In setting the Israelites up as a holy nation, the next key principle Yahweh gets across in Exodus 21 is “being responsible and accountable.” With a practical example in verse 18, that “If a quarrel between two men breaks out and one of them hits the other hard enough to put him out of work for a few days but he recovers from his injury, then the one who hit him (19) isn’t held responsible, but he is held accountable for the loss of the injured man’s time until he’s completely healed.”
That seems fair. Yahweh accepts that quarrels happen. A holy nation isn’t where everyone is absolutely perfect all the time. People are people, and sometimes people being people do things or say things that get other people upset enough to retaliate. And maybe retaliate rightly too, where the one causing the upset maybe needs a good punch on the nose to wake him up to his abrasive nature.
But that doesn’t justify an entire nation going around taking swings at each other any time there’s an upset. It’s not good for the nation economically either, if on most days a large portion of the population is laid up in bed from constant punch ups. But it’s also not good for a nation if quarrels aren’t satisfactorily settled. Emotions explode, but usually for an understandable reason. An imperfect person says or does something that another imperfect person doesn’t think is right at all. So there’s a flare up, and for two imperfect people finding no solution through reasoning together, there’s usually only one recourse left and that’s to “have it out,” and if yelling at each other doesn’t seem to make any impression, then maybe fists will.
And in such a case Yahweh doesn’t hold anyone responsible. But he does hold the one who lands the punch rendering the other person immobile, accountable for the injured man’s lost wages. Which is a brilliant solution because how can either man grumble? One gets the satisfaction of landing a well deserved punch, the other the satisfaction of the person doing the punching having to pay for any damages.
Perhaps in future, then, both men can look back on this situation and realize the importance of being responsible for what one says and does not causing upset in the first place, and that way no accountability cost would be required either.
But in settling differences, does Yahweh also include “The right to punish”?….(next blog)
