Animal Control Laws
November 18, 2019
Commentary
In this passage we continue with regulations that dealt with civil violations due to neglect:
Woman with child injured (vv. 22-23). If a pregnant woman delivered her a child prematurely because of injury the guilty party was to pay compensation which was to be determined by the woman’s husband and the court.Physical loss by injury (vv. 24-25) – Punishment was to be a similar loss to the offender.Permanent maiming of a slave (vv. 26-27) – The master must let the slave go free.Injuries inflicted by animals (vv. 28-36) – Personal injury caused by an animal was chargeable to its owner. However, if the animal had killed repeatedly both the animal and its owner was to be put to death. Injury to other animals resulted in fining the offending animals owner or in his replacing the injured or dead animal.Some find a biblical argument against abortion in (vv 22-25). However this seems to be in the context of a fight between two men and the woman is an innocent bystander, so its relevance for abortion is questionable. The remaining law in this section (vv. 26-36) concerns personal injury to a servant. Then we move from injuries inflicted between human beings to injuries involving animals.
Application
I may not allow bees to build a nest in my attic but it is very easy to let the things of this world to creep into my life and the quickest way is to let wrong thoughts build a nest in my mind. The best way to keep this from happening is to keep my mind saturated with the Word of God.
Exodus 21:22– 36 (NET)
22 “If men fight and hit a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no serious injury, the one who hit her will surely be punished in accordance with what the woman’s husband demands of him, and he will pay what the court decides. 23 But if there is serious injury, then you will give a life for a life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
26 “If a man strikes the eye of his male servant or his female servant so that he destroys it, he will let the servant go free as compensation for the eye. 27 If he knocks out the tooth of his male servant or his female servant, he will let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.
28 “If an ox gores a man or a woman so that either dies, then the ox must surely be stoned and its flesh must not be eaten, but the owner of the ox will be acquitted. 29 But if the ox had the habit of goring, and its owner was warned but he did not take the necessary precautions, and then it killed a man or a woman, the ox must be stoned and the man must be put to death. 30 If a ransom is set for him, then he must pay the redemption for his life according to whatever amount was set for him. 31 If the ox gores a son or a daughter, the owner will be dealt with according to this rule. 32 If the ox gores a male servant or a female servant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver, and the ox must be stoned.
33 “If a man opens a pit or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit must repay the loss. He must give money to its owner, and the dead animal will become his. 35 If the ox of one man injures the ox of his neighbor so that it dies, then they will sell the live ox and divide its proceeds, and they will also divide the dead ox. 36 Or if it is known that the ox had the habit of goring, and its owner did not take the necessary precautions, he must surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal will become his.
Illustration: Bees in The Atic
We often fail to consider the gradual, cumulative effect of sin in our lives. In Saint Louis in 1984, an unemployed cleaning woman noticed a few bees buzzing around the attic of her home. Since there were only a few, she made no effort to deal with them. Over the summer the bees continued to fly in and out the attic vent while the woman remained unconcerned, unaware of the growing city of bees. The whole attic became a hive, and the ceiling of the second-floor bedroom finally caved in under the weight of hundreds of pounds of honey and thousands of angry bees. While the woman escaped serious injury, she was unable to repair the damage of her accumulated neglect. (Source Unknown).