Read Exodus 21:18-25 at Bible Gateway.
Hebrew paragraph divisions
Exo 21:18-19 {s} Assault of a neighbor when he does not die
Exo 21:20-21 {s} Assault of a male or female slave when he does or does not die
Exo 21: 22-25 {s} Assault of a woman with child when the child does or does not die
Exo 21:18-25 chiastic structure
I think we are still in the same explanation of Do not murder that we studied last week, for there has not yet been a strong paragraph marker indicating that the Torah has left the topic it was previously on.
As to how this section continues that topic: We learned that the death penalty, when someone has assaulted his neighbor with premeditation so that he dies, is not murder. Now we are looking at the case of someone assaulting his neighbor so that he does not die – he does not receive the death penalty. But if the assault results in the death of an innocent bystander – the woman with child – then the death penalty is imposed (Exo 21:23b), which is not murder.
The teaching of Yeshua, the Living Torah, on assault:
You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. Mat 5: 38-39
It is just to take someone who has assaulted you to the judges to receive damages owed. Turning the other cheek transcends justice.
Hebrew roots
Money is Strong’s H3701, keceph. a concrete noun meaning, “silver, money;” from Strong’s H3700 כסף kacaph, a primitive root meaning, “to become pale, to pine after.” The ancient pictographs are kaph + sin + pey.
kaph כ, ך = the open palm, thus bend, open, allow, tame
sin ס = the thorn, thus grab, hate, protect
pey פ, ף = the mouth, thus open, blow, scatter, edge
The story being told is of the hand held out (kaph) to receive that which has grabbed (sin) ahold so that the desire for it is like the hunger of an open mouth (pey). Thus the verb means, “to desire,” while the concrete object is “silver.”
The Torah teaches us that persons are not property (Deu 23:15-16. Do not return the fugitive slave, is in the section explaining Do not steal. It is not stealing if you do not return the fugitive, because persons are not property).
Is the Torah being contradictory? We know that the truth does not contradict, so if there is a seeming contradiction, it is our understanding that is faulty, not the truth of the Word of God. In the next paragraph I am studying tomorrow, YHVH returns to the matter of assaults upon hondmen or women, and I think that when we look at it tomorrow we will find the elegant answer.
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