The Value of a Life

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Opening Prayer

Father God, You envelope me in Your love, eroding my fears. May I be transported by wonder and filled with praise.

Read Exodus 21:12-27

^[12] “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. ^[13] However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. ^[14] But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death. ^[15] “Anyone who attacks their father or mother is to be put to death. ^[16] “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession. ^[17] “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. ^[18] “If people quarrel and one person hits another with a stone or with their fist and the victim does not die but is confined to bed, ^[19] the one who struck the blow will not be held liable if the other can get up and walk around outside with a staff; however, the guilty party must pay the injured person for any loss of time and see that the victim is completely healed. ^[20] “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result, ^[21] but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property. ^[22] “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. ^[23] But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, ^[24] eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ^[25] burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. ^[26] “An owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. ^[27] And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth.

Meditate

God requires us to act properly towards each other. This is in the very nature of biblical Christianity. Micah 6:8 reminds us of this: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Think Further

The second section deals with personal injury, whether caused by a human being or by an animal. The law distinguishes between murder and manslaughter and offers sanctuary against vengeance while the due process of law is undertaken. In law, as in life, motive matters. But life is sacred, and to take a life deliberately is a capital offense. For a nomadic people, prison is not a viable option. The reason that the death penalty was demanded was not to exact revenge, but to recognize that all human life matters to God.

The law takes a severe view of kidnap and cursing. The latter is not just bad manners or foul speech but, as in many African societies today, can mean far more. Words have a deeper impact than we are often willing to concede, for good or ill. Injury affects a person’s health, physically and mentally, and also their capacity to provide for themselves and their family. So due and appropriate compensation needs to be agreed upon and guidelines are given to achieve this. Temporary injury is treated differently from permanent damage. This first mention of an eye for an eye and so on, is not to encourage vengeance but to limit compensation. In the words of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado it is important “to make the punishment fit the crime.” Some crimes have alternative punishments whereby a cash sum may substitute for more severe action. Case studies are given that are illustrative, not exhaustive, of the general principles that should be applied. Motive, circumstance and injury should all be weighed up in determining punishment. The object is to set up a system that protects the vulnerable and is also open to scrutiny and deemed to be fair. The whole system is constructed to avoid seeing any human being as expendable or to trivialize life.

Apply

Have you hurt anyone in the past? Then show kindness as a means of restitution now, anonymously if necessary.

Closing prayer

Lord, show me where I have hurt someone by what I have said and done. Grant me Your forgiveness, and show me how I can best sort out the matter.

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