Exodus 21:32

32 If the ox gores a manservant or maidservant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver ^[a] to the master of that servant, and the ox must 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).

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Exodus 21:32 In-Context

30 If payment is demanded of him instead, he may redeem his life by paying the full amount demanded of him.

31 If the ox gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him according to the same rule.

32 If the ox gores a manservant or maidservant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of that servant, and the ox must be stoned.

33 If a man opens or digs a pit and fails to cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

34 the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he must pay its owner, and the dead animal will be his.

Footnotes

• [a] 30 shekels is approximately 12 ounces or 342 grams of silver.