Exodus 21:34

21:22-36 The cases here mentioned give rules of justice then, and still in use, for deciding similar matters. We are taught by these laws, that we must be very careful to do no wrong, either directly or indirectly. If we have done wrong, we must be very willing to make it good, and be desirous that nobody may lose by us.

The owner of the pit shall make it good,.... Repair the loss of the ox or ass: and give the money unto the owner of them: the price of them, what they are worth: the Targum of Jonathan is,"the owner of the pit shall pay the silver, he shall return to its owner the price of the ox or ass:" and the dead beast shall be his; either the owner of the pit; who pays the full value for the ox or ass killed, which seems but reasonable; or"the injured person as Jarchi, for he says, they reckon or estimate the carcass, and he takes it for the price;''that is, for part of the price it is valued at.

34 . Having paid the value of the dead animal to the owner, he is naturally at liberty to keep the carcase himself. The carcase would be of value for its hide: but though ‘that which died of itself’ was forbidden later as food ( Deuteronomy 14:21 ; cf. Leviticus 17:15 f. P), this may not have been the case at the time when the present code of laws was drawn up. money ] i.e. to the value of the beast; its money (= the price of it, v. 35: כספו for כסף ) would be clearer, and should perhaps be restored.

Passing from life to property, in connection with the foregoing, the life of the animal, the most important possession of the Israelites, is first of all secured against destruction through carelessness. If any one opened or dug a pit or cistern, and did not close it up again, and another man's ox or ass (mentioned, for the sake of example, as the most important animals among the live stock of the Israelites) fell in and was killed, the owner of the pit was to pay its full value, and the dead animal to belong to him. If an ox that was not known to be vicious gored another man's ox to death, the vicious animal was to be sold, and its money (what it fetched) to be divided; the dead animal was also to be divided, so that both parties bore an equal amount of damage. If, on the other hand, the ox had been known to be vicious before, and had not been kept in, carefully secured, by its possessor, he was to compensate the owner of the one that had been killed with the full value of an ox, but to receive the dead one instead.

[Bible] 21:32. If he assault a bondman or bondwoman, he shall give thirty sicles of silver to their master, and the ox shall be stoned. 21:33. If a man open a pit, and dig one, and cover it not, and an ox or an ass fall into it, 21:34. The owner of the pit shall pay the price of the beasts: and that which is dead shall be his own. 21:35. If one man's ox gore another man's ox, and he die: they shall sell the live ox, and shall divide the price, and the carcass of that which died they shall part between them: 21:36. But if he knew that his ox was wont to push yesterday, and the day before, and his master did not keep him in; he shall pay ox for ox, and shall take the whole carcass. Exodus Chapter 22 The punishment of theft, and other trespasses. The law of lending without usury, of taking pledges of reverences to superiors, and of paying tithes. 22:1. If any man steal an ox or a sheep, and kill or sell it: he shall restore five oxen for one ox, and four sheep for one sheep. 22:2. If a thief be found breaking open a house or undermining it, and be wounded so as to die: he that slew him shall not be guilty of blood. 22:3. But if he did this when the sun is risen, he hath committed murder, and he shall die. If he have not wherewith to make restitution for the theft, he shall be sold. 22:4. If that which he stole be found with him, alive, either ox, or ass, or sheep: he shall restore double. 22:5. If any man hurt a field or a vineyard, and put in his beast to feed upon that which is other men's: he shall restore the best of whatsoever he hath in his own field, or in his vineyard, according to the estimation of the damage. 22:6. If a fire breaking out light upon thorns, and catch stacks of corn, or corn standing in the fields, he that kindled the fire shall make good the loss. 22:7. If a man deliver money, or any vessel unto his friend to keep, and they be stolen away from him that received them: if the thief be found, he shall restore double:

[Reformed Biblical] lest the foregoing sense should be restrained to their parents, whose lives were more precious, and therefore their loss greater. Exodus 21:32 ## The half the freeman ’ s price . See Poole on " Mat_26:5 " . Exodus 21:33 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 was not culpable. Exodus 21:34 ## 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. Exodus 21:35 ## 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 cattl e, and the circumstances of the action. Exodus 21:36 ## Ox for ox; an ox of equal value with that slain ox, or the price and worth of it. ## Exodus 22:1 EXODUS CHAPTER 22 Of theft, Exo_22:1-4. Of eating another ma