Essay zu Schemot 21:18

The vocabulary of verbs in these verses outlines the subject at hand: “quarrel,” “strike,” “contend,” “harm,” “strike,” “break-off,” “give.” The text treats a number of extenuating circumstances, imposing penalties of varying degrees. The case of an accidentally caused abortion is especially highlighted (vv.22–25), and in a famous verse (23), the lawgiver breaks into rhetoric in order to stress that punishments be scrupulously fair. Also notable is the regulation concerning the goring ox (vv.28–32), where an animal is made to pay the death penalty, since it has destroyed the most sacred thing of all—life itself. Both of the latter cases have received exhaustive treatment in the scholarly literature (see Sarna 1986).