Texts in Conversation
Exodus 21:22 follows ancient Near Eastern injury laws that address miscarriage through economic means first rather than death penalties. In both texts, the loss is handled based on the degree of harm, showing a shared legal approach to fetal injury.
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Code of Hammurabi
Babylonian Legal Text
Ancient Near East
207 If the man die of his wound, he shall swear similarly, and if he (the deceased) was a free-born man, he shall pay half a mina in money 208 If he was a freed man, he shall pay one-third of a mina 209 If a man strike a free-born woman so that she lose her unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels for her loss 210 If the woman die, his daughter shall be put to death 211 If a woman of the free class lose her child by a blow, he shall pay five shekels in money 212 If this woman die, he shall pay half a mina 213 If he strike the maid-servant of a man, and she lose her child, he shall pay two shekels in money 214 If this maid-servant die, he shall pay one-third of a mina
Date: 1750 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Exodus 21:22
Hebrew Bible
21 However, if the injured servant survives one or two days, the owner will not be punished, for he has suffered the loss. 22 “If men fight and hit a pregnant woman and her child is born prematurely, but there is no serious injury, the one who hit her will surely be punished in accordance with what the woman’s husband demands of him, and he will pay what the court decides. 23 But if there is serious injury, then you will give a life for a life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
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Notes and References
"... The text does not convey a sense or possibility of a fetus’ being-born-alive. The Hebrew term יצא conveys a sense of “coming out” (depart). From the casuistic law form of Laws of Hammurabi 209–214 and MAL 50–52, the general trend of law forms indicates miscarriage throughout the laws, for instance, the Laws of Hammurabi 209: “if an awilu strikes a woman of the awilu class and thereby causes her to miscarry her fetus…”. If we consider relatively poor medical advancement in ancient society, we can assume easily that the possibility of premature birth would be rare. A fetus is not considered as life in SAL as in the Hebrew Bible. Laws of Hammurabi treat miscarriage as an economic accident; thereby it is sufficient to compensate for the loss of a fetus. For example, LH #209 states that an awilu’s miscarriage requires payment of 10 shekels of silver only. MAL #50 also asks for full payment of a life for a fetus. A fetus has economic value in miscarriage. According to this view, the fetus is not yet full life as a person. Then the opposition may arise from an anti-abortion perspective: biblical law can be different from SAL and may treat a fetus as life. But this opposition does not hold true from the Hebrew Bible in general and also from the agricultural village context. In the Hebrew Bible life begins after birth. ..."
Kim, Yung Suk
"Lex Talionis in Exod 21:22-25: Its Origin and Context" in Ben Zvi, Ehud (ed.) Perspectives on Hebrew Scriptures: Comprising the Contents of the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures
(pp. 99-112) Gorgias Press, 2008
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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