Exodus 21
The Decisions
1 “These are the decisions that you will set before them:
The Hebrew word for “the decisions” is הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֔ים (ha-mishiphalitim), meaning the ordinances, laws, judgments, and punishments of the King. These were the fundamental rights of Israel citizens. These laws were very similar to the Bill of Rights of the United States. They were divinely created rights of all Israeli citizens which no man could take away. Israel lived as slaves for the last 400 years, so they had no experience in creating, interpreting, and enforcing laws. Therefore, God gave them this perfect governmental system.
Israel was a theocracy. Their King was Jehovah. King Jehovah made 613 laws for the Israelite kingdom. He did not ask the Israelites which laws that they wanted. He did not allow them to make any laws. He did not even give them a vote. As a sovereign King, He simply created the laws, dictated the laws, and He will also enforce all of these 613 laws. If Israel followed these laws, then they would be blessed and allowed to live in the land. If Israel did not follow these laws, then they would be cursed and removed from the land.
The Mosaic Law is not in effect today. Christ’s atonement ended the Mosaic Law. However, these laws show the mind of God. These laws are examples that nations should be voting into their modern governments today. If modern nations would adopt these divine laws into their governments, then they would have more solutions and fewer problems.
Chapters 21-23 listed many of the ordinances of the Mosaic Law. Critics like to claim that the Mosaic Law took adopted information from the Code of Hammurabi (which was founded 500 miles away in Babylon). There is no evidence of this speculation. There are some similarities in the two laws, but many differences. This is simply a biased attempt by liberals to discredit the Bible to make it appear “uninspired.”
Hebrew Servants
2 “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year he will go out free without paying anything.
God made men. Men made slaves. By the time of Moses, the total depravity of man produced powerful kings who would conquer weaker tribes and nations and then enslave them. Slavery became part of the economic system of almost every powerful ancient nation on earth. The Mosaic Law simply protected the rights of slaves. None of the other nations protected their slaves. The laws of other nations were created to protect wealthy slave owners.
If a Hebrew citizen went into debt, then he must become a slave to his creditor. He must work to payoff his debt. However, he could only work for six years. He would be freed the seventh year. King Jehovah required his subjects to be responsible with their personal resources. They were not to receive loans that they could not pay.
3 If he came in by himself he will go out by himself; if he had a wife when he came in, then wife will go out with him.
If the slave was unmarried, then he would leave unmarried. If his wife came into slavery with him, then the wife would leave with him. King Jehovah protected the sanctity of marriage.
4 If his master gave him a wife, and she bore sons or daughters, the wife and the children will belong to her master, and he will go out by himself.
If the slave received a wife from his master, then the wife, sons, and daughter belonged to the owner. When the slave served his six years, he must leave his family behind.
5 But if the servant should declare, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’
If the servant loved his wife and children, then he could remain as a slave to the owner. King Jehovah gave his subjects the opportunity to remain with the family, but they still must pay a price for going into debt.
6 then his master must bring him to the judges, and he will bring him to the door or the doorposts, and his master will pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.
If the free slave desired to remain with his master, then he would go to the judges of the city and pierce his ears. This earring would signal to everyone that the slave loved his family so much, that he chose a life of slavery over freedom. In Greek, this is called a “doulas” slave. Paul will often introduce himself as a doulas to the Lord Jesus Christ. The theme of the Book of Romans is that everyone should become a doulas slave to the Lord Jesus Christ.
7 “If a man sells his daughter as a female servant, she will not go out as the male servants do.
If a father sells his daughter into slavery to pay a debt, then she cannot be sold to the Gentiles.
8 If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to a foreign nation, because he has dealt deceitfully with her.
The Mosaic Law allowed concubines.
9 If he designated her for his son, then he will deal with her according to the customary rights of daughters.
If a son of the slave owner marries the slave girl, then she would no longer be considered a slave. She would become a wife and daughter-in-law with full rights.
10 If he takes another wife, he must not diminish the first one’s food, her clothing, or her marital rights.
If the son takes another wife, then the son must give food, clothing, and conjugal rights to the slave wife. Notice that he must give her sexual pleasures. There are many Bible critics who have never read the Bible who condemn it for not allowing sexual pleasure. The Bible not only endorses sexual pleasure, but it commands it.
The Bible teaches sexual education. If it is discussed in the Bible, then it should be taught to children. If children do not learn sexual education from the Bible, then they will learn it from Hollywood, or from ungodly teenagers of the satanic world system.
11 If he does not provide her with these three things, then she will go out free, without paying money.
If the son does not give his wife food, clothing, and conjugal rights, then she will be set free and the family will be relieved of their debts. The strong message that God gave to His people was not to go into debt. However, if they do go into debt, then they would have to pay if off with their service.
