Attributed commentary excerpt
John Gill's Exposition on Exodus 21:28
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die, etc.] 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, (<010905>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 f662 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, (<022132>Exodus 21:32).
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