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.
My Notes
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Gill's Exposition
And if he smite out his manservant's tooth, or his maidservant's tooth,.... Give them such a slap on the face, or a blow on the mouth, as to strike out one of their teeth; this also the Targum of…
Freedom was the proper equivalent for permanent injury.
Adam Clarke
If he smite out his - tooth - It was a noble law that obliged the unmerciful slaveholder to set the slave at liberty whose eye or tooth he had knocked out. If this did not teach them humanity, it…
Observe here,
I. The particular care which the law took of women with child, that no hurt should be done them which might occasion their mis-carrying. The law of nature obliges us to be very tender in…
Striking out the eye or tooth of a slave. The person of slave being not as valuable as that of a free man, the lex talionis(vv.23 25) is not applicable in his case (cf. Ḥamm. § 199, as compared with §…