It says in Exodus 21 verse 28, "If an ox gore a man or a woman that they die, then the ox
shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall
be quit.
But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to
his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman, the
ox shall be stoned, and his owner shall be put to death."
Now we already covered those two commandments, but this is about someone who has an animal
that they own, and that they're responsible for, you know, keeping under control.
And let's say this animal kills someone.
Now, nowadays, we don't really live in an area where we have oxen that would gore someone.
But what type of animal would people probably own today that could hurt someone or kill
someone pretty often?
Dogs, pit bulls, things of that nature.
The little Mason Lindeman was playing in his driveway with friends when the pit bull escaped
from a neighbor's home and attacked, clamping his jaw down on the boy's head.
The boy's friends run for help as Mason struggles to break free.
Suddenly, a hero comes to the rescue.
The teen who heard the boy screams runs right into the path of danger.
Watch as he deliberately diverts the pit bull's attention.
Now the dog goes after him, giving the six-year-old kid a chance to run home.
The hero neighbor is also attacked when he loses his sneaker and falls to the ground.
Here's young Mason today.
His mom, Julian, shows us his injuries.
He's got a bruise under here still, and he's got a small scratch there.
He also has staples in the back of his head.
Grant suffered bite injuries to his hand while fighting off the pit bull.
Four of his dogs got out, two adults and two younger pups.
The older dogs attacking a teenager, biting him on the leg before school.
Luckily, it wasn't too serious, but in newly released body camera video, you can see the
very dangerous situation the second victim was in.
Notice the elderly man on the ground being surrounded and bitten by the dogs.
Are you okay, sir?
Where are your hands and the legs?
He would need 40 stitches when it was all said and done.
I'll just tell the neighbor I'm sorry, I mean, it's an accident, everything, it could have
been somebody else, but I'm just glad the kid's okay.
The body camera video also shows the responding deputy concerned for his own safety.
He ends up shooting and killing one of the dogs as they went after him.
We've muted that audio due to the graphic nature.
Still, the dog's owner wasn't happy about it.
If you were being attacked, all your pants would be ripped or something would be ripped,
wouldn't it?
I mean, he had no bite marks, he had no nothing, so I mean, that gives him no right to shoot
a dog.
Humphrey has two of his puppies back tonight.
The other dogs are still in the custody of animal control.
He tells FOX 13 nothing like this has ever happened before.
Now, authorities are still investigating.
It's unclear if the owner of the dogs will face any charges.
And Linda, before I toss back, I want to address something that the owner of the dog said in
that package.
He said, he questioned why deputies shot the dogs.
He doesn't think they should have done that.
We asked Pasco County about that.
They say because these dogs already attacked two people and then attacked the deputy, he
was well within his right to protect himself and to protect others by shooting that dog.
Obviously it is a very terrible situation that no one wants to be in but I think it's
pretty clear from that video, the deputy really didn't have much of a choice there.
So you could take the same principles that apply to an ox and apply them to someone who
has a vicious dog or other dangerous animal.
And the Bible is saying that if that animal kills someone, that that animal should surely
be put to death.
I don't think it kills anyone.
But the Bible also says that if a person has a vicious animal that has already attacked
people in the past, and they knew that this animal had attacked people and hurt people
in the past and that it was a vicious animal that had already injured someone, and then
it goes out and kills somebody through their negligence, actually that even that person
themselves should be put to death.
At the end of verse 29 there, it says his owner also shall be put to death.
If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatever
is laid upon him, whether he have gored a son or have gored a daughter, according to
this judgment shall it be done unto them.
So what it's saying here is that there's an alternative punishment that could be given.
If a guy's got a vicious animal and that animal is not kept in and kept leashed or kept under
control and corralled, and it goes out and kills somebody or hurts someone, then instead
of being put to death, the owner can be forced to pay what the Bible calls a ransom for his
life.
Basically, instead of being killed, he can pay a fine instead, as the judges determine,
you know, depending on the circumstances and the situation.
See, God lays out a lot of clear judgments and standards in the first five books, but
he also leaves some room open for interpretation because, of course, different situations require
different punishments sometimes, and so he does give a little bit of leeway to the judges
to determine things.
So instead of just everything being set in stone, there's a little bit of room for the
judges to give people a punishment that's actually fitting of the crime.
There's a human aspect to the legal system in the books of Moses.