Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: xerox@cs.vu.nl (J. A. Durieux) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Empty womb (Was: Empty tomb) Message-ID: Date: 3 Jun 91 05:00:24 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Fac. Wiskunde & Informatica, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam Lines: 21 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu tblake@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu (Thomas Blake) cites Exodus 21:22-27: >22 "If some men are fighting and hurt a pregnant woman so that she loses her >child, but she is not injured in any other way, the wone who hurt her is to >be fined whatever amount the woman's husband demands, subject to the approval >of the judges. 23 But if the woman herself is injured, the punishment shall >be life for life, (...)" >It would appear that the law gives much more attention to the woman than >to her unborn child. Even if the child is killed, the man is only fined. While I cannot check it here, I am fairly sure that the word "woman" does not appear in the Hebrew in vs. 23. It simply says: "But if there is other injury..". The same holds for vs. 22, which says: "..so that her childs gets out, but there is no other injury, ..". My understanding is, that it cannot be conclusively proven from the text alone whether the injury is meant to be to the mother or to the child. Perhaps it means either?