Scripture Daily

Context No. 816 of 4322 · Exodus

Context · Reflection

Exodus 21:28-36: in context

28“If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its meat shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible. 29But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and this has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death. 30If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed. 31Whether it has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him. 32If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned. 33“If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn’t cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it, 34the owner of the pit shall make it good. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his. 35“If one man’s bull injures another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull, and divide its price; and they shall also divide the dead animal. 36Or if it is known that the bull was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.

Tucked into the ancient case law of Exodus is a set of rules about an ox that gores someone. At first the law seems lenient: if an ox suddenly gores a person to death, the ox is destroyed, but the owner is not held guilty, because who could have foreseen it? An accident is an accident. But then the law draws a sharp line. If the ox had a habit of goring, and its owner had been warned about it, and he did not keep it penned in, and it kills someone, then the ox is stoned and its owner is put to death as well. The same principle covers a pit: if you dig one and leave it uncovered and an animal falls in, you pay for it. You made the hazard; you are responsible for it.

The distinction is the whole point, and it reaches far past oxen and pits. The law refuses to treat the known danger like the unforeseeable one. When harm truly comes out of nowhere, that is one thing. But when you had a goring ox, a tendency, a temper, a habit, a hazard you had already been warned about, and you left it unrestrained, and it hurt someone, the accident excuse is gone. You knew. You were told. You did nothing to pen it in. Everyone has an ox or two like that, some known problem in themselves that others have flinched at before, and the oldest law in scripture says the responsibility for what it does next lies squarely with the one who would not restrain it.

The law held the owner of a known goring ox responsible for failing to restrain it. What warned-about danger in myself, some temper or habit I already know gores people, have I left unpenned, and am I ready to own the harm it does?

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