Bible Commentaries
Go deeper in Scripture
Browse trusted public-domain commentary alongside DiscipleDeck Bible study. References inside each commentary open Bible previews in place.
27,299 commentary entries
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:22
If men strive and hurt a woman. A chance hurt is clearly intended, not one done on purpose. So that her fruit depart from her. So that she be prematurely delivered of a dead child. And no mischief follow. "Mischief" her…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:22-25
Assault producing miscarriage. Retaliation. Women in all countries are apt to interfere in the quarrels of men, and run the risk of suffering injuries which proceed from accident rather than design, one such injury bein…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:22-25
The requirement of strict equivalents in making compensation for injuries. The particular illustration here is confessedly obscure; but there can hardly be a mistake as to the principle illustrated, viz; that when injur…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:23
Then thou shalt give life for life. "Life for life" seems an excessive penalty, where the injury was in a great measure accidental, and when there was certainly no design to take life. Probably the law was not now enact…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:23-25
The rule of retaliation. "To suffer that a man has done is strictest, straightest right," was a line which passed into a proverb in ancient Greece. The administration of justice is rendered very simple and easy by the a…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:23-26
An eye for an eye, etc. (cf. Matthew 5:38-43). The principle here enunciated is that of the jus talionis. Stripped of its concrete form, it is simply the assertion of the dictate of justice, that when a wrong has been d…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:28-32
Injuries done by cattle to slaves and freemen. For the purpose of inculcating as strongly as possible the principle of the sanctity of human life, the legislator notices the case where mortal injury is done to a person…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:28
The ox shall be surely stoned. He shall suffer the same death that would have been the portion of a human murderer. His flesh shall not be eaten. The animal was regarded as accursed, and therefore, as a matter of course…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:29
If the ox were wont to push with his horns. If he were notoriously, and to his owner' s knowledge, a dangerous animal, which required watching, and no watch was kept on him, then the owner became blame-able, and having…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:30
If there be a fine laid upon him. There can scarcely have been any circumstances under which the penalty of death would have been enforced. No neglect could bring the crime into the category of murder. It is assumed, th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:31
Whether he have gored a son or a daughter. If the sufferer were a child, the value of the life, and therefore the amount of the fine, would be less.
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 21:32
If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant. Hitherto, the case of free persons only has been considered. But the accident might have happened to a slave. Where this was the case, the death of the ox was still ma…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 23:1-9
Seeking the things which make for justice. The illustrations adduced in these nine verses show the various ways in which men may be tempted to injustice in judicial procedure. Those who believe themselves wronged have t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 23:1-33
THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT.—Continued. EXPOSITION
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 23:1-19
MISCELLANEOUS LAWS—continued. The same want of logical arrangement appears in this chapter as in the preceding one. The first nine verses contain some twelve laws, of which not more than two that are consecutive can be…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 23:1
The ninth commandment is here expanded and developed. Thou shalt not raise a false report, forbids the origination of a calumny; the other clause prohibits the joining with others in spreading one. Both clauses have a s…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 23:1-10
Doing justice and loving mercy. In pursuance of its great requirement of love to one's neighbour, the law next prohibits the raising of a false report, the bearing of false witness in a court of justice, and the wrestin…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 23:2
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. Rather, "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to evil." A law alike for deed, for word, and for thought. The example of the many is to be shunned. "Wide is the gate and broad i…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 23:3
Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause. After the many precepts in favour of the poor, this injunction produces a sort of shock. But it is to be understood as simply forbidding any undue favouring of the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 23:4
Thine enemy's ox. A private enemy is here spoken of, not a public one, as in Deuteronomy 23:6. It is remarkable that the law should have so far anticipated Christianity as to have laid it down that men have duties of fr…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 23:5
If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee, etc. The general meaning of the passage is clear—assistance is to be given to the fallen ass of an enemy—but the exact sense of both the second and third clauses is doubtful.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 23:6
As in Exodus 23:3 men were warned not to favour the poor unduly in courts of justice out of compassion for them, so here there is a warning against the opposite, and far more usual error, of leaning against the poor man…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 23:7
Keep thee far from a false matter. Hold aloof, i.e; from anything like a false accusation. Neither bring one, nor countenance one, else those mayest cause the death of an innocent and righteous man, and bring down on th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 23:8
And thou shalt take no gift. The worst sin of a judge, and the commonest in the East, is to accept abribe from one of the parties to a suit, and give sentence accordingly. As such a practice defeats the whole end for wh…