Exodus 21:32

32 If the ox gores a male or female slave, he must give 30 shekels of silver^[a] to the slave's master, 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 instead a ransom is demanded of him, he can pay a redemption price for his life in the full amount demanded from him.

31 If it gores a son or a daughter, he is to be dealt with according to this same law.

32 If the ox gores a male or female slave, he must give 30 shekels of silver to the slave's master, and the ox must be stoned.

33 "When a man uncovers a pit or digs a pit, and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

34 the owner of the pit must give compensation; he must pay money to its owner, but the dead animal will become his.

Footnotes

• [a] About 1 pound of silver