Being just, God ensured in the Book of the Covenant that punishment meted out to offenders must be proportionate to the offence committed. In Exodus 21:11-17, we see the stipulation of a death sentence for three capital offences. The three offences are premeditated murder, kidnapping another person and sold them into slavery and striking or cursing one’s parents. However, God knew that some aggressive acts committed by a person might not lead to death. So, He went on in verses 18-27 to deal with punishment for acts of aggression where bodily injuries had been sustained. It is not possible for God to deal with this category exhaustively in just a few ten verses. Though brief, these ten verses deal with how to punish acts of violence that had hurt someone bodily. God wanted to ensure that the aggrieved person should receive some form of compensation by the aggressor for the hurt he had inflicted on the victim. The perpetrator must make restitution for the offence he had committed. Since the compensation would come out from the aggressor’s own pocket, it was deemed to be a punishment.
In the case where a person had been struck with something in a quarrel and he did not die, the assailant or antagonist must pay for the act he had committed. If the victim died, the punishment for capital offence applied. If the victim survived but was injured, the assailant would be responsible to support him. He would be supported until he was able to help himself. Besides, his medical bill would be taken care of by the assailant as well. This stipulation had the objective of ensuring that one should not resort to aggression. In any argument, tension would escalate but restraint must be exercised. It is always better to walk away and deal with a matter when one has cooled down than to stay and end up in a fistfight. There will always be consequences if we choose to hurt another person.
In verses 20-21, God ensures that slaves were not cruelly treated by their master. Though the master had bought a slave and he would be deemed to be his property, he could punish the slaves but he had no right to inflict bodily harm on him. If the punishment led to the death of the slave, the master would be punished. Though not stipulated, it must be presumed that to kill someone is a capital offence and punishable by death. If the slave was hurt and after a day or two recovered, then no vengeance would be required of the master. Verses 26-27 tell us that when administering the punishment, if the master had caused the slave to lose so much as an eye or a tooth, he must let the slave go free. In the prescription of such punishments, God was ensuring that His people would never resort to physical abuse.
In Exodus 21: 22-25, God also took an interest in innocent bystanders who were inadvertently hurt by scuffles of others. If the victim was a pregnant woman, verse 22 states that “If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide.” In other words, if the lives of both the mother and the unborn baby stayed intact, the person who had caused the injury should be appropriately dealt with. Though he must compensate the injured woman based on what the husband would demand, the amount to be paid must be approved by the court. This was to prevent an unscrupulous husband from profiting from his wife’s misfortune.
Our biggest struggle in understanding these ten verses would be in verses 24-25. Here we are told, “eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.” How do we make sense out of this prescription? What is being described here is known as the law of retaliation. We must understand the intention of this law so that we will not misunderstand what Jesus said when he referred to them in Matthew 5:38-39. This law was meant for the elders of Israel, who were God-ordained judges, as guidelines to administer justice. They were prescribed to prevent the people from taking matters into their own hand. Only divinely appointed judges were empowered to administer this justice. People who were hurt would want to exact punishment that would be disproportionate to what they had received. This law of retaliation was to prevent the disproportionate administering of justice. It was not to be taken literally.
What we see in these verses is God holding us responsible for the action we do in life, even when the actions are unintentional. We have the responsibility to right any mishap we have created as a result of our action. The implication is for us to be careful about what we do. It will do us well to consider how others, who are innocent, could be hurt by our rash actions. This is a call for us to act circumspectly and responsibly in life.
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