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The laws recorded in this chapter relate to the fifth and sixth commandments; and though they are not accommodated to our constitution, especially in point of servitude, nor are the penalties annexed binding on us, yet they are of great use for the explanation of the moral law, and the rules of natural justice. Here are several enlargements, I. Upon the fifth commandment, which concerns particular relations. 1. The duty of masters towards their servants, their men-servants (Exo 21:2-6), and the maidservants (Exo 21:7-11). 2. The punishment of disobedient children that strike their parents (Exo 21:15), or curse them (Exo 21:17). II. Upon the sixth commandment, which forbids all violence offered to the person of a man. Here is, 1. Concerning murder (Exo 21:12-14). 2. Man-stealing (Exo 21:16). 3. Assault and battery (Exo 21:18, Exo 21:19). 4. Correcting a servant (Exo 21:20, Exo 21:21). 5. Hurting a woman with child (Exo 21:22, Exo 21:23). 6. The law of retaliation (Exo 21:24, Exo 21:25). 7. Maiming a servant (Exo 21:26, Exo 21:27). 8. An ox goring (Exo 21:28-32). 9. Damage by opening a pit (Exo 21:33, Exo 21:34). 10. Cattle fighting (Exo 21:35, Exo 21:36).

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 21 In this, and the two following chapters, are delivered various laws and precepts, partly of a moral, and partly of a religious, but chiefly of a civil nature, respecting the commonwealth of Israel, and its political good. This chapter treats of servants, and laws relating to them; to menservants, how long they shall serve, and what is to be done to those who are desirous of staying with their masters after their time is up, Exo 21:1, to maidservants, and especially betrothed ones, either to a father or a son, Exo 21:7, likewise it contains laws concerning the slaughter of men, whether with design or unawares, Exo 21:12, and concerning the ill usage of parents, Exo 21:15, and man stealing, Exo 21:16 and of mischief that comes by men's quarrelling and fighting, Exo 21:18 and by smiting a man or maidservant, Exo 21:20, to a woman with child, that is, by means of men's striving and contending with each other, Exo 21:22 and of damages that come by oxen, or to them, Exo 21:28.

Laws concerning servants. They shall serve for only seven years, Exo 21:1, Exo 21:2. If a servant brought a wife to servitude with him, both should go out free on the seventh year, Exo 21:3. If his master had given him a wife, and she bore him children, he might go out free an the seventh year, but his wife and children must remain, as the property of the master, Exo 21:4. If, through love to his master, wife, and children, he did not choose to avail himself of the privilege granted by the law, of going out free on the seventh year, his ear was to be bored to the door post with an awl, as an emblem of his being attached to the family for ever, Exo 21:5, Exo 21:6. Laws concerning maid-servants, betrothed to their masters or to the sons of their masters, Exo 21:7-11. Laws concerning battery and murder, Exo 21:12-15. Concerning men-stealing, Exo 21:16. Concerning him that curses his parents, Exo 21:17. Of strife between man and man, Exo 21:18, Exo 21:19; between a master and his servants, Exo 21:20, Exo 21:21. Of injuries done to women in pregnancy, Exo 21:22. The Lex Talionis, or law of like, Exo 21:23-25. Of injuries done to servants, by which they gain the right of freedom, Exo 21:26, Exo 21:27. Laws concerning the ox which has gored men, Exo 21:28-32. Of the pit left uncovered, into which a man or a beast has fallen, Exo 21:33, Exo 21:34. Laws concerning the ox that kills another, Exo 21:35, Exo 21:36.

LAWS FOR MENSERVANTS. (Exo 21:1-6) judgments--rules for regulating the procedure of judges and magistrates in the decision of cases and the trial of criminals. The government of the Israelites being a theocracy, those public authorities were the servants of the Divine Sovereign, and subject to His direction. Most of these laws here noticed were primitive usages, founded on principles of natural equity, and incorporated, with modifications and improvements, in the Mosaic code.

The mishpatim (Exo 21:1) are not the "laws, which were to be in force and serve as rules of action," as Knobel affirms, but the rights, by which the national life was formed into a civil commonwealth and the political order secured. These rights had reference first of all to the relation in which the individuals stood one towards another. The personal rights of dependants are placed at the head (Exo 21:2-11); and first those of slaves (Exo 21:2-6), which are still more minutely explained in Deu 15:12-18, where the observance of them is urged upon the hearts of the people on subjective grounds.