Read Exodus 21:12-13 at Bible Gateway.
Hebrew paragraph division
Exo 21:12-13 {s} Murder defined
He that strikes a man, so that he dies, shall surely be put to death. And if a man lies not in wait, but God causes him to come into his hand; then I will appoint you a place where he may flee. {s} Exo 21:12-13
Exo 21:12-13 chiastic structure
Each side of the structure defines actions that result in the death of another, but the judgment for each action differs. On the front side of the structure, the judgment is death; on the back side of the structure, the judgment is flight to (we presume) a city of refuge (Num 35).
The central axis explains the difference between the two: “And if a man lies not in wait;” implying that in the case of the action on the front side, the action which deserves the judgment of death, the man lay in wait for his neighbor to strike him. Also implied in the case of the action on the back side, the action which deserves sparing the life of the one who caused the death, the man did not lie in wait for his neighbor, but the action was accidental or a result of the heat of the moment.
So the central axis introduces the concept of premeditation, which is still used today in all our murder trials. If a man makes plans to kill another, that is premeditation, and the man who does so is a murderer. He has broken the commandment, Do not murder. The penalty for murder, biblically speaking and justly speaking, is death.
But if a death occurs that was not planned, that is not murder, that is manslaughter. The Torah makes a distinction between murder and manslaughter. The just judgment for manslaughter is not death, it is clemency.
We can see that Moses is not introducing new commandments above and beyond the Ten Commandments that were introduced in chapter 20. He is defining terms and explaining the meaning of the Ten Commandments previously introduced.
Leave a Reply