Who do you think the “serious injury” in Exodus 21:22-23 refers to in this passage–the baby, the mother, or both?
The Biblical text (NIV): Exodus 21:22 “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. 23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
The answer: The passage is an old issue and sometimes has been used to try to justify abortion by arguing that the serious injury is only referring to the mother. I have tended to look at the immediate antecedent to the “serious injury” (Hebrew ’asôn – as in Gen. 42:4, 38; 44:29; refers to a likely fatal accident or fatal injury) which here refers to the child who is born prematurely or miscarried. It does not refer to the pregnant woman who is mentioned earlier in the Hebrew (and English) sentence. If a premature birth occurs, with no severe injury to the child but nevertheless unnecessary pain and suffering caused to the mother and possibly to the newborn, a fine is established by the husband and the court. If the latter occurs, where likely a miscarriage takes place (i.e., a likely fatal injury; I cannot exclude that this injured child may not die, but it seems unlikely), the principle of equal justice is invoked by what is traditionally called the lex talionis “the law of the claw” (eye for eye,…) As in Deut. 19:21 and Lev. 24:18-21 where it is applied to a variety of possible injuries, the principle may be to limit the restitution so that clan vendettas do not escalate with more suffering and death than justice requires.
