Catholic Commentary on Exodus 21

"Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death." (Exodus 21:12)

The Book of the Covenant

Following the Ten Commandments, God gives Moses the Book of the Covenant, the first law code in Scripture. Exodus 21-23 contains case laws governing the relationships of the covenant community: slavery, personal injury, property damage, and religious obligations. The laws may seem remote to modern readers but they embody permanent principles. The regulations concerning Hebrew slaves establish a time limit on servitude and protections for the vulnerable that were revolutionary in the ancient world. The lex talionis, eye for eye and tooth for tooth, was not a call to vengeance but a limitation on it: punishment must be proportionate to the offence, not exceeding it. The Catechism draws from these laws the principle that civil law must be grounded in the natural law, which in turn is grounded in the eternal law of God (CCC 1959).

Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. The protection of human life is the first principle of the law code. But the text immediately distinguishes between intentional killing, which is murder, and accidental killing, which requires refuge in a city of refuge. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is among the oldest legal distinctions in human history, and it is grounded in the moral theology of intention: what the person intended when they acted determines the gravity of the act. The law is not merely behavioural but reaches the interior: it is concerned with the heart from which actions flow.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, the law code of Exodus exists to protect the vulnerable. Every regulation that seems technical or distant serves this purpose: the slave who must be freed, the person injured by carelessness, the one struck in a dispute. The protection of those with less power than their exploiter is not a modern concern; it is ancient covenant law. Who in your world needs the protection that this law was designed to provide?

Prayer

Lord God, your law protects the vulnerable and limits the power of the strong. Give us communities ordered by your justice, where the weak are protected and the powerful are held accountable. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

21
Hebrew Servants
(Deuteronomy 15:12–18)
1 “These are the ordinances that you are to set before them:
 
2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free without paying anything. 3 If he arrived alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrived with a wife, she is to leave with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.
 
5 But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children; I do not want to go free,’ 6 then his master is to bring him before the judges.* 21:6 Or before God And he shall take him to the door or doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he shall serve his master for life.
 
7 And if a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as the menservants do. 8 If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who had designated her for himself,† 21:8 Or so that he does not designate her for himself he must allow her to be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, since he has broken faith with her. 9 And if he chooses her for his son, he must deal with her as with a daughter. 10 If he takes another wife, he must not reduce the food, clothing, or marital rights of his first wife. 11 If, however, he does not provide her with these three things, she is free to go without monetary payment.
Personal Injury Laws
 
12 Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death. 13 If, however, he did not lie in wait, but God allowed it to happen, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.
 
14 But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death.
 
15 Whoever strikes his father or mother must surely be put to death.
 
16 Whoever kidnaps another man must be put to death, whether he sells him or the man is found in his possession.
 
17 Anyone who curses ‡ 21:17 Or dishonors or reviles his father or mother must surely be put to death.§ 21:17 Cited in Matthew 15:4 and Mark 7:10
 
18 If men are quarreling and one strikes the other with a stone or a fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed, 19 then the one who struck him shall go unpunished, as long as the other can get up and walk around outside with his staff. Nevertheless, he must compensate the man for his lost work and see that he is completely healed.
 
20 If a man strikes his manservant or maidservant with a rod, and the servant dies by his hand, he shall surely be punished. 21 However, if the servant gets up after a day or two, the owner shall not be punished, since the servant is his property.
 
22 If men who are fighting strike a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely,* 21:22 Or she has a miscarriage but there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband demands and as the court allows. 23 But if a serious injury results, then you must require a life for a life— 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth,† 21:24 Cited in Matthew 5:38 hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, and stripe for stripe.
 
26 If a man strikes and blinds the eye of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the eye. 27 And if he knocks out the tooth of his manservant or maidservant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.
 
28 If an ox ‡ 21:28 Or a bull; also in verses 29–36 gores a man or woman to death, the ox must surely be stoned, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the ox shall not be held responsible.
 
29 But if the ox has a habit of goring, and its owner has been warned yet does not restrain it, and it kills a man or woman, then the ox must be stoned and its owner must also be put to death. 30 If payment is demanded of him instead, he may redeem his life by paying the full amount demanded of him.
 
31 If the ox gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him according to the same rule.
 
32 If the ox gores a manservant or maidservant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver § 21:32 30 shekels is approximately 12 ounces or 342 grams of silver. to the master of that servant, and the ox must be stoned.
 
33 If a man opens or digs a pit and fails to cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his.
 
35 If a man’s ox injures his neighbor’s ox and it dies, they must sell the live one and divide the proceeds; they also must divide the dead animal. 36 But if it was known that the ox had a habit of goring, yet its owner failed to restrain it, he shall pay full compensation, ox for ox, and the dead animal will be his.

*21:6 21:6 Or before God

†21:8 21:8 Or so that he does not designate her for himself

‡21:17 21:17 Or dishonors or reviles

§21:17 21:17 Cited in Matthew 15:4 and Mark 7:10

*21:22 21:22 Or she has a miscarriage

†21:24 21:24 Cited in Matthew 5:38

‡21:28 21:28 Or a bull; also in verses 29–36

§21:32 21:32 30 shekels is approximately 12 ounces or 342 grams of silver.

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