What is the goal of Exodus 21:33-36?

Answer From The Annual Reading Schedule - Week 18 Notes For Exodus: Equality in right-ruling. The goal is to ensure that the one who caused the loss pays appropriately, but also gets what he would have paid for had the accident not happened and the transaction happened under normal circumstances. The goal is that neither party has the majority of the loss, but that the loss is split evenly so as not to assume the blame goes completely to one person or another. Both are left in the same position at the end. In the case of an animal in a pit, the one who dug the pit is forced into a transaction to buy the animal as if it were his own animal that fell into the pit, not the other man's. In the case of the owner of an ox who did not know it would gore, him and the one whose ox was gored both end up with half the proceeds of a live ox and half of a dead ox, neither better than the other. However, when it was clear the owner knew, he did have to repay completely by giving an ox.

Related Topics