1 Samuel 12

1Sa 12:1 And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me, and have made a king over you.

And Samuel said - It is very likely that it was at this public meeting at Gilgal that Samuel delivered the following address; no other time seems to be given for it, and this is the most proper that could be chosen. When they recognized Saul as their king, and he was established in the kingdom, and while in the midst of their mirth and joy:

And Samuel said - this is another instance of Samuel's great wisdom and integrity. He would not reprove the people for their sin, in desiring a king, whilst Saul was unsettled in his kingdom; therefore he chose this season for it; because Saul's kingdom was now confirmed by an eminent victory; and because the people rejoiced greatly, applauded themselves for their desires of a king; and interpreted the success which God had given them, as a divine approbation of those desires.Samuel therefore thinks fit to temper their joys, and to excite them to that repentance which he saw wanting in them, and which he knew to be necessary, to prevent the curse of God upon their new king, and the whole kingdom.

I have hearkened unto your voice - respecting the affair of a king, to which it must be limited, as appears by what follows; otherwise it is possible, in some things they might apply to him about, he did not think fit to hearken to them, and grant their request, or speak for them:

have made a king over you - that is, had by the direction and appointment of God chosen one by lot, anointed and declared him king; for it was the Lord alone, that, properly speaking, made him a king.

1Sa 12:2 And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and grayheaded; and, behold, my sons are with you: and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.

My sons are with you - Or, among you, in the same states as private persons, as you are; if they have injured any of you, the law is now open against them; any of you may accuse them, your king can punish them, I do not intercede for them.

My sons are with you - It is generally agreed that these words intimate that Samuel had deprived them of their public employ, and reduced them to a level with the common people.

My sons are with you - as private persons in the condition of subjects, making no pretension to government; and if they had committed anything criminal, they were open to the law, and might be charged, and tried, and treated according to their deserts;

Have walked before you from my childhood - He had been a long, steady, and immaculate servant of the public. He had spent all his days in the service of God, and for the good of Israel . He had been their guide and governor; partly, as a prophet; and partly, as a judge.

I am old, and grey headed - and so unfit for government, and very willing to be eased of the burden of it: he must surely be more than fifty two years of age, as the Jews generally say he was, since it is not usual at such an age to be grey headed; on this account he merited reverence and respect, and demanded attention:

1Sa 12:3 Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.

His anointed - king Saul. The title Messiah, or anointed, had been given to the High Priests (Lev_4:3 : compare also 1Sa_2:10, 1Sa_2:35); but this is the earliest instance of an actual king of Israel bearing the title of God’s Christ, and thus typifying the true Messiah or Christ of God.

Any bribe - literally, a “ransom,” the fine paid by a criminal in lieu of bonds or death Exo_21:30, applied to the bribe paid to an unjust judge to induce him to acquit the guilty.

To blind my eyes - The phrase is used of one who averts his eyes, as refusing assistance, or as showing contempt, or, as here, as winking at what is wrong.

Behold, here I am - No longer the supreme governor, but a subject, and accountable for any misdemeanor charged upon him, and to which he was ready to give answer. And this protestation Samuel makes of his integrity, not out of ostentation; but for his own just vindication, that the people might not hereafter for the defense of their own irregularities, reproach his government, and that being publicly acquitted from all faults in his government, he might more freely reprove the sins of the people, and, particularly, that sin of theirs in desiring a king, when they had so little reason for it.

of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes - his meaning is, that he had never taken a gift or present from any person to favor his cause, that was to be brought before him, and give it for him right or wrong; to connive at any injury he had done, or to turn away his eyes from seeing where the justice of the cause lay; or that he had not received money to spare the life of a criminal that deserved to die.

1Sa 12:4 And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand.

neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand - The people answered Samuel, that he had not done them any kind of injustice.

1Sa 12:5 And he said unto them, The LORD is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that ye have not found ought in my hand. And they answered, He is witness.

And he said unto them - Should they hereafter reproach and vilify him, and charge him with any acts of corruption, injustice, and violence:

that ye have not found ought in my hand - that they had nothing to accuse him of and charge him with throughout his whole administration, but had asserted his innocence and integrity, had honorably acquitted him, and given him a fair character: and they answered, he is witness; the omniscient God is a witness against us, should we depart from this testimony, and Saul, the Lord's anointed, is a witness that we have fully cleared thee from any imputations of maladministration.

They answered - The word is singular, he "said" or answered, that is, Israel said, the whole body of the people, they all replied as one man: the reason why Samuel made such a speech at this time, when he resigned his government to Saul, was not only to secure his own character, but to suggest to Saul how he should rule and govern according to his example; and that having established his own character, he could the more freely, and with the better grace, reprove the people for their sin.

1Sa 12:6 And Samuel said unto the people, It is the LORD that advanced Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.

it is the Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron - raised them from a low estate, the one in a foreign country in Midian, the other in bondage in Egypt , to be deliverers, guides, and governors of his people Israel . Samuel’s purpose is to impress the people with the conviction that Yahweh was their God, and the God of their fathers; that to Him they owed their national existence and all their national blessings, and that faithfulness to Him, to the exclusion of all other worship 1Sa_12:21 was the only safety of the newly-established monarchy. Observe the constant reference to the Exodus as the well-known turning-point of their national life (see 1Sa_4:8; 1Sa_6:6).

Samuel said unto the people - Having cleared and established his own character, he proceeds to lay before the people some of the great things God had done for them formerly, and quite down to the present time, the more to aggravate their ingratitude in rejecting God as their King:

Samuel said unto the people - if Jehovah, who redeemed Israel out of Egypt by the hands of Moses and Aaron, and exalted it into His own nation, was witness of the unselfishness and impartiality of Samuel's conduct in his office of judge, then Israel had grievously sinned by demanding a king. In the person of Samuel they had rejected Jehovah their God, who had given them their rulers (1Sa_8:7). Samuel proves this still further to the people from the following history.

brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt - when they were in bondage there, and that by the means of Moses and Aaron, by whose hands he wrought signs and wonders and inflicted plagues on the Egyptians, which made them willing at last to let Israel go.

1Sa 12:7 Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the LORD of all the righteous acts of the LORD, which he did to you and to your fathers.

Now therefore stand still - The burden of this faithful and uncompromising address was to show them, that though they had obtained the change of government they had so importunely desired, their conduct was highly displeasing to their heavenly King; nevertheless, if they remained faithful to Him and to the principles of the theocracy, they might be delivered from many of the evils to which the new state of things would expose them. And in confirmation of those statements, no less than in evidence of the divine displeasure, a remarkable phenomenon, on the invocation of the prophet, and of which he gave due premonition, took place.

Now therefore stand still - Keep your place, and do not as yet break up the assembly, but wait a little longer patiently, and with reverence and attention hearken to what I have further to say:

of all the righteous acts of the Lord - not only in a way of judgment delivering them into the hands of their enemies, when they sinned against him, but rather in a way of mercy and kindness in delivering them out of their hands.

