COMMENTARY EXODUS 21

The laws recorded in this chapter relate to thefifth and sixth commandments; and though they are not accommodatedto our constitution, especially in point of servitude, nor are thepenalties annexed binding on us, yet they are of great use for theexplanation of the moral law, and the rules of natural justice.Here are several enlargements, I. Upon the fifth commandment, whichconcerns particular relations. 1. The duty of masters towards theirservants, their men-servants (ver.2-6), and the maidservants, ver. 7-11. 2. The punishment of disobedientchildren that strike their parents (ver. 15), or curse them, ver. 17. II. Upon the sixth commandment,which forbids all violence offered to the person of a man. Here is,1. Concerning murder, ver.12-14. 2. Man-stealing, ver. 16. 3. Assault and battery, ver. 18, 19. 4. Correcting aservant, ver. 20, 21. 5.Hurting a woman with child, ver.22, 23. 6. The law of retaliation, ver. 24, 25. 7. Maiming a servant,ver. 26, 27. 8. An oxgoring, ver. 28-32. 9.Damage by opening a pit, ver. 33,34. 10. Cattle fighting, ver. 35, 36.

Judicial Laws. (b. c. 1491.)

1 Now these are the judgments which thoushalt set before them. 2 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, sixyears he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free fornothing. 3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out byhimself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his master have given him a wife, and she have born himsons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's,and he shall go out by himself. 5 And if the servant shallplainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will notgo out free: 6 Then his master shall bring him unto thejudges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post;and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shallserve him for ever. 7 And if a man sell his daughter to be amaidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do. 8If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself,then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strangenation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfullywith her. 9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, heshall deal with her after the manner of daughters. 10 If hetake him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her dutyof marriage, shall he not diminish. 11 And if he do notthese three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.

The firstverse is the general title of the laws contained in thisand the two following chapters, some of them relating to thereligious worship of God, but most of them relating to mattersbetween man and man. Their government being purely a Theocracy,that which in other states is to be settled by human prudence wasdirected among them by a divine appointment, so that theconstitution of their government was peculiarly adapted to makethem happy. These laws are called judgments, because theyare framed in infinite wisdom and equity, and because theirmagistrates were to give judgment according to the people. In thedoubtful cases that had hitherto occurred, Moses had particularlyenquired of God for them, as appeared, ch. xviii. 15; but now God gave himstatutes in general by which to determine particular cases, whichlikewise he must apply to other like cases that might happen,which, falling under the same reason, fell under the same rule. Hebegins with the laws concerning servants, commanding mercy andmoderation towards them. The Israelites had lately been servantsthemselves; and now that they had become, not only their ownmasters, but masters of servants too, lest they should abuse theirservants, as they themselves had been abused and ruled with rigourby the Egyptian task-masters, provision was made by these laws forthe mild and gentle usage of servants. Note, If those who have hadpower over us have been injurious to us this will not in the leastexcuse us if we be in like manner injurious to those who are underour power, but will rather aggravate our crime, because, in thatcase, we may the more easily put our souls into their soul's stead.Here is,

I. A law concerning men-servants, sold,either by themselves or their parents, through poverty, or by thejudges, for their crimes; even those of the latter sort (ifHebrews) were to continue in slavery but seven years at the most,in which time it was taken for granted that they would sufficientlyhave smarted for their folly or offence. At the seven years' endthe servant should either go out free (v. 2, 3), or his servitude shouldthenceforward be his choice, v. 5, 6. If he had a wife given himby his master, and children, he might either leave them and go outfree himself, or, if he had such a kindness for them that he wouldrather tarry with them in bondage than go out at liberty withoutthem, he was to have his ear bored through to the doorpost andserve till the death of his master, or the year of jubilee.

1. By this law God taught, (1.) The Hebrewservants generosity, and a noble love of liberty, for they were theLord's freemen; a mark of disgrace must be put upon him who refusedliberty when he might have it, though he refused it uponconsiderations otherwise laudable enough. Thus Christians, beingbought with a price, and called unto liberty, must not bethe servants of men, nor of the lusts of men, 1 Cor. vii. 23. There is a free and princelyspirit that much helps to uphold a Christian, Ps. li. 12. He likewise taught, (2.) TheHebrew masters not to trample upon their poor servants, knowing,not only that they had been by birth upon a level with them, butthat, in a few years, they would be so again. Thus Christianmasters must look with respect on believing servants, Philem. 16.

2. This law will be further useful to us,(1.) To illustrate the right God has to the children of believingparents, as such, and the place they have in his church. They areby baptism enrolled among his servants, because they are born inhis house, for they are therefore born unto him,Ezek. xvi. 20. David ownshimself God's servant, as he was the son of his handmaid(Ps. cxvi. 16), andtherefore entitled to protection, Ps.lxxxvi. 16. (2.) To explain the obligation which thegreat Redeemer laid upon himself to prosecute the work of oursalvation, for he says (Ps. xl.6), My ears hast thou opened, which seems toallude to this law. He loved his Father, and his captive spouse,and the children that were given him, and would not go out freefrom his undertaking, but engaged to serve in it for ever,Isa. xlii. 1, 4. Muchmore reason have we thus to engage ourselves to serve God for ever;we have all the reason in the world to love our Master and hiswork, and to have our ears bored to his door-posts, as those whodesire not to go out free from his service, but to be found moreand more free to it, and in it, Ps.lxxxiv. 10.

Concerning maid-servants, whom theirparents, through extreme poverty, had sold, when they were veryyoung, to such as they hoped would marry them when they grew up; ifthey did not, yet they must not sell them to strangers, but ratherstudy how to make them amends for the disappointment; if they did,they must maintain them handsomely, v. 7-11. Thus did God provide forthe comfort and reputation of the daughters of Israel, and hastaught husbands to give honour to their wives (be theirextraction ever so mean) as to the weaker vessels, 1 Pet. iii. 7.

12 He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shallbe surely put to death. 13 And if a man lie not in wait, butGod deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee aplace whither he shall flee. 14 But if a man comepresumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thoushalt take him from mine altar, that he may die. 15 And hethat smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put todeath. 16 And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or ifhe be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. 17And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be putto death. 18 And if men strive together, and one smiteanother with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, butkeepeth his bed: 19 If he rise again, and walk abroadupon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: onlyhe shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall causehim to be thoroughly healed. 20 And if a man smitehis servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; heshall be surely punished. 21 Notwithstanding, if he continuea day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is hismoney.

Here is, I. A law concerning murder. He hadlately said, Thou shalt not kill; here he provides, 1. Forthe punishing of wilful murder (v. 12): He that smiteth a man,whether upon a sudden passion or in malice prepense, so that hedie, the government must take care that the murderer be putto death, according to that ancient law (Gen. ix. 6), Whoso sheddeth man's blood, byman shall his blood be shed. God, who by his providence givesand maintains life, thus by his law protects it; so that mercyshown to a wilful murderer is real cruelty to all mankind besides:such a one, God here says, shall be taken even from hisaltar (v. 14),to which he might flee for protection; and, if God will not shelterhim, let him flee to the pit, and let no man stay him. 2.For the relief of such as killed by accident, perinfortunium—by misfortune, or chance-medley, as our lawexpresses it, when a man, in doing a lawful act, without intent ofhurt to any, happens to kill another, or, as it is here described,God delivers him into his hand; for nothing comes to pass bychance; what seems to us purely casual is ordered by the divineProvidence, for wise and holy ends secret to us. In this case Godprovided cities of refuge for the protection of those whoseinfelicity it was, but not their fault, to occasion the death ofanother, v. 13. Withus, who know no avengers of blood but the magistrates, the lawitself is a sufficient sanctuary for those whose minds areinnocent, though their hands are guilty, and there needs noother.

II. Concerning rebellious children. It ishere made a capital crime, to be punished with death, for childreneither, 1. To strike their parents (v. 15) so as either to draw blood orto make the place struck black and blue. Or, 2. To curse theirparents (v. 17), ifthey profaned any name of God in doing it, as the rabbies say.Note, The undutiful behaviour of children towards their parents isa very great provocation to God our common Father; and, if men donot punish it, he will. Those are perfectly lost to all virtue, andabandoned to all wickedness, that have broken through the bonds offilial reverence and duty to such a degree as in word or action toabuse their own parents. What yoke will those bear that have shakenoff this? Let children take heed of entertaining in their minds anysuch thought or passions towards their parents as savour ofundutifulness and contempt; for the righteous God searches theheart.

III. Here is a law against man-stealing(v. 16): He thatsteals a man (that is, a person, man, woman, or child), withdesign to sell him to the Gentiles (for no Israelite would buyhim), was adjudged to death by this statute, which is ratified bythe apostle (1 Tim. i. 10),where men-stealers are reckoned among those wicked onesagainst whom laws must be made by Christian princes.

IV. Care is here taken that satisfaction bemade for hurt done to a person, though death do not ensue,v. 18, 19. Hethat did the hurt must be accountable for damages, and pay, notonly for the cure, but for the loss of time, to which the Jews addthat he must likewise give some recompence both for the pain andfor the blemish, if there were any.

V. Direction is given what should be doneif a servant died by his master's correction. This servant must notbe an Israelite, but a Gentile slave, as the negroes to ourplanters; and it is supposed that he smite him with a rod, and notwith any thing that was likely to give a mortal wound; yet, if hedied under his hand, he should be punished for his cruelty, at thediscretion of the judges, upon consideration of circumstances,v. 20. But, if hecontinued a day or two after the correction given, the master wassupposed to suffer enough by losing his servant, v. 21. Our law makes the death of aservant, by his master's reasonable beating of him, butchance-medley. Yet let all masters take heed of tyrannizingover their servants; the gospel teaches them even to forbear andmoderate threatenings (Eph. vi.9), considering with holy Job, What shall I do, whenGod riseth up? Job xxxi.13-15.

22 If men strive, and hurt a woman with child,so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischieffollow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman'shusband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judgesdetermine. 23 And if any mischief follow, thenthou shalt give life for life, 24 Eye for eye, tooth fortooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 Burning for burning,wound for wound, stripe for stripe. 26 And if a man smitethe eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; heshall let him go free for his eye's sake. 27 And if he smiteout his manservant's tooth, or his maidservant's tooth; he shalllet him go free for his tooth's sake. 28 If an ox gore a manor a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, andhis flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shallbe quit. 29 But if the ox were wont to push with hishorn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and hehath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; theox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death. 30 If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shallgive for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him. 31 Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, accordingto this judgment shall it be done unto him. 32 If the oxshall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto theirmaster thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. 33 And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, andnot cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein; 34 The ownerof the pit shall make it good, and give money untothe owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his. 35 And if one man's ox hurt another's, that he die; then they shallsell the live ox, and divide the money of it; and the deadox also they shall divide. 36 Or if it be known thatthe ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not kepthim in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be hisown.

Observe here,

I. The particular care which the law tookof women with child, that no hurt should be done them which mightoccasion their mis-carrying. The law of nature obliges us to bevery tender in that case, lest the tree and fruit be destroyedtogether, v. 22,23. Women with child, who are thus taken under thespecial protection of the law of God, if they live in his fear, maystill believe themselves under the special protection of theprovidence of God, and hope that they shall be saved inchild-bearing. On this occasion comes in that general law ofretaliation which our Saviour refers to, Matt. v. 38, An eye for an eye. Now, 1.The execution of this law is not hereby put into the hands ofprivate persons, as if every man might avenge himself, which wouldintroduce universal confusion, and make men like the fishes of thesea. The tradition of the elders seems to have put this corruptgloss upon it, in opposition to which our Saviour commands us toforgive injuries, and not to meditate revenge, Matt. v. 39. 2. God often executes it in thecourse of his providence, making the punishment, in many cases, toanswer to the sin, as Judg. i. 7; Isa. xxxiii. 1;Hab. ii. 13; Matt. xxvi. 52. 3. Magistrates ought tohave an eye to this rule in punishing offenders, and doing right tothose that are injured. Consideration must be had of the nature,quality, and degree of the wrong done, that reparation may be madeto the party injured, and others deterred from doing the like;either an eye shall go for an eye, or the forfeitedeye shall be redeemed by a sum of money. Note, He that does wrongmust expect one way or other to receive according to the wronghe has done, Col. iii.25. God sometimes brings men's violent dealings upontheir own heads (Ps. vii.16); and magistrates are in this the ministers of thejustice, that they are avengers (Rom. xiii. 4), and they shall not bear thesword in vain.

