What is a Hebrew servant in this passage?

A Hebrew servant here is an Israelite who became a servant to pay off debt or survive poverty, not someone kidnapped or sold by force. He served six years, then had to be set free in the seventh year without paying anything. If he came into service already married, his wife left with him. If his master gave him a wife during his service, the wife and children stayed with the master until their own time of service ended. This system limited how long a fellow Israelite could be kept in bondage.

Why would a servant choose to stay with his master forever?

The law allows a servant to choose to stay if he openly says he loves his master, his wife, and his children and does not want to go free. Then he is brought before the judges, and his ear is pierced at a door or doorpost as a sign of lifelong service. This shows service is not meant to be only about force and duty. In the best case, it could grow into a relationship of love and trust where the servant freely chooses to remain, even though freedom is offered.

What does eye for eye, tooth for tooth mean here?

In this passage, “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” is not giving people a right to take private revenge. It is a rule for judges so that the punishment fits the harm done. If lasting injury came from a fight, the one who caused it could not be punished more harshly than the damage he caused, but also could not escape all blame. It set a limit so people did not answer a small hurt with a greater one, keeping justice measured and stopping feuds from growing.

Why are striking or cursing parents punished so strongly?

Striking a father or mother, or cursing them, is treated very seriously in this passage, even with the death penalty. Parents were the first human authority God gave, so open violence or hateful speech against them was seen as rebellion not only against the family but against God’s order. These laws protected the honor and safety of parents and warned children that contempt and violence toward them are not small matters. They show how weighty family respect was in Israel’s life.

What does this passage say about kidnapping and slavery?

The passage clearly says that anyone who steals a person, sells that person, or is caught with the kidnapped person must be put to death. This rules out seizing people and trading them like goods. While there were Hebrew servants who entered service because of debt or poverty and had set limits on their time, stealing a person for sale is treated as a terrible crime. It shows that God honours each person’s life and freedom and does not allow human trafficking among his people.

How were injuries and damages handled according to these laws?

The laws give many examples. If men fought and one was hurt but later recovered, the attacker had to pay for lost time and medical care. If someone’s ox killed a person, the ox was killed and not eaten. If the owner already knew the ox was dangerous and did nothing, he could even face death, or a payment for his life if that was allowed. If an animal fell into an open pit someone left uncovered, the one who opened it had to repay the loss. The point is carefulness and fair repayment.

Why are there special rules about hurting a pregnant woman?

If men were fighting and a pregnant woman was hurt so that she gave birth early, there had to be a fine set by the husband and judges if there was no further harm. But if serious harm followed, the law called for life for life and other matching penalties. This shows that both the woman and the child she carried were to be protected. Even when the injury was not on purpose, people were still held responsible for the risk and loss they caused to a vulnerable person.

What does this passage teach about God’s character?

These laws show that God cares about justice in everyday details, not just in worship times. He limits the power of masters, protects daughters sold as maidservants, punishes murder and kidnapping, and requires payment when people or animals are harmed. He makes a clear difference between accidents and planned evil, yet even accidents still call for responsibility. All this paints a picture of a God who values life, guards the weak, and wants wrongs to be made right in measured ways.

Why does this passage talk about daughters sold as maidservants?

In a poor society, some fathers might sell a daughter as a maidservant, often with the hope she would become a wife in that household. The laws protect her from being treated like a piece of property. If the master does not want to marry her after all, she must be allowed to be redeemed, and she cannot be sold to a foreign people. If she is given to the master’s son, she must be treated like a daughter. If her rights to food, clothing, and marital care are denied, she is to go free without payment.

How can these laws about servants and injury matter for us today?

We do not live under these civil laws now, but they still show what God cares about. They remind us that power over others must be limited, that workers and those under authority deserve protection, and that hurting people and then shrugging it off is wrong. They also show that punishment and payment should be fair and not driven by rage. When we deal with employees, family, neighbours, or even our animals and property, these principles call us to act with care, honesty, and respect for life.

Exod.21.1

Exodus 21:1

KJV GOD

Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

Hebrew Servants

1 Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.

2 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.

4 If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.

5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:

6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.

7 ¶ And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.

8 If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.

9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.

10 If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.

11 And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.

Personal Injury Laws

12 ¶ He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.

13 And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee.

14 But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.

15 ¶ And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.

16 ¶ And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

17 ¶ And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.

18 ¶ And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed:

19 If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.

20 ¶ And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.

21 Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.

22 ¶ If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.

23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,

24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

26 ¶ And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.

27 And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.

28 ¶ If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit.

29 But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.

30 If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.

31 Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.

32 If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

33 ¶ And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein;

34 The owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his.

35 ¶ And if one man’s ox hurt another’s, that he die; then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it; and the dead ox also they shall divide.

36 Or if it be known that the ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his own.

Cross References

No cross references available for this verse.