1Sa 12:8 When Jacob was come into Egypt, and your fathers cried unto the LORD, then the LORD sent Moses and Aaron, which brought forth your fathers out of Egypt, and made them dwell in this place.

The Lord sent Moses and Aaron - He shows them that through all their history God had ever raised them up deliverers, when their necessities required such interference. The first proof of this was furnished by the deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt , and their safe guidance into Canaan (“this place” is the land of Canaan ). The second was to be found in the deliverance of the people out of the power of their foes, to whom the Lord had been obliged to give them up on account of their apostasy from Him, through the judges whom He had raised up for them, as often as they turned to Him with penitence and cried to Him for help.

When Jacob was come into Egypt – Literally with his family to see his son Joseph, and dwell there; the posterity of Jacob are meant, who settled in Egypt , and continued there many years, and at length were oppressed by the Egyptians, and brought into hard bondage:

made them dwell in this place - the land of Canaan; they conducted them through the Red sea, guided them through the wilderness, and accompanied them, especially Moses, to the borders of the land of Canaan; for neither of them went into it, but died before the people's entrance there. Joshua, the successor of Moses, of whom Samuel makes no mention, introduced Israel into it, conquered the land for them, and settled them in it;

1Sa 12:9 And when they forgat the LORD their God, he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.

According to the present arrangement of the Book of Judges, and the common chronology, the oppression of Sisera must have occurred about 200 years after the entrance into Canaan . But Samuel here places it as the first great servitude, before that under Eglon king of Moab , or that from which Shamgar delivered them. And this is in accordance with the internal evidence of the Book of Judges itself. It is also the order of Jdg_10:11, except that there the Ammonites Jdg_3:13 are placed before the Philistines.

they forgat the Lord their God - They fell into idolatry, which is a plain instance and proof of forgetfulness of God; for such that neglect his worship, and serve idols, may be truly said to forget him:

1Sa 12:10 And they cried unto the LORD, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD, and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth: but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.

And they cried unto the Lord - When in the hands of their enemies, and in bondage to them, and cruelly oppressed by them:

and said, we have sinned - the wording in the manuscript is such that it may signify, that everyone of them had a sense of their sin, and made acknowledgment of it; their confession was universal, as their sin was:

deliver us out of the hand of our enemies - they did not ask for a king to go before them, and fight their battles, as they did now, but applied to the Lord for deliverance, promising to serve him as their King and their God.

1Sa 12:11 And the LORD sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelled safe.

Bedan - No such name occurs among the Judges who delivered Israel . Some versions and commentators read “Barak,” the form of the letters of both words being in Hebrew somewhat similar.

Bedan - instead of Bedan, whose name occurs nowhere else as a judge or deliverer of Israel , the Septuagint have Barak. Many commentators are of this opinion; but one scholar thinks that Jair is intended, who judged Israel twenty-two years, Jdg_10:3. Instead of Samuel some texts read Samson; and it is most natural to suppose that Samuel does not mention himself in this place. Paul’s authority confirms these alterations: The time would fail me, says he, to tell of Gideon, of Barak, of Samson, of Jephthah, of David, etc. Hebrew 11:32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah; also David, and Samuel and the prophets,

Bedan - if this was one of the judges, he must have two names, or is one that is not mentioned in the book of Judges; the Targum interprets it of Samson.

And Samuel - There is nothing improper or out of place in Samuel mentioning his own judgeship. Samuel speaks of himself as of a third person, as Lamech does, Gen_4:23 and this he did not out of ostentation, but to observe that God had made him an instrument of delivering them out of the hand of the Philistines. It had supplied a remarkable instance of God’s deliverance 1Sa_7:12-15; and, as it was the last as well as one of the very greatest deliverances, it was natural he should do so. The passage in Heb_11:32 is quite as favorable to the mention of Samuel.

the Lord sent Jerubbaal - That is, Gideon for Jerubbaal was the name given to Gideon, when he first became a judge, Jdg_6:32.

delivered you out of the hands of your enemies - not the judges, but the Lord; for the word for "delivered" is singular

ye dwelled safe - in the greatest security and confidence, without any fear of enemies, having God their King in the midst of them, and stood in no need of any other king to protect and defend them.

1Sa 12:12 And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the LORD your God was your king.

When ye saw that Nahash - This was not the first time they had demanded a king; see before, 1Sa_8:5. But at the crisis mentioned here they became more importunate; and it was in consequence of this that the kingdom was a second time confirmed to Saul. Saul was elected at Mizpeh, he was confirmed at Gilgal.

a king shall reign over us - though Samuel told them they had no need of one:

when the Lord your God was your King - and would protect and defend them, if they applied to him, and would put their trust in him; and he himself Samuel was their judge, and would be their general and commander, and they had experience of success under him to the utter destruction of their enemies, 1Sa_7:10 and yet, notwithstanding all this, they insisted upon it to have a king.

1Sa 12:13 Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired! and, behold, the LORD hath set a king over you.

behold the king whom ye have chosen - For though God chose their king for them, it was at their request; they chose to have a king, and desired one, and they approved of and consented to, and confirmed the choice he had made, and so it was in effect their own:

the Lord hath set a king over you - he gratified them in their desires; though he did not suffer them to make themselves a king, he suffered them to have one, and he gave them one; this power he reserved to himself of setting up and pulling down kings at his pleasure.

the Lord hath set a king over you - After the prophet had thus held up before the people their sin against the Lord, he bade them still further consider, that the king would only procure for them the anticipated deliverance if they would fear the Lord, and give up their rebellion against God.

1Sa 12:14 If ye will fear the LORD, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the LORD your God:

If ye will fear the Lord - On condition that ye rebel no more, God will take you and your king under his merciful protection, and he and his kingdom shall be confirmed and continued.

If ye will fear the Lord - All worship and service of God, and obedience to his word and ordinances, should spring from fear and reverence of him; and therefore the whole of worship, both external and internal, is sometimes expressed by the fear of the Lord:

continue following the Lord your God - which was their duty to do, and this therefore is rather a promise of some benefit and privilege to their duty, and to encourage them to it, since it stands opposed to the threatening of punishment in the next verse;

continue following the Lord your God - God shall still go before you, as he hath hitherto done, as your leader or governor, to direct, protect, and deliver you; and he will not forsake you, as you have given him just cause to do.

continue following the Lord your God - Still, since the Lord had given them a king, the further welfare of the nation would depend upon whether they would follow the Lord from that time forward, or whether they would rebel against Him again.

1Sa 12:15 But if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you, as it was against your fathers.

But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord - They and their king, by sinning, disregarding his precepts, both affirmative and negative:

then shall the hand of the Lord be against you - by sending some judgments upon them, as famine, sword, or pestilence, particularly captivity and subjection to their enemies:

as it was against your fathers - who had no king; and it is suggested that their case, who had one, would be no better than theirs; their king would not be able to save them from the hand of God: The allusion to the fathers is very suitable here, because the people were looking to the king for the removal of all the calamities, which had fallen upon them from time immemorial. The mistake, if we think we can evade God's justice, by shaking off his dominion. If we will not let God rule us, yet he will judge us.

1Sa 12:16 Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which the LORD will do before your eyes.

This great thing - This unusual occurrence meaning the storm of thunder and rain which presently followed; which coming at a time when such things were not usual, and on a day when there was no appearance or likelihood of anything of this kind, and suddenly, at once, upon the prayer of Samuel, it was no less than a miracle, and might be called a "great thing", new and unheard of, and the pure effect of almighty power.

Now therefore stand - Which does not so much respect the position of their bodies as the fixed attention of their minds:

This great thing - At Samuel's word, God sent thunder and rain, at a season of the year when, in that country, the like was not seen. This was to convince them they had done wickedly in asking a king; not only by its coming at an unusual time, in wheat harvest, and on a clear day, but by the prophet's giving notice of it before. He showed their folly in desiring a king to save them, rather than God, or Samuel; promising themselves more from an arm of flesh, than from the arm of God.

1Sa 12:17 Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king.

Wheat harvest - Between May 15 and June 15 according to some, and end of June to beginning of July to others. Rain usually fell in Judea only twice a year, called the former and the latter rain; and from the seventeenth of Nisan or March, to the sixteenth of Marchesvan or October, it was usually dry, especially during harvest time.

1Sa 12:18 So Samuel called unto the LORD; and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.

The Lord sent thunder and rain that day - immediately, though there was no appearance of it; it was harvest time, and a fine harvest day. This was totally unusual; and, as it came at the call of Samuel, was a most evident miracle.

Greatly feared the Lord - the Lord that sent this tempest, and Samuel who had such power with God in prayer. They dreaded His terrible majesty. This miracle therefore inspired the people with a salutary terror.

So Samuel called unto the Lord - Not in an authoritative way, or by way of command, but by prayer; so the Targum renders the clause in the preceding verse,"I will pray before the Lord:"

1Sa 12:19 And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the LORD thy God, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king.

Pray for thy servants - As they knew they had rebelled against God, they saw that they had every thing to fear from his justice and power.

We have added unto all our sins this evil - It is no sin to have a king; a good king is one of the greatest blessings of God’s providence; but it is a sin to put a man in the place of God. Is it not strange that they did not now attempt to repair their fault? They acknowledged their sin, but did not put it away. This is the general way of mankind.

we have added unto all our sins this evil - to ask for a king; though Samuel had laid before them the evils and inconveniences of having a king, and had in the name of the Lord charged them with rejecting God as their king; yet nothing convinced them of their evil till this storm came, and then all their sins came fresh to their minds; and this added to the weight of them, and lay heaviest on them, that they had rejected the Lord, and slighted his prophets, and, notwithstanding all remonstrances, resolved on having a king.

1Sa 12:20 And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;

Ye have done all this wickedness - That is, although ye have done all this wickedness: what was past God would pass by, provided they would be obedient in future. Though they were guilty of so heinous a sin, yet there were grace and mercy with God, and they should not despair of it, so be it that they did not depart from him, but cordially served him

And Samuel said unto the people, fear not – Do not fear being destroyed by the tempest: he would not have them despond or indulge slavish fear.

yet turn not aside from following the Lord - provided they did not depart from the Lord, and forsake his worship, word, and ordinances, they need not fear utter ruin and destruction, though they had been guilty of this sin:

1Sa 12:21 And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.

After vain things - That is, idols; which he calls here “hattohu”, the same expression found Gen_1:2. The earth was “tohu”; it was waste, empty, and formless: so idols; they are confusion, and things of naught, for an idol is nothing in the world, it is not the representative of any intelligent being. 1Co_8:4 Then concerning the eating of the things sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God except one.

Vain things - So idols are called, Deu_32:21They have moved Me to jealousy with a no-god. They have provoked Me to anger with their vanities. And I will move them to jealousy with a no-people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation; Jer_2:5 So says the LORD, What injustice have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me and have walked after vanity, and have become vain, and so they are, being mere nothings, having no power in them; no influence upon us, nor use or benefit to us.

which cannot profit nor deliver - neither bestow good things on their votaries, nor deliver them from evils, or from the hands of their enemies

1Sa 12:22 For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people.

The Lord will not forsake his people - He will not as yet cast you off, though you have deserved it. His purpose in preserving them in their land and religion was not yet accomplished. It was not however for their sake that he would not cast them off, but for his own great name’s sake. He drew his reasons from himself.

His name's sake - For the sake of himself, his honor and glory; should he forsake his people, and suffer them to come to ruin, his name would be blasphemed among the nations; he would be charged either with want of power to help them, or with want of faithfulness to his promise to them, and with inconstancy to himself, or want of kindness and affection for them; all which would reflect upon his honor and glory:

His name's sake - That is, for his own honor, which would suffer much among men, if he should not preserve and deliver his people in eminent dangers.

it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people - it was not owing to any worth or worthiness in them that they became his people, but to his own sovereign good will and pleasure; and therefore, as it was nothing in them that was the cause of their being taken by him for his people, so nothing in them could be the cause of their being rejected by him as such; it was of free grace and favor that they were taken into covenant with him, and by the same would be retained.

1Sa 12:23 Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:

God forbid that I should sin - They had earnestly begged him, 1Sa_12:19, to pray to God for them, that they might not die; and he tells them that he should consider himself a sinner, should he cease to be their intercessor.

God forbid that I should sin - for since they had returned to the Lord, and acknowledged their sin, it would have been an evil in him not to pray for them, that they might share in the pardoning grace and mercy of God, and have all good things bestowed upon them they stood in need of; this he judged to be his duty to do, and therefore abhorred the thought of being indifferent to it, negligent of it, or of dropping it:

But I will teach you the good and the right way - I will show you, as long as I am with you, what true religion is; it is the way to happiness and heaven. It is right - there is no crookedness in it; it is good - there is no evil in it.

But I will teach you the good and the right way - would not only pray for them, but instruct them in the way of their duty; a way that was a good one, agreeable to the will and word of God, and in walking in which good things were enjoyed, and which being a good way, must needs be a right way; though Samuel ceased to be a judge and chief magistrate among them, he should not cease to act the part of a prophet to them, both by his prayers and by his instructions.

1Sa 12:24 Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.

Only fear the Lord - Know, respect, and reverence him.

