In today's passage we continue looking at the laws and penalties regarding personal injuries.
"If people quarrel and one person hits another with a stone or their fist and the person does not die but is confined to bed, the one who struck the blow will not be held liable if the other can get up and walk around outside with a staff; however, the guilty party must pay the injured person for any loss of time and see that the victim is completely healed." (Exodus 21:18-19) This is an example of two men verbally arguing with each other or physically fighting each other, not an example of one person striking another without warning. In the heat of the moment, one man strikes the other so hard that he is incapacitated for a time. If he doesn't die then the other man will not be charged with manslaughter or murder but the guilty party will have to pay the lost wages and medical expenses of the victim until the victim is fully healed. I assume if the victim never fully heals then the man who struck him must compensate him for the remainder of his life.
Now we move on to a controversial section of Chapter 21 regarding a man's treatment of his slaves. A couple of days ago we studied how the system worked regarding Hebrews who become indentured servants (or slaves) to other Hebrews for a time. I don't believe the slaves mentioned in today's passage are Hebrews but I wasn't able to find out for certain from any of the materials I consulted. But to me it seems more likely that these slaves are those that Hebrews have purchased from outside their own culture. "Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property." (Exodus 21:20-21)
In those days a man could discipline slaves or employees by striking them with a rod. A man could also discipline his children in this manner and probably his wife as well. (In fact, not so long ago in our own country no one would intervene if a man liked to knock his wife around. Even the police considered it private family business and wouldn't step in unless a man grievously harmed his wife.) As far as that goes, in our own nation it was once permissible to own slaves and for a man to treat his slaves any way he pleased. No one was going to pass any penalties on a man who injured or killed one of his slaves and this was also the case in ancient cultures. The section of Scripture we're reading about ancient slavery sounds terrible to us and it was terrible. Slavery was practiced in all cultures of the time and in all cultures it was permissible for a man to beat a slave to death if he felt like it---in all cultures except the Hebrew culture. God is not going to allow it according to verse 20. There is nothing positive we can say here about slavery and if we take anything away from these verses it's that although the Lord didn't change the cultural views on slavery at the time, He did at least forbid the Israelites from perpetrating life threatening injuries upon a slave.
If a Hebrew strikes his slave a deadly blow he will be held accountable for the taking of a human life. But if the slave recovers there is no penalty other than the master's loss of the work the slave was unable to perform while he was recovering. It's difficult for us to understand such a society in which one person owns another and in which the owner can strike his slave with a rod, and we are not going to make any arguments in defense of this system. As I've said before in other Bible studies, the Bible tells us what people did and what the cultural norms were for the day; the Bible is not necessarily putting its stamp of approval on many of the things contained within its pages. For example, several men in the Bible had multiple wives but we don't find the Lord putting His stamp of approval on polygamy; the Lord demonstrated His plan for marriage when He gave one woman (Eve) to one man (Adam). The Bible simply tells us that some men did have multiple wives, not that it was a practice that pleased the Lord. In fact, these men typically had serious family problems as a result of their polygamy.
Tomorrow we will complete Exodus 21 by taking a look at the various ways a person can be liable if he or she causes injury to someone else. We'll also look at the liabilities involved if a person's animal injures someone else.
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