Exodus 21:18
And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed: And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed:
The verse belongs to the additional statutes and judgments given to Moses for Israel to regulate how people deal with one another. It is one of the specific judgments given to explain how God's commandments governed people's conduct toward one another. Unlike the Ten Commandments, it was delivered privately to Moses for him to communicate to the people. It illustrates, applies, amplifies, and explains the Ten Commandments, so that the obligations of the Decalogue would be more fully understood and enforced. Its directions guarded the sacredness of the Ten Commandments by making the required conduct clear.
Such detailed directions were needed because minds blinded and debased by slavery were not prepared to fully appreciate the far-reaching principles of God's ten precepts. These laws express God's impartial care, guard against injustice, are requirements of an exalted order, and were to be strictly obeyed. The verse calls for contention to cease and for people to treat one another with love and gentleness. If all carefully read the commandments in Exodus 21-23 and obeyed them, the condition now seen in the world would not exist.