If
the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.
Exodus 21:32
Exodus 21 [26.] “If a man strikes his servant’s eye, or his maid’s eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake. If he strikes out his male servant’s tooth, or his female servant’s tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.
Exodus 21 [28.] “If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible. But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and it has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death. If a ransom is laid on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is laid on him. Whether it has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him. If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.
Exodus 21 [33.] “If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn’t cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit shall make it good. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his.
Meaning:
Exodus 21 belongs to the “Book of the Covenant”, the laws God gave Israel at Sinai right after the Ten Commandments. Many of these laws deal with injuries and responsibility. Exodus 21:28-32 concerns a bull that kills a person. If the owner knew the bull was dangerous and did nothing, he was held responsible for the death. This verse covers the case where the victim is a servant.
- “If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant”
Servants, often people who had sold themselves to pay a debt, were not left without protection in Israel’s law. A master who blinded his servant or knocked out a tooth had to let him go free (Exodus 21:26-27). Here, when a dangerous animal killed a servant, the owner of the animal had to pay compensation, and the bull was put to death, the same as when a free person was killed.
- “thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master”
The payment went to the servant’s master, who had lost the servant’s work. Thirty shekels was about 300 grams of silver. It became a recognised value for the life of a slave. In the case of a free person the owner of the bull might pay whatever ransom was laid on him “for the redemption of his life”, but a servant’s life had a fixed and modest price.
- Thirty pieces of silver for the Shepherd
The prophet Zechariah, acting out the part of a shepherd rejected by the people, was paid “thirty pieces of silver” and told by Yahweh to throw “the handsome price that I was valued at by them” to the potter (Zechariah 11:12-13). The insult is clear: God’s shepherd was valued at the price of a dead slave.
When Judas went to the chief priests to betray Jesus, “They weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver” (Matthew 26:15). The leaders valued the Son of God at the price set in the Law for a slave gored by a bull. Later Judas returned the money in remorse (Matthew 27:3-4).
- The servant who gave his life
There is a deeper meaning in this low price. Jesus, “existing in the form of God”, “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:6-7). He said, “For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Men priced him as a slave, but his life was the ransom for ours.
The Significance of Exodus 21:32
- God cares for the vulnerable
Even in an ancient society, God’s law protected servants and held owners accountable. God sees the worth of people whom others overlook.
- Redeemed at a great price
Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet believers “were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold... but with precious blood, as of a faultless and pure lamb, the blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
Cross-References:
Zechariah 11:12-13: "So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver." The prophet’s insulting wage.
Matthew 26:14-16: "They weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver." The price paid to Judas.
Mark 10:45: "to give his life as a ransom for many." The servant who gave his life.
Conclusion: Exodus 21:32 required the owner of a bull that killed a servant to pay thirty shekels of silver to the servant’s master. This price for a slave’s life reappears in Zechariah and in the thirty pieces of silver paid to Judas, showing how little the leaders valued Jesus, and how much he gave as the servant who laid down his life as a ransom for many.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible