Exodus · chapter 21 of 40
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Exodus 21 opens the civil laws God gives Israel after the Ten Commandments. It regulates the release of Hebrew servants in the seventh year, the penalties for murder and assault, and liability for the damage an ox can cause. Its underlying principle is proportionate justice that protects life and the weakest members of society.
After the people heard the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20), they now receive the rules for living out that covenant in daily life. Exodus 21 begins the Book of the Covenant, which runs through chapter 23. For readers today, these ancient laws show that God wanted a society where human life and the dignity of the vulnerable carried real weight.
The chapter opens with the rules for a Hebrew servant: he serves six years and goes free in the seventh without paying anything. If he came in single, he leaves single; if he came in married, his wife leaves with him. If the servant declares that he loves his master and does not want to go, his ear is pierced at the doorpost and he stays for life. The chapter also covers a daughter sold as a servant, who may not be treated as an ordinary slave and keeps her rights to food, clothing and marital relations.
A series of cases about violence follows. Whoever strikes another with intent to kill must die, while one who kills without intending it may flee to a place God will appoint. Striking or cursing a father or mother and kidnapping a person are also capital offenses. If two men fight and one is hurt but does not die, the aggressor must compensate for lost time and pay for healing. A master who beats a servant to death is punished, and one who damages a servant's eye or tooth must set him free.
The text then takes up the case of a pregnant woman injured in a fight, and the principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, which limits revenge to an equivalent penalty. It ends with the law of the goring ox: an animal that kills a person must be put to death, and if its owner knew it was dangerous and failed to keep it in, he answers with his own life or with a ransom. Rules are added for an uncovered pit and for an ox that kills another ox.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
A Hebrew servant works six years and in the seventh goes free without paying. The law puts a limit on servitude and reminds Israel of its own release from Egypt; no one was to remain a servant forever against his will.
Whoever strikes another and causes his death must die. Human life is so valuable that homicide demands a response of justice, and the verses that follow distinguish between deliberate crime and accidental death.
When serious harm is done, the penalty must match the injury: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Its purpose was to curb excessive revenge and keep punishment proportionate, not to let each person take justice into his own hands.
An ox that kills a person is stoned and its meat is not eaten, but the owner goes free if he was not at fault. Even an animal answers for a human life, and the owner's responsibility depends on what he knew beforehand.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Six years; in the seventh he goes out free without paying anything. — Exodus 21:2
Answer: His master pierced his ear with an awl at the door, and he served him for life. — Exodus 21:5-6
Answer: He was to be put to death, though one who killed without intending it could flee to a place God would appoint. — Exodus 21:12-13
Answer: He went free as compensation for the injury. — Exodus 21:26-27
Answer: That the penalty be equivalent: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. — Exodus 21:23-25
Answer: When he knew the ox was in the habit of goring, had been warned, did not keep it in, and it killed a person. — Exodus 21:29
These laws belong to another time and another society, and they are not applied literally today. Still, they teach principles that remain valid: human life is sacred, power over others has limits, justice must be proportionate, and a person answers for harm he could have prevented. In a small group you can ask what responsibilities we carry toward those who depend on us at work, in the family or in the church.
Jesus took up the eye for an eye in the Sermon on the Mount to call his disciples not to repay evil with evil. The law limited revenge; Christ invites us to go further and answer with mercy. Read Exodus 21 with that perspective: as a step by God toward a better justice, not as permission to get even.
Exodus 21 shows that the covenant at Sinai reaches into the concrete cases of daily life, with a justice that protects life and restrains abuse. Chapter 22 continues the Book of the Covenant and deals with property, loans and the care of the most vulnerable.
It is a rule of proportion: the punishment was not to exceed the harm done. In context it guided judges and prevented excessive revenge. Jesus cited it in Matthew 5 to teach his disciples not to respond with personal vengeance.
The text regulates a practice that already existed in the ancient world and limits it: release in the seventh year, the rights of the female servant and punishment for a master who injures his servant. It is not praise for servitude. Kidnapping to sell a person is punished by death, and the memory of Egypt reminds Israel that God frees the oppressed.
It was a public act, at the door or doorpost, showing that the servant freely chose to stay with his master out of love for him and for his family. The choice had to be voluntary and clearly on record.