Exodus 21:20 - Exposition

If a man smite his servant, or his maid . "Maids" would commonly be chastised by their mistress, or by an upper servant acting under the mistress' s authority. " A man" here means "any one." With a rod. The rods wherewith Egyptian slaves were chastised appear upon the monuments. They were long canes, like those used by our schoolmasters. Under his hand. Criminals in the East are said often to die under the bastinado; and even in our own country there have been cases of soldiers dying under the lash. A special delicacy of the nervous system will make a punishment of the kind fatal to some, which would have been easily borne by others.