EXODUS CHAPTER 21 Law concerning bond-men or slaves, EXODUS 21:1. Servants bored through the ear, EXODUS 21:6. Ordinances for bond-women, EXODUS 21:7. Of murderers, EXODUS 21:12. Of them that curse their parents, EXODUS 21:17. Of strikers, EXODUS 21:18,19. Of them that hurt a woman with child, EXODU... [ Continue Reading ]
If thou buy an Hebrew servant; of which practice see JEREMIAH 34:14. This was allowed in two cases: 1. When a man for his crimes was condemned by the judges to be sold; of which see EXODUS 22:3 2 KINGS 4:1 MATTHEW 8:25. 2. When a man pressed by great poverty sold himself or his children; of which... [ Continue Reading ]
BY HIMSELF, i.e. with his own person only, not with a wife, as the opposite branch showeth.... [ Continue Reading ]
That being a true rule, and approved both by Scripture and by heathen authors, that the birth follows the belly, GENESIS 21:10 GALATIANS 4:24,25; and he that owns the tree hath right to all its fruit. QUEST. How was this separation of man and wife agreeable with the first institution of marriage, by... [ Continue Reading ]
No text from Poole on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL BRING HIM UNTO THE JUDGES; 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. HE SHALL ALSO BRING HIM TO THE DOOR, to wit, of his master's house, a... [ Continue Reading ]
A MAN, i.e. a Hebrew, as appears by the opposition of _one of a strange nation_, EXODUS 21:8. For a man to SELL HIS DAUGHTER TO BE A MAID-SERVANT was allowed in case of extreme necessity, because of the hardness of their hearts. SHE SHALL NOT GO OUT AS THE MEN-SERVANTS DO, but upon better terms, as... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO HATH BETROTHED HER TO HIMSELF, 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 _lo_ the pronoun, signifying to _hi... [ Continue Reading ]
i.e. Give her a convenient portion, as he doth to his own daughters, EXODUS 22:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
_ Her duty of marriage is called due benevolence_, 1 CORINTHIANS 7:3. Or, _her dwelling_, 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, _her cohabitation_, or, _her time_, the convenient and appoi... [ Continue Reading ]
And with gifts also by virtue of the law, DEUTERONOMY 15:14. The sum is this, The master was either, 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, EXODUS 21:8. Or, 2. Willing to keep her; and then, as he had betrothed h... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT SMITETH A MAN 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, NUMBERS 35:31.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 h... [ Continue Reading ]
IF A MAN COME PRESUMPTUOUSLY, i.e. do this proudly, boldly, purposely, and maliciously; for so the word signifies. FROM MINE ALTAR, which not only in the wilderness, but afterward, seems to have been esteemed a place of refuge, 1 KINGS 1:50, as it also was among the heathens: but God so far abhors m... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT SMITETH; either, 1. So as is before mentioned, EXODUS 21:12, _so as they die_. And _to smite_ sometimes signifies _to kill_, as GENESIS 4:15 2 KINGS 14:5, compared with 2 CHRONICLES 25:3. And this may be here added by way of distinction: q.d. That killing of another man which is punished wi... [ Continue Reading ]
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.... [ Continue Reading ]
Or, _revileth_, to wit, wilfully, maliciously, obstinately, against all admonition, by comparing DEUTERONOMY 21:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH A STONE, or any other instrument fit for such a mischievous purpose. A usual synecdoche.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LOSS OF HIS TIME, i.e. of the profit which he could or commonly did make of his time in the way of his calling. CAUSE HIM TO BE THOROUGHLY HEALED, i.e. pay the charges of the cure.... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS SERVANT, namely, a stranger; for an Israelite was to be better used. See LEVITICUS 25:39,40, &c. WITH A ROD; 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. UNDER HIS HAND, i.e. whilst the master is c... [ Continue Reading ]
i.e. His possession bought with his money; and therefore, 1. Had a power to chastise him according to his demerit, which might be very great. 2. Is sufficiently punished with his own loss. 3. May be presumed not to have done this purposely and maliciously.... [ Continue Reading ]
A WOMAN WITH CHILD, to wit, the wife of the other person, who interposed herself to succour her husband. NO MISCHIEF FOLLOW, neither to the woman nor child; for it is generally so as to reach both, in case the abortive had life in it. The husband shall impose the fine, and if it be unreasonable, the... [ Continue Reading ]
ANY MISCHIEF; either to the mother or to the child, whether it be death, or any maim or mischief. Who SHALL GIVE LIFE FOR LIFE? _Answ_. 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 t... [ Continue Reading ]
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, 1. By the impossibility of the just execution of it... [ Continue Reading ]
No text from Poole on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
No text from Poole on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 servan... [ Continue Reading ]
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. OX SHALL BE STONED; partly, to preve... [ Continue Reading ]
IT HATH BEEN TESTIFIED, which the Jews say was to be done thrice, and before the magistrate. A MAN OR A WOMAN, to wit, an Israelite, or a stranger who is free, by comparing this with EXODUS 21:32.... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THERE BE LAID ON HIM; 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 th... [ Continue Reading ]
A SON OR A DAUGHTER; names signifying their tender age, in respect of the _man_ or _woman_, EXODUS 21:29. And this is added, lest the foregoing sense should be restrained to their parents, whose lives were more precious, and therefore their loss greater.... [ Continue Reading ]
_ The half the freeman's price_. SEE POOLE ON "MATTHEW 26:5".... [ Continue Reading ]
If a man shall either OPEN an old pit which hath been covered with earth; or DIG a new PIT, 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... [ Continue Reading ]
THE OWNER OF THE PIT, i.e. he by whose hand or command it was made, SHALL GIVE MONEY equal to the worth of the dead beast, in the opinion of the judge.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL DIVIDE THE MONEY; 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.... [ Continue Reading ]
OX FOR OX; an ox of equal value with that slain ox, or the price and worth of it.... [ Continue Reading ]