Joel M Bradshaw

22“When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.–Exodus 21

What an awkward scenario this was! The men should have been more careful. Let’s briefly unpack this passage.

1. PREGNANT. The Hebrew word here is the same as in the very famous Immanuel prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 describing a virgin who will be ‘with child’. This woman is pregnant.
2. PREMATURE LABOR. The text is clear that the men striking the woman caused labor to happen prematurely or as linked to the physical altercation. The Hebrew literally says, “her children come out”. Life that was just inside the womb is called ‘children’. They were living children before they were born. All life is precious and especially the most vulnerable!
3. AMENDS. We get the idea here that if the woman was so far along in her pregnancy that the baby survived outside the womb that the judges could determine a fine for inconvenience. Amends could be made in this scenario.
4. MISCARRIAGE. If the men’s actions cause premature labor that ends in harm, then the ancient law applied, even up to death. Just know that this would have included the pregnant wife if she died OR the baby in the womb forcibly delivered. Harm is linked to the premature delivery.

If the unborn child had lesser value then a monetary price could be paid for any harm done. But Moses was clear that the life of even the unborn child had intrinsic value. In fact the punishment linked the life of the unborn baby as equal in value to the man who caused his or her premature labor. A life for a life. The unborn life which would have otherwise still be in the womb is seen with the same value of life which is living outside the womb.–JMB