How do these judgments distinguish release, injury and liability according to the circumstances of each case?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

They give separate rules for servants’ release, intentional killing and other injuries, and harm caused by animals or pits. The required payment, release or punishment depends on the conditions stated for each case.

Chapter breakdown

How do these judgments distinguish release, injury and liability according to the circumstances of each case? They give separate rules for servants’ release, intentional killing and other injuries, and harm caused by animals or pits. The required payment, release or punishment depends on the conditions stated for each case.

These are the judgments to be set before the people. A bought Hebrew servant serves six years and goes free in the seventh without payment. He leaves with clothing like that with which he entered. If he came with a wife, she leaves with him. If his master gave him a wife and she bore sons and daughters, she and her children remain the master’s, while the servant leaves with his clothing. If he says he loves his master, wife and children and will not go free, his master brings him to “the gods.” He is set at the door and posts, his master pierces his ear with an awl, and he remains his servant forever.

Challoner’s note explains “the gods,” or Elohim, as the judges or magistrates authorized by God.

A daughter sold as a servant does not go out as bondwomen usually do. If she displeases the master to whom she was delivered, he must let her go; if he despises her, he has no power to sell her to a foreign nation. If he betroths her to his son, he must treat her as a daughter. The next rule says that if he takes another wife “for him,” he must provide her “a marriage, and raiment,” and not refuse “the price of her chastity.” If he does not do these three things, she goes free without money. The wording is retained without adding a fourth provision or changing “for him” to “for himself.”

A man who strikes another with the will to kill him must be put to death. For one who did not lie in wait, but into whose hands God delivered the other, the Lord will appoint a place to flee. A man who kills his neighbour on purpose and by lying in wait must be taken even from the Lord’s altar to die. Striking father or mother carries death. Stealing and selling a person, upon conviction of the guilt, carries death. Cursing father or mother also carries death.

If men quarrel and one strikes his neighbour with a stone or fist, and the injured man does not die but stays in bed, the striker is cleared if the man rises and walks outside with his staff. He must still pay for the man’s lost work and physicians’ expenses. Someone who strikes his bondman or bondwoman with a rod and they die under his hands is guilty of the crime. If the person remains alive a day or two, he is not subject to the punishment, because, in the rule’s words, “it is his money.”

If men quarrel and one strikes a pregnant woman so that she miscarries but lives herself, he must answer for the damage her husband requires and the arbiters award. If her death follows, he must render life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound and stripe for stripe.

If a man strikes the eye of his manservant or maidservant and leaves them with only one eye, he must free them for the eye he put out. If he knocks out a servant’s tooth, he must likewise free them.

If an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox is stoned and its flesh must not be eaten; its owner is cleared. If it was accustomed to push with its horn yesterday and the day before, the owner had been warned and did not shut it up, and it kills a man or woman, both the ox’s stoning and the owner’s death are required. If a price is set upon the owner, he must pay whatever is laid upon him for his life. Goring a son or daughter falls under the same sentence. If it assaults a bondman or bondwoman, the owner must give their master thirty sicles of silver, and the ox is stoned.

If someone opens or digs a pit, leaves it uncovered, and an ox or ass falls in, the pit’s owner pays the beast’s price and keeps what is dead. If one man’s ox gores another’s ox to death, they sell the living ox and divide its price and the dead animal’s carcass between them. If the owner knew his ox pushed yesterday and the day before and failed to keep it in, he pays ox for ox and takes the whole carcass.

The story inside

The chapter gives case rules rather than a single event. A servant’s release depends on six years of service and the entry and marriage conditions; a declared refusal of freedom leads to ear-piercing and continued service. The daughter’s rules retain the three named provisions and release without money if they are not given. Killing with intent or lying in wait is distinguished from the case for which God appoints a place to flee. Other rules address parents, stealing and selling a person, work and medical expenses, and a servant who dies under a rod or remains alive a day or two—the latter rule gives the money reason. Miscarriage with the woman surviving requires damages set by husband and arbiters; her death leads into the life-for-life list. Loss of a servant’s eye or tooth requires freedom. Ox rules distinguish an owner not described as warned from one warned who failed to confine it, keep the son-or-daughter case and thirty-sicles servant case, and end with the uncovered pit and the sell-and-divide or ox-for-ox rules. (Exodus 21:1–36.)

Lessons worth keeping

1
The release rules have different conditions. A servant’s own wife leaves with him, while the wife given by his master and her children remain the master’s. The servant’s declared choice not to leave leads to the stated ear-piercing procedure. (21:2–6.)
2
The pregnant woman’s case has two stated results. If she miscarries but survives, damages depend on the husband’s demand and arbiters’ award. If her death follows, the life-for-life list applies. The edition does not add “lasting harm” to that trigger. (21:22–25.)
3
Prior warning changes the ox owner’s liability. A fatal goring requires stoning the ox and forbids eating it. The warned owner who failed to confine an ox known to push also faces death, with payment required if a price is set for his life. (21:28–30.)

Test your recall

Why does the wife given by a master not leave with the released servant? That case says she and her children remain the master’s. What payment remains due when an injured neighbour recovers to walk with his staff? Lost work and physicians’ expenses. What follows loss of a servant’s eye or tooth? Freedom. Why does the warned ox owner face a different sentence?

Show answer

He knew the ox’s prior pushing, was warned and failed to shut it up before it killed. (21:4, 18–19, 26–30.)

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 8165–8168
Exodus Chapter 21 Laws relating to Justice.
Lines 8169–8187
21:1. These are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. 21:2. If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve thee; in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. 21:3. With what raiment he came in, with the like let him go out: if having a wife, his wife also shall go out with him. 21:4. But if his master gave him a wife, and she hath borne sons and daughters; the woman and her children shall be her master’s: but he himself shall go out with his raiment. 21:5. And if the servant shall say: I love my master and my wife and children, I will not go out free: 21:6. His master shall bring him to the gods, and he shall be set to the door and the posts, and he shall bore his ear through with an awl: and he shall be his servant for ever.
Lines 8188–8190
To the gods.... Elohim. That is, to the judges, or magistrates, authorized by God.
Lines 8191–8207
21:7. If any man sell his daughter to be a servant, she shall not go out as bondwomen are wont to go out. 21:8. If she displease the eyes of her master to whom she was delivered, he shall let her go: but he shall have no power to sell her to a foreign nation, if he despise her. 21:9. But if he have betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. 21:10. And if he take another wife for him, he shall provide her a marriage, and raiment, neither shall he refuse the price of her chastity. 21:11. If he do not these three things, she shall go out free without money.
Lines 8208–8223
21:12. He that striketh a man with a will to kill him, shall be put to death. 21:13. But he that did not lie in wait for him, but God delivered him into his hands: I will appoint thee a place to which he must flee. 21:14. If a man kill his neighbour on set purpose, and by lying in wait for him: thou shalt take him away from my altar that he may die. 21:15. He that striketh his father or mother, shall be put to death. 21:16. He that shall steal a man, and sell him, being convicted of the guilt, shall be put to death. 21:17. He that curseth his father or mother, shall die the death.
Lines 8224–8236
21:18. If men quarrel, and the one strike his neighbour with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed: 21:19. If he rise again and walk abroad upon his staff, he that struck him shall be quit, yet so that he make restitution for his work, and for his expenses upon the physicians. 21:20. He that striketh his bondman, or bondwoman, with a rod, and they die under his hands, shall be guilty of the crime. 21:21. But if the party remain alive a day or two, he shall not be subject to the punishment, because it is his money.
Lines 8237–8247
21:22. If men quarrel, and one strike a woman with child and she miscarry indeed, but live herself: he shall be answerable for so much damage as the woman’s husband shall require, and as arbiters shall award. 21:23. But if her death ensue thereupon, he shall render life for life, 21:24. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 21:25. Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Lines 8248–8254
21:26. If any man strike the eye of his manservant or maidservant, and leave them but one eye, he shall let them go free for the eye which he put out. 21:27. Also if he strike out a tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he shall in like manner make them free.
Lines 8255–8272
21:28. If an ox gore a man or a woman, and they die, he shall be stoned: and his flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall be quit. 21:29. But if the ox was wont to push with his horn yesterday, and the day before, and they warned his master, and he did not shut him up, and he shall kill a man or a woman: then the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death. 21:30. And if they set a price upon him, he shall give for his life whatsoever is laid upon him. 21:31. If he have gored a son, or a daughter, he shall fall under the like sentence. 21:32. If he assault a bondman or bondwoman, he shall give thirty sicles of silver to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.
Lines 8273–8287
21:33. If a man open a pit, and dig one, and cover it not, and an ox or an ass fall into it, 21:34. The owner of the pit shall pay the price of the beasts: and that which is dead shall be his own. 21:35. If one man’s ox gore another man’s ox, and he die: they shall sell the live ox, and shall divide the price, and the carcass of that which died they shall part between them: 21:36. But if he knew that his ox was wont to push yesterday, and the day before, and his master did not keep him in; he shall pay ox for ox, and shall take the whole carcass.