CHAPTER 21

(1491 B.C.)

SERVANTS

¹Now these are the Judgments which you shall set before them (the legislation involving this Chapter, and the following two, points to a loving God charting a moral course for a corrupt people).

²If you buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing (the servants in the economy of Israel, as designed by God, had no kindred spirit whatsoever with that which we think of today as slavery; it was the same as an individual hiring himself to a particular master or family to serve for a period of time, which payment would include certain things; the time for this particular servitude was six years).

³If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him (if the man was married when he indentured himself, when he had served the agreed upon time, his wife would be free with him).

⁴If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her masters, and he shall go out by himself (in this case, he would have to make arrangements as it regards his wife and children).

⁵And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free (all of this proclaims the Servanthood of Christ and, thereby, the manner in which we are to serve the Lord):

⁶Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him forever. (This perfectly Types our Lord Jesus Christ. He indentured Himself to the human race, and served perfectly. During this time, He gained a wife, i.e., the Church [Rom. 7:4]. The union of Himself with this corporate body has brought forth children [Eph. 2:13-18]. Furthermore, He was pierced on the Cross for you and me, thereby guaranteeing His position as Intercessor on our behalf, and forever. He did this because He loves the Father, and He loves us.)

⁷And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.

⁸If she please not her master, who has betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he has dealt deceitfully with her.

⁹And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.

¹⁰If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.

¹¹And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money. (How does all of this picture Christ? It does so in the fact that He has bought us [I Cor. 6:20; 7:23]. The maidservant refers to Israel. Israel desired to remain under the Law; therefore, she chose a secondary position. Another wife refers to the Church. But yet, Israel is to continue to be supported, which the Lord has done with this people in a distant way. Not desiring to remain at all, she has been allowed to go her own way. But that way has proven to be most unsatisfactory. But even as Hosea predicted, and showed by his own personal experiences, Israel will return.

While all of this had to do with everyday life and living as it regards Israel of long ago, still, it had a prophetic meaning, as well, to which we have briefly alluded. We must never forget that Jesus is the True Israel, just as He is the True Church and the True Man.)

MURDER

¹²He who smites a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death (this speaks of that which we now refer to as cold-blooded murder).

¹³And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee. (These statements involve aggravated assault, or even second-degree murder. Six cities of refuge were to be designated, where the shedder of blood might flee, and where he might be safe from relatives of the deceased, until his cause was tried before the men of his own city, or else the High Priest dies [Num. 35:22-25]. When the High Priest died, the accused could then go free. Of course, this had to do with Christ, our Great High Priest, Who died on the Cross of Calvary that we might go free.)

¹⁴But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to kill him with guile; you shall take him from My Altar, that he may die. (Joab is a perfect example of this [I Ki. 2:28-34]. The idea is, in some cases, the condemned could grab hold of the horns of the Altar and be spared; however, this was only in cases where his action had seemed justified. Bringing it up to the present time, the Holy Spirit is telling us here that one cannot claim to trust Christ and what Christ did at the Cross and, at the same time, continue presumptuously in sin. Many have the erroneous idea that if they claim to have Faith in Christ, this covers their wayward direction. It doesnt! Jesus saves us from sin, not in sin!)

PARENTS

¹⁵And he who smites his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.

KIDNAPPING

¹⁶And he who steals (kidnaps) a man, and sells him (as a slave), or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

PARENTAL DISHONOR

¹⁷And he who curses his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death. (Pulpit Commentary says concerning this: The unsystematic character of the arrangement in this Chapter is remarkably shown by this interruption of the consideration of different sorts of homicide, in order to introduce offenses of quite a different character, and those not very closely allied to each other. Three capital crimes requiring capital punishment are noted here: 1. The dishonoring of parents, whether striking the parent by the child, or 2. Cursing the mother or the father, both were punishable by death; and, 3. Kidnapping is as well punishable by death.

The severity of the sentence indicates that in Gods sight such sins are of the deepest dye.)

OFFENSES

¹⁸And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keeps his bed:

¹⁹If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he who smote him be quit (acquitted): only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.

²⁰And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.

²¹Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money (meaning that he has paid for the services of the servant and, providing the cause was just, he must not be punished, even though he did hit him).

²²If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her (the pregnancy is terminated), and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the womans husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.

²³And if any mischief follow, then you shall give life for life,

²⁴Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

²⁵Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. (The order of retaliation, as it referred to here, was seldom carried out under Jewish Law, but was rather settled by the giving of money or labor, etc.; however, let it ever be understood, the Scripture also says: Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord [Lev. 19:18; Deut. 32:35]. Jesus said, With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again [Mat. 7:2]. The Word of God, in one way or the other, will always be carried out.)

²⁶And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eyes sake.

²⁷And if he smite out his manservants tooth, or his maidservants tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooths sake.

²⁸If 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; but the owner of the ox shall be quit (wont be responsible).

²⁹But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it had been testified to his owner, and he has not kept him in, but that he has killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.

³⁰If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him (pay money instead of forfeiting his life, which was what was normally done).

³¹Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.

³²If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

³³And 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;

³⁴The owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his.

³⁵And if one mans ox hurt anothers, that he die; then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it, and the dead ox also they shall divide.

³⁶Or if it be known that the ox has used to push in time past, and his owner has not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his own. (He will be responsible. We also see in all of this that God is no respecter of persons. What was applicable to the poorest of the poor was just as applicable to the rich and the powerful.

All of this shows us the amazing love of God, and the shocking depravity of man. It is humiliating to learn that such laws had to be made to protect men from the appalling evil which prompted them to oppress one another. On the other hand, the tender Love of God shines forth like the Sun in this legislation. That mighty love even thought upon the tooth of a little slave girl, and enacted that she should be set free if so slightly injured [Vs. 27].)