Personhood from a Biblical Perspective
There is much controversy about the value of the unborn child. If we read the Bible, then we can understand that no controversy should even exist. The key is found in following Biblical principles. Unfortunately many people do not know what the Bible says about personhood.
What is the Biblical perspective on personhood?
Consider this verse from Exodus 21: 22 (KJV)...
“If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”
To me this is pretty plain given the context of this verse. If a woman is injured so that her unborn child is born and lives, the person who caused the injury is to be fined. However, the text continues to say that if there is mischief, then the person who caused the situation will forfeit his life.
The word, “mischief” in Strong’s Concordance translates to “rah” meaning bad or evil: adversity, affliction, bad, calamity, plus displease, distress, evil, plus exceedingly, multiplied by great, grief etc. This definition extends to other verses in the Bible where (taken in context) it is used to signify death. A specific case would be in the account of Genesis 42 when Jacob decides not to send Benjamin along with Joseph to find the other brothers “lest peradventure mischief befall him.”
This is a very important Bible verse because it demonstrates the penalty for killing a child. The word “depart” in the verse means “to go out” so it implies the baby came out of the womb, but it does not indicate if the baby was born alive or born stillborn. It seems to mean the baby was born prematurely because the man who hurt her caused the baby to leave the womb. The baby’s life at this point depends on its age in the womb and its development. If it was not sufficiently developed to survive a premature birth, then the man must die-one life for another.
It is clear that God values life. The penalty of death that God commands for causing the death of a baby is fitting.
Copyright © 2012 by Linda Hull
