If people quarrel and one person hits another with a stone or with their fist and the victim does not die but is confined to bed. The law begins a series of cases governing bodily harm in non-fatal circumstances. The quarrel — the same legal form as the dispute at Rephidim — produces injury that does not kill. The scenarios are increasingly specific: stone or fist, victim survives but is injured. The granularity of the legal cases reflects the reality that community life produces conflict, and the law must be detailed enough to address what actually happens. Romans 13:10 says love is the fulfillment of the law — the detailed laws of Exodus 21 describe what love looks like in specific situations where people have been harmed by others.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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