Exodus 21:29

_IF AN OX GORE A MAN OR A WOMAN, THAT THEY DIE: THEN THE OX SHALL BE SURELY STONED, AND HIS FLESH SHALL NOT BE EATEN; BUT THE OWNER OF THE OX SHALL BE QUIT._ If an ox gore a man. For the purpose of sanctifying human blood, and representing all injuries affecting life in a serious light, an animal that occasioned death was to be killed, or suffer punishment proportioned to the degree of damage it had caused. Verse 29. BUT IF THE OX WERE WONT TO PUSH ... AND IT HATH BEEN TESTIFIED TO HIS OWNER. According to Jewish writers, this notification required to be done three separate times before a magistrate. BUT THAT HE HATH KILLED A MAN OR A WOMAN - who was free (cf. Exodus 21:32). Verse 30. IF THERE BE LAID ON HIM A SUM OF MONEY - as some sort of compensation for the loss of a relative, the amount being determined either by the Go'el, the blood-

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....

The animal was slain as a tribute to the sanctity of human life (Compare the marginal references and Genesis 4:11). It was stoned, and its flesh was treated as carrion. Guilty negligence on the part of its owner was reckoned a capital offence, to be commuted for a fine. In the case of a slave, the payment was the standard price of a slave, thirty shekels of silver. See Leviticus 25:44; Leviticus 27:3, and the marginal references for the New Testament application of this fact....

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 ...

BUT IF THE OX WERE WONT TO PUSH WITH HIS HORNS IN TIME PAST,.... Or "from or before yesterday, to the third" m that is, three days before, and had made three pushes, as Jarchi explains it: AND IT HATH BEEN TESTIFIED TO HIS OWNER; by sufficient witnesses, who saw him push at people for three days past: the Targum of Jonathan is, "and it hath been testified to the face of his owner three days.'' Concerning this testimony Maimonides n thus writes, "this is a testification, all that testify of it three days; but if he pushes, or bites, or kicks, or strikes even an hundred times on one day, this is no testification (not a sufficient one): three companies of witnesses testify of it in one day, lo, this is a doubt, whether it is a (proper) testimony or not; there is no testification but before the owner, and before the sanhedrim:'' AND HE HATH NOT KEPT HIM IN; in some enclosed place, house...

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 21:28 E. DAMAGES BY OR TO CATTLE. An ox goring anyone to death must be stoned, and might not be eaten, as tainted with blood-guilt (Exodus 21:28). In ancient Greece and elsewhere, and even in mediæ val Europe, animals were tried in court. But the owner of an ox known to be vicious, and yet left at large, must die, or pay a fine to the relatives (Exodus 21:29 f.), the same rule holding good of a minor of either sex (Exodus 21:31). A slave's death required a fine of 30 shekels (worth £ 4, 2 Samuel 6 d. now, and much more then) and the ox's death. These two ...

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...

THE TEXT OF EXODUS TRANSLATION 21NOW THESE ARE THE ORDINANCES WHICH THOU SHALT SET BEFORE them. (2) If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. (3) If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he be married, then his wife shall go out with him. (4) If his master give him a wife, and she bear him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master'S, and he shall go out by himself. (5) But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: (6) then his master shall bring him unto God, and shall bring him to the door, or unto the doorpost; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever. (7) And if a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do. (8) If she please not he...

THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT (CONTINUED) I-ii. Regulations regarding the Treatment of Hebrew Slaves. Slavery was universal in ancient times, and the Mosaic Law does not abolish it. Among the Hebrews, however, slavery was by no means the degrading and oppressive thing that it was among other nations. Manstealing, upon which modern systems of slavery are based, was a crime punishable by death (see Exodus 21:16), and the Law of Moses recognises the right of a slave to just and honourable treatment. A Hebrew slave might occupy a high position in his master's household and be regarded as a trusty friend, as the case of Eliezer shows (Genesis 24). He could not be bound for more than six years at a time; in the seventh year he obtained his freedom if he desired it (see...