Only fear the Lord - Fear him not with a servile fear, but with a filial fear, a reverential affection for God; and includes the whole of religious worship, internal and external; explained further by serving him according to the truth of his word, and in a cordial, sincere, and affectionate manner; and if this was wanting in them, he suggests that his prayers and instructions would be of little avail, and not to be depended on:

Serve Him in truth - Be ever honest, ever sincere; with all your heart - have every affection engaged in the work of obedience; act not merely from a principle of duty, but also from a pious, affectionate sense of obligation.

Consider how great things - Review the history of your fathers, review your own life; see what interpositions of power, mercy, goodness, and truth, God has displayed in your behalf!

Consider how great things he hath done for you - in bringing them out of Egypt: settling them in the land of Canaan; giving them his laws, statutes, commands, and ordinances; sending prophets unto them, and raising up judges for them, and bestowing all good things on them, in nature, providence, and grace; though some restrain this to the great thing he had done that day, to convince them of their sin, and by which they were returned to the Lord, namely, the violent storm of thunder; which wonderful instance of the power of God, and token of his displeasure against them, they were to lay up in their minds, and not forget, that it might be a means of preserving them from sin for the future.

1Sa 12:25 But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.

Ye shall be consumed - If ye do wickedly you shall be destroyed, your kingdom destroyed, and your king destroyed. Their king would be so far from protecting, that he should perish with them. Here they had set before them life and good, death and evil. Here was a people fully warned, and a people who profited little by the warning.

But if ye shall still do wickedly - Continue to rebel against God, revolt from him, and depart from his worship, and despise his prophets, and serve idols.

Exodus 21

Exo 21:1 Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

Now these are the judgments - The judicial laws respecting the civil state of the people of Israel, so called because they are founded on justice and equity, and are according to the judgment of God, whose judgment is according to truth; and because they are such by which the commonwealth of Israel was to be judged or governed, and were to be the rule of their conduct to one another, and a rule of judgment to their judges in the execution of judgment and justice among them:

which thou shall set before them - besides the ten commands before delivered; these were delivered to Moses after he went up to the mount again, at the request of the people, to be their mediator, to be by him set before them as the rule of their behavior; and as their government was a Theocracy, and God was more immediately their King than he was of any other people, it was but right, and what might be expected, that they should have their civil laws from him, and which was their privilege, and gave them the preference to all other nations, Deu_4:5.

Now these are the judgments - The first verse is the general title of the laws contained in this and the two following chapters. Their government being purely a theocracy; that which in other states is to be settled by human prudence, was directed among them by a divine appointment. These laws are called judgments; because their magistrates were to give judgment according to them. In the doubtful cases that had hitherto occurred, Moses had particularly enquired of God, but now God gave him statutes in general, by which to determine particular cases. He begins with the laws concerning servants, commanding mercy and moderation towards them. The Israelites had lately been servants themselves, and now they were become not only their own masters, but masters of servants too; lest they should abuse their servants as they themselves had been abused, provision was made for the mild and gentle usage of servants.

Now these are the judgments - The mishpatim (Exo_21:1) are not the “laws, which were to be in force and serve as rules of action,” but the rights, by which the national life was formed into a civil commonwealth and the political order secured. These rights had reference first of all to the relation in which the individuals stood one towards another. The personal rights of dependants are placed at the head (Exo_21:2-11); and first those of slaves (Exo_21:2-6), which are still more minutely explained in Deu_15:12-18, where the observance of them is urged upon the hearts of the people on subjective grounds.

Now these are the judgments - The laws in this chapter relate to the fifth and sixth commandments; and though they differ from our times and customs, nor are they binding on us, yet they explain the moral law, and the rules of natural justice. The servant, in the state of servitude, was an emblem of that state of bondage to sin, Satan, and the law, which man is brought into by robbing God of his glory, by the transgression of his precepts. Likewise in being made free, he was an emblem of that liberty wherewith Christ, the Son of God, makes free from bondage his people, who are free indeed; and made so freely, without money and without price, of free grace.

Exo 21:2 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

If thou buy a Hebrew servant - A Hebrew might be sold as a bondman in consequence either of debt Lev_25:39 And if your brother who lives beside you has become poor, and is sold to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a bond-servant or of the commission of theft. But his servitude could not be enforced for more than six full years.

If thou buy a Hebrew servant – One scholar enumerates six different ways in which a Hebrew might lose his liberty:

1. In extreme poverty they might sell their liberty. Lev_25:39.

2. A father might sell his children. If a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant; see Exo_21:7 And if a man sells his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.

3. Insolvent debtors became the slaves of their creditors. 2Ki_4:1 And a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, saying, Your servant my husband is dead. And you know that your servant feared the LORD. And the lender has come to take my two children to himself for slaves.

4. A thief, if he had not money to pay the fine laid on him by the law, was to be sold for his profit whom he had robbed. If he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft; Exo_22:3-4 If the sun is risen upon him, blood is due for him. He should repay in full. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the theft is certainly found in his hand alive, whether it is an ox, or an ass, or a sheep, he shall restore double.

5. A Hebrew was liable to be taken prisoner in war, and so sold for a slave.

6. A Hebrew slave who had been ransomed from a Gentile by a Hebrew might be sold by him who ransomed him, to one of his own nation.

Six years he shall serve - It was an excellent provision in these laws, that no man could finally injure himself by any rash, foolish, or precipitate act. No man could make himself a servant or slave for more than seven years; and if he mortgaged the family inheritance, it must return to the family at the jubilee, which returned every fiftieth year.

It is supposed that the term six years is to be understood as referring to the sabbatical years; for let a man come into servitude at whatever part of the interim between two sabbatical years, he could not be detained in bondage beyond a sabbatical year; so that if he fell into bondage the third year after a sabbatical year, he had but three years to serve; if the fifth, but one. Others suppose that this privilege belonged only to the year of jubilee, beyond which no man could be detained in bondage, though he had been sold only one year before.

six years he shall serve - and no longer; and the Jewish scholars say, if his master dies within the six years he must serve his son, but not his daughter, nor his brother, nor any other heirs:

in the seventh he shall go out free - without paying any money for his freedom, as it is explained Exo_21:11, nay, on the other hand, his master was not to send him away empty, but furnish him liberally out of his flock, floor, and wine press, since his six years' servitude was worth double that of an hired servant, Deu_15:13, and his freedom was to take place as soon as the six years were ended, and the seventh began. Now as this servant, in the state of servitude, was an emblem of that state of bondage to sin, Satan, and the law, which man is brought into by his theft, his robbing God of his glory by the transgression of his precepts; so likewise, in his being made free, he was an emblem of that liberty wherewith Christ, the Son of God, makes his people free from the said bondage, and who are free indeed, and made so freely without money, and without price, of pure free grace, without any merit or deservence of theirs; and which freedom is attended with many bountiful and liberal blessings of grace.

