Exodus 21:12-2 and Exodus 21:20, Exodus 21:21); 3. Man-stealing ...

AND IF HE SMITE OUT HIS MANSERVANT'S TOOTH, OR HIS MAIDSERVANT'S TOOTH,.... Give them such a slap on the face, or a blow on the mouth, as to strike out one of their teeth; this also the Targum of Jonathan and Jarchi restrain to a Canaanitish servant or maid; HE SHALL LET HIM GO FREE FOR HIS TOOTH'S SAKE; both him and her, the servant and the maid; this, though of lesser consequence than the loss of an eye, was punished in the same manner with the loss of the servant man or maid, to make masters careful how they abused their servants in any degree. And though only these parts are expressed, yet Jarchi and Aben Ezra observe, that all other principal members of the body, which they reckon to be twenty four, are included, as the fingers, toes, c....

CHAPTER 21 DIFFERENT JUDGMENTS _ 1. Master and servant (Exodus 21:1)_ 2. Concerning injury to the person (Exodus 21:12) 3. Concerning property (Exodus 21:33) The Three Chapter s which follow the giving of the Ten Commandments give the practical application of the Decalogue in the daily life. The duties towards the fellowman are demonstrated in part. There are seven sections to these three Chapter s; each section contains ten precepts. The servant occupies the first place. He was to obtain his freedom for nothing after serving six years. In Deuteronomy we read that the master is commanded not to let him go empty-handed, but give him of his flock, his threshing floor and his winepress.

EXODUS 21:18 E. INJURIES. If one man injures another in a quarrel (Exodus 21:18), he must, on the recovery of the other, compensate him for the loss of time and pay his doctor's bill (Exodus 21:19). He who beat a slave to death must pay a penalty (Exodus 21:20), no doubt fixed at the judge's discretion; but only if death was immediate (Exodus 21:21). If two men quarrelling injured the wife of one of them intervening and brought on a miscarriage without permanent injury, her husband could levy a fine ...

SMITE. Not the same word as elsewhere in this chapter....

Exodus 20:22 to Exodus 23:33 _The Book of the Covenant_ The -Book of the Covenant" (see Exodus 24:7 in explanation of the name) is the oldest piece of Hebrew legislation that we possess. The laws contained in it are spoken of in Exodus 24:3 as consisting of two elements, the WORDS (or commands) and the JUDGEMENTS: the JUDGEMENTS (see on Exodus 21:1) are the provisions relating to civil and criminal law, prescribing what is to be done when particular cases arise, and comprised in...