Here’s the passage:
“Now if people have a quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with a fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed, 19 if he gets up and walks around outside on his staff, then he who struck him shall go unpunished; he shall only pay for his loss of time, and shall pay for his care until he is completely healed. 20 “And if someone strikes his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies at his hand, he shall be punished. 21 If, however, the slave survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken; for the slave is his property. 22 “Now if people struggle with each other and strike a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, but there is no injury, the guilty person shall certainly be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. 23 But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. 26 “And if someone strikes the eye of his male or female slave and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free on account of the eye. 27 And if he knocks out a tooth of his male or female slave, he shall let the slave go free on account of the tooth.
- This section topically addresses non-death injuries. Overall theme is compensation for injuries.
- Verses 20-21 and verses 26-27 mentioned slavery. Concerning the questions of why is there a mention of slavery of the Bible and how slavery in the Bible is more indentured servitude than the concept of slavery in American Antebellum South see my earlier post Thoughts on questions on Exodus 21:1-6. I’ll be using the term servant, indentured servant, and slave interchangeably in talking about the Biblical data.
- The scenario in verses 18-19 is when a fight happen but the person hurt did not die. In this case there is a fine for loss income and medical care.
- Verses 20 through 21 is like verses 18-19 but involving slaves.
- If the beaten slave dies there should be punishment according to verse 20.
- Verse 21 is what happens if the beaten slave did not die. There is no compensation for the slave however if there is lost of body parts that is too harsh and the servant must be let go as verses 26-27 makes clear (Ryken, 713).
- To understand the rationale why the servant is not compensated if there’s no lost of limbs it helps to focus on a phrase in verse 21 that states “the slave is his property.” Literally in Hebrew the word for “property” is silver and suggests economic factor, where owner would lose labor from injured servant (Garrett, 492). It is not to the owner’s interests. This lost labor of the injured servant parallel verse 18 of the consideration of loss labor due to injury except here the owner is going against his own economic interest. That is the negative consequences of beating a slave. Speaking in economic terms there is also the incentive for the boss of the servant that the servant be well again to work (Ryken, 714).
- I want to look next at the other slave passage: Verses 26-27. We already mentioned that this gives the consequences of making a slave lose their limbs or organs. This include teeth being knocked out, as seen in verse 27. This passage is unparalleled in Ancient Near East of protecting slaves (Ryken, 714).
- Verses 22-24 involves injury to a bystander who got injured while a fight is going on and the bystander is pregnant. Such violence is heinous since the most vulnerable is hurt: a mom with an unborn child (Ryken, 714).
- If the woman gives birth due to the assault and there’s no injury still there is a penalty which according to verse 22 there is still a punishment. The penalty is not directly given but the penalty shall be determined by two conditions: (1) “the guilty person shall certainly be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him” and (2) this must be approved “as the judges decide.“
- This law punishing the person guilty with hurting a pregnant woman is more strict compared to Middle Assyrian law where a woman hurt in a fight have less liability (Garrett, 503).
- Incidentally the Greek translation of verse 22 sees the injury referring to the baby (Garrett, 493). If that’s the case one can see why the penalty can be much more severe against the assaulter since this child is injured from birth onwards for the rest of his or her life.
- Verses 23-25 gives the overall principle of penalty for non-death injuries: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth as a legal punishment for bodily injuries.
- This discussion should not be done in a vacuum. A nonbeliever reading this and judging over God’s Word must give an account of morality that does not originate from the God of the BIble, if God Himself is rejected as the basis of morality. See my Atheism and the problem of Morality on the problem.
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A simpler… “thou shalt not own other humans as property” would have sufficed.
I do appreciate explanations
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The Bible gave good, practical guidelines for indentured servants in cases of injury. Yup, atheists have no grounds to debate this since their “morality” is baseless. They don’t live in an ancient agrarian culture and argue according to 21st-century social norms.
Good unmasking of the atheist bankruptcy to even talk about this issue in light of their own worldview! They like to superimposed standards all the time! I find going over the details of OT books makes me want to visit Israel…perhaps one day! Have you been to Israel?
Nope, never been to Israel, but I definitely want to go someday. I think I might be a little disappointed though with many of the sites presented as authentic when they are “traditionally thought to be” the place of “such and such” with an RC or Eastern Orthodox church built alongside.
Thanks for the great insight. I think indentured servant is more appropriate since it was not slavery as we think of it
Praying for your ministry this weekend.
Shalom!
Thanks for reading this and thanks for your prayers
Reblogged this on clydeherrin.
Well done.
Thank you for reading this and your support
Very helpful exegesis. Do you think that this passage also illustrates the three-fold use of the law? Also how impossible it is for man, unlike God, to enact perfect justice.
I think the threefold use of the law might not be explicit here but I think the three fold use of the law is important with handling passages like these to make sense of it. We see here the Law limit and discourage evil with penalties, we do fall short of the law since here they are case laws about scenarios where people fall short (they are fighting) and in some sense the Law points us to the high penalty of sin which shows our need for Christ. When we are saved we see the importance of treating others rightly from these case laws as well. What do you think?
That transgression of God’s law and moral order necessitates punitive judgment does expose the “high penalty of sin” as you say, that finally the only one who could pay the just price is Christ Jesus who not only bears the full judgment but also provides full redemption, peace with God and man. The Law cannot do either but points to the “need for Christ.” So thankful for God’s Law and for Jesus, the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world! Praying for a blessed Lord’s Day for you and your family tomorrow!
The reason why there is no payment by the master makes sense when one consider it economically
Thanks for reading this!
Good point: “A nonbeliever reading this and judging over God’s Word must give an account of morality that does not originate from the God of the BIble, if God Himself is rejected as the basis of morality.”
Amen! I wrote that since there will be some who will say they don’t like God’s laws. So it gets to the heart of worldviews and the basis of ethics in those instances. Though I was trying to focus mainly on what does the text says and its meaning! Blessings to you Frank!
I would not have understood it well without this
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