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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Exodus 21 Matthew Poole's Commentary</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/poole/exodus/211.htm" /><link href='//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Cardo&subset=greek-ext' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/exodus/21.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/exodus/21-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Poole</a> > <a href="../exodus/">Exodus</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../exodus/20.htm" title="Exodus 20">◄</a> Exodus 21 <a href="../exodus/22.htm" title="Exodus 22">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Matthew Poole's Commentary</div><div class="chap"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-1.htm">Exodus 21:1</a></div><div class="verse">Now these <i>are</i> the judgments which thou shalt set before them.</div>Law concerning bond-men or slaves, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/context/exodus/21-1.htm" title="Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them....">Exodus 21:1-5</a></span>. Servants bored through the ear, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/21-6.htm" title="Then his master shall bring him to the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or to the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.">Exodus 21:6</a></span>. Ordinances for bond-women, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/context/exodus/21-7.htm" title="And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do....">Exodus 21:7-11</a></span>. Of murderers, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/21-12.htm" title="He that smites a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.">Exodus 21:12</a></span>. Of them that curse their parents, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/21-17.htm" title="And he that curses his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.">Exodus 21:17</a></span>. Of strikers, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/21-18.htm" title="And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keeps his bed:">Exodus 21:18</a>,19</span>. Of them that hurt a woman with child, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/context/exodus/21-22.htm" title="If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine....">Exodus 21:22-25</a></span>. Of a master of a family that strikes out an eye or tooth of his man or maid servant, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/21-26.htm" title="And 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 eye's sake.">Exodus 21:26</a>,27</span>. Of a pushing ox, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/21-29.htm" title="But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it has 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.">Exodus 21:29</a></span>. Of them that hurt their neighbour’s ox by digging a pit, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/21-33.htm" title="And 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;">Exodus 21:33</a></span>. Of one ox killing another, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/21-35.htm" title="And if one man's ox hurt another's, that he die; then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it; and the dead ox also they shall divide.">Exodus 21:35</a>,36</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> Or, <span class="ital">the judicial laws</span>, by which thou and the judges before mentioned shall govern thyself and the people in civil and criminal causes. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="2"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-2.htm">Exodus 21:2</a></div><div class="verse">If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.</div> If thou buy an Hebrew servant; of which practice see <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/jeremiah/34-14.htm" title="At the end of seven years let you go every man his brother an Hebrew, which has been sold to you; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you: but your fathers listened not to me, neither inclined their ear.">Jeremiah 34:14</a></span>. This was allowed in two cases: <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. When a man for his crimes was condemned by the judges to be sold; of which see <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/22-3.htm" title="If the sun be risen on him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.">Exodus 22:3</a> <a href="/2_kings/4-1.htm" title="Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets to Elisha, saying, Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take to him my two sons to be slaves.">2 Kings 4:1</a> <a href="/matthew/8-25.htm" title="And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.">Matthew 8:25</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. When a man pressed by great poverty sold himself or his children; of which see <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/leviticus/25-39.htm" title="And if your brother that dwells by you be waxen poor, and be sold to you; you shall not compel him to serve as a bondservant:">Leviticus 25:39</a>,40</span>. The seventh year is to be numbered, either, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. From the last sabbatical year, or year of release, which came every seventh year; and the sense of the place is, not that he shall always serve six full years, but that he shall never serve longer, and that his service shall last only till that year comes. Or rather, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. From the beginning of his service; for, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. It were a very improper speech to say, he shall serve six years, of one who possibly entered into his service but a month before the year of release. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. In the law of the sabbatical year there is no mention of the release of servants, as there is of other things, <span class="bld">Le 25 Deu 15</span>; and in the year of jubilee, when servants are to be released, it is expressed so, as <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/leviticus/25-54.htm" title="And if he be not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, both he, and his children with him.">Leviticus 25:54</a>,55</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="3"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-3.htm">Exodus 21:3</a></div><div class="verse">If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.</div> <span class="bld">By himself, </span> i.e. with his own person only, not with a wife, as the opposite branch showeth. