Exodus 21:20–21 - What Does It Really Mean?
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Few passages in the Old Testament generate as much debate as Exodus 21:20–21. For centuries, readers have wrestled with what these verses are saying and how they should be understood. The text seems, at first glance, to raise difficult questions about justice, slavery, and God’s character.
Here’s the passage:
“If a man strikes his servant, male or female, with a rod and he dies under his hand, he shall be punished. But if the servant survives a day or two, he is not to be punished, for the servant is his money.”
At face value, this can feel troubling. Why the distinction between immediate death and survival for a day or two? Why the phrase “for the servant is his money”? And what does this reveal about how God expected His people to live?
These are important questions—and they deserve more than quick answers.
Reading the Passage Carefully
To understand this law, it’s essential to look at it in its proper setting:
The Language: Hebrew words often carry layers of meaning that aren’t always captured in English. Understanding what words like “punished” and “money” meant in their context can reshape how we read the verse.
The Culture: Ancient Israel wasn’t operating in a vacuum. Every surrounding nation had laws about servants and slaves—but Israel’s laws were often far more protective and restrictive. Seeing this passage in comparison to other legal codes helps clarify its purpose.
The Principle: At its heart, this law seems less about condoning mistreatment and more about placing boundaries on it. Unlike other nations, Israel was being called into a covenant where human life had value—even when society treated certain groups as property.
Facing the Tough Questions
Some readers argue this passage proves the Bible accepts or even approves of slavery. Others see it as a step toward justice in a world that already normalized slavery long before Israel existed.
The truth often requires examining both perspectives, weighing the claims carefully, and letting the text itself reveal the answer. By doing so, we find a law that doesn’t celebrate oppression, but instead sets limits designed to protect vulnerable people in a broken cultural system.
Why This Matters Today
Wrestling with verses like Exodus 21:20–21 is not just an academic exercise. These discussions force us to be honest about what Scripture says, and they also show how God’s Word has always been pushing His people toward justice, dignity, and the ultimate freedom found in Him.
When we slow down, read carefully, and study deeply, even the most difficult passages begin to make sense in the bigger picture of God’s story.
Connecting to Bound in Lies
This passage is also one of the reasons I wrote Bound in Lies: The Biblical Case Against Slavery. Too often, verses like Exodus 21:20–21 are pulled out of context and used to argue that the Bible endorses slavery. But when we look closer, we see something very different: a God who placed restrictions on injustice, valued human life, and began pointing His people toward freedom and equality long before the world was ready to embrace it.
Bound in Lies takes a closer look at these kinds of texts, stripping away the misconceptions and showing how Scripture, from beginning to end, sets the stage for liberation, not oppression.
