“And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him;”
Anyone who kills an animal must make restitution, but anyone who kills a human being is to be put to death. The parallel structure of the two capital violations — animal killing requires restitution; human killing requires death — communicates the qualitative difference between the two. The animal that is killed is replaced by material restitution; the human being who is killed is answered only by the death of the killer. The covenant's value of human life over animal life is expressed in the asymmetry of the penalties.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
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