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="4"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-4.htm">Exodus 21:4</a></div><div class="verse">If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.</div> That being a true rule, and approved both by Scripture and by heathen authors, that the birth follows the belly, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/genesis/21-10.htm" title="Why she said to Abraham, Cast out this female slave and her son: for the son of this female slave shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.">Genesis 21:10</a> <a href="/galatians/4-24.htm" title="Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which engenders to bondage, which is Agar.">Galatians 4:24</a>,25</span>; and he that owns the tree hath right to all its fruit. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Quest.</span> How was this separation of man and wife agreeable with the first institution of marriage, by which that bond is made indissoluble? <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Answ.</span> 1. That bond was not necessarily dissolved by this law, both because the separation was at the man’s choice, who might have staid there if he so pleased; and because the distinction of their habitations might consist with the right and use of matrimony, which the master also would probably permit for his own advantage. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Answ.</span> 2. God might here, as well as in the case of divorces, dispense with his own laws and institutions, especially in this case, where he might design this for a punishment to the man for marrying a stranger, which was not pleasing to God, as appears from <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/deuteronomy/21-11.htm" title="And see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire to her, that you would have her to your wife;">Deu 21:11</a> <a href="/ezra/10-2.htm" title="And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.">Ezra 10:2</a> <a href="/nehemiah/13-23.htm" title="In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab:">Nehemiah 13:23</a></span>. And that this woman was a stranger, and not a Hebrewess, is manifest, because then she also must have gone out free, <span class="bld"> Exo 21 7-9 Deu 15:12</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="5"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-5.htm">Exodus 21:5</a></div><div class="verse">And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:</div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="6"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-6.htm">Exodus 21:6</a></div><div class="verse">Then 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 for ever.</div> <span class="bld">Shall bring him unto the judges; </span> partly, that it may appear he chooseth this freely, and is not overawed nor overreached by his master; and partly, that the agreement being so publicly and solemnly confirmed, might be irrevocable. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">He shall also bring him to the door, </span> to wit, of his master’s house, as it is expressed, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/deuteronomy/15-17.htm" title="Then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant for ever. And also to your maidservant you shall do likewise.">Deu 15:17</a></span>; a token that he was fixed there, and never to go a freeman out of these doors. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">His master shall bore his ear through with an awl, </span> as a note of a servant; as it continued to be long after this in Syria and Arabia, as Juvenal and Petpontus Arbiter affirm; and it did fitly represent his settled and perpetual obligation to abide in that house, and there to hear and obey his master’s commands. See <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/psalms/40-6.htm" title="Sacrifice and offering you did not desire; my ears have you opened: burnt offering and sin offering have you not required.">Psalm 40:6</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">For ever, </span> i.e. not only for six years more, but without any limitation of time, as long as he lives, until the jubilee, which is an exception made by God to this law, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/leviticus/25-40.htm" title="But as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with you, and shall serve you to the year of jubilee.">Leviticus 25:40</a> <a href="/deuteronomy/15-17.htm" title="Then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant for ever. And also to your maidservant you shall do likewise.">Deu 15:17</a></span>. The Hebrew word <span class="ital">olam</span>, here used, oft signifies not eternity, but only a long time. See <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/12-14.htm" title="And this day shall be to you for a memorial; and you shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.">Exodus 12:14</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="7"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-7.htm">Exodus 21:7</a></div><div class="verse">And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.</div> <span class="bld">A man, </span> i.e. a Hebrew, as appears by the opposition of <span class="ital">one of a strange nation</span>, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/21-8.htm" title="If she please not her master, who has betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her to a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he has dealt deceitfully with her.">Exodus 21:8</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>For a man to <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">sell his daughter to be a maid-servant</span> was allowed in case of extreme necessity, because of the hardness of their hearts. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">She shall not go out as the men-servants do, </span> but upon better terms, as being one of the weaker and more helpless sex. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Quest.</span> How doth this agree with <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/deuteronomy/15-17.htm" title="Then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant for ever. And also to your maidservant you shall do likewise.">Deu 15:17</a></span>, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Also unto thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise</span>? <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Answ.</span> 1. Distinguish persons. She, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/deuteronomy/15-17.htm" title="Then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant for ever. And also to your maidservant you shall do likewise.">Deu 15:17</a></span> was sold by herself, and that to mere servitude; this here was sold by her father, not only for service, but in order to her marriage, as the following verses sufficiently imply. