Laws and Restitution

Now these are the rules that you shall set before them. When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave forever. (Exodus 21: 1 to 6)

After the Ten Commandments, God gave the Israelites laws to fulfill the Commandments. Started with the Hebrews slaves, not only for the male slaves but also for the female slaves as described below.

When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has broken faith with her. If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights. And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money. (Exodus 21: 7 to 11)

By treating their own slaves, the laws reminded Israelites how they were brought out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. So, they would be more sincere and mindful to fulfill the Commandments. 

The laws for Honor Your Father And Your Mother Commandment are described as below.

Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death. (Exodus 21: 15)

Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death. (Exodus 21: 17)

To honor one's parents not only physically but mentally. To honor one's parents inside out. 

The laws for the You Shall Not Kill Commandment are described as below.

Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die. (Exodus 21: 12 to 14)

The laws also cover the case if the strikes didn't cause death as below.

When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist and the man does not die but takes to his bed, then if the man rises again and walks outdoors with his staff, he who struck him shall be clear; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall have him thoroughly healed. When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money. “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. (Exodus 21: 18 to 22)

The laws cover even the slave and pregnant woman. The restitution laws are described below.

But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. (Exodus 21: 23 to 25)

The restitution laws for the bodily injuries are described below.

When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth. (Exodus 21: 26 27)

When deaths were caused by animals are described below.

When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable. But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death. (Exodus 21: 28 29)

Or, when animal death was caused by man or another animal, the man or the owner of the guilty animal is responsible for the restitution. So, God wanted Israelites to learn how to be responsible and respectful from the laws. To learn the true meaning of the Commandments. Emmanuel.

(To return, select <- on the toolbar)