II. The care God took of servants. If theirmasters maimed them, though it was only striking out a tooth, thatshould be their discharge, v. 26, 27. This was intended, 1. Toprevent their being abused; masters would be careful not to offerthem any violence, lest they should lose their service. 2. Tocomfort them if they were abused; the loss of a limb should be thegaining of their liberty, which would do something towardsbalancing both the pain and disgrace they underwent. Nay,

III. Does God take care for oxen?Yes, it appears by the following laws in this chapter that he does,for our sakes, 1 Cor. ix. 9,10. The Israelites are here directed what to do,

1. In case of hurt done by oxen, or anyother brute-creature; for the law, doubtless, was designed toextend to all parallel cases. (1.) As an instance of God's care ofthe life of man (though forfeited a thousand times into the handsof divine justice), and in token of his detestation of the sin ofmurder. If an ox killed any man, woman, or child, the ox was to bestoned (v.28); and, because the greatest honour of the inferiorcreatures is to be serviceable to man, the criminal is denied thathonour: his flesh shall not be eaten. Thus God would keep upin the minds of his people a rooted abhorrence of the sin of murderand every thing that was barbarous. (2.) To make men careful thatnone of their cattle might do hurt, but that, by all meanspossible, mischief might be prevented. If the owner of the beastknew that he was mischievous, he must answer for the hurt done,and, according as the circumstances of the case proved him to bemore or less accessory, he must either be put to death orransom his life with a sum of money, v. 29-32. Some of our ancient booksmake this felony, by the common law of England, and give thisreason, "The owner, by suffering his beast to go at liberty when heknew it to be mischievous, shows that he was very willing that hurtshould be done." Note, It is not enough for us not to do mischiefourselves, but we must take care that no mischief be done by thosewhom it is in our power to restrain, whether man or beast.

2. In case of hurt done to oxen, or othercattle. (1.) If they fall into a pit, and perish there, he thatopened the pit must make good the loss, v. 33, 34. Note, We must take heednot only of doing that which will be hurtful, but of doing thatwhich may be so. It is not enough not to design and devisemischief, but we must contrive to prevent mischief, else we becomeaccessory to our neighbours' damage. Mischief done in malice is thegreat transgression; but mischief done through negligence, and forwant of due care and consideration, is not without fault, but oughtto be reflected upon with great regret, according as the degree ofthe mischief is: especially we must be careful that we do nothingto make ourselves accessory to the sins of others, by laying anoccasion of offence in our brother's way, Rom. xiv. 13. (2.) If cattle fight, and onekill another, the owners shall equally share in the loss, v. 35. Only if the beast thathad done the harm was known to the owner to have been mischievoushe shall answer for the damage, because he ought either to havekilled him or kept him up, v.36. The determinations of these cases carry with themthe evidence of their own equity, and give such rules of justice aswere then, and are still, in use, for the decision of similarcontroversies that arise between man and man. But I conjecture thatthese cases might be specified, rather than others (though some ofthem seem minute), because they were then cases in fact actuallydepending before Moses; for in the wilderness where they layclosely encamped, and had their flocks and herds among them, suchmischiefs as these last mentioned were likely enough to occur. Thatwhich we are taught by these laws is that we should be very carefulto do no wrong, either directly or indirectly; and that, if we havedone wrong, we must be very willing to make satisfaction, anddesirous that nobody may lose by us.