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. Distinguish things. The likeness between men-servants and maid-servants was only in the rites used, in case she consented to perpetual servitude. The difference here is, in case they both were made free, in which case she had some privileges, which here follow. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="8"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-8.htm">Exodus 21:8</a></div><div class="verse">If she please not her master, who hath 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 hath dealt deceitfully with her.</div> <span class="bld">Who hath betrothed her to himself, </span> for a concubine or secondary wife. Not that masters did always take maid-servants upon these terms, as some conceive; but that some did so, and of them this place speaks. Though here is a differing reading; and as the margin hath <span class="ital">lo</span> the pronoun, signifying to <span class="ital">him</span>, so the text hath <span class="ital">lo</span> the adverb, signifying <span class="ital">not</span>; and so the text may be translated thus, so that he doth not betroth her, to wit, to himself, or to his son, as he gave her hopes he intended. Either reading or sense is proper and probable. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Then shall he let her be redeemed, </span> either by herself or friends, or any other person that will redeem her. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Quest.</span> How could he part with her, and sell her, when she was betrothed to him? <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Answ.</span> 1. This might be one of those many indulgences given to them for the hardness of their hearts; and there is no doubt God could dispense with his own positive laws. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. The latter reading avoids this difficulty. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">To sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power:</span> this was in general prohibited for all Hebrew servants, but it is particularly mentioned here, because there was special reason for it; both because there was more danger of her corruption in chastity and religion in regard of her sex, and because the master in that case was under a greater temptation of selling her to a foreigner, because no Israelite would buy her, or give so much money for her as a heathen would, who would and might keep her for a perpetual servant, which the Israelites might not do. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">He hath dealt deceitfully with her, </span> viz. in breaking his promise of marriage made to her, or blasting the hopes he encouraged her to have of it. The Hebrew words are exactly rendered thus, in <span class="ital">dealing deceitfully</span> or <span class="ital">falsely with her</span> or against her; and they may be added as an aggravation of that sin of selling her to a strange nation, wherein there was a double false dealing; the one towards God, who by his law forbad this; the other towards her, whom he hired upon other terms, and not with a power to dispose of her contrary to the law and manner of the Israelites. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="9"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-9.htm">Exodus 21:9</a></div><div class="verse">And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.</div> i.e. Give her a convenient portion, as he doth to his own daughters, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/22-16.htm" title="And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife.">Exodus 22:16</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="10"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-10.htm">Exodus 21:10</a></div><div class="verse">If he take him another <i>wife</i>; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.</div> <span class="ital">Her duty of marriage is called due benevolence</span>, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/1_corinthians/7-3.htm" title="Let the husband render to the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife to the husband.">1 Corinthians 7:3</a></span>. Or, <span class="ital">her dwelling</span>, as the word is oft used. So here are the three great conveniences of life, food, and raiment, and habitation, all which he is to provide for her. Or, <span class="ital">her cohabitation</span>, or, <span class="ital">her time</span>, the convenient and appointed times for conjugal converse with her; for some times were disallowed for it, <span class="bld"> Le 15</span>, and when there were plurality of wives, they had their vicissitudes, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/genesis/30-15.htm" title="And she said to her, Is it a small matter that you have taken my husband? and would you take away my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with you to night for your son's mandrakes.">Genesis 30:15</a>,16</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Shall he not diminish, </span> or rather, not <span class="ital">withdraw</span>, or <span class="ital">deny</span> it, as the word signifies, and as the LXX., Chaldee, Samaritan, Vulgate, and others render it, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="11"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-11.htm">Exodus 21:11</a></div><div class="verse">And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.</div> And with gifts also by virtue of the law, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/deuteronomy/15-14.htm" title="You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, and out of your floor, and out of your wine press: of that with which the LORD your God has blessed you you shall give to him.">Deu 15:14</a></span>. The sum is this, The master was either, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. Willing to part with her; and then he was to let her be redeemed by herself, or any of her friends, but not by a heathen, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/21-8.htm" title="If she please not her master, who has betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her to a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he has dealt deceitfully with her.">Exodus 21:8</a></span>. Or, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. Willing to keep her; and then, as he had betrothed her, he was to perform all the duties of a husband to her, although he had another wife besides her, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/21-10.htm" title="If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.">Exodus 21:10</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>3. If he would keep her, and yet deny those duties to her, then as his fault was aggravated, so was his punishment; for now he cannot sell her, but must let her go freely, as in this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="12"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-12.htm">Exodus 21:12</a></div><div class="verse">He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.