Exodus 21:29

29 "But suppose the bull has had the habit of attacking people. And suppose the owner has been warned but has not kept it fenced in. Then if it kills a man or woman, you must kill it with stones. The owner must also be put to death.

Exodus 21:29 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 21:29

But if the ox were wont to push with his horns in time past,
&c.] Or "from or before yesterday, to the third" ^F13 that is, three days before, and had made three pushes, as Jarchi explains it:

and it hath been testified to his owner;
by sufficient witnesses, who saw him push at people for three days past: the Targum of Jonathan is,

``and it hath been testified to the face of his owner three days.''

Concerning this testimony Maimonides ^F14 thus writes,

``this is a testification, all that testify of it three days; but if he pushes, or bites, or kicks, or strikes even an hundred times on one day, this is no testification (not a sufficient one): three companies of witnesses testify of it in one day, lo, this is a doubt, whether it is a (proper) testimony or not; there is no testification but before the owner, and before the sanhedrim:''

and he hath not kept him in;
in some enclosed place, house or field, not frequented by people, and where there was no danger of doing any hurt, if this care was not taken, after a proper testimony had been given of his vicious disposition. By the Roman laws ^F15 oxen that pushed with their horns were to have hay bound about them, that those that met them might beware of them; hence that of Horace ^F16: but that he hath killed a man or a woman; by pushing and goring them with his horns, or any other way, as biting or kicking:

the ox shall be stoned;
as is provided for the preceding law:

and his owner shall be put to death;
since he was accessory to the death of the person killed, not keeping in his beast, when he had sufficient notice of his vicious temper: the Targum of Jonathan, and so other Jewish writers, interpret this of death sent upon him from heaven, or death by the immediate hand of God, as sudden death, or death by some disease inflicted, or before a man is fifty years of age; but there is no doubt to be made but this intends death by the civil magistrate, according to the original law, ( Genesis 9:6 ) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

F13 (Mvlv lmtm) "ab heri et nudiustertius", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Piscator, Drusius.
F14 Hilchot Niske Mammon, c. 6. sect. 1, 2.
F15 Plutarch. in Crasso.
F16 "Foenum habet in cornu, longe fuge". Horat. Sermon. l. 1. Satyr. 4.

Exodus 21:29 In-Context

27 "Suppose he knocks out the tooth of a male or female servant. Then he must let the servant go free to pay for the tooth.

28 "Suppose a bull kills a man or woman with its horns. Then you must kill the bull by throwing stones at it. Its meat must not be eaten. The owner of the bull will not be held accountable.

29 "But suppose the bull has had the habit of attacking people. And suppose the owner has been warned but has not kept it fenced in. Then if it kills a man or woman, you must kill it with stones. The owner must also be put to death.

30 "But suppose payment is required of him instead. Then he can save his life by paying what is required.

31 "The same law applies if the bull wounds a son or daughter with its horns.