If thou buy an Hebrew servant - Every Israelite was free-born; but slavery was permitted under certain restrictions. An Hebrew might be made a slave through poverty, debt, or crime; but at the end of six years he was entitled to freedom, and his wife, if she had voluntarily shared his state of bondage, also obtained release. Should he, however, have married a female slave, she and the children, after the husband's liberation, remained the master's property; and if, through attachment to his family, the Hebrew chose to forfeit his privilege and abide as he was, a formal process was gone through in a public court, and a brand of servitude stamped on his ear (Psa_40:6) for life, or at least till the Jubilee (Deu_15:17). The word limits the rule to Israelite servants, in distinction from slaves of foreign extraction, to whom this law did not apply.

Exo 21:3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.

If he came in by himself - If a married man became a bondman, his rights in regard to his wife were respected: but if a single bondman accepted at the hand of his master a bondwoman as his wife, the master did not lose his claim to the woman or her children, at the expiration of the husband’s term of service. Such wives, it may be presumed, were always foreign slaves.

Exo 21:4 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.

The wife and her children shall be her master’s - It was a law among the Hebrews, that if a Hebrew had children by a Canannite woman, those children must be considered as Canaanite only, and might be sold and bought, and serve for ever. The law here refers to such a case only.

If his master have given him a wife - One of his slaves, a Canaanitish woman, on purpose to beget slaves on her, since all born in his house were his own; this is supposed to be after he was come into his house, and into his service:

If his master have given him a wife - Scripture speaks of a Canaanitish woman, for an Hebrew woman went out at the sixth year.

Exo 21:5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:

I will not go out free - shall express himself in plain and full terms, continue in his servitude, having a great affection for his master, and that he might enjoy his wife and children he dearly loved; and being animated with such a principle, his servitude was a pleasure to him.

Exo 21:6 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.

Serve him forever - That is, most probably, until the next Jubilee, when every Hebrew was set free. Lev_25:40 As a hired servant, as a temporary resident, he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the year of jubilee, Lev_25:50 And he shall count with his buyer from the year that he was sold to him, until the year of jubilee. And the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years, according to the time of a hired servant it shall be with him.

Bore his ear with an awl - The custom of boring the ear as a mark of slavery appears to have been a common one in ancient times, observed in many nations.

Shall bring him unto the judges - literally, to God; or, as the Septuagint have it, to the judgment of God. No doubt civil magistrates or judges are meant by Elohim, or the gods, as in Psa_82:1

he shall also bring him to the door - either of the gate of the city, where the judges were sitting; or rather the door of his master, or any other man's.

Bore his ear with an awl - the ear is an hieroglyphic of obedience, and the boring of it through to the doorpost denotes the strict and close obedience of such a servant to his master, and how he is, and ought to be, addicted to his service, and be constantly employed in it, and never stir from it, nor so much as go over the threshold of his master's house. This custom of boring a servant's ear continued in Syria till the times of Juvenal.

Bore his ear with an awl - This significant ceremony was intended as a mark of permanent servitude, and was calculated to impress the servant with the duty of hearing all his master’s orders, and obeying them punctually.

Forever - As long as he lives, or till the year of Jubilee.

Exo 21:7 And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.

If a man sell his daughter - A man might, in accordance with existing custom, sell his daughter to another man with a view to her becoming an inferior wife, or concubine. In this case, she was not “to go out,” like the bondman; that is, she was not to be dismissed at the end of the sixth year. But women who were bound in any other way, would appear to have been under the same conditions as bondmen. Deu_15:17.

If a man sell his daughter - This the Jews allowed no man to do but in extreme distress - when he had no goods, either movable or immovable left, even to the clothes on his back; and he had this permission only while she was unmarriageable. It may appear at first view strange that such a law should have been given; but let it be remembered, that this servitude could extend, at the utmost, only to six years; and that it was nearly the same as in some cases of apprenticeship among us, where the parents bind the child for seven years, and have from the master so much per week during that period.

If a man sell his daughter - That is, if an Israelite sells his little daughter, one that is under age, that is not arrived to the age of twelve years and a day, and this through poverty; he not being able to support himself and his family, puts his daughter out to service, or rather sells her to be a servant:

If a man sell his daughter - Hebrew girls might be redeemed for a reasonable sum. But in the event of her parents or friends being unable to pay the redemption money, her owner was not at liberty to sell her elsewhere. Should she have been betrothed to him or his son, and either change their minds, a maintenance must be provided for her suitable to her condition as his intended wife, or her freedom instantly granted.

If a man sell his daughter - The daughter of an Israelite, who had been sold by her father as a maid-servant, as a housekeeper and concubine, stood in a different relation to her master's house. She was not to go out like the men-servants, not to be sent away as free at the end of six years of service; but the three following regulations were to be observed with regard to her. In the first place (Exo_21:8), “if she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed.” In the second place (Exo_21:9, Exo_21:10), “if he appoint her as his son's wife, he shall act towards her according to the rights of daughters,” i.e., treat her as a daughter; In the third place (Exo_21:11), “if he do not (do not grant) these three unto her, she shall go out for nothing, without money.” “These three” are food, clothing, and conjugal rights, which are mentioned just before;

Exo 21:8 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.

If she please not her master - he has no liking of her, and love to her, not being agreeable in her person, temper, or conduct, so that he does not choose to make her his wife:

who hath betrothed her to him - but not completed the marriage, as he promised, when he bought her, or at least gave reason to expect that he would; for, according to the Jewish canons, a Hebrew handmaid might not be sold but to one who laid himself under obligation to espouse her to himself, or his son, when she was fit to be betrothed; and so he ought to espouse her, and take her to be his wife, for the money of her purchase is the money of her espousals.

then shall he let her be redeemed - she being at age, and fit for marriage, and her master not caring to marry her, her father shall redeem her (according to the Targum); it was incumbent on him to do that, as it was on her master to let her be redeemed, to admit of the redemption of her; or whether she redeemed herself, or her father, or one of her relations (according to other scholars).

to sell her unto a strange nation - that is, to another man, as the Targum, even to an Israelite that was of another family, to whom the right of redemption did not belong; for to sell an Israelite, man or woman, to a Gentile, or one of another nation, was not allowed of in any case, as Josephus observes; but the meaning is, he had no power to sell her to another, though of the same nation, to be his handmaid; this power neither her master nor her father had, she being redeemed, and in her own power.

seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her - in not fulfilling his promise made to her father when he sold her to him, or not answering the expectation he had raised in her; and especially he dealt thus with her, if he had corrupted her, and yet refused to betroth and marry her.

Exo 21:9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.

Betrothed her unto his son - He shall give her the same dowry he would give to one of his own daughters. From these laws we learn, that if a man’s son married his servant, by his father’s consent, the father was obliged to treat her in every respect as a daughter; and if the son married another woman, as it appears he might do, Exo_21:10, he was obliged to make no abatement in the privileges of the first wife, either in her food, raiment, or duty of marriage. The word used here is the same with Paul’s word for the marriage debt, and with the word used in the Septuagint which signifies the cohabitation of man and wife.

he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters - as if she was his daughter, and give her a dowry: or the son shall treat her after the manner the daughters of Israel are treated when married, by giving her food, raiment, and the duty of marriage.