</div> <span class="bld">He that smiteth a man</span> knowingly and wilfully, as appears by the next verse, neither the friends of the party slain, nor the magistrate, shall give him a pardon, or accept a ransom for him, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/numbers/35-31.htm" title="Moreover you shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death.">Numbers 35:31</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="13"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-13.htm">Exodus 21:13</a></div><div class="verse">And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver <i>him</i> into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee.</div> If it appear that the manslayer did not intend nor desire it, but only it fell out by his heedlessness, or by some casualty, or by some unexpected providence; or, God, and not man, God without the man’s contrivance or design; for otherwise, in a general sense and way, God delivered Christ into the hands of Judas and the Jews, who did advisedly and maliciously kill him. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">A place whither he shall flee, </span> i.e. a city or place of refuge, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/numbers/35-11.htm" title="Then you shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you; that the slayer may flee thither, which kills any person at unawares.">Numbers 35:11</a> <a href="/deuteronomy/19-5.htm" title="As when a man goes into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetches a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the helve, and lights on his neighbor, that he die; he shall flee to one of those cities, and live:">Deu 19:5</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="14"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-14.htm">Exodus 21:14</a></div><div class="verse">But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.</div> <span class="bld">If a man come presumptuously, </span> i.e. do this proudly, boldly, purposely, and maliciously; for so the word signifies. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">From mine altar, </span> which not only in the wilderness, but afterward, seems to have been esteemed a place of refuge, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/1_kings/1-50.htm" title="And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.">1 Kings 1:50</a></span>, as it also was among the heathens: but God so far abhors murder, that he will rather venture the pollution of his own altar than the escape of the murderer. See <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/2_kings/11-15.htm" title="But Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds, the officers of the host, and said to them, Have her forth without the ranges: and him that follows her kill with the sword. For the priest had said, Let her not be slain in the house of the LORD.">2 Kings 11:15</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="15"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-15.htm">Exodus 21:15</a></div><div class="verse">And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.</div> <span class="bld">He that smiteth; </span> either, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. So as is before mentioned, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/21-12.htm" title="He that smites a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.">Exodus 21:12</a></span>, <span class="ital">so as they die</span>. And <span class="ital">to smite</span> sometimes signifies <span class="ital">to kill</span>, as <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/genesis/4-15.htm" title="And the LORD said to him, Therefore whoever slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.">Genesis 4:15</a> <a href="/2_kings/14-5.htm" title="And it came to pass, as soon as the kingdom was confirmed in his hand, that he slew his servants which had slain the king his father.">2 Kings 14:5</a></span>, compared with <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/2_chronicles/25-3.htm" title="Now it came to pass, when the kingdom was established to him, that he slew his servants that had killed the king his father.">2 Chronicles 25:3</a></span>. And this may be here added by way of distinction: q.d. That killing of another man which is punished with death, must be done presumptuously; but the killing of parents, though not done presumptuously, is a capital crime. Or, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. The mere smiting of them, to wit, wilfully and dangerously. Nor will any think this law too severe, that considers that this is an act full of horrid impiety against God, who hath so expressly and emphatically commanded children to honour their parents; of highest and most unnatural ingratitude, and utterly destructive to human society. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="16"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-16.htm">Exodus 21:16</a></div><div class="verse">And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.</div> i.e. In the manstealer’s hand; q.d. though he keep him in his own hands for his own use; for still it is a theft, and he is made that man’s slave, and it is in his power to sell him to another when he pleaseth, and therefore deserves death. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="17"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-17.htm">Exodus 21:17</a></div><div class="verse">And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.</div> Or, <span class="ital">revileth</span>, to wit, wilfully, maliciously, obstinately, against all admonition, by comparing <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/deuteronomy/21-18.htm" title="If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not listen to them:">Deu 21:18</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="18"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-18.htm">Exodus 21:18</a></div><div class="verse">And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with <i>his</i> fist, and he die not, but keepeth <i>his</i> bed:</div> <span class="bld">With a stone, </span> or any other instrument fit for such a mischievous purpose. A usual synecdoche. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="19"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-19.htm">Exodus 21:19</a></div><div class="verse">If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote <i>him</i> be quit: only he shall pay <i>for</i> the loss of his time, and shall cause <i>him</i> to be thoroughly healed.</div> <span class="bld">The loss of his time, </span> i.e. of the profit which he could or commonly did make of his time in the way of his calling. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Cause him to be thoroughly healed, </span> i.e. pay the charges of the cure. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="20"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-20.htm">Exodus 21:20</a></div><div class="verse">And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.</div> <span class="bld">His servant, </span> namely, a stranger; for an Israelite was to be better used. See <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/leviticus/25-39.htm" title="And if your brother that dwells by you be waxen poor, and be sold to you; you shall not compel him to serve as a bondservant:">Leviticus 25:39</a>,40</span>, &c. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">With a rod; </span> a fit and usual instrument for correction, whereby it is implied, that if he killed him with a sword, or any such weapon, he was to die for it. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Under his hand, </span> i.e. whilst the master is correcting him. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">He shall be surely punished; </span> not with death, for then it would have been said so, as it is before and after; but as the magistrate or judge shall think fit, according to the diversity of circumstances; and therefore no particular punishment is set down. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="21"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-21.htm">Exodus 21:21</a></div><div class="verse">Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he <i>is</i> his money.</div> i.e. His possession bought with his money; and therefore, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. Had a power to chastise him according to his demerit, which might be very great. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. Is sufficiently punished with his own loss. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>3. May be presumed not to have done this purposely and maliciously. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="22"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-22.htm">Exodus 21:22</a></div><div class="verse">If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart <i>from her</i>, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges <i>determine</i>.</div> <span class="bld">A woman with child, </span> to wit, the wife of the other person, who interposed herself to succour her husband. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">No mischief follow, </span> neither to the woman nor child; for it is generally so as to reach both, in case the abortive had life in it. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>The husband shall impose the fine, and if it be unreasonable, the judges shall have a power to moderate it. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="23"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-23.htm">Exodus 21:23</a></div><div class="verse">And if <i>any</i> mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,</div> <span class="bld">Any mischief; </span> either to the mother or to the child, whether it be death, or any maim or mischief. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>Who <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">shall give life for life?</span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="ital">Answ</span>. Not the private person, which would have introduced infinite mischiefs and confusions, but the magistrate; for these laws are given to Moses, and the execution of these things was committed to Moses, and others under him. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="24"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-24.htm">Exodus 21:24</a></div><div class="verse">Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,</div> This is called the law of retaliation, and from hence the heathen lawgivers took it and put it into their laws. But though this might sometimes be practised in the letter, yet it was not necessarily to be understood and executed so; as may appear, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>1. By the impossibility of the just execution of it in many cases, as when a man that had but one eye or hand was to lose the other, which to him was a far greater mischief than what he did to his neighbour, whom he deprived but of one of his eyes or hands. And this is a sure and righteous rule, Punishments may be less, but never should be greater than the fault. And how could a wound be made neither bigger nor less than that which he inflicted? <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>2. By comparing this with other laws, wherein a compensation is allowed in like cases, as <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/21-18.htm" title="And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keeps his bed:">Exodus 21:18</a>,30</span>. And when it is enjoined that <span class="ital">no satisfaction shall be taken for the life of a wilful murderer</span>, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/numbers/35-31.htm" title="Moreover you shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death.">Numbers 35:31</a></span>, it seems therein implied that satisfaction may be taken for lesser injuries. And indeed the payment of such a price as the loss of an eye, or hand, or foot required, though it might not so much satisfy the revenge of the party so injured, yet it was really more to his benefit. This law therefore was only minatory, but so as it was literally to be inflicted, except the injuring party would give such satisfaction as the injured person accepted, or the judges determined. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="25"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-25.htm">Exodus 21:25</a></div><div class="verse">Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.</div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="26"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-26.htm">Exodus 21:26</a></div><div class="verse">And 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 eye's sake.</div> No text from Poole on this verse. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="27"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-27.htm">Exodus 21:27</a></div><div class="verse">And if he smite out his manservant's tooth, or his maidservant's tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.