Personal Injuries
12 “Whoever strikes someone so that he dies must surely be put to death.
If a man strikes and kills another person, then he would receive the death penalty. God protected the sanctity of life.
13 But if he does not do it with premeditation, but it happens by accident, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.
If a man struck another man and killed him by accident, then this was not a premeditated murder. It was manslaughter. He could escape to an appointed city of refuge for the rest of his life. As long as he was in the city of refuge, then he could not be executed without a trial.
14 But if a man willfully attacks his neighbor to kill him cunningly, you will take him even from my altar that he may die.
Pre-meditated murder was a capital offense. Some nations create laws which protect murderers, rapists, and child molesters. They sentence them for life, but after a few years of probation, they allow them on the streets again to threaten women and children. These types of godless laws are a threat to society.
15 “Whoever strikes his father or his mother must surely be put to death.
If a child struck his parents, then he was given the death penalty. Parents were protected from unruly children.
16 “Whoever kidnaps someone and sells him, or is caught still holding him, must surely be put to death.
Kidnappers received the death penalty.
17 “Whoever treats his father or his mother disgracefully must surely be put to death.
If a child disgraced his parents, then he was executed. Israel did not have juvenile delinquents.
18 “If men fight, and one strikes his neighbor with a stone or with his fist and he does not die, but must remain in bed, 19 and then if he gets up and walks about outside on his staff, then the one who struck him is innocent, except he must pay for the injured person’s loss of time and see to it that he is fully healed.
The penalty for assault was restitution for medical expenses and time loss from work.
20 “If a man strikes his male servant or his female servant with a staff so that he or she dies as a result of the blow, he will surely be punished.
If a slave owner killed his slave with a staff, then the slave owner was punished.
21 However, if the injured servant survives one or two days, the owner will not be punished, for he has suffered the loss.
If the slave survived, then there was no punishment. The loss of the slave’s work was the punishment of the slave master. The message that God was sending to his people was not to go into debt. If one did become a slave because of debt, then he was to work for his master. If the slave did not work, then he could be beaten with a staff, The Israeli citizen was to be careful with his possessions. He was not to make foolish investments.
Those critics who do not study the Bible do not understand that Hebrew slaves placed themselves in this situation because they accumulated debt by the foolish handling of their own money and property. God took debt seriously and established laws to motivate His people to stay out of debt.
22 “If men fight and hit a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no serious injury, he will surely be punished in accordance with what the woman’s husband demands of him, and he will pay what the court decides.
God protected pregnant women.
23 But if there is serious injury, then you will give a life for a life,
If the mother or baby loses their life, then the guilty party was executed. Under the Mosaic Law, abortion was a capital offense.
24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
This part of the law does not come from the Code of Hammurabi. Hammurabi was most likely one of the many kings who visited Solomon. Secular historians have most likely mis-dated Hammurabi.
25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
The punishment must fit the crime.
26 “If a man strikes the eye of his male servant or his female servant so that he destroys it, he will let the servant go free as compensation for the eye. 27 If he knocks out the tooth of his male servant or his female servant, he will let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.
If an owner mistreats and injures his slave, then the slave would be set free. He would lose up to six years of free labor.
Laws about Animals
28 “If an ox gores a man or a woman so that either dies, then the ox must surely be stoned and its flesh must not be eaten, but the owner of the ox will be acquitted.
If an animal killed a human, then the animal was to be killed as well. Therefore, farmers had to control their animals.
29 But if the ox had the habit of goring, and its owner was warned, and he did not take the necessary precautions, and then it killed a man or a woman, the ox must be stoned and the man must be put to death.
If the owner was careless a second time, then both owner and ox would be executed.
30 If a ransom is set for him, then he must pay the redemption for his life according to whatever amount was set for him.
The guilty owner would have to pay the redemption price or be executed.
31 If the ox gores a son or a daughter, the owner will be dealt with according to this rule.
If the ox killed someone’s son or daughter, then the guilty owner would either pay the redemption fine or be executed.
32 If the ox gores a male servant or a female servant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver, and the ox must be stoned.
The price of a dead slave was thirty pieces of silver. The Messiah would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver. To the nation of Israel, the Messiah was only worth the price of a dead slave.
33 “If a man opens a pit or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit must repay the loss. He must give money to its owner, and the dead animal will become his.
If a man dug a well, he must cover it or pay restitution.
35 If the ox of one man injures the ox of his neighbor so that it dies, then they will sell the live ox and divide its proceeds, and they will also divide the dead ox.
If one ox killed another ox, then the dead ox was to be divided among the two parties. The live ox was to be sold and divided among the two parties.
36 Or if it is known that the ox had the habit of goring, and its owner did not take the necessary precautions, he must surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal will become his.
If the ox killing was a repeat offense, then the victim received the full price of the live ox and all of the dead ox.