The passage before us sounds by turns archaic, barbaric, and spot-on. Some of the scenarios described in these verses seem rather far-fetched; others radically violate our own moral sensibilities; as one commentator said (I paraphrase from memory), "It seems that the Bible would not be missing anything if vv. 20-21 had been omitted." What on earth do we take away from this miscellany of laws? We take away this: God protects human life and property through human justice. Those in covenant with God have their lives and property regulated and protected by the justice of God, and that justice is worked out through human justice. Human justice is given three major principles to work from here, and we will talk about each in turn.