If there be imposed on him a satisfaction, then he shall give the ransom of his life, according to what is imposed on him.
An ox already known to gore has killed someone, and the previous verse puts its owner under a death sentence. Now the law opens a door: a payment may stand in place of his life — and that payment carries the Old Testament's own word for atonement.
The owner's guilt turns on what he already knew. One writer sets out the sequence:
An ox that gored anyone to death was to be stoned to death, and the meat of the ox not eaten. The owner of the ox would not be held responsible unless he had been warned that his ox was dangerous. In this case, if he had not kept the ox penned in and the ox killed anyone, the owner as well as the ox was to be put to death (v. 29). This penalty could however be relaxed if the nearest relative of the victim would agree to accept ransom money instead (vv. 30-31).
The payment is not a loophole in a careless system. Nothing in these laws is left unsettled:
The same principle of righteous equivalent also applies in these directions… Everything is provided for, and every relationship, with its various breaches, adjusted in harmony with the righteous government under which Israel was now placed.
The ESV says "ransom" here; older translations say "sum of money." One writer traces the Hebrew word behind that phrase:
The words "sum of money" are the translation of kopher, a form of kaphar, to cover, the word for atonement.
So the verse shows what atonement is: a price that covers a forfeited life, so the guilty man lives.
A ransom stands in for the offender, yet it has a limit. Money could cover this man's negligence. Nothing could be taken for a murderer's life:
Expiation is the satisfaction itself: what takes the wrath, what is devoted and made the curse, standing in for the offender, so that he goes free. And here the noun kopher comes to let light in on the inquiry. It is translated "ransom, satisfaction," and in 1 Samuel 12:3 a "bribe." So in Exodus 21:30 a kopher (translated "sum of money") is laid on a man to save his life, where his ox had killed his neighbour. But in Numbers 35:31 no kopher was to be taken for the life of a murderer. The land cannot be cleansed, kaphar, except by the blood of the man who shed blood as a murderer (v. 33). This clearly shows the force of kopher and of kaphar. The satisfaction offered suits the eye and mind of Him who is displeased and who judges. Through it come purging of the offence, cleansing, forgiveness, and favour, according to Him who takes account of the evil.
Notice too that the guilty man never names his own price. The verse says it is imposed on him.
No one can buy a brother out of death. What no man could give, God found:
No one can "ransom another, or give to God the price of his life" (Psalm 49:7). But God could say, "Deliver him from going down into the pit; I have found a ransom" (Job 33:24)… In the New Testament it is lytron, or antilytron, from "to loose, set free." Christ gave Himself, His life, a ransom for many: the precious blood of Christ witnesses that every claim of God against the believer has been answered (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2:6).
A victim's family could accept silver. A death sentence itself has no such price:
And what will lift the forfeit of death? This is the supreme question. The death sentence stands alone in its gravity and weight. We have never heard of the death sentence having any alternative equivalent. There is no alternative to it in the eyes of law, because it has no equivalent. Nothing but DEATH can meet the death sentence.
- Forfeit. A man was warned that his ox was dangerous and did nothing. When it killed, he owed his own life.
- Ransom. Verse 30 allows a price to stand in place of that life, accepted by the victim's nearest relative.
- Covering. The word for that price, kopher, comes from kaphar, "to cover" — the Bible's word for atonement.
- Limit. A ransom could cover negligence. Numbers 35:31 allowed none for a murderer, because the satisfaction must suit the One who judges.
- Fulfilment. No man can ransom another (Psalm 49:7), yet God said, "I have found a ransom" (Job 33:24) — Christ gave His life a ransom for many.
Whether it gore a son or gore a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done to him.
The law about a dangerous ox runs from verse 28 to verse 32, and this verse covers the case of a child killed by the ox. It raises two questions: why God named the son or daughter at all, and what the money paid in place of a life teaches.
Verse 31 points back to the rule just given. Here is how that rule worked:
An ox that gored someone to death had to be stoned, and no one was to eat its meat. The owner of the ox was not responsible unless someone had warned him that his ox was dangerous. In this case, if he had not kept the ox penned in and the ox killed anyone, both the owner and the ox had to die (v. 29). However, the nearest relative of the victim could agree to accept ransom money instead of this penalty (vv. 30-31).
A son or a daughter is not a lesser case with a lesser penalty. The same judgment, with the same option of ransom, covers them.
These rules can look like small print about farm animals. One writer finds in their detail a picture of God's care over everything:
The same principle of righteous equivalent also holds good in these directions. Even the owner must die, along with the ox, if he knew the animal's tendency and had made no provision to guard against it (v. 29). This brings home to us the truth our blessed Lord taught: even the hairs of our heads are all numbered. The law provides for everything. It fits every relationship, and every way a relationship can be broken, into the righteous government God had now placed Israel under.
Verse 30 allows a payment in place of the owner's life. Older translations call it "a sum of money"; the ESV reads "if a ransom is imposed on him." The Hebrew word behind it matters:
The words "sum of money" are the translation of kopher, a form of kaphar, to cover, the word for atonement.
So the owner lives only because a payment covers what he owes. This verse extends that covering to the death of a child.
The justice here is measured, and it is not merciful:
We find here the true character of law. Grace is absent. It is eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth… Law demands an exact equivalent — no more, and no less. But grace can remit every claim. We ourselves have been dealt with in grace, our whole debt remitted, so we must act on the same principle toward one another. But never forget this: the foundation of grace itself lies deep in righteousness. That is why it reigns through righteousness (Romans 5:21), on a basis that is everlasting and unchanging.
This is why the verse can allow a payment and still be strict. The ransom does not cancel the claim; it meets it.
An older ruling stands behind this whole section. God gave it to Noah, long before Israel had any law:
God alone knows the heart of man, and He has pronounced it "deceitful above all things and desperately sick." When He gave Noah the government of the earth, He provided for the preservation of man's life in the most solemn terms — terms no human law can set aside: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image."
A child killed by a neighbour's ox is no small loss. That child bears God's image, and God Himself guards that life.
- Image — Man bears God's image, so God guards his life. He said this to Noah long before Israel had a law, and no human law can set it aside.
- Equal — A son or a daughter falls under exactly the same judgment as a man or a woman. The law does not rate a child's life lower.
- Negligent — The owner is liable only where he knew his ox was dangerous and did nothing. Guilty knowledge, not mere misfortune, brings the death penalty.
- Covered — The money that spares him is kopher, from the word meaning to cover — the word for atonement. A life is released because something is given in its place.
- Exact — This is law, not grace: an exact equivalent, no more and no less. Yet grace, which can remit every claim, rests on the same righteous foundation.