Exo 21:10 If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.

If he take him another wife - The father takes another wife for his son, or the son takes another wife to himself after he has betrothed and married his father's maidservant:

shall he not diminish - neither deny it her in whole, nor lessen it in part, but give her her full due of each.

Her duty of marriage - Some take it to signify no other than an "habitation", that as he was to provide food and raiment for her, so an house to dwell, in; but the generality of interpreters, Jewish and Christian, understand it as we do, of the conjugal duty, the use of the marriage bed, or what the apostle calls due benevolence, 1Co_7:3 Let the husband give to the wife proper kindness, and likewise the wife also to the husband.

her food - Sheairah, “her flesh;” he shall not only afford her a sufficient quantity of food, as before, but of the same quality. She is not to be fed, like a common slave, with a sufficiency of bread, vegetables, milk, etc., but with her customary supply of flesh, and other agreeable articles of food. 1Co_7:1-6

Exo 21:11 And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.

If he do not these three unto her - The words express a choice of one of three things according to most scholars. The man was to give the woman, whom he had purchased from her father, her freedom, unless

(i) he caused her to be redeemed by a Hebrew master Exo_21:8; or,

(ii) gave her to his son, and treated her as a daughter Exo_21:9; or,

(iii) in the event of his taking another wife Exo_21:10, unless he allowed her to retain her place and privileges.

These rules Exo_21:7-11 are to be regarded as mitigations of the then existing usages of concubinage.

These three - One scholar takes it to mean these three: her food, clothes, and marriage debt.

then shall she go out free without money - be dismissed from her servitude, and not obliged to pay anything for her freedom.

Exo 21:12 He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.

He that smiteth a man - The case of murder of a free man and of a bondman. The law was afterward expressly declared to relate also to foreigners, Lev_24:17, Lev_24:21-22;

shall surely be put to death - by the order of the civil magistrate, and by the hand of such as shall be appointed by him; for this is the original law of God, Gen_9:6 Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood shall be shed by man; for He made man in the image of God.

He that smiteth a man - A death-blow was to be punished with death (Gen_9:6; Lev_24:17). This general rule is still further defined by a distinction being drawn between accidental and intentional killing. For such a man who kills accidentally, God would appoint places of refuge, where he should be protected against the avenger of blood.

Exo 21:13 And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee.

And if a man lie not in wait - for one who killed a man “at unawares,” that is, without intending to do it, the law afterward appointed places of refuge, Num. 35:6-34; Deu_4:41-43; Deu_19:2-10; Jos_20:2-9.

I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee - From the earliest times the nearest akin had a right to revenge the murder of his relation, and as this right was universally acknowledged, no law was ever made on the subject; but as this might be abused, and a person who had killed another accidentally, having had no previous malice against him, might be put to death by the avenger of blood, as the nearest kinsman was termed, therefore God provided the cities of refuge to which the accidental manslayer might flee till the affair was inquired into, and settled by the civil magistrate.

but God delivers him into his hand - it being suffered and ordered by the providence of God, without whose knowledge and will nothing comes to pass, even what may seem to be a contingent thing, or matter of chance, to us; or it is so brought about in providence, that one man falls into the hands of another, and his life is taken away by him, though not purposely and maliciously.

I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee - and there be safe both from the avenger of blood, and the civil magistrate; which place, while Israel were in the wilderness, was the camp of the Levites, according to one scholar, or the altar according to another scholar; but when they were come to Canaan's land, there were cities of refuge appointed for such persons, that killed a man unawares, to flee to, and where they were safe from private vengeance, and falling a sacrifice to public justice.

Exo 21:14 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.

Thou shalt take him from mine altar - Before the cities of refuge were assigned, the altar of God was the common asylum. The law refers not to a person ministering in his office at the altar of the Lord, but to one that should flee there for safety, which yet he should not have.

Thou shalt take him from mine altar - These words are not to be understood as meaning, that only intentional and treacherous killing was to be punished with death; but, without restricting the general rule in Exo_21:12, they are to be interpreted from their antithesis to Exo_21:13, as signifying that even the altar of Jehovah was not to protect a man who had committed intentional murder, and carried out his purpose with treachery.

Exo 21:15 And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.

That smiteth his father, or his mother - As such a case argued peculiar depravity, therefore no mercy was to be shown to the culprit.

That smiteth his father, or his mother - With his fist, or with a stick, or cane, or such thing, though they died not with the blow, yet it occasioned any wound, or caused a bruise, or the part smitten black and blue, or left any print of the blow.

That smiteth his father, or his mother - To smite either father or mother, in a manner which indicated either contempt or malice, or left marks of violence, was deemed a proof of so ungrateful and unnatural a disposition, that no provocation was admitted as an excuse, but the offence was made capital. The law of God, as delegated to parents is honored when they are honored, and despised when they are despised, and to rebel against the lawful exercise of this authority is rebellion against God

shall be surely put to death – Jewish scholars said this was done by strangulation. This crime was made capital, to show the heinousness of it, how detestable it was to God, and in order to deter from it.

Exo 21:16 And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

He that stealeth a man - By this law every man-stealer, and every receiver of the stolen person, should lose his life; no matter whether the latter stole the man himself, or gave money to a slave captain to steal him for him.

He that stealeth a man - One of the children of Israel, but though this law was given to the Israelites primarily, yet was made for men stealers in general, as the apostle observes, who plainly has reference to it, 1Ti_1:9-11 knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous one, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for homosexuals, for slave-traders, for liars, for perjurers, and anything else that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

or if he be found in his hand - before the selling of him, as Jarchi notes, since he stole him in order to sell him, he was guilty of death.

he shall surely be put to death - with strangling, as the same Jewish writer remarks, as on the preceding verse.

Exo 21:17 And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.

he that curseth his father, or his mother - Though he does not smite them with his hand, or with any instrument in it, yet if he smites them with his tongue, reviles and reproaches them, speaks evil of them, wishes dreadful imprecations upon them, wishing the Lord would curse them, or that his curse might light upon them, Pro_20:20 Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in deep darkness.

shall surely be put to death - or be killed with casting stones on him, one scholar observes that wherever it is said, "his blood be upon him", it is meant of stoning, as it is of the man that curses his father or his mother, Lev_20:9 And any man who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be on him. It was done in this manner, the place of stoning was two cubits high, to which the malefactor with his hands bound was brought; from whence one of the witnesses against him cast him down headlong, of which, if he did not die, then they took up stones and cast on him, and if he died not through them, then all Israel came and stoned him; that is, the multitude upon the spot.