</div> Some confine this to the Israelitish servants, but the text doth not so limit it; and the reason of the law seems to reach to Gentile servants, this being a just punishment to unmerciful masters, (who ought to be merciful to their beasts, much more to such servants,) and a fit recompence to a servant for such a loss. And this law reacheth the loss of any other member, these two being instanced in, the one as the chief, and the other as the meanest, to intimate that other parts of a like or middle nature are included. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="28"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-28.htm">Exodus 21:28</a></div><div class="verse">If 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 <i>shall be</i> quit.</div> Under which you are to understand any other creatures of like nature which hurt a man in such a dangerous manner, whether with their horns, or teeth, or feet; but he mentions only the ox or bull, and his goring with his horn, because this is most frequently done. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Ox shall be stoned; </span> partly, to prevent future mischiefs from that creature; partly, to punish its master for his negligence in not keeping it in; and principally, for man’s admonition, for whom seeing the beasts were made, it is not strange nor unjust if it be destroyed for man’s good. God would hereby show that he would not, and men should not, spare a wilful murderer. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">His flesh shall not be eaten; </span> both because it was forbidden food, its blood being not let out; and for the punishment of the owner, who was hereby hindered from the sale of it, to beget in all the greater detestation of murderers, when they observe the poor beast upon this account accursed, and therefore not to be touched or tasted. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="29"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-29.htm">Exodus 21:29</a></div><div class="verse">But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.</div> <span class="bld">It hath been testified, </span> which the Jews say was to be done thrice, and before the magistrate. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">A man or a woman, </span> to wit, an Israelite, or a stranger who is free, by comparing this with <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/21-32.htm" title="If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.">Exodus 21:32</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="30"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-30.htm">Exodus 21:30</a></div><div class="verse">If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.</div> <span class="bld">If there be laid on him; </span> either by the avenger of blood, the next akin to the party slain, who is willing to exchange the punishment; or by the judge, who may discern some circumstances which may much lessen the crime, as if an ox had broken his cords wherewith he was tied, or broke forth through the carelessness or wickedness of his servant to whose care he was committed. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="31"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-31.htm">Exodus 21:31</a></div><div class="verse">Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.</div> <span class="bld">A son or a daughter; </span> names signifying their tender age, in respect of the <span class="ital">man</span> or <span class="ital">woman</span>, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/exodus/21-29.htm" title="But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it has 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.">Exodus 21:29</a></span>. And this is added, lest the foregoing sense should be restrained to their parents, whose lives were more precious, and therefore their loss greater. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="32"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-32.htm">Exodus 21:32</a></div><div class="verse">If 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.</div> <span class="ital">The half the freeman’s price</span>. <span class="bld">See Poole on "<a href="/matthew/26-5.htm" title="But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.">Matthew 26:5</a>"</span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="33"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-33.htm">Exodus 21:33</a></div><div class="verse">And 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;</div> If a man shall either <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">open</span> an old pit which hath been covered with earth; or <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">dig</span> a new <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">pit, </span> to wit, in a public way, as the reason of the law shows; for if it were done in a man’s own house or ground, there was no danger of such an accident, except the beast transgressed his bounds, and then the man was not culpable. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="34"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-34.htm">Exodus 21:34</a></div><div class="verse">The owner of the pit shall make <i>it</i> good, <i>and</i> give money unto the owner of them; and the dead <i>beast</i> shall be his.</div> <span class="bld">The owner of the pit, </span> i.e. he by whose hand or command it was made, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">shall give money</span> equal to the worth of the dead beast, in the opinion of the judge. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="35"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-35.htm">Exodus 21:35</a></div><div class="verse">And if one man's ox hurt another's, that he die; then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it; and the dead <i>ox</i> also they shall divide.</div> <span class="bld">They shall divide the money; </span> not equally, for so the owner of the mischievous ox might be gainer by the mischief, his ox being much worse than that which was killed; but in such proportions as the judges shall think fit, considering the worth of the cattle, and the circumstances of the action. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><A name="36"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/exodus/21-36.htm">Exodus 21:36</a></div><div class="verse">Or if it be known that the ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his own.</div> <span class="bld">Ox for ox; </span> an ox of equal value with that slain ox, or the price and worth of it. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Matthew Poole's Commentary<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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