COMPENSATION

“…eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.”
Exodus 21:24-25

In the portion of the Torah we read today we discover some of the ways in which compensation was to be received. Hitting a male or female slave with a stick severely to the point of death was looked against, while hitting a slave to a point not yet of death was allowed as the slave was property. Hurting a pregnant woman to the point of her losing her baby resulted in a fine determined between her husband and judges. But when serious harm was the result, then Adonai instructed Moshe it would be an eye for eye and so forth.
If an eye was hit and destroyed or a tooth knocked out, the slave to whom this action was done was allowed to go free. And if an ox had a history of goring people and it was found to have injured someone despite the warnings given to its owner, compensation was to be found in the death of the animal. Lastly, if a thief was caught in the action of stealing and beaten to death, it was not considered murder unless beaten after sunrise. Restitution was to be made by the offender. So many rules, and sometimes so confusing, yet Adonai knew what He was doing, and had each part of compensation planned.

Exodus 21:20 – 22:3