You are the one deliberately misconstruing. No question.
The Bible states specifically that YOU ARE ALLOWED TO BEAT YOUR SLAVES TO DEATH WITHOUT PUNISHMENT, as long as they survive the beating for a couple of days. That's what it says.
Go ahead... try and tell me it doesn't say this. Tell me that this isn't a prescription for "the law."
That is NOT what is says. The Bible does not say..."
YOU ARE ALLOWED TO BEAT YOUR SLAVES TO DEATH WITHOUT PUNISHMENT". You are attempting to impose your bias upon the text.
Let's start by reading more of the passage...
12 “He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. 13 However, if he did not lie in wait, but God delivered him into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.
14 “But if a man acts with premeditation against his neighbor, to kill him by treachery, you shall take him from My altar, that he may die.
15 “And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
16 “He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death.
17 “And he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
18 “If men contend with each other, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to his bed,
19 if he rises again and walks about outside with his staff, then he who struck him shall be acquitted. He shall only pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for him to be thoroughly healed.
20 And if a man beats his male or female servant with a rod, so that he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished.
21 Notwithstanding, if he remains alive a day or two, he shall not be punished; for he is his property.
22 “If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.
23 But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life,
24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26 “If a man strikes the eye of his male or female servant, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for the sake of his eye.
27 And if he knocks out the tooth of his male or female servant, he shall let him go free for the sake of his tooth.
Exodus 21:12-26
By your logic and the way you are reading the text, you would also have to say the Bible allows:
-striking a person
-killing someone with premeditation and treachery
-striking one's mother and father
-kidnapping and selling a person
-cursing one's mother and father
-fighting with each other using a stone or fist
- hurting a pregnant woman when in a fight
- striking the eye or tooth of a servant
But that is NOT what these verses are saying. In the same way, verse (20) you refer to out of this passage does NOT say ... "
YOU ARE ALLOWED TO BEAT YOUR SLAVES TO DEATH WITHOUT PUNISHMENT".