Exo 21:18 And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed:

And if men strive together - Quarrel and fight, and wrestle with and box one another:

and he die not, but keepeth his bed - does not die with the blow of the stone or fist, yet receives so much damage by it that he is obliged to take to his bed. Fatal blows and the crimes placed on a par with them are now followed in simple order by the laws relating to bodily injuries.

and he die not, but keepeth his bed - This certainly implies, on the one hand, that if the man died upon his bed, the injury was to be punished with death, according to Exo_21:12; and on the other hand, that if he died after getting up and going out, no further punishment was to be inflicted for the injury done.

Exo 21:19 If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.

then shall he that smote him be quit - if one man injured another in a quarrel so as to oblige him to keep his bed, he was free from the liability to a criminal charge (such as might be based upon Exo_21:12): but he was required to compensate the latter for the loss of his time, and for the cost of his healing.

and walk abroad upon his staff - if he is able to get out of his bed, and can be seen walking about in the street or in the field, though he is obliged to make use of a staff, and lean upon it, being yet weak and sickly:

then shall he that smote him be quit - from the judgment of slaying, he shall not be charged with manslaughter, or be found guilty of a capital crime, but discharged from that:

and cause him to be thoroughly healed - take care that he has a physician or surgeon, and that the proper medicines be applied, and those continued until he is quite well; all which must be at the expense of the smiter.

Exo 21:20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.

And if a man smite his servant or his maid - A Canaanitish servant or maid; and that only with a rod for the correction of them, and not with a sword or any such destroying weapon, which would seem as though he intended to kill. The master had always the right to punish or “chasten” him with a stick (Pro_10:13; Pro_13:24); this right was involved in the paternal authority of the master over the servants in his possession. The law was therefore confined to the abuse of this authority.

and he die under his hand - immediately, while he is smiting or beating him or her, or on the same day.

he shall be surely punished - or condemned to the punishment of being slain with the sword, as the said Targum explains it, although one scholar disputes that meaning. This law was made to deter masters from using severity and cruelty towards their servants.

Exo 21:21 Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.

if he continue a day or two - If the slave survived the beating a day or two the master was not punished, because it might be presumed that the man died through some other cause.

for he is his money - is bought with his money, and is good as money, and therefore it is a loss sufficient to him to lose him; and it may be reasonably thought he did not smite his servant with an intention to kill him, since he himself is the loser by it.

Exo 21:22 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 upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.

And hurt a woman with child - As a posterity among the Jews was among the peculiar promises of their covenant, and as every man had some reason to think that the Messiah should spring from his family, therefore any injury done to a woman with child, by which the fruit of her womb might be destroyed, was considered a very heavy offense; and as the crime was committed principally against the husband, the degree of punishment was left to his discretion. But if mischief followed, that is, if the child had been fully formed, and was killed by this means, or the woman lost her life in consequence, then the punishment was as in other cases of murder - the person was put to death; Exo_21:23.

If men strive - Quarrel and fight with one another.

and yet no mischief follow - to her, as Jewish scholars interpret it; and which mischief they interpret as death; but it may refer both to the woman and her offspring, and not only to the death of them, but to any hurt or damage to either of them. In the context of this verse, no damage is done.

he shall surely be punished - that is, be fined or forfeiture for striking the woman, and hastening the childbirth:

Exo 21:23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,

then thou shalt give life for life - if death to the woman, as some interpret it; "but if there is death in her, then ye shall judge or condemn the life of the murderer for the life of the woman.''

then thou shalt give life for life - Scholars are divided; some say life of the person himself; others say money, but not life properly; for he that intends to kill one and kills another is acquitted from death, but must pay to the heirs the price (of the person killed) as that person might be sold for in the market:

Exo 21:24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

Eye for eye - This is the earliest account we have of the lex talionis, or law of like for like, the law of retaliation, which afterwards prevailed among the Greeks and Romans. Whether this is to be taken strictly and literally, or only for pecuniary fines is not certain.

Eye for eye - The execution of this law is not put into the hands of private persons, as if every man might avenge himself, which would introduce universal confusion. The magistrates had an eye to this rule in punishing offenders, and doing right to those that are injured.

Eye for eye - The law which authorized retaliation (a principle acted upon by all primitive people) was a civil one. It was given to regulate the procedure of the public magistrate in determining the amount of compensation in every case of injury, but did not encourage feelings of private revenge. The later Jews, however, mistook it for a moral precept, and were corrected by our Lord Mat_5:38-42 You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." But I say to you, Do not resist evil. But whoever shall strike you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. And to him desiring to sue you, and to take away your tunic, let him have your coat also. And whoever shall compel you to go a mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and you shall not turn away from him who would borrow from you.

Exo 21:25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe - This is to be understood of burning a man's flesh with fire; of wounds made by any means, so that the blood is let out; and of blows, and the prints and marks of them; of stripes and weals where the blood is settled, and the part is turned black and blue: the Targum states a price is to be paid in recompense for the pain of burning etc.

Exo 21:26 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.

If a man smite the eye - Give him a blow on the eye in a passion, as a correction for some fault he has committed:

he shall let him go free - his right to them as a servant was hereby forfeited, and he was obliged to give them their freedom. This law was made to deter masters from using their servants with cruelty, since though humanity and goodness would not restrain them from ill usage of them, their own profit and advantage by them might. Freedom was the proper equivalent for permanent injury.

Of his servan or of his maid - But the lex talionis applied to the free Israelite only, not to slaves. In the case of the latter, if the master struck out an eye and destroyed it, i.e., blinded him with the blow, or struck out a tooth, he was to let him go free, as a compensation for the loss of the member. Eye and tooth are individual examples selected to denote all the members, from the most important and indispensable down to the very least.

Exo 21:27 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.

If he smite out his tooth - Give them such a slap on the face, or a blow on the mouth, as to strike out one of their teeth; this also the Targum restrains to a Canaanitish servant or maid: If this did not teach them humanity, it taught them caution, as one rash blow might have deprived them of all right to the future services of the slave; and thus self-interest obliged them to be cautious and circumspect.

he shall let him go free - though of lesser consequence than the loss of an eye, was punished in the same manner with the loss of the servant man or maid, to make masters careful how they abused their servants in any degree. And though only these parts are expressed, yet Jewish scholars observe, that all other principal members of the body, which they reckon to be twenty four, are included, as the fingers, toes, &c.

Exo 21:28 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 shall be quit.

If an ox gore a man - The animal was slain as a tribute to the sanctity of human life It was stoned, and its flesh was treated as carrion. Guilty negligence on the part of its owner was reckoned a capital offence, to be commuted for a fine.

If an ox gore a man - In the case of a slave, the payment was the standard price of a slave, thirty shekels of silver. See Lev_25:44-46; Lev_27:3.

