Exodus 21:19
If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed. If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.
Unlike the Ten Commandments spoken by God in public, this precept was delivered privately to Moses for him to communicate to the people.
It is one of the additional judgments concerning duties between people that illustrate, apply, and expand the principles of the Ten Commandments, spelling out what was required so that their obligations would be more fully understood and enforced and none need err, thus guarding their sacredness.
These added laws were necessary because the minds of the people, blinded and debased by slavery, were not prepared to fully appreciate the far-reaching principles of the ten precepts.
It belongs to the laws given to guard against injustice and to guide dealings with one another.
That instruction is still needed.
It belongs to the laws that guarded the lives and persons of servants and required humane treatment, so that even an injury inflicted by a master such as the loss of a tooth entitled the servant to freedom.
It is one of the statutes showing how exalted the laws for Israel were and how carefully the interests of the people were guarded.
It is one of the commandments given for regulating dealings with one another.
Read carefully and obeyed by all, these commandments would remove the conditions now seen in the world.