How God Uses Ox Goring to Teach the Value of Every Life -- Even "Slaves"
Exploring What the Bible REALLY Says About Slavery
Next, we come to a passage animal aggression, even to the point of death. It deals not only with who is responsible, but in how much human life is valued:
“When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable. But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.
“If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him.
“If it gores a man’s son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule.
“If the ox gores an ebed, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.” (Exodus 21:28–32 ESV)
Everything makes sense — until we get to the last verse.
People assume that the ebed is gored to death, the same as the person in the first verse, but the penalty is lower.
People assume that the penalty is lower because the ebed’s life isn’t worth as much as a free person’s.
People assume that 30 shekels is a paltry amount, a piddling value to place on a person’s life.
But none of that is in the text. These are all things we assume — and assume wrongly.
The heart of this passage is simple: God values all human life highly. If human life is lost for any reason, including the neglect of an animal’s owner, those lives must be avenged.
Verses 28-29 make that clear:
When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable. But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death. (Exodus 21:28-29 ESV).
In the first case, the ox acts unexpectedly when it gores the victim. The ox is stoned to death, removing this threat from the community, so that no further human life is lost. Likewise, its flesh cannot be eaten, in part to esteem the life of the victim, and in part to protect the lives of those who would eat it. When an animal begins to act erratically, there’s always the chance it has contracted a disease that is causing it to act erratically. Preventing its flesh from being eaten prevents this disease from passing to anyone else.
In this case, the owner is not responsible, because the erratic action was unexpected. Nothing he could have done would have prevented it.
But in the second case, the owner knew the ox had a habit of goring people — either from a disease, or because it had an aggressive attitude that its owner did not curb. Either way, the owner did nothing to protect people from the danger, and is thus responsible for the danger he took no pains to remove from the community.
While this is straight-forward, there is one element to highlight: this passage emphasizes that the Law regards men and women equally:
“When an ox gores a man or a woman to death…” (Exodus 21:28 ESV).
This might seem obvious to us, but it continued God’s series of revolutions in matters of the law. God’s law doesn’t see women as second-class citizens. God’s law holds men and women equally — their lives (and loss of life) count the same.
Ransom: the key
Moving on, we come to verse 29, which frames everything that comes next:
“If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him” (Exodus 21:30 ESV).
The ox’s owner bears responsibility for his animal, given that he did nothing to stop its dangerous behavior. This bears the death penalty — a life for a life, as previous passages dictated.
But a life sentenced to death could be redeemed. In this case, the victim’s family could impose a redemption price which the condemned man could pay and spare his life. The penalty must be steep, such that it bears a weight too significant to ignore. An animal owner must feel the weight of the penalty, such that they take any pains necessary to prevent their animals from goring innocent people.
Verse 31 clarifies that this applies to children as well as adults:
“If it gores a man’s son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule” (Exodus 21:31 ESV).
Once again, God emphasizes that He esteems all life equally. Children aren’t lesser humans, or less valuable than adults. Their lives count the same as any adult’s, and are dealt with according to the same rule.
Then we come to the ebed verse:
“If the ox gores an ebed, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.” (Exodus 21:32 ESV)
It’s clear the law views this matter seriously. The owner is still penalized and the ox is still killed.
But why is there a distinction between this verse and the first one? Why does an ebed need to be singled out at all?
There are two main options.
The first is that the ebed doesn’t die. The ox gores the ebed, but not to death. This is possible, given that the verse says nothing about the death of the ebed, only that they were attacked.
The second option is that the ebed does die, and God writes this law to ensure that their death is properly avenged.
Let’s take these in order.
If the ebed doesn’t die
If this passage means the ebed is attacked, but doesn’t die, then the matter is fairly simple to grasp.
In this case, the Law esteems the ebed’s life, such that an attack on it merits a severe penalty. This hearkens back to verses 18-19, which requires a man who beats up another man to see to his health and financial compensation. In this case, the ox’s owner would count as the man responsible for the injury to another. He would therefore be required to compensate him, paying the 30 shekels of silver.
The Law stipulates the payment be made to the master, not the ebed directly. While this might sound odd to us, it reflects the contract the ebed was under. During the six years in which the ebed serves, the master is responsible for their provision, shelter, clothing, and any other need. Once the six-year term completes, the master loads the ebed down with as much wealth as they can carry, to equip them as they begin their next chapter (Exodus 21:1-2, Deuteronomy 12:12-15). The master would use the 30 shekels to provide for the ebed, for their recovery and continued provision, and contribute to the wealth the ebed receives upon completion of the contracted service.
But if this is the case, we must ask: why single out servants? Why not stipulate that anyone who is attacked, but not killed, receives compensation?
The answer is the previous verse. Verses 31-32 consider children and servants — both of whom are under the protection of someone else.
Children naturally exist under the protection of their parents until they’re old enough to look after themselves.
Ebed, likewise, are not looking after themselves. Many people signed up to become an ebed because they had fallen into poverty or other hard times, and could not take care of themselves. They needed someone else to provide shelter, clothing, food, and everything else, to help them get back on their feet.
Under this arrangement, the protection of the ebed is to be guaranteed by the master. In the same way, a modern-day person who signs up to be a soldier is entrusting their protection to the military. While the military might send them into dangerous situations, the soldier trusts that their commanding officers will take on the responsibility to train them, equip them, provide for them, and protect them, as far as they are able. An ebed carried a similar relationship with their master, trusting that their master will take on the responsibility to train them, equip them, provide for them, and protect them, as far as they are able.
If the ebed does die
Yet the possibility remains that the text means for us to understand that the ebed in verse 32 is gored to death.
In such a case, a reader could be inclined to think that the ebed’s life was not held to the same level as a free person’s. Instead of requiring the life of the ox’s owner, as in verses 28-29, verse 32 only requires a cash payment to the master, to compensate for the loss of their property.
But such a callous view ignores verse 30:
“If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him” (Exodus 21:30 ESV).
If a ransom is imposed on the owner of the ox, he must pay it in order to redeem his life. He is being sentenced to death, a life for a life, his life given to avenge the life of the victim. If a ransom is being imposed, it is to redeem his life from the death penalty.
And verse 32 imposes a ransom.
Verse 32 assumes the ox owner is guilty of a capital crime — the loss of life of the ebed. He must therefore pay the ransom the Law imposes on his to redeem his life.
Moreover, verse 32 stipulates a high ransom, 30 shekels of silver. In the book of Zechariah, 30 shekels is considered a “lordly” price:
Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter (Zechariah 11:12-13 ESV).
Yet again we must ask: why does the law need to single out an ebed? Why can’t it assume that people will treat an ebed like an other adult?
The answer is simple: Israel had just emerged from a lifetime of slavery in Egypt. Their lived experience taught them that a slave’s life (their own lives) counted less than the free and powerful Egyptians.
God must encode in His law that the death of an ebed requires the death penalty, in the same way that it does for any other person. The Law imposes a ransom, requiring the ox owner to pay to redeem his life, under the penalty of a life for a life.
Either way you read verse 32, the Law esteems the life of the ebed.
In God’s eye, every life matters.