And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death.
The surrounding passage records the first stoning to death, and it was imposed for blasphemy. The verse requires that one who kills a beast make restoration for it, while one who kills a man must be put to death. That penalty for taking human life is unrestricted and universal, applying in one manner to stranger and citizen alike, Hebrew or heathen, as the next verse declares.
The chapter illustrates the curse that follows wilful transgression of God's law, specifically the breaking of the third commandment. The death penalty attached to Sabbath-breaking is the same as that attached here to murder, and the same death penalty is attached to murder, smiting parents, blasphemy, idolatry, disobedience to parents, covetousness, and theft, which are moral precepts, so sameness of penalty does not prove the Sabbath to be ceremonial or merely positive. Joined to the law that the man-stealer shall surely be put to death, the verse puts slavery and murder on the same footing as equally criminal and forbids chattel slavery, because seizing a human being and reducing him to involuntary servitude takes away freedom and all that makes up life and seeks to make property of man, proving God did not sanction slavery.
The surrounding passage records the first stoning to death, and it was imposed for blasphemy. The verse requires that one who kills a beast make restoration for it, while one who kills a man must be put to death. That penalty for taking human life is unrestricted and universal, applying in one manner to stranger and citizen alike, Hebrew or heathen, as the next verse declares.
The chapter illustrates the curse that follows wilful transgression of God's law, specifically the breaking of the third commandment. The death penalty attached to Sabbath-breaking is the same as that attached here to murder, and the same death penalty is attached to murder, smiting parents, blasphemy, idolatry, disobedience to parents, covetousness, and theft, which are moral precepts, so sameness of penalty does not prove the Sabbath to be ceremonial or merely positive. Joined to the law that the man-stealer shall surely be put to death, the verse puts slavery and murder on the same footing as equally criminal and forbids chattel slavery, because seizing a human being and reducing him to involuntary servitude takes away freedom and all that makes up life and seeks to make property of man, proving God did not sanction slavery.