Exodus 21

This chapter with its legal provisions is clearly an elaboration and extension of the Decalogue, spoken upon the same occasion and by God Himself in the presence of the whole Hebrew nation. However, it is not merely a set of regulations, it is a spiritual Bill of Rights. Orlinsky in his notes on the New Translation of the Torah affirms that the Hebrew word lying at the head of his chapter, [~mishpatiym], does not convey the sense of "ordinances, judgments regulations, and the like."[1] "What is seen here is not the laws or rules of action, but the rights by which the national life was formed."[2] Thus, we have here, exactly after the manner of the Bill of Rights which promptly follows our own Constitution of the United States, a very important and significant Bill of Rights, protecting the rights of several classes in the newly-formed nation of Israel.

The critical bias and misunderstanding that would make these sundry provisions to be evidence of the status of Israel long afterward in the days of the monarchy, thus enabling men to postulate a late date, and deny the God-given authority of these protective injunctions and their Mosaic authorship, are unacceptable when the true meaning of the chapter is ascertained. The language of this chapter is impossible of having originated in the ninth century B.C., or later, because, as Noth pointed out: "Two technical terms appear (here), (including [~`Ibriy] and [~chapshiy]) which describe a legal and social status within the framework of ancient oriental community life in the second millennium B.C."[3] The language of this chapter then belongs to the times of Moses, not to the times of the Judges or the monarchy, the same being another proof, among many others we have cited as persuasive evidence of Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch.

The outline of the chapter, therefore, is as follows:

1. The rights of male slaves (Exodus 21:1-6).

2. The rights of female slaves (Exodus 21:7-11).

3. The rights of the accused (Exodus 21:12-20).

4. The rights of those suffering punishment (Exodus 21:21-25).

5. The rights of persons dismembered (Exodus 21:26-27).

6. The rights of persons wounded, or killed by animals (Exodus 21:28-32).

7. The rights of persons suffering from willful negligence on the part of others (Exodus 21:33-36).

The inherent protection certified to such minorities as women, slaves, and the accused, which was guaranteed by these Divine pronouncements must be hailed as the greatest Bill of Rights ever known upon earth at so early a period. As Davies said, "These case laws show affinity with Mesopotamian and Hittite laws ... of the Bronze Age."[4] This is a significant admission of the 15th century B.C. date of this chapter; but the "affinity" mentioned here is inapplicable, for, as we shall see, these laws of God are infinitely higher, more merciful, and superior in every way to anything even suggested in the ancient codes that antedate the Decalogue.

"These stipulations of Exodus 21:22-Exo. 23:19, have been so arranged by the Divine Spirit as to form groups of ten, after the manner of the Decalogue."[5] In our view this recurrence of the Divine Imprimatur should have been expected. There were Ten Generations in Egypt prior to the Exodus, Ten Plagues of Egypt, Ten Commandments, Ten Provisions in the Bill of Rights, Ten Toledoths in Genesis. This is an extensive subject in its own right, and we shall not further explore it here. See the remarkable writings of William Moller on this subject.[6] A full knowledge of this quality of the Divine Mind makes impossible the acceptance of critical postulations which profess to find several other "rival" lists of the Ten Commandments in Exodus.

One other word about the obvious antiquity of this chapter is in order:

"This entire narrative (going back to Exodus 20:24ff) has numerous marks of antiquity: the primitive altar, the abhorrence of a tool upon the stone, the simplicity of the sacrifices offered (there were only two mentioned), as well as the fact that the passage makes no reference to priests and addresses Israelites as ascending the altar."[7]