Exodus 21:15 NIV

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Exodus 21:15-16

The following offences were to be punished with death:Striking a parent, compare Deuteronomy 27:16.Cursing a parent, compare the marginal references.Kidnapping, whether with a view to retain the person stolen, or to sell him, compare the marginal references. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Exodus 21:15

Exodus 21:15. He that smiteth his father, &c. So sacred and inviolable is that reverence which children owe to their parents, that, by the law of God, it was death not only to strike them, but even to curse or outrageously revile them, Exodus 21:17, and Matthew 15:4. The reason of this law is, that such crimes are a sign of most audacious wickedness. It appears, however, from Deuteronomy 21:18, that children were not to be put to death for the first offence of this kind, but if, after... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Exodus 21:12-27

Concerning violence and injury (21:12-27)Death was the penalty for wilful murder, violence to parents and kidnapping for slavery. Israelite law did not allow the widespread ancient practice of a murderer trying to escape punishment by clinging to the horns of the altar and pleading for mercy. But cases of manslaughter were different. When the Israelites settled in their new homeland, they were to appoint certain places as cities of refuge, where a person guilty of manslaughter could find safety... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Exodus 21:15

smiteth . Here and elsewhere in this chapter (except Exodus 21:26 ), to smite to death, or seriously. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Exodus 21:15-17

"And he that smiteth his father, or his mother shall surely be put to death. And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. And he that curseth his father or his mother, shall surely be put to death."These three verses are apparently a parenthesis in the protective rights provided to inadvertent manslayers, their apparent purpose being that of assurance that all persons who committed any of the crimes mentioned here were to be denied... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Exodus 21:15

Exodus 21:15. And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, &c.— Of so great importance is obedience to parents, that God was pleased not only to enjoin it by a positive law, but even to adjudge those to death who were notoriously defective in it. The reason of which severity seems to be this; that those must be extremely hardened in guilt, and of a most perverse disposition, who could not only disobey, but even strike, abuse, and revile their parents. Exodus 21:17. Matthew 15:4.Mark 7:10;... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Exodus 21:12-17

Homicide 21:12-17 read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Exodus 21:15-17

The Code of Hammurabi specified that the person who struck his father should have his hands cut off. [Note: Ibid., section 195.] The Torah took a stronger position requiring the death of the person who struck either parent. The reason seems to be that by doing so the striker did not honor his parents but revolted against God’s ordained authority over him or her (Exodus 21:15; cf. Exodus 20:12)."In the first place age is not a factor in the determining of a delinquent in the ancient Near East:... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 21:1-36

The Book of the Covenant (continued)I-ii. Regulations regarding the Treatment of Hebrew Slaves.Slavery was universal in ancient times, and the Mosaic Law does not abolish it. Among the Hebrews, however, slavery was by no means the degrading and oppressive thing that it was among other nations. Manstealing, upon which modern systems of slavery are based, was a crime punishable by death (see Exodus 21:16), and the Law of Moses recognises the right of a slave to just and honourable treatment. A... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Exodus 21:15-17

(15-17) And he that smiteth his father . . .-With homicide are conjoined some other offences, regarded as of a heinous character, and made punishable by death: viz. (1), striking a parent; (2) kidnapping; and (3) cursing a parent. The immediate sequence of these crimes upon murder, and their punishment by the same penalty, marks strongly God’s abhorrence of them. The parent is viewed as God’s representative, and to smite him is to offer God an insult in his person. To curse him implies, if... read more