Éxodo 21:28

28 Si un buey acorneare hombre o mujer, y a causa de ello muriere, el buey será apedreado, y no se comerá su carne; mas el dueño del buey será absuelto.

Éxodo 21:28 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 21:28

If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die
That are Israelites, of whom only Aben Ezra interprets it; but though they may be principally designed, yet not solely; for no doubt if one of another nation was gored to death by the ox of an Israelite, the same penalty would be inflicted, as follows:

then the ox shall be surely stoned;
which is but an exemplification of the original law given to Noah and his sons, ( Genesis 9:5 ) : "at the hand of every beast will I require it"; i.e. the blood of the lives of men; which shows the care God takes of them, that even a beast must die that is the means of shedding man's blood:

and his flesh shall not be eaten;
it being as an impure beast according to this sentence, as Maimonides ^F12 observes; and even though it might have been killed in a regular manner before it was stoned, it was not to be eaten; no, not even by Heathens, nor by dogs might it be eaten, as a dead carcass might by a proselyte of the gate, or a stranger; this might not be given nor sold to him; for, as Aben Ezra observes, all profit of them is here forbidden:

but the owner of the ox [shall be] quit;
from punishment, as the last mentioned writer observes, from suffering death; he shall only suffer the loss of his ox: the Targum of Jonathan is,

``he shall be quit from the judgment of slaughter (or condemnation of murder), and also from the price of a servant or maid,''

which was thirty shekels, ( Exodus 21:32 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 Hilchot Maacolot Asurot, c. 4. sect. 22.

Éxodo 21:28 In-Context

26 Y cuando alguno hiriere el ojo de su siervo, o el ojo de su sierva, y lo dañare, le dará libertad por razón de su ojo.

27 Y si sacare el diente de su siervo, o el diente de su sierva, por su diente le dejará ir libre.

28 Si un buey acorneare hombre o mujer, y a causa de ello muriere, el buey será apedreado, y no se comerá su carne; mas el dueño del buey será absuelto.

29 Pero si el buey era acorneador desde ayer y antes de ayer, y a su dueño le fue hecho requerimiento, y no lo hubiere guardado, y matare hombre o mujer, el buey será apedreado, y también morirá su dueño.

30 Si le fuere impuesto rescate, entonces dará por el rescate de su persona cuanto le fuere impuesto.