[I am taking a momentary break from the sex in the Bible series to offer these thoughts related to a current topic of interest.]
There is a controversy these days about Louisiana requiring that the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue, (King James version, no less) be posted in public schools. I wager that few people who support this can list the ten laws. I will also wager that even fewer people have ever turned the page to study the next set of commandments. After all, the Ten Commandments were just the start. There were many other laws to follow. So, let’s turn the page, from Exodus 20 to 21. What is the next order of business after those initial ten commandments?
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I. How to properly own and manage slaves!
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If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall leave as a free man without a payment to you.
Exodus 21:2
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Oh, well that’s not so bad. It’s for a limited time, kind of like indentured servitude, right? Keep reading. If the slave marries and has children during this time, he has to make a choice: he can leave without his wife and children – they stay with the “master” (not “employer”) – or if he wants to stay with them he must agree to be a permanent slave of the master. He gets a hole punched in his ear lobe as proof of ownership. What a great arrangement for the master: either way he gets a new generation of slaves, and possibly a permanent adult male slave. For those who say this is merely a form of employment, what boss do you know that gets to claim his employee’s wife and children for himself?! But then it gets even worse…
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II. Selling your daughter!
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If a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she is not to go free as the male slaves do.
Exodus 21:7
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You see, children are property of the father, like the 10th Commandment shows that the wife is also part of her husband’s property. He would not want to sell off a son, of course, but he can sell off a daughter. And not for just 7 years, but permanently. If the owner decides he doesn’t like her after all, he has options. He can sell her off, but not to a non-Israelite; that would be unfair to her (like the rest of this isn’t?!). Or, he can pass her down to his son. Note that the owner has options, but not the girl. The only protection she gets is that if her owner takes another wife he cannot reduce her food or clothing or “conjugal rights.” Only if he refuses to do so can she be set free. And what are “conjugal rights?” It is from an obscure Hebrew word which is euphemistically rendered as “cohabitation” by some, but may be related to furrows, as in plowing a field. So, is this saying that the owner should continue to “plow” the woman? Sounds rather crude, but then, more plowing means children means more slaves in the household, so keep it up! As usual, there is no indication that the woman has any say in the matter.
Lest you think this is purely an ancient custom, even into the 1900s it was not unusual for a father to arrange for his daughter to be married to a man with money of his choosing, not on the basis of love. (I was reminded of this when re-reading the classic Tarzan of the Apes, where Jane is put into such a situation by her father!) Until recently, it was also common at a wedding for the preacher to ask the father, “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” as if she was a possession to be given away. The expression “giving the bride away” carries the same connotation. Old traditions die hard.
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III. Some murder is OK!
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He who strikes someone so that he dies shall certainly be put to death. Yet if he did not lie in wait for him, but God caused him to fall into his hand, then I will appoint you a place to which he may flee.
Exodus 21:12, 13
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So, if you kill someone in the heat of the moment that is excusable? In fact, God gets implicated here, because He “let him fall into his hand.” So, if God let this other fellow encounter you and you end up killing him then maybe that is part of God’s plan? Maybe God wanted him dead? So you can go to a sanctuary city (Numbers 35:6, etc.), to escape the wrath of the victim’s family, but there is no official punishment for this murder.
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IV. Next are several capital crimes: striking one’s father or mother, kidnapping (literally, stealing) a man, and cursing one’s father or mother.
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I know the Decalogue says to honor your father or mother, but executing a child for striking or cursing a parent seems a bit extreme, especially since they are by definition immature. Maybe they should post these commandments in the schools! That’ll get those kids to straighten up! Most people don’t realize that Jesus himself makes reference to the cursing law in Matthew 15:4 (and Mark 7:10). There Jesus is pointing out that the Jews were inconsistent in how they followed their laws, but I’ve always wondered if Jesus was saying they should follow such a law (execute the child for cursing his parents), or if he was simply using that as an example of how people pick and choose the laws to follow.
