“When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged.
The laws of Exodus 21 follow straight after the ten commandments. They govern Israel's daily life, and here God speaks for the one person in the house with no legal defence: the servant under his master's rod. Why was such treatment allowed at all, and what does the limit tell us about God?
Authority under authority
A master might assume his ownership is absolute. The chapter opens by placing the master himself under an authority.
L. M. GrantSpecial duties of masters are first considered. They may think they have full authority over their slaves, but they must first remember God's authority over themselves. God clearly limits their authority over slaves.
The penalty for a fatal blow
The next verse draws a line, and gives only one reason for it.
L. M. GrantA man who struck his servant and caused his death would face the death penalty himself. But if the servant lived on for a day or two before dying, that penalty did not apply. The only explanation given for this is, "for he is his money" (v. 21).
The ESV renders that phrase "for the slave is his money." Still, a master who killed his servant outright answered for it as a killer.
Care for those who cannot defend themselves
Read together, these rules show God guarding the bodies of the people least able to guard themselves.
Edward DennettAll these laws reveal the tenderness of God in protecting the bodies of His people — and especially those who live under someone else's authority.
Notice how small the matters are that God bends down to settle.
C. H. MackintoshHere, too, we may see how amazingly God lowers Himself. He is the great God of heaven and earth, yet He can still stoop to judge between one man and another about the death of an ox, the loan of a garment, or the loss of a servant's tooth. "Who is like the Lord our God, who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and on earth?"
Justice with no favourites
The Judge behind these courts shows no favour.
C. H. MackintoshGod provided for everything, upheld every interest, and met every claim. He showed no partiality, and made no distinction between the rich and the poor. He weighed each man's claim in a balance set with divine accuracy, so that no one could fairly complain of a decision… The stroke of justice fell only on the head of the guilty, while God protected every obedient soul in the enjoyment of all his rights and privileges.
Law, not grace
These measured penalties are what Jesus later set His own teaching against.
Edward DennettWe find here the true character of law. Grace is absent. It is eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth. Our blessed Lord especially quotes these provisions to point out their contrast with grace. He says, "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 the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." Law demands an exact equivalent — no more, and no less. But grace can release every claim. God has dealt with us in grace and released our whole debt, so we must act on the same principle with one another.
But why was such treatment allowed at all? One writer points to what the law could and could not do:
F. B. HoleThe law allowed things that Christians today would not allow… We must always remember that "the law made nothing perfect" (Heb. 7:19). It set out the minimum of God's demands, so that anyone who fell short of it in any way came under the sentence of death. Christ shows the maximum of all God's thoughts and desires.
What such a law reveals about us
These laws also say something uncomfortable about us.
C. H. MackintoshThe Lord had to enact laws against certain crimes. That proves man is capable of committing those crimes. If the capability and the tendency were not there, no such laws would be needed. These statutes prove beyond all question that even the most refined and cultivated member of the human family carries in his heart the seeds of the very darkest and most horrifying evils.
Summary
- Limit — The master's power is not absolute. God's authority over the master is the first thing established, and it caps what he may do.
- Life — A servant's life is not the master's to spend. Kill him under your hand, and you answer for it with your own.
- Care — Behind the limit stands God's tenderness. It reaches the lowest place in the house — even a servant's lost tooth.
- Justice — God shows that care without favour. He weighs rich and poor in the same balance, and the blow of justice falls only on the guilty.
- Grace — Law gives the exact equivalent, no more and no less. Christ, quoting this very rule, opened something law never held: a claim that can be released.