Exodus 21:32

32 "If the ox gores a male or female slave *, the owner shall give his or her master ¹thirty 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).

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Exodus 21:32 In-Context

30 "If a ransom is demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is demanded of him.

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

32 "If the ox gores a male or female slave , the owner shall give his or her master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

33 "If a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

34 the owner of the pit shall make restitution; he shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his.

Cross References

• 1. Zechariah 11:12; Matthew 26:15; Matthew 27:3, 9

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "he"