Exodus 21:29

29 That if the ox was an horn-putter from yesterday and the third day ago, and men warned his lord, (yet) neither the lord closed him, and he slayeth a man, or a woman, both the ox shall be thrown adown with stones, and they shall slay his lord; (But if the ox was a horn-putter from yesterday and the third day ago, and men had warned his lord, but his lord did not enclose him, and he killeth a man, or a woman, the ox shall be thrown down with stones, and they shall also kill his lord;)

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 Also if he smite out a tooth of his servant, or (of) [his] handmaid, in like manner he shall deliver them free (likewise he shall let them go out free).
28 If an ox smiteth with his horn either man, or woman, and they be dead, the ox shall be thrown down with stones, and his flesh shall not be eaten, and the lord of the ox shall be guiltless. (If an ox striketh with his horn a man, or a woman, unto the death, the ox shall be thrown down with stones, and his flesh shall not be eaten, but the lord of the ox shall be guiltless.)
29 That if the ox was an horn-putter from yesterday and the third day ago, and men warned his lord, (yet) neither the lord closed him, and he slayeth a man, or a woman, both the ox shall be thrown adown with stones, and they shall slay his lord; (But if the ox was a horn-putter from yesterday and the third day ago, and men had warned his lord, but his lord did not enclose him, and he killeth a man, or a woman, the ox shall be thrown down with stones, and they shall also kill his lord;)
30 that if the price be put to the lord, he shall give for his life whatever he is asked. (but if a fine be put on the ox's lord, he shall give whatever he is asked for, as the ransom for his life.)
31 And if he smiteth with (his) horn a man's son, and his daughter (And if the ox striketh with his horn a man's son, or his daughter), his lord shall be subject to the same sentence.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.