His flesh shall not be eaten - This served to keep up a due detestation of murder, whether committed by man or beast; and at the same time punished the man as far as possible, by the total loss of the beast. And even though it might have been killed in a regular manner before it was stoned, it was not to be eaten; for all profit of them is here forbidden.

and his flesh shall not be eaten - it being as an impure beast according to this sentence, as one Jewish scholar observes; it was laden with the guilt of murder, and therefore had become unclean (Num_35:33).

then the ox shall be surely stoned - which is but an exemplification of the original law given to Noah and his sons, Gen_9:5 and surely the blood of your lives will I require. At the hand of every animal will I require it, and at the hand of man. At the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man; i.e. the blood of the lives of men; which shows the care God takes of them, that even a beast must die that is the means of shedding man's blood:

the owner of the ox shall be quit - from punishment, he shall only suffer the loss of his ox: and also from the price of a servant or maid.

If an ox gore a man --For the purpose of sanctifying human blood, and representing all injuries affecting life in a serious light, an animal that occasioned death was to be killed or suffer punishment proportioned to the degree of damage it had caused.

Exo 21:29 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.

it hath been testified to his owner - by sufficient witnesses, who saw him push at people for three days past: the Targum says,"and it hath been testified to the face of his owner three days. ''Concerning this testimony another Jewish scholar writes,"this is a testification, all that testify of it three days; but if he pushes, or bites, or kicks, or strikes even an hundred times on one day, this is no testification (not a sufficient one): three companies of witnesses testify of it in one day, lo, this is a doubt, whether it is a (proper) testimony or not; there is no testification but before the owner, and before the sanhedrim:"

and he hath not kept him in - in some enclosed place, house or field, not frequented by people, and where there was no danger of doing any hurt, if this care was not taken, after a proper testimony had been given of his vicious disposition

his owner shall be put to death - since he was accessory to the death of the person killed, not keeping in his beast, when he had sufficient notice of his vicious temper. Gen_9:6 Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood shall be shed by man; for He made man in the image of God.

Exo 21:30 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.

If there be laid on him a sum of money - So it appears that, though by the law he forfeited his life, yet this might be commuted for a pecuniary fine, at which the life of the deceased might be valued by the magistrates. This is the only case where a money compensation, instead of capital punishment, was expressly allowed in the Mosaic law.

If there be laid on him a sum of money - if his sentence of death is commuted for a fine, with the consent of the relations of the deceased, who in such a case are willing to show mercy, and take a fine instead of the person's death; supposing it was through carelessness and negligence, and not with any ill design that he did not keep up his ox from doing damage, after he had notice:

then he shall give for the ransom of his life - whatever mulct or fine given by the court, instead of the sentence of death first pronounced. The ransom is given to the heirs of the slain; and if a woman is killed, according to Jewish scholars, the ransom is given to the heirs of her father's (family), and not to her husband.''

Exo 21:31 Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.

Whether he have gored a son a daughter - A little son or daughter; this is observed, because only a man or woman are made mention of in Exo_21:29 persons grown up; and lest it should be thought that only adult persons were intended, this is added, to show that the same regard is had to little ones as to grown persons, should they suffer by an ox in like manner as men and women may. The Targum restrains this to a son or daughter of an Israelite; but the life of everyone, of whatsoever nation, is equally provided for, and guarded against by the original law of God:

according to this judgment shall it be done unto him - to the owner of the ox that has gored a child, male or female; that is, he shall be put to death, if he has been warned of the practice of his ox for three days past, and has took no care to keep him in; or he shall pay the ransom of his life, as it has been laid by the court, with the consent of the relations of the children.

Whether he have gored a son a daughter - The death of a son or a daughter through the goring of an ox was also to be treated in the same way; but that of a slave (man-servant or maid-servant) was to be compensated by the payment of thirty shekels of silver (i.e., probably the ordinary price for the redemption of a slave, as the redemption price of a free Israelite was fifty shekels, Lev_27:3) on the part of the owner of the ox; but the ox was to be killed in this case also.

Exo 21:32 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.

Thirty shekels - At this price these same vile people valued the life of our blessed Lord; Zec_11:12-13 And I said to them, If it is good, give My price; and if not, let it go. So they weighed My price thirty pieces of silver.

13 And the LORD said to me, Throw it to the potter, the magnificent price at which I was valued by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD. Mat_26:14-15 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests. And he said to them, What will you give me, and I will betray Him to you? And they appointed to him thirty pieces of silver. And in return, the justice of God has ordered it so, that they have been sold for slaves into every country of the universe.

If the ox shall push a manservant, or a maidservant - Which the Targum interprets of a Canaanitish servant, man or maid; but no doubt the same provision was made for an Hebrew servant, man or maid, as for a Gentile one:

he shall give unto their master - the owner of the ox shall pay so much to the masters of the servants for the loss they have sustained by his ox goring them.

Exo 21:33 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;

And if a man shall open a pit - That is, if a man shall open a well or cistern that had been before closed up, or dig a new one; for these two cases are plainly intimated: and if he did this in some public place where there was danger that men or cattle might fall into it; for a man might do as he pleased in his own grounds, as those were his private right. In the above case, if he had neglected to cover the pit, and his neighbor’s ox or ass was killed by falling into it, he was to pay its value in money.

and an ox or an ass fall therein - or any other beast, for these are mentioned only as instances, and are put for all others (mentioned, for the sake of example, as the most important animals among the live stock of the Israelites). Passing from life to property, in connection with the foregoing, the life of the animal, the most important possession of the Israelites, is first of all secured against destruction through carelessness.

Exo 21:34 The owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his.

The owner of the pit shall make it good - Repair the loss of the ox or ass:

and give the money unto the owner of them - the price of them, what they are worth:

and the dead beast shall be his - the owner of the pit; who pays the full value for the ox or ass killed, which seems but reasonable; although one scholar says the owner of the animal gets to keep the dead beast.

Exo 21:35 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.

Divide the dead ox - The dead ox in this case, as well as in the preceding one, must have been worth no more than the price of the hide, as the flesh could not be eaten. See Lev_17:1-6. They divide the money the carcass is worth; or it is sold for.

divide the money – various writers make the claim that it was not a straight division but one based on equivalent values of each ox.

Exo 21:36 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.

the ox hath used to push in time past - If it is a plain case, and a thing well known in the neighborhood, and there are witnesses enough to testify it, that it has yesterday, and for two or three days running, pushed with his horns men and cattle.

his owner hath not kept him in - took no care to prevent his doing mischief by putting him into a barn or out house, or into an enclosure, where he could do no damage to any:

he shall surely pay ox for ox - that is, the owner of the miscreant ox shall give as good an ox to the owner of the dead ox as the ox that had been killed or pay him the full worth and value of it. The dead ox shall not be divided as in the preceding case, but shall be the dead ox owner’s wholly; because the owner of the vicious ox took no care of him, though it was well known he was mischievous, for which negligence he was punished this way.