Exodus 21:20

20. Smite his servant Many writers assume that foreign bondservants, not Hebrew servants, are intended here; but the law itself does not so discriminate . The reason given in the next verse, namely, that the servant is his property, evidently led to a distinction in the punishment of this kind of manslaughter . It was assumed that no man would wilfully destroy his own property by killing his slave . It was considered a master’s right to chastise his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and if death resulted from the excessive severity of the punishment it would be accidental rather than intentional . In case death resulted the man was to be surely punished, but the measure of the penalty is not prescribed; that was doubtless to be left to the magistrates to determine.