Exodus 21:7-36
If we compare these verses with Matthew 5:17 onwards, we will understand that the faithful Servant of the LORD came not only to fulfil the law, but also to introduce that which is to surpass it. While the law ordained "Thou shalt not kill", Jesus declares that if someone only says "Thou fool" to his brother, he already deserves hell fire! For the Lord would have us to understand more fully each day the extent of the evil in our heart. And He would have us know His own heart which has gone out infinitely further than the law demanded, and which said, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy" (Matthew 5:43-44; see Romans 5:7-8; ; Romans 5:10; cf. also Exodus 22:1 . . . with Psalms 69:4). Where should we be if the inflexible law: "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" were to be applied to us? God would have had to sweep away from the earth the whole of humanity, guilty as it was of crucifying His Son. But instead of that, even at the cross, Jesus puts into practice perfectly that which He teaches in these verses: "Father, forgive them", He says, "for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). And v. 32 fixes the price of a slave – the same price at which the Son of God was valued (Matthew 26:15).