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V. if you quarrel with and injure a person you must compensate that person for their loss of time and care for them.
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I assume this also would require covering their expenses. Notice that such a law does not suggest imprisonment. Compare that to our system, where the typical sentence is jail time, where the offender cannot help the victim or earn money to pay for their expenses. Is that law something we could learn from? Compensation and care rather than punitive punishment?
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VI. How to properly discipline slaves.
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If you strike one with a rod and he dies you are to be punished, but if he lingers a few days, no punishment. “For the slave is his property [lit: his money].” If you still harbor any thoughts that this is employment not slavery please read that again. So apparently you can beat your “employees” as long as you don’t kill them. Immediately, that is. As long as they linger a little, that’s OK. Does your boss get to beat you with a rod?
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VII. Pregnancy damage.
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The next law is controversial as to its exact meaning (Exodus 21:22 – 25). If in a struggle a pregnant woman is struck and, literally, “her children come out” but there is no injury, then the offender is to be fined by the husband (not the woman), as the judges decide. Does that mean no injury to the mother? No injury to the infant? This law has been used to both defend and attack abortion. That is beyond the scope of this article, so I’ll let you decide. And why does the husband get to demand a fine? Well, because the woman and infant belong to him; they are part of his estate.
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VIII. Good news for slaves (sort of).
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if when striking you your owner pokes your eye out then you get to go free! In fact, even if he knocks out a tooth. Now that’s humane, isn’t it?
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IX. Oxen behavior.
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Good news for oxen owners: if your ox gores someone to death, then the ox gets killed but no punishment for you. However: if the ox has been known to gore before (then why wasn’t it already killed?), then you get killed, too. Ouch! But there are two escape clauses: if the bereaved family demands a fine (ransom) then the owner can pay them off. And if the victim was just a slave then you have to pay their owner thirty shekels of silver. After all, a slave is just property.
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X. More livestock laws.
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If you dig a pit and someone’s ox or donkey falls into it then you have to buy the dead animal. If your ox kills someone else’s ox then you have to sell the ox and split the money with the other person and you also split the dead ox. However, if your ox is in the habit of goring, you have to buy the dead ox from its owner. I’m not sure I see the logic in the difference between the new gorer and known gorer situations, but I guess they thought this was fair.
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Well, that’s the Next Ten Commandments (if you group related ones together). So, after the initial Ten Commandments, what are God’s priorities in His law for the people of Israel? How to properly purchase and manage slaves, including the sale of daughters and how to properly punish slaves so as to avoid penalties. An exception to the “Thou shall not kill” commandment. Executing children for striking or cursing their parents, thus putting some teeth into that “Honor your father and mother” commandment. Paying husbands for birth injuries. Personal liability for injuring others (possibly the start of the personal injury lawyer profession?). Liability for killing livestock and livestock that kills.
Slaves. Executing children. Livestock. It just strikes me as an odd follow-up to the Ten Commandments. And of course, the commandments don’t end here. Those who like to count such things say there are 613 laws in the Torah. If these laws really are from God then shouldn’t we post all of them and not just the first ten? And follow them, if they represent divine wisdom? But reading some of these laws I certainly question if they could be from God. They sound more like the product of a primitive society.
Here’s a fun exercise: make a list of your own Ten Commandments. And the next ten? What would your priorities be?
Now, where is that slave with my dinner? He’s going to feel my rod on his back again if he doesn’t hurry. By the way, how much for that daughter of yours?
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Thinking exercises:
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1. Ask several of your friends to make a list of their top Ten Commandments. (For more fun present them to each other in David Letterman format.) How do your lists differ? From the original and from each other. Why?
2. How would society be different if we executed children who cursed or struck their parents? Better? Worse? Gone?
3. Can you imagine selling off one of your children? Can you imagine someone thinking this is a moral and acceptable thing to do? Is marrying your daughter off to a man because of his money the same thing?