Exodus 21:32

32 If the ox gore a bondman or a handmaid, he shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

Exodus 21:32 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 21:32

If the ox shall push a manservant, or a maidservant
Which the Targum of Jonathan and Jarchi interpret of a Canaanitish servant, man or maid; but no doubt the same provision was made for an Hebrew servant, man or maid, as for a Gentile one:

he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver;
that is, the owner of the ox shall pay so much to the masters of the servants for the loss they have sustained by his ox goring them; and Maimonides F18 observes, that

``the ransom of servants, whether great or small, whether male or female, is fixed in the law, thirty shekels of good silver, whether the servant is worth a hundred pounds, or whether he is worth but a penny.''

This was the price our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was sold at, (See Gill on Matthew 26:15).


FOOTNOTES:

F18 Hilchot Niske Maimon, c. 11. sect. 1.

Exodus 21:32 In-Context

30 If there be imposed on him a satisfaction, then he shall give the ransom of his life, according to what is imposed on him.
31 Whether it gore a son or gore a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done to him.
32 If the ox gore a bondman or a handmaid, he shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
33 -- And if a man open a pit, or if a man dig a pit, and do not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall into it,
34 the owner of the pit shall make it good, shall give money to the owner of them; and the dead [ox] shall be his.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.