Exodus 21 – Laws of Justice and Mercy
Exodus 21 moves from the grandeur of Mount Sinai to the practical details of life among God’s people. These laws address slavery, violence, personal injury, and justice. Though cultural contexts differ, the principles of mercy, responsibility, and value of life shine through.
Justice Begins in the Details
After hearing God’s voice at Sinai, the people now receive laws to govern everyday life. Exodus 21 teaches that holiness is not just about worship—but how we treat one another.
✔ Laws on servitude and release.
✔ Boundaries for violence and accountability.
✔ Justice for injury and protection of life.
✔ Mercy and dignity even in hard cases.
📖 Key Verse: “If men strive together, and one smite another… he shall be surely punished.” – Exodus 21:18–19
🔎 God’s justice system balances responsibility, reparation, and mercy.
Exodus Chapter 21 Overview
Exodus 21:1–11 – Bondservants and Boundaries
📖 Exodus 21:1–2 – “If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.”
🔎 Mercy embedded in servitude:
🔹 This was not slavery as in later history, but a form of indentured service often entered voluntarily due to debt.
🔹 God sets a clear limit: six years of service, followed by freedom in the seventh—a shadow of the Sabbath principle of release and restoration.
➡️ Covenant Insight: Even servitude was to reflect God’s mercy and redemption timeline.
📖 Exodus 21:3–4 – “If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself…”
🔎 Protection of family structure:
🔹 These laws protected against confusion in ownership or marital rights.
🔹 If the master provided a wife during the term of service, the legal status of the family had to be handled according to the law.
🔹 There is tension here, yet it reflects an effort to guard order and justice in a fallen culture.
➡️ Grace Principle: God’s laws meet people where they are and begin to shape a higher ethic.
📖 Exodus 21:5–6 – “I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free… then his master shall bore his ear through with an aul… and he shall serve him for ever.”
🔎 Voluntary servitude out of love:
🔹 A servant could choose lifelong service—not out of fear, but devotion.
🔹 The pierced ear became a public symbol of chosen faithfulness.
🔹 This servant reflects Christ, who took the form of a servant and obeyed unto death (Philippians 2:7–8).
➡️ Prophetic Shadow: Jesus, the ultimate bondservant, chose love-driven obedience to redeem us.
📖 Exodus 21:7–11 – “If a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant…”
🔎 Protection for vulnerable women:
🔹 This law regulated arranged service/marriage in ways that protected the woman’s dignity and rights.
🔹 If she was not treated justly—especially in cases of failed marriage arrangements—she was to be set free.
🔹 God commands no abuse, no neglect, and no exploitation.
➡️ Justice Reminder: Even in difficult cultural contexts, God defends the powerless and holds the strong accountable.
Exodus 21:12–36 – Injury, Justice, and Human Value
📖 Exodus 21:12–14 – “He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death… But if a man come presumptuously… thou shalt take him from mine altar.”
🔎 Intent vs. accident:
🔹 Murder required death—God values life and demands justice.
🔹 However, if the act was unintentional, God provided cities of refuge (see Numbers 35).
🔹 Deliberate violence had no sanctuary—even the altar couldn’t protect a guilty heart.
➡️ Moral Clarity: God distinguishes between intent and action—justice must be righteous, not reactionary.
📖 Exodus 21:15–17 – “He that smiteth his father or his mother… or curseth… shall be surely put to death.”
🔎 Honoring parents in civil law:
🔹 Physical violence or severe verbal dishonor toward parents was considered a societal breakdown.
🔹 These commands uphold family structure and generational respect.
🔹 God doesn’t tolerate contempt for authority in the home.
➡️ Covenant Insight: The strength of a nation begins in the honor of the household.
📖 Exodus 21:18–27 – Laws of injury and compensation
🔎 Justice through restitution:
🔹 Injuries were handled with fairness—compensation, not vengeance.
🔹 The “eye for eye” law wasn’t brutal—it was protective. It restrained revenge and set limits of justice.
🔹 Servants were given rights too—permanent injury meant permanent release.
➡️ Grace Through Justice: God ensures that even the wounded and lowly are treated with dignity and recompense.
📖 Exodus 21:28–32 – Accountability for negligence
🔎 God holds people responsible for preventable harm:
🔹 If an animal caused death, it was to be put down—but the owner’s guilt depended on prior knowledge and warnings.
🔹 Payment systems and fines were in place to restore value to the victim’s family.
🔹 Even bondservants’ lives were valued in civil accountability.
➡️ Justice Principle: Responsibility isn’t just about what you do—it includes what you fail to prevent.
📖 Exodus 21:33–36 – “If a man shall open a pit… or if one man’s ox hurt another’s…”
🔎 Community safety laws:
🔹 God gave laws for everyday risks—accidental death, damaged property, and careless action.
🔹 These laws taught people to think of others, take precautions, and live justly.
🔹 Peace among neighbors required responsible conduct and fair restitution.
➡️ Final Reflection: Holiness is not just in worship—it’s in how we live with others. Justice is love in action.
Exodus Chapter 21 - Deeper Study
Overview: Holiness in the Civil Realm
🔹 Timeframe: Shortly after the giving of the Ten Commandments at Sinai.
🔹 Setting: Wilderness encampment—a mobile nation under divine law.
🔹 Theme: God’s people must live by justice, compassion, and accountability.
Key Takeaways
🔑 God cares about daily life, not just worship.
🔑 Servitude under God’s law included mercy and release.
🔑 Violence and injustice are never ignored.
🔑 Each person bears personal responsibility.
🔑 Justice includes both punishment and restoration.
Prophetic Patterns & Dual Fulfillment
🔮 The bondservant who stays by love – A picture of Christ’s willing submission (Philippians 2:7).
🔮 Justice and restitution – Foundations for New Testament ethics (Romans 13:1–10).
🔮 God’s concern for the oppressed – Echoed in Jesus’ ministry to the poor, outcast, and broken.
Historical & Cultural Context
📜 Ancient servitude – Different from modern slavery; often voluntary or debt-based.
📜 Eye-for-eye principle – Intended to limit vengeance, not promote brutality.
📜 God’s law vs. pagan codes – Higher moral standards rooted in dignity and mercy.
💡 Final Reflection: Does Justice Live in Your Life?
God’s law touches the home, the workplace, and the street. How we treat others reveals whether we’ve truly heard His voice.
📌 Do you carry out justice with mercy?
📌 Are you honoring the dignity of every person—regardless of status?
📌 Has God’s law shaped your sense of fairness and accountability?
🚀 God’s covenant people live by truth, tempered with grace. Let justice and mercy walk hand in hand
Laws About Slaves
Exo 21:1 Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.
Exo 21:2 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.
Exo 21:3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.
Exo 21:4 If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.
Exo 21:5 And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:
Exo 21:6 Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.
Exo 21:7 And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.
Exo 21:8 If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.
Exo 21:9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.
Exo 21:10 If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
Exo 21:11 And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.
Exo 21:12 He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.
Exo 21:13 And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee.
Exo 21:14 But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.
Exo 21:15 And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.
Exo 21:16 And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
Exo 21:17 And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.
Exo 21:18 And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed:
Exo 21:19 If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.
Exo 21:20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.
Exo 21:21 Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.
Exo 21:22 If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.
Exo 21:23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
Exo 21:24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
Exo 21:25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Exo 21:26 And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.
Exo 21:27 And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.
Exo 21:28 If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit.
Exo 21:29 But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.
Exo 21:30 If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.
Exo 21:31 Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.
Exo 21:32 If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
Laws About Restitution
Exo 21:33 And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein;
Exo 21:34 The owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his.
Exo 21:35 And if one man’s ox hurt another’s, that he die; then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it; and the dead ox also they shall divide.
Exo 21:36 Or if it be known that the ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his own.
Date Written
1446-1406 BC
Written By
Moses
Language
Hebrew
Verses
36