deliberate, wanton, killing by piecemeal; the other,
an accidental, and comparatively slight injury—of
the inflicter, in both cases, they say the same thing!
Now, just the discrimination to be looked for where
GOD legislates, is marked in the original. In
the case of the servant wilfully murdered, He says,
“It (the death) shall surely be avenged,”
that is, the life of the wrong doer shall expiate
the crime. The same word is used in the Old Testament,
when the greatest wrongs are redressed, by devoting
the perpetrators to destruction. In the
case of the unintentional injury, in the following
verse, God says, “He shall surely be fined,
(anash.) “He shall pay as the judges
determine.” The simple meaning of the word
anash, is to lay a fine. It is used in
Deut. xxii. 19: “They shall amerce
him in one hundred shekels,” and in 2 Chron.
xxxvi. 3: “He condemned (mulcted)
the land in a hundred talents of silver and a talent
of gold.” That avenging the death
of the servant, was neither imprisonment, nor stripes,
nor a fine but that it was taking the master’s
life we infer, 1. From the use of the
word nakam. See Gen. iv. 24; Josh. x.
13; Judg. xv. 7; xvi. 28; 1 Sam. xiv. 24; xviii. 25;
xxv. 31; 2 Sam. iv. 8; Judg. v. 2; 1 Sam. xxv. 26-33.
2. From the express statute, Lev. xxiv. 17:
“He that killeth ANY man shall surely be put
to death.” Also, Num. xxxv. 30, 31:
“Whoso killeth ANY person, the murderer shall
be put to death. Moreover, ye shall take NO SATISFACTION
for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death,
but he shall surely be put to death.” 3.
The Targum of Jonathan gives the verse thus, “Death
by the sword shall surely be adjudged.”
The Targum of Jerusalem, “Vengeance shall be
taken for him to the uttermost.”
Jarchi, the same. The Samaritan version:
“He shall die the death.” Again, the
clause “for he is his money,” is quoted
to prove that the servant is his master’s property,
and therefore, if he died, the master was not to be
punished. The assumption is, that the phrase,
“HE IS HIS MONEY,” proves not only that
the servant is worth money to the master, but
that he is an article of property. If
the advocates of slavery insist upon taking this principle
of interpretation into the Bible, and turning it loose,
let them stand and draw in self-defence. If they
endorse for it at one point, they must stand sponsors
all around the circle. It will be too late to
cry for quarter when its stroke clears the table, and
tilts them among the sweepings beneath. The Bible
abounds with such expressions as the following:
“This (bread) is my body;” “all
they (the Israelites) are brass and tin;”
this (water) is the blood of the men who went
in jeopardy of their lives;” “the Lord
God is a sun;” “the seven good
ears are seven years;” “the tree
of the field is man’s life;” “God
is a consuming fire;” “he is