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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Exodus 21:28 - 21:36
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Ordinances for the Protection of Life and Property
v. 28. 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, be considered unclean; but the owner of the ox shall be quit, shall be considered and declared innocent of any wrongdoing.
v. 29. But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, if the owner was fully aware that the ox was in the habit of attacking people, that he was of a mean disposition, and yet did not confine him, but that he hath killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death, because he, by his neglect in watching the vicious animal, became the cause of the deaths. There was a possibility, however, of a man's saving his life in such a case.
v. 30. If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him, as a punishment for his criminal carelessness.
v. 31. Whether he have gored a son or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him. The law was justly strict and made no distinction between men and women; it was a case of paying the price of ransom or the penalty of death.
v. 32. If the ox shall push a manservant or a maid-servant, the injury resulting in death, he, the owner of the vicious brute, shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, probably the usual market price of a slave, and the ox shall be stoned. Thus we also, in passing judgment upon any trespass, distinguish between sins of weakness and sins of malice, between transgressions by neglect, by mistake, and by criminal intent, being very careful not to accuse anyone unjustly.
v. 33. And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein, the result being that his neighbor is harmed in his possessions,
v. 34. the owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them, restore their full value in money; and the dead beast shall be his, he may dispose of the carcass as he sees fit.
v. 35. And if one man's ox hurt another's that he die, then they shall sell the live ox, the one that did the damage, and divide the money of it; and the dead ox also they shall divide, both parties, in this case, bearing the loss equally, since it could rarely be determined which animal was the aggressor.
v. 36. Or if it be known that the ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not kept him in, he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his own. In this case the owner of the mean animal would be guilty of criminal neglect, of punishable carelessness, and would therefore have to restore to his neighbor the full value of the animal which was dead through the viciousness of his ox, only the carcass being his. To this day the right understanding of the Seventh Commandment demands that full restoration be made to one's neighbor, not only in case of theft, but whenever he has suffered damage, even